The Pink Scarecrow

Publisher Marketing: The sweat on his brow and the sudden racing of his heartbeat had nothing to do with the presence of a Bollywood Heroine and a Beauty Queen (Winner of Mrs India Pageant) in the Military Station at the New Year's Eve Party. The fear of acting out of line and committing the misdemeanour of ogling at the lady guest, an act in clear contravention of established military courtesies...which could possibly make him lose many social accolades well earned during his military career spanning several years. Apology was the only option and Lieutenant Colonel Vishesh, a strategist, plans his next move. As he plans the strategy for his apology, he wonders why he had resorted to such an act when he had had his fill as a bachelor years ago. His question takes him to enter a mental burrow where he sees one of the insignificant passions, that of with Pink Scarecrow. The trivial passion would have turned to somewhat more serious but for some incident, which he saw as a deliberate prick to his ego that led him to end the relationship abruptly -- though not before blasting the Pink Scarecrow, i.e., Garvita, into a million pieces........ Mopping his brow and jerking his head in an attempt to get rid of the thoughts of that insignificant passion, he prepares to act on his plan to seek pardon from the ilady of the evening' whom he considers he has offended much. He is shocked when he is chosen by the lady as her dance partner, much to the chagrin of his Commanding Officer, Colonel Sameer Chauhan, and so many other fine-looking Army and Air Force officers both parallel and senior to him who were present there. Oscillating between visible and invisible infatuations on the dance floor while dancing in close proximity with the dazzling lady, he could smell her perfume and he felt his body heating up. His mind decoded this as a feeling of passionate expression of man woman bodily magnetism which was consuming him; he presumes that maybe the lady never noticed his awkward behaviour, maybe she was never offended, maybe she had pardoned his misdeed, or probably she had fallen for his still-so-handsome-at-42-looks... Blocking all the distracting judgemental thoughts, he simply tries to seduce his own body into submission with that of hers. The clock strikes 12:00....midnight he holds his breath under his command just to wholly absorb her unruffled breath next to his ears....now craving to be rewarded......he hears her whispering something. As her words descend his ears, he freezes in his track. Read on to find out if at all she thought he has committed an offence or does she make him feel punished for his permanent offence if there was any!"