They both fell in love, so to speak, at same exact moment in time. It was love-at-first-sight for both of them. The objects of their respective affections just happened to be mother and daughter! Here is how it happened.
Junior was eighteen and Senior was in his fifties. Senior was standing on the crowded escalator in the shopping mall when an impatient Junior came up behind him and said, "Excuse me Dada-ji!(Grandpa) Can I pass you by?"
While the young man was really trying to be polite and courteous, Senior was offended that someone would assume he was old enough to be his grandfather just because he had nearly-all-white hair and just because did not dye his hair to look closer to his actual age! He had never dyed his hair even though he had started to going prematurely grey in his twenties. It was not fair, nay, it was rude of the cocky young snot-nosed punk to assume his age just from behind! In his resentment, Senior overlooked the fact that the young man was actually being considerate and not pushing past as a few others had done. He turned around slowly and awkwardly in the crowded moving escalator to look at this immature youngster, instead of simply shifting to the side and letting him pass. The delay in the desired response further added to the perception in Junior's mind that this was an old man, perhaps hard of hearing too.
"Dada-ji (Grandpa)! Excuse me please!" he repeated, speaking a bit louder this time.
"Hey, Who are you calling Dadaji? I am young enough to be your father. And I am not deaf," Senior said in his gruff voice and looked at the tall but baby faced teenager with his first moustache barely growing in, with soft, down hair on his lips and chin. Any younger and yes, he might have been justified in using the term Dadaji!
Looking at the relatively younger looking face from upfront and close, the young man was surprised and mentally thought that yes, it might have been wiser to use the term 'Uncle-ji'. Even older men would have been flattered and happy to let him pass by quickly. Now it was too late.
"Sorry, Sir, no offence, Can you slide over a bit so that I can get past?" asked Junior smiling a bit cheekily. Like most teenagers, he appeared to be in a great hurry and late for some 'important' work that was utterly useless to the world at large.
Senior instinctively moved to one side and Junior was past him in a flash, shouting, "Thank you, Sir!". He took two steps before he came up on two really old ladies with their walking sticks, holding large, full shopping bags, standing abreast of each other.
Junior was now stuck ahead.
He started again,"Excuse me Dadi-- Aunty-ji(started out to say Grandma and corrected himself halfway to say Aunty)! Can you please move aside and let me pass?"
The two old ladies, feeling flattered, turned around smiling to look at the young man. One look at them and the young man knew it was better to wait for a few seconds behind them to reach the end of the escalator. He also realised that using the term Dadiji would not have been inappropriate in this instance.
"It's OK! Koi baath nahin (Does not matter)," he said.
Looking ahead at the way the two old ladies slowly turned around to see Junior and realizing the predicament he was now in, Senior could not suppress a chuckle! They were certainly old enough to be addressed as grandmothers! The young man was apparently a quick learner.
"Accha Hua! (Good thing happened!) Looks like he cannot wait for a few seconds until we reach the end. What is the mighty hurry? Is he going to perform emergency brain surgery? Kids need to learn patience these days!" muttered Senior to himself.
Now, it so happened that Junior was not in a hurry for any particular purpose. It was the way he moved. As they reached the end of the escalator, the ladies slowly but expertly stepped out of the moving platform. Suddenly, people were piling up behind them. Junior landed right behind them and had to hold and hug them before sliding to one side. The two ladies cleverly each went in opposite directions just as Senior almost bumped into Junior. He had to hold on to him and one of the ladies. It all looked like an intimate dance.
When the rush cleared, Senior walked over to a bench opposite one of the stores and sat down to catch his breath. He was not in a hurry. He was headed to the food court in the mall for lunch in a few minutes. Junior had disappeared somewhere.
Senior sat back and watched the people passing by. He realized that he loved it. He had always liked people watching since his younger days. When he was in his teens only girls who were about his age caught his attention instinctively. They were eye candy for him. Over the years, through some painful experiences, he had learned to look out for the mothers, aunts, grandmothers, fathers, brothers and grandfathers who were accompanying the objects of his attention and often policed gawking. He had always been surprised then at how ugly parents could produce such good-looking children. He had gradually refined the art of people watching without being offensive or clumsy. He also had learned to let go of those who appeared older than himself. When one is a teenager, an age difference of an year or two seems huge and insurmountable especially if you knew the girl was even a few months older. When in one's fifties, a decade this way or that does not seem to matter at all! Still, when someone seemed a couple of decades younger or older, they were no longer interesting to him. They felt like they could be his children's friends or belonging to the previous generation.
Senior had noticed a change in himself in the past few years since he had been single and found time to people watch again, after a long gap. Now, it was not the young pretty girls who were eye candy for him, it was those who were middle-aged. If at all some young pretty girl came into view, he quickly instinctively started to seek out their mothers or aunts who might be accompanying them. They were the ones who sparked an interest in him. He still had to look out for partners of his eye candies who were already 'taken'. He could now see the 'mature beauty' in the person who once looked like their own children now did. He now thought he knew the difference between youth and beauty.
Senior had a relaxing few minutes before heading out to the food court. There were many stalls selling food around a central seating area. He went over to his usual, regular seat with his order.
Senior set down his tray then set down in backpack in the vacant seat next to him. He then sat down and looked straight ahead in the far side of the next table, facing him was a woman who was obviously within his range of interest. She had shiny dark-brown hair (obviously dyed and very well groomed), well made-up face with red-lipstick shaping attractive lips and in a dark green dress that contrasted attractively against her creamy exposed arms. She was looking down at her food and hence he could not see her eyes, only the well applied eye-shadow that had an alluring shine with long eyelashes.
Soon, she looked up and said something to someone sitting across the table, in front of her, with her back to Senior. That is when Senior even noticed she was with someone, who seemed to be a younger person. As he glanced at that person, Senior spotted Junior sitting a few tables away, facing him with a silly wide grin (smirk) on his face. For a moment Senior's blood pressure rose upon spotting Junior who seemed to be taunting him. Then he realized that Junior was perhaps smiling at the young person sitting in front of Senior's own eye candy. He turned to look in her direction and saw a stunningly beautiful face looking back directly at him. As the lady realized Senior was returning her gaze, she did not turn away or flinch. She continued to look at him unblinkingly for the longest second Senior had known in his life and then she smiled at him. At that instant he lost his heart but still had the presence of mind to smile back.
It so happened that at that very instant Junior caught the attention of the person sitting in front of Senior's object of attention. It happened to be her daughter who seemed to find Junior's attention to her liking. Junior too lost his heart at that very instant.
Now begins the saga of the two men in love - one in his teens and the other in his -ties. Let's see how they each go about following their hearts.
Very nice....tugging fragile heartstrings of the ...-ties..!
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