The city and the'metro fashion'

It was yet another boring and monotonous morning in New Delhi. Just like any other day, I woke up, had my breakfast, took my shower, got dressed and headed towards my work place. As if the whole city was cursed, never to face any excitement or adventure. But in spite of all odds, there is something about this city that will force you to praise it. It’s a medium of transportation that gives you the comfort of air-condition and makes you believe that you actually live in a metro city.  Yes, it’s the Delhi Metro. But I don’t praise it because of any obvious reasons; rather I praise it for showing the glamorous reviews of every day changing fashion. People in Delhi have this uncontrollable urge for competing with every day changing fashion, and Delhi Metro plays the role of a universal ramp where everyone has the equal opportunity to show off.

        Lost in my thoughts, I waited on the platform for the train which was obviously 6 min late; and then I heard an annoyingly familiar voice. That was Samira Roy, a journalist at Hindustan times who was once a typical intelligent small town girl. As a matter of fact she was a good friend of mine before she transformed into another delhitic robot. Now days she calls herself a modern and trendy fashion diva, but on the contrary she is a fashion disaster. “Hi baby, how are you? How’s life?” she braked at once. And suddenly all my love for the metro train vanished in thin air. “I am good. How have you been? Long time huh!!” I showed my enthusiasm or at least tried.

       Lucky for me, Samaria is great at one way communication. So, I just had to smile or laugh at regular intervals. During the whole conversation (if it was a conversation) she kept trying to draw my attention on her earrings, which looked more like my grandmother’s wall clock. Despite of all her efforts, when I didn’t say a word about her earrings, she took the matter in her own hands. “Oh!! You see, I got these earrings from Ritu Wears, it’s a single piece.”  I could smell how desperate she was to get a positive response. “Yes, they are great, but don’t you think it’s a bit too heavy?” the instant those words popped out of my mouth, I regretted them. Samira was obviously offended. “Oh!! I know they are a little big and my ear hurts, but this is in fashion. Any ways, I don’t see you have changed. I mean, look at you, still wearing those loose genes and kurta.” She said those words and left. Suddenly, I felt the wind knocked out of me, I wanted to crawl under my blanked and go right to sleep. Was it true? In the age of everyday changing fashion, was I far behind? And when I looked around, I could see that I was a disaster in a train full of fashion divas. I had never felt so invisible in my entire life.   

        Speaking of fashion, the word has a total different meaning for this incredibly uncertain city. It’s not something that defines beauty or makes you feel good, it’s much more. Fashion defines power and status. You don’t wear something because it looks good on you or makes you feel comfortable. Rather, you wear it because it’s the single piece and no other person will have it. As if the people in Delhi have really given up on emotions to struggle for power and status. It’s a little complex for a normal human to understand. But once you are in this magical city, you are not allowed to be normal.

          Even at work, my mind was completely occupied with the thought that I looked pathetic. After my working hours were finished, I realized that once again I will have to face the same humiliation in the metro. But I had no choice. So I comforted myself thinking that the day could not get any worse and stepped in the train. Just when I had decided that the day could not get any worse, there he was Arnav Singh Khurana- the long lost crush of my life whom I knew from the collage.

     When you live in a city linked with metro lines, the odds of bumping into your long time crush are incredibly high. The odds of bumping into him when you look like shit are even higher. As he made his way through the crowd, I tried to feel calm and not think about anything. “Hey, uhhhh... Hi, you remember me?” his voice was just like I remembered, sexy.  And I almost choked. “Of Corse, I mean yeah. So how have been?” that’s all I could come up with. For about 10 minutes we chatted in the most formal way possible. And then I was just a single station behind my destination point, when he said something that made my day. “Well, I saw you the other day at the pizza hut. You were interviewing someone. You looked confident and great. Just like now.” I could neither answer him nor look him in the eye, so I just stepped out of the door. But as I was about to leave the platform I still don’t know why, I turned back. And guess what? I saw something that was even cooler than what I heard. He was smiling at me and his smile went straight to his eyes. That moment I felt power, potent and amazingly alive. I felt like I own this city, nothing and no one could get in my way.  

   In the city so uncertain, the moment you decide that all hopes are gone, something will pop up from the dark and change your mind. That day I realized that fashion was still on its place and it hasn’t replaced feelings. May be, people in Delhi haven’t given up on emotions, may be there was still hope.