Deja Vu

I have been here before...exactly at this location...exactly at this point...probably even experienced the same feelings of exhilaration and joy...as I was feeling now...by looking at the lovely lake surrounded by lovelier trees...

This is the resort...a friend had recommended...and I had instantly fallen in love with the snaps on their website and booked it in a go!!

But now as soon as I had gotten out of their pickup car...and walked up the porch...I had a Deja Vu....

Practically I had never been here before...all this was new...unseen...

Yet it seemed vaguely familiar....and exciting.

As these thoughts raced in my mind...I clutched at my hand bag and moved forward....

The lovely cottage that the website promised...looked even prettier than before...the door almost hidden by the lovely pink flowers...the names of which I never remembered!!

The entire resort was a feast to the eyes and a peace to the mind...

Sun glittered in the lake...as a family of ducks parked near the pink and while flower bushes on the side...the scene looked like a movie shot...right out of paradise...there was a serenity in the air...a calmness...that I had forgotten about since moving to the big city...

Inhaling the fresh air into my lungs forcefully...I stopped in my reverie...as a familiar pang of excitement struck me again...Looking around...I tried to find a clue to these strange feelings...

My eyes stopped at the man standing with the black umbrella clutched under his armpit...looking towards the lake....I suddenly knew that he would turn around and address me...I don't know how I knew...but somehow I did...

I moved forward slowly as if in a trance...keeping an eye on the man with the umbrella...

As I had thought ...he turned out and without seeming surprised to see me...nodded to me and said: Sometimes it takes only a while to realize what your life has been, whereas sometimes...it takes a life time...and you still don't realize. Saying these words in a baritone voice, he turned back to looking at the lake ..as if I was not there at all.

I stopped dead in my tracks...wondering if he had addressed me or someone else...or maybe he had just talked to himself...

In my heart, I knew that he had addressed me...just as I had known that he would turn around and talk to me ...

But how had he known my frame of mind...to have said something like that???

I moved ahead...feeling excited and curious...and called out to him...addressing him as: Sir...

The man turned...this time with astonishment written all over his face...and said: Are you calling me, "Sir"???

A little flustered at this unexpected question....I faltered and muttered: Yes, is there a problem?

Astonishment turned to amusement...and then to laughter...as the man started laughing loudly and then almost uncontrollably....all the time looking at me with his twinkling eyes...

Feeling uncomfortable and offended all of a sudden...I turned around and started towards the cottage with hurried steps...while behind me, I could hear the man laughing and laughing...

Reaching the cottage door, I grasped the handle and pulled open the door...

The lovely interiors...took my breath away and made me forget the eerie laughter that I had just fled from.

The cottage was in muted greens and pinks...and little white flowers adorned the mirror, the shelf, the bedside table...and the vase of the dining table...

I could see my luggage already inside the cottage...Sighing happily, I decided to freshen up...and took out a towel, a change of clothes ...and a clip to tie my hair up from my bag.

Pulling my hair up in a knot, I moved towards the mirror to clasp them with the clip....but the clip slipped out of my hand and my hair tumbled down on my shoulders...as I looked at myself in the mirror...

I could see the curtains of the window with the little embroidery in pink silk, the bedside table and the quaint little pink candle stand...I could even see the evening light peeping from the window....

But I, standing in front of the mirror, ...was not there.

Frozen with shock....I stood staring..

And slowly the man's laughter started drowning the loud thudding of my heart...