SERENDIPITY

                                                                         Debasis Dash

                                                                                                                              

“Ouch!!!!”

I cried when I fell down with a thud. 

Both my legs were weighing twice the weight it should be. That made it difficult for me to get up. Every time I tried to get up, I fell badly. After four attempts, I fell flat on my back and looked straight towards the sky. I could not make my mind how to get up. Loud party music was played nearby and the people around me were dancing to the beats. Some people did fall during the process, but they were straight on their feet soon after. I was the only guy out there who couldn't stand on his own feet! The pain in the legs was unbearable and the fact that, I had to get up quickly as people were cruising at twenty miles per hour around me. 

Then, it started snowing. Oh God! I Murmured. ‘What am I going to do now…?’ I thought; crawling to shelter was one option, but that would look weird on the bed of ice. Wouldn't it? 

Then I started cursing myself for wearing those heavy boots and getting into the center of the ice rink on a cold winter night. I had no experience of ice skating, but still I wanted to try and so had paid twenty pounds to get in there and fell awkwardly four times. That’s five pounds per fall! I tried to remove my skies, but it wouldn't come off. Or I didn’t know how to remove them. But, I had to remove them to lighten the load on my legs so that I could stand up. I was stuck there totally helpless. 

“Are you a beginner” said someone above me.

I looked up and I saw a gorgeous girl in her teens wearing a bright red scarf around her neck. She smiled at me and offered her hands. I grabbed it and tried to get up. I got up, still holding her hands tightly. I was still in the danger of falling one more time. The blades in my stakes were so sharp and the ice so slippy that I was unable to stand. “I need something to hold on; other wise I would fall again” holding her hand for support I murmured. She smiled at me. “You can continue holding my hands if you are scared” 

“Gee! Thanks!” I said and smiled sheepishly.

“I am not a professional, but this is my third class. So I think I am better handling skates than you are handling yours”. “Okay, now slowly push your left leg and move forward” she said. I just did that, but pushed my leg a bit more and was about to fall again. Scared of falling, I squeezed her hand tightly. “Easy!” she said. I forced a smile on my lips.

“Listen, this is easy. But you have to believe me. Hold my hands and do exactly what I do” She said, looking straight into my eyes.

At that point of time, paying twenty pounds and falling on the ice rink four times seemed well worth. “Twenty pounds is not a big money” I thought. Well, lots of other thoughts were floating in my mind at that time. Normally people in Newcastle have thrown rubbish at me and abused me several times. This was the first time; a gorgeous girl in the middle of the ice rink on a bitterly cold winter night was actually trying to help me. She took me around half the circle. I realized that I can skate though her assistance only. All the way, she was holding my hands, gently and helped me learn. 

But, I didn't learn anything. I was only looking at her beautiful blue eyes. She was giving some instructions on how to skate. But, none of them went into my head. After half a round of skating, she said, “Try to implement this technique. You will be fine” and smiled. 

I stood there, catching the wall at the edge of the rink so that I won’t fall again. She stood there for a moment. I was like a statue. I didn’t know what to do next.
“Good bye!” - She waved her hand and joined her friends.

I looked around, still in a state of bliss. None of the things that I saw was getting processed in my brain. The feeling was great. I could never put words to precisely describe that feeling. I looked around, once again. A couple of my friends were in the fourth class. One was skating like a Mickey Mouse and the other like a Robot. I laughed at them for a moment. Only then I realized that I didn't even thank the girl for helping me out. I started searching for her. Actually another beautiful reason my mind got for searching her was to ask her out for coffee. 

“Damn! Why didn’t I do that before, when she was with me?” With the limited mobility, I found it too difficult to locate her in the rink. I searched and searched. But I couldn’t find her. She just disappeared.

“Am I the dumbest person around? What an opportunity was then to make friends with her, and probably more...?” I thought as more snow fell on my face. I missed to get to know her. What an idiot… looser was I? But those moments, the skate for half a round, the soothing words from her, were priceless. 

Somewhere I read in a book that Columbus discovered America by sheer serendipity. 

I began to access, is the discovery of a strange blissful feeling inside me for that unknown girl by any chance, serendipity?