Sunaina stared hard at the red of the signal, wiling hard for it to dissolve into green but the Potter-style jinxing refused to do any good. She inhaled deeply to suppress the thin thread of panic that was trying to shimmy up her guts. The movie audition, she had prepared so hard for, was going to be over in the next 30 minutes. Maybe she should get out and run to the venue, Sunaina thought. She looked out, plotting to weave her way through the rows of stranded vehicles. She spotted a few people outside, on their way to work, braving the fury of the humid Kolkata summer. Continuous dribble of perspiration covered their skin and their sweat-soaked clothes stuck to their bodies.
Sunaina reflexively fished out the hand mirror from her bag and unhinged it in front of her head. And just like the good old mirror of Snow White, it did not fail to please her by reflecting back a perfectly made-up face, framed by defined strands of wavy hair. Venturing out will completely ruin the look she needed to land the titular role in “Rajnandini”. She sighed as she slid the mirror back into her bag.
In the painful minutes that followed, Sunaina attempted to keep calm by rattling away the rehearsed lines in her mind. The cab, however, did not move an inch. Finally when there were only thirteen minutes left for the audition to end, she pulled out two crisps bills from her purse, handed them over to the cabby and got out. Then she began to sprint wildly in the direction of the studio.
When she reached, her hair was frizzed out and her face was a smudged color palette but the audition, thankfully, had not concluded. Sunaina gave a confident performance in front of the panel; although her voice came out a little squeaky after all the running.
Thirteen days later Sunaina found out that someone else had been selected to play the protagonist in “Rajnandini”.
She kept mourning for thirteen months; and tried in vain, to find justification for the debacle.
Today while glancing through morning news, a single line caught her eye.
“Fatal accident in the sets of Rajnandini kills the leading lady.”
Sunaina reclined and heaved out a deep breath; she was just not destined to die so soon.
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