Don’t be afraid of the title……….it is not going to be like Ramgopal verma’s “Not a love story” 🙂
We all Have encountered with few romantic stints with beautiful girls ; the list may be long for senior experienced guys like Dr.Sachin,Mr.Jasbir & Mr.Manimaran.
Few days back, in process of improving my writing & expressing skills, i just got an idea (don’t ask about the inspiration though), so i tried to put it on paper.
It turned out a nice short story, what i would call it as.
So here it is, a short story by a stammerer which non stammerers can enjoy too………..
John, 27 yrs, is very happy; a bit excited too. It is Friday, that is, 2 holidays to come, Saturday & Sunday. This is not the sole reason for his excitement though. After finishing early hour tasks at the office desk, he stared a bit at Lisa, his colleague. Lisa is looking very sweet, wearing black top & blue jeans. Her uncovered white flesh sparkling in John’s eyes. He approaches Lisa’s desk with a smiling face, collecting some ides in his mind to start a light funny conversation. As always, Lisa greets him with a smiling face; John responds to her gracefully. John- hey Lisa, did you hear, Titanic is going to re-release in 3D coming April. Lisa-Oh really!!! It will be so nice to see that wonderful movie again in theatre. I guess, 3D version will not lower the magic of real movie, if not make it better atleast. They both share a big smile on their faces. John tries further to keep this momentum by cracking some jokes. John- I have already booked 1 ticket for me for the 1st day, 1st show. Have you booked yours too??? Lisa (laughing) – Oh really???? You booked your ticket almost 1 year before the release. James Cameron (Maker of movie Titanic) must be a very good friend of you then.Hahahahahaha John- Off course!!! So should I ask him to book a ticket for you too? John looks in her eyes smiling. Suddenly, John’s mind suggested him that he should invite her for a date by inviting her to watch a movie together. Although it was not at all John’s intention initially. It can be termed as ‘Power of Mind’, when a thought suddenly occupies you allover & make you do something, you never expected. John-Well, Titanic got some time. Would you like to join me tonight for an evening show at the local theatre to see the movie? I don’t know which one they are screening. John tried to be very playful giving this humble invitation to Lisa, trying to show no desperacy for it. Lisa-well John, our relation is not that type that we should go on seeing a movie alone. Isn’t it? Lisa smiles a bit without looking at John & get busy at her files lying at her desk. John- Well said Lisa!!! I agree. John too returned back to his desk John –Hey Carl, have you completed John Miller & Co.’s file. John is trying to show that he is very little upset at the moment…….. After few hours, John calls Lisa through intercom to make some office inquiry. John-Lisa, Carl has completed his part of work for John Miller & Co.’s file. Have you completed yours part too. John is Sr.Executive there, used to go through the files completed by officers like Lisa, Carl & present the final reports to department head. Lisa- very soon sir, I will completed it by 3 to 3.30 PM. John-OK, no problem. Please take care not to be any late than 4 PM as I need to go through it & report to Mr. Johnson by today evening. John tries to maintain same tone of voice as he do normally while talking to Lisa, to dismiss the impact of today’s Lisa’s denial to his proposal. Lisa – Don’t worry sir. She cut the call gracefully putting down the receiver back & get back to her work. Time passes gradually….Lisa is quite busy in office work. Also, John leaving behind that bitter experience of proposal rejection, made himself involved in office work. The pressure of finishing all important files by evening being the last few hours before weekend also helped John. It is 5PM now; people have started to check out of the office. John is sorting out the papers & notes; Lisa has already left the office. John is looking at Lisa after confirming that he is not going to have an eye contact with her as she is moving out. His mind is now relaxed enough to remember that early day incident again. With finished off, John left the office & get in to his car. His hands are at car steering, his body is relaxing on the driver’s seat; his mind is still wondering around that incident. There is quite interesting to observe John getting so disturbed, as he offered Lisa the invitation in a casual way without sincerity. But, Now the situation is different. He is feeling more & more upset with time. He is looking calm & composed outside but fuming inside that how can an ordinary looking & ordinarily earning Lisa can deny him, in spite of the fact that Lisa is also single as do John himself. John just confirmed her single status few days back when he asked her about her boy friend. There have been sufficient signs that his weekend is going to spoil. This is what exactly happened. In the whole weekend, his mind keep on trying to find possible reasons for Lisa’s NO. Also, been an egoistic person by heart, he decided not to talk to Lisa ever, except for professional needs. Time doesn’t care if anyone is happy or sad; it keeps on ticking & running as always. So without bothering at all about John, time reached the Monday morning. It is Monday morning about 6.30 in the clock, John had woke up. It was about an hour earlier than John’s normal wake up time. Being working with the same company since a fair long time, Monday mornings were not exciting him anymore to get ready & reach the office as do in his early job days. But today it was even worse as his mind hadn’t relaxed even for a minute for all this weekend & now he was forced to jump in that 5 day boring non sense (JobJ) again, to add on, he is going to see LISA again there in the office. Feeling all this shit in his mind, he just fell down on his bed again, trying to sleep again just like a player who have surrendered all over down with no more spirit left to fight. As he was lying on the bed with closed eyes, suddenly a saying (quote) came in my mind just like a ray of light in a dark night. It was – ‘don’t take your life seriously……it is totally temporary’. Suddenly this beautiful saying occupies his mind all over leaving almost no space for frustration or sadness. Now realizing more & more about the fragile nature of life through this beautiful collection of words, his anger & complaints towards his job & LISA started to melt. Now, he was feeling very light just like a broken leaf, just moving with the direction of wind freely flowing without any struggle to oppose the wind. Suddenly his eyes were opened……….he checked the clock……..it was only 6.50 AM……….so only 20 min passed……….but it seemed as if he spent a whole life in those 20 minutes. Now he was feeling like a new man, totally free from all those feelings of frustration, anger, self pity etc. He finished all his early morning doable things & drove his car to the office with a smile on his face & more importantly similar spirit inside. Now he was neither angry with LISA nor to himself. Now he was no more tired or bored of his job. He have just tasted the essence of life in those 20 minutes. Now he decided NOT TO TAKE HIS LIFE SERIOUSLY AT ALL & TO ENJOY IT IN A TRUE SPIRIT. So he entered his office with a true smile on his face greeting the peon…………greeting LISA whose cabin is just near the entry door………greet other officers & entered his cabin. Now, his computer & files were giving so much pleasure to him………..everything was so fresh………he was excited to check the new mails in his inbox rather than abusing the mail senders figuring all mails just wastage of time……. Now, he was a true lover……..to LISA….to all mankind……& off course to himself……although he didn’t decided to quit his search for a new LISA (may be jennifer or michelle or linda or any other).
9 thoughts on “John & Lisa………a different love story”
Sachin
(September 7, 2011 - 3:36 am)Dear Ashish- Congratulations! Great content but presentation did not meet the standard of your old posts.. May be you were in a hurry and never had time to go through the story again and revise it here and there.. (spelling, sentence structure etc.).
As part of your facilitator training, may I request you to please re-post it, after editing it carefully?
Also, can you please use "read more" button after introductory lines and make the title look more like a title (rather than an explanation)!! 🙂
Yes, dont take life seriously- but do take public writing seriously..
Thank you for the great story!
admin
(September 7, 2011 - 6:59 am)ashish bahi tum to writer ban gaye …really very very nice and interesting story …
admin
(September 7, 2011 - 4:24 pm)Very nice and inspiring story Ashish!
Now you write like a novel writer. Everything is here like suspense,emotions,romance etc. etc.
admin
(September 7, 2011 - 8:23 pm)Dear Ashish,
That was beautiful. Something which everyone can relate to. And a good positive ending.
Just a thought – Instead of making the character 'John' realize the thought all by himself, why not make it happen to him? May be he reads it in the newspaper as he is having his toast ? Or may be his dad just making a passing comment..? A simple thing that transforms his attitude. Do you think this would make the story better..? As that's where the punch of the story lies. Tell me what you think about the same.
And keep translating your inspirations into such fictions… Congratulations 🙂
admin
(September 7, 2011 - 9:18 pm)Nice story, liked it. Just one thought. The transformation lies in sentence '‘Don’t take your life seriously……it is totally temporary'.
Don't we all know that, have known that. And its so easy to accept and change?.
That question is not just for the author but everyone.
admin
(September 8, 2011 - 5:04 pm)@ Sachin– Thanx for liking, sir……well understood your point, going to re post it by tomorrow with better editing.
@ Lalit & Umesh- Thanx buddies 🙂
@ Harish – your idea is worthy Mr.Editor 🙂
Actually it was my 1st story.so i just tried to 'go on' without giving much burden on my mind to make it interesting.
But now, as a budding writer, i will try to make it better in next ones.Also, request you to share your views every time….thanx for reading.
@Sujit -You are exactly write!!! That is why i included this FACT about life in this story so that we all can pause in our lives & think about this fragile nature of life.
admin
(September 8, 2011 - 5:29 pm)Plz add "Read more" button after some lines. Because after watching full page everyone deny it for a free time.
admin
(September 8, 2011 - 6:30 pm)@Umesh–well note umesh….
admin
(September 11, 2011 - 6:58 am)Congrats for jotting it down.
But since its a story, i should say there is room for improvement.
Go forward with your plans for a writing course if you intend of being a professional writer
Comments are closed.