Under the sunny, clear, blue sky in the clearing of the forest I heard the galloping of a horse. As I turned towards the sound I saw a beautiful white horse immerse from the thick of the trees. The most beautiful man I have ever seen was mounted on the horse, and wearing a dark red sherwani with a cream chuni wrapped around his neck. I stood there frozen to the ground, staring in amazement, with my eyes glazing over. Was this it? He tugged on the reigns and his horse slowed to a trot as he came nearer to the place where I was standing. He smiled innocently and his eyes showed me his strong yet sensitive personality. Before I knew it, he reached me, and came to a halt. With a most graceful move he was off the horse and inches away from my face. Before I knew it, his hand brushed against my shoulder and he softly said “Divya.”
I began to wonder how he knew my name, and before I could come up with an answer, he started to shake me and got louder saying “Divya! Divya!! Come on!! Get up!!!”
HUH?!
My eyes opened, and my fairy tale, well it remained a fairy tale. I saw Mona standing above my bed frowning with her hands on her hip.
“Ugh, Mona come on, I was in the middle of a fabulous dream…”
Mona gave me one of her rolling-eye-stifling-laugh look and said, “Ya ya the one with the sherwani hottie?”
I laughed and sat up in bed, “you know it” I said as I started to fix my hair into a ponytail. I let out a sigh and jumped out of my bed, pulled my robe tightly around me, and slipped my feet into fuzzy slippers.
“Mona, I really wish this sherwani guy were real or at least if I could meet someone who’s something like him.” I headed towards the closet and started pulling on a pair of dark jeans and a dark red blouse.
“Div, you’re awake, get over it, we’re 19-year-old pre-med students. Our life consists of studying, studying, and some more studying.” I admired the way she could talk and wear flawless make-up at the same time.
After seeing the half dreamy, half sad look on my face, Mona lightened up the atmosphere by adding, “Girl, forget about Mr. Sherwani, we need to think about Mr. Roony and anatomy unless you want to get yours and my ass kicked by being late to class again!! I don’t want him chasing me down the hallway to come to class like that other girl!” I snapped out of my daze almost immediately, gave a weak laugh, finished zipping up my sweatshirt, grabbed my bag, and taunted Mona because I beat her out the door.
***
I went through my day as usual, classes, meals, naps… but Mr. Sherwani refused to leave my mind. I was a very practical girl, but somewhere deep down inside me, hidden in the depths was a little girl who wanted to be a princess and was waiting for her prince to come on a beautiful white horse to sweep her up in his arms and be hers forever. IF only!
I think the only thing that set me apart from a Disney story was that my prince was always dressed in an intricately embroidered dark red “sherwani,” which is a fancy Indian outfit for men. I don’t even know why this was the way it was. I was of Indian descent but had been in New Jersey for practically my whole life. Yet, my dream always, always, always, had a gorgeous Indian guy with a beautiful sherwani.
Was I crazy? Did this guy even exist, could a guy like that even exist!? I envied my cousins; they had all somehow managed to get wonderful Indian guys who were strong yet sweet, tall and handsome, and downright perfect matches. My teenage-hood had pretty much consisted of rebelling, a couple of unsuccessful heart-breaking relationships, and a whole lot of studying. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m a beautiful girl, and definitely not a geek, but becoming a doctor is a long, hard process and took a lot out of me even just at the pre-med level. But my teenage years were rapidly coming to an end. In just a few months I was going to turn twenty and my supposedly fabulous twenties were going to begin.
Lately, the “Mr. Sherwani” dream had been occurring more often. I didn’t know what it all meant, or what I should do about it, I just kept hoping my dream would somehow turn into a reality.
And one day, it did! No, I’m just kidding. I do have a sense of humor you know. Ok, I know, not really funny, but life is not a fairy tale, and I’m still only 19, and I do live in the practical world. Perhaps some day my galloping Mr. Sherwani will come along, hopefully, but until then, all I have is Mr. Roony’s anatomy, just like Mona said.
6/30/2008
