King of Spades

Vikram had heard about him. But had never interacted with him very openly. His name was Raju. He was among the popular people at Star hotel. Since Vikram had to tour a lot especially to the south, Star hotel in Pondicherry was where he used to stay. Unlike other hotels this was a quite and less crowded place. The USP was its proximity to the sea. Almost all the rooms had a magnificient view of the beautiful white sands of pondicherry beach. Raju used to be there every morning by the side of the reception desk, greeting people cheerfully with his captivating smile as they entered. He used to help them to their rooms and even go out of the way to ensure that every guest was well looked after, even though he was not the only Waiter at star. Yes, he was a waiter but in terms of popularity he was the real star. Apart from that his duty was to ensure to keep the lobby clean. As the hotel was popular people used to check in quite frequently,often the guests used to walk in with the sand on...

The face was calm and composed. There was a positive aura surrounding her,the way it had always been. 'Amma' was what she was known as in our locality. Her real name was Dhairyalaksmi, Dhairya meaning courage, something which she had always represented throughout her life.As Kartik stood there watching her, memories flashed through his mind. Amma had moved into the colony with her husband and son around 30 years back. Her son Vinod was of Kartik’s age and in no time they became the best of friends. Being neighbours he often used to spend time in their household. She always used to treat him equally as her son which was a quality, Kartik thought was rare to find. The morning hours in their household used to be bathed in loud carnatic music. She had immense faith in god and which reflected in whatever she did.Everyday as he and Vinod left for school she used to say, “Bye, Kartik. Take good care of Vinod”!. Life has its own strange ways of unfolding events and that was precis...

The evening clock struck 5:30 .Ved watched the waves rise and die as he waited for his date at the beach.Her name was Zui and they were online pals.This was supposed to be their first meeting after knowing each other for the past two months.Ved still remembered their last conversation,"For all reasons you could be a girl,i have shared nearly my whole life with you,spoken to you about everything and yet i don't know even how you look!..Listen Ved if you don't want to meet me then that's it.... i won't talk to you!", she said unleasing the ultimate emotional atchyachar dialogue!.Ved was  more amused than shocked. A girl!! how on earth could she think of him like that. His orkut profile,testimonials from friends,qualifications...someone can't just fake them all .Yet this gal said it! Strange she is he thought,just as her name.But then she was definitely not worth loosing. It had been two months now.An occasional surfing of profiles was what made Ved visit Z...