The rest of the day was like a dream! With luck on her side, she spoke to the customers with confidence and ease. Priya made more sales that day than she had ever before! *** Kolkata becomes a vision on the evenings of Durga puja. The multi-coloured lights, the music from the Dhak, the brightly clad people with broad smiles all adding to the magic! The world shines differently when luck is on one’s side. The unlucky merely exist. Stooping apologetically. The lucky ones live, take up space with pride. Priya was on her way back home but the glittery night beckoned her to join in the festivities. She walked around the crowded streets stopping at pandals to thank Maa Durga for the blessing She had bestowed upon her. A while later Priya found herself standing on the edge of the familiar pond that had changed her life. Overwhelmed with emotions she started dialling Rupesh’s number. “Thank you!”, she said the moment he picked up “Thank you so much for telling me about the wishing pond! It has changed my life!” There was a moment of silence on the other side. “Are you kidding? Don’t tell me you actually bought that story!”, he finally replied. “It’s NOT a story!” “Of course It is! I made it up. I was just a joke. You seriously went there?” Priya couldn’t respond. She disconnected the call. Was it really just a joke? But her luck was undeniably better. Surely this WAS a wishing pond! But her thoughts were disrupted by something shiny gleaming from behind a shrub. She took the object out and placed it on her palm. The Italian coin. The coin was never inside the pond. Priya stood silently for a long time, looking up at the twinkling stars in the sky. So it wasn’t luck after all! Her lips slowly curved into a smile. Her eyes welled up. *** “Why are you back so late?”, Priya’s mother yelled as she stepped inside her house. “I have Chinese food for us” Her father’s balding head looked up from his newspaper. “You have no respect for money”, he said, shaking his head disapprovingly, “Chinese food …” “Money doesn’t matter when it comes to the people I love!” Priya smiled broadly and kissed her parents on the cheeks. “Fine! Go freshen up”, her mother said as both parents tried concealing their smiles. “Absolutely!”, Priya grinned “and mom, dad…Happy Durga Puja!” 8
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