It’s
been almost a year since started my job at my uncle’s magazine, and what at
first looked like a job that could “bring out my potential and imagination and
creativity”, ended out to be one of the most monotonous and creativity
destroying job ever. Looking down onto an advertisement that had to be printed
I reminisced about the great times me and my friends used to have in college.
Then suddenly it struck for no reason whatsoever, “vacation time”, just popped
in my head.
I don’t think I had ever rushed home this fast since the day
my results of final year had been released and I was stuck at my grandmother’s
house which was void of any technology that could help me realise my fate. When
I reached home, kissed my mom, gulped my food in a record time of 5 minutes,
and rushed into my bed room, opened up my telephone book and dialled my
favourite five numbers.
It was going to happen finally after a year of separation me
and my best friends gang “fapanara” (meaningless word which at that time seemed
to sound like a cool carnival and gang name) were gonna get back in action.
They had all gone back to their hometowns so the only convenient place that we
could meet was right in the middle. The “united Arab emirates”, Richa one of
“the mates” who lives in Dubai was in charge of finding us a place to stay.
Finally, the 10th had arrived and my heart could not control my
excitement, got up early caught my flight (which I hardly enjoyed, the person
next to me was a complete bore) and reached the deira hotel checked in and went
up to the room. When I opened the door, it was like an electric shock, standing
in front of me were my five best friends kyra, richa, anne, and my best buddy
jen. It looked like 2 mins but actually our greetings and complimentaries
lasted an hour.
We were so excited that we couldn’t sleep so we decided to
have a nice walk in the sun down by the beach. We got ready hopped in our cab
and rushed to the beach, but what we thought would be a nice walk down was like
a walk down the sahara dessert, it was hot and sunny beyond what my body could
allow me to bear, and my skin. After a few minutes of walking I looked into my
mirror and started seeing the one thing I dreaded my whole life, “TAN”, ever
since I was young the word tan and aischa were used synonymously. So then I
made an excuse and retired to the tent, I felt like I had just lost a whole
chunk of my entire vacation, then out of the blue kyra came from behind me and
said, “long face, why..... I know, your hiding not resting right”, I didn’t
need to reply to the comment, it’s like my eyes were doing the talking, then
she put her hand into her pouch and removed a small yellow bottle and placed it
in my hand. “Try it, then enjoy life, no inhibitions”, she said and skipped off;
I felt like I was in an advertisement and looked down at my palm. It was a
Lakme Sun Expert cream, so I put it on and leapt back into the sun, after five
minutes a check, next after 10, next after half an hour and then after that my
mirror never crept out of the bag.
I had the time of my life that day, skiing, volleyball, a
little bit of innocent flirting and a pain in my limbs that I wanted to have.
When I closed my eyes, I thought back about the day I decided to go on the trip
and then suddenly I remembered, the advertisement I was looking at in the paper
it was a beach scene with three girls enjoying, it was a Lakme sun expert ad. I
couldn’t stop smiling and the last thought that crossed my mind was not only
cheesy but for me was the first line of the article I wrote for my uncles
magazine, “They say sometimes things are meant to happen for a reason, but
sometimes as in this case things are made for us to have some reason- Lakme sun
expert sunscreen”.
