OS: A Smile In The Rain

It was raining.

Maan Singh Khurana sat in the back of his sleek black Mercedes, which was stopped behind a road block. The severe rains of the monsoon had caused a land slide, thus cutting off all access to his destination. While he appreciated and respected his Dadi's desire to build hospitals in rural villages for its inhabitants, did she always have to choose the places that had literally one road to and from the village?

He was supposed to make a pit stop to simply check the site before signing off on all the contracts so that work could begin on the hospital. After that he was supposed to catch a flight to New York for the new project he was pitching for. Now, with the blaster rain, his plans had been severely derailed.

Of course it didn't help matters that he could barely get a signal out here in the middle of nowhere, and to top it off his batter was dying. He'd only managed to let his vice president of operations, Adi, know about his delay before his phone completely died.

"Damn it!" he yelled as he punched the seat in front of him. "Isse bhi abhi marna tha!"

For this very reason, he hated the rain – he hated rain with a passion. Rain was good for nothing but causing havoc everywhere it went. He hated it…he hated it…he simply HATED it.

Hope sprang into his heart as he saw his driver running back to the car after having talked to the people ahead of the road block.

"Saab…" he called as he opened the door and got in. "Aage ka raasta kaal subha se pehle nahin khulega."

All hope died as Maan failed to suppress a groan.

His driver started the car and began backing up. Other than them, there were only four other cars on that road.

"Peeche ek dhaba hai aur lodge bhi hai," the driver said. "Kuch kha lijiyeh Saab, main room ka intezam karta hoon."

Soon the car was parked across from a small eatery named 'Kake Da Dhaba'.

"Pehle tum khalo," Maan instructed. "Baki hum baad mein dekhnge."

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Maan didn't know how much time had passed because he'd been too busy running through his presentation on his laptop. It wasn't until he heard a car rumble near him that he was brought back to reality. Maan turned his head, through is dark windows he watched a family quickly shuffle across the road towards the dhaba. He could see the older male holding an umbrella shielding two little girls from the rain the best he could. Following them were two ladies – one dressed in a saree, the other in a churidar. Maan brought his focus back to his work as the family disappeared inside the dhaba.

A short while later, his driver was back.

"Saab, aapko kuch khaana nahin hai toh kam se kam ek cup chai toh pilijiyeh," he said.

Maan glanced at it watch – he didn't know why he did that, not like he was going any where.

"Tik hai, tum chalo main aata hoon," Maan instructed.

Turning off his laptop and placing it back in its bag, Maan pulled on his coat before stepping out.

The moment he left the warmth of his car he was bombarded with big fat rain drops soaking him from head to toe as he ran towards the dhaba.

"Stupid barish," he cursed as he entered the dhaba.

Maan began wiping the water from his face and clothes the best he could.

"Saab…chai," his driver said as he held out a cup to Maan.

"Hmm…" Maan said as he took it.

He hated to admit it, but the warm cup against his palms was exactly what he needed. It wasn't cold, but he hated being wet. The weather was still rather warm – just like it usually was during the monsoon season.

The dhaba was no five star restaurant, but it had a homey feeling. Everyone there was eating, laughing and some even dancing to the music that blasted. The people there were trying to make the best of the horrid situation they were in the middle of.

Sitting down, he finished his chai in record time. Ordering a second cup, he walked over to the far end of the dhaba that out looked the road. Maan simply stared as the rain continued to fall from the dark clouds in the sky. Someone brought him is second cup of chai when Maan heard a distinct sound from somewhere behind him.

Turing in the direction of where the sound came from, Maan stood shocked.

The sounds were coming from payals that adorned the feet of the girl he'd seen a short while ago with the family. As Maan took in the girl he now saw she was dressed in a red and white churidar, jhumkas on her ears, chudiyaan on her wrists and payals on her ankles.

He watched as she slowly attempted to leave the dhaba. She turned back once, and then quickly stepped out into the rain. Once in the middle of the road she turned her face up to the sky, spread her arms out and just simply stood there.

Maan watched, horrified, as she let the rain over take her and soak every inch of her.

Slowly, she turned – this is when Maan saw the smile on her face.

Maan was in such shock that he hadn't seen some scantly clad kids join her in the rain. Maan watched mesmerized as the young girl danced in the rain with the kids dancing around her. She smiled and laughed, causing the children to do the same.

"Geet…Geet…" a woman called.

Maan snapped out his revere to see the lady he'd seen earlier – the one in the saree – standing a few feet way from him.

"Geet andar aajao!" she yelled.

"Nahin Bhabi, aap bahar aaiyeh. Bohot maza aa raha hai," the girl said.

So her name was Geet.

"Geet…unhone dekh liyah toh…" the woman continued.

Suddenly, a man called out, "Geet!"

It was the same man that helped the two little girls cross the road earlier.

Looking back at the girl – Geet – Maan noticed that she'd stopped dancing around and stood frozen on the stop, her arms in the air as if she'd stopped in the middle of a step.

"Geet," the man said.

The girl turned around. Her hair was sticking to her face and her clothes was sticking to her body.

"Andar aao Geet," the man ordered.

"Magar Brij Veeji…" the girl began.

Maan heard the man sigh and say, "Kya karunga main iss ladki ka?" before heading out into the rain himself.

Maan watched as the man went up to the girl, took her by her wrist and pulled her back towards the dhaba.

"Didi…Didi…" the children called.

"Brij Veerji please…" she pleaded.

She immediately became quiet when her brother turned and looked back at her.

"Geet, tu aab choti nahin hai…badi hogayi hai," he said.

Maan suppressed a smile as he saw the girl roll her eyes.

"Bachoon jaisi harkatein maat kiya kar," he admonished.

Maan watched in surprise as the girl raised her free hand to her ear wiggling her fingers while sticking her tongue out at her brother.

"Teri shaadki ki…" the brother was saying as he turned around.

Immediately the girl brought her hand back down to her side, put a somber look on her face and looked to the ground.

From where Maan sat, he saw the brother narrow his eyes. Clearly he knew is little sister all to well.

"Teri shaadi ki umar hogayi hai aur tu abhi bhi barish mein nachti hai bachoon ke saath," he complained. "Kya karunga mein tera?"

The girl, paying no heed to her brothers disappointment, threw her free hand in the air and once again began dancing to the tunes of the music that played. The children behind her cheered and began doing the same as they too threw their hands in the air. As her brother pulled her back into the dhaba, the girl turned around towards the kids and blew them a flying kiss.

This time, Maan couldn't suppress the smile that spread across his face.

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1 Month Later

Maan was on the phone with his New York contact as he made his way through is office towards his car. There was one last meeting left before they began work on this new project. As he approached his car, his driver moved to open the door for him.

He hung up as he sat down. He instructed his driver to hurry up because he the meeting had been moved up and he didn't want to be late.

As the driver pulled out of KC's parking garage, drops of water hit the windshield.

"Hmm…bin mausam barsath…" his driver said as he turned on the wipers.

It was raining – again.

Maan Singh Khurana looked out his window towards the sky as the big water drops fell to the earth.

Instantly the memory of the girl named Geet flashed before his eyes. Her smile, her masti, her eyes, her dance…everything.

His mouth tipped upward and there was nothing he could do to stop it. A simple moment he'd witnessed brought a smile to his face – a smile in the rain.

Maybe the rain wasn't so bad after all.

JAZ