Hii guys, here is the second part of Opportunity knocks.
Opportunity Knocks
“Suddenly I’m not hungry,” Swara said miserably. “I can’t eat this. I’ll look like a balloon at the casting session!” “Good choice,” Nikita said.
“But like I said— fat chance.” She turned on her heels and sashayed between the tables and right out the front door. “The nerve of that . . . that . . .” Nisha sputtered.
“We know exactly what you mean,” I told her. “Don’t we, Swara?” “Go ahead and eat your ice cream, Swara,” Nisha encouraged her.
“You look fine just the way you are: Perfect.” “If I eat this, I’m going to gain three pounds,” Swara said, looking longingly at her Chocolate Death. “You eat it, Nisha—you never gain any weight, no matter how much you pack it in.”
It’s true. Nisha eats like an absolute pig and stays slim. I don’t know how she does it, and neither does anybody else.
With a shrug and a satisfied smile, she moved Swara’s tureen of tasty calories over to her own place setting—right next to the Mint Mountain she’d ordered for herself.
“Ragu, do you think I’m too fat to be an extra?” Swara asked me. “Not in the least. You look a lot like Rishika Mehrotra, in fact.”
“You really think so?” Swara asked. Suddenly she was floating on air, ecstatic. That’s so like Swara—if you don’t like the mood she’s in, just wait a minute.
“Totally,” I said. Then, for some reason I’ll never understand, I decided to lay it on a little thicker. “If your picture were next to Rishika’s , people would think you were twin sisters.” I didn’t mean identical twins, but that’s how Swara took it.
She checked herself out in the mirror, then looked at Rishika’s picture in the paper. Then the mirror, then the picture. Mirror, picture . . . “Swara,” I said, “you really should go to that casting session. I’m sure they’ll hire you.”
“What makes you so sure?” Swara asked, suddenly worried. “I mean, everybody and their mother is going to show up for this casting call. And how many people do you think they’re going to hire?” “I have no clue,” I said.
“Maybe a couple hundred?” “Out of twenty thousand people?” Swara shouted, again causing everyone in Trisha’s to look over at us. “What are the odds of my getting cast?” “One in two hundred,” Nisha said without even having to think. “One half of one percent.” “Thank you, math genius,” Swara said. “See, Ragini? I’ll never get cast. Nikita’s right!”
Suddenly it was back to despair again. “Swara, I know you can do it!” I said, massaging her obviously fragile ego. “You’ve got to come to the casting session with me—both of you. We’ve all got to be in the movie together!” Swara said, crossing over the line into delusion. “I have no interest in being in some cheesy movie,” Nisha said. “Forget it.”
“Oh, get over yourself, Nisha!” Swara said angrily. “This movie’s going to be an all-time box office smash! Ayaan? Rishika? In the same picture?”
“Exactly,” Nisha said. “It’s all about money. Yuck!” “Oh, Nisha, just come with me for moral support! I’ll die if they don’t pick me. I’ll just expire!”
“You won’t die,” Nisha said, “and no way am I going to go with you. I hate these big blockbuster action pictures. They have no soul, no heart, no brain. . . .”
“No being bored out of your gourd,” Swara corrected her. “Besides, from what I hear, extras do a lot of waiting around, and you know I can’t stand that. And what if they give us a call time of 5 A.M.? You know I don’t get up before nine, except for weddings and funerals.” Swara rolled her eyes, giving up on late-sleeping, impatient Nisha.
“How about you, Ragini?” she asked. “Oh, not me—you know I get stage fright.” “Are you kidding?” Swara said, clucking her tongue, “you were fantastic in Grease last year!” “I was in the chorus—in the back of the chorus.”
“Well, that’s like being an extra . . . kind of. Besides, being an extra doesn’t take any talent at all! You just stand there and presto—you’re in the movie.”
“Umm . . .” “Don’t audition if you don’t want to. Just come with me, please, please, please?” To be honest, I would probably have begged off, but I could see Swara was really nervous, and really, really, really wanted to get cast in this movie. So I said, “Okay, if you want me to that badly . . .” Swara screamed, jumped up in her seat, and reached over to hug me so tightly I thought she would snap my neck. For the third time in ten minutes, everyone in the restaurant turned to look at us. “Swara, you’re embarrassing us,” Nisha said.
“Calm down.” Swara composed herself in a split second. “Nisha,” she said, “could you go over and buy a copy of the Times from the machine in front?”
Sighing, Nisha got up, fished a quater out of her jeans pocket, and went to the front, where the newspaper dispensers were. She and I both know there’s no arguing with Swara. “I love Ayaan Kapoor,” Swara confided, grabbing my hand and squeezing it hard. “Ragini, if I get to meet him . . . if he shakes my hand . . . I’m never going to wash it again!”
“Eew,” I said, removing my hand from hers. “Sounds gross.” She gave me a playful shove. “Now you’re being cranky, just like Nisha.” Speaking of Nisha, she was just coming back with a copy of the Times—and with Laksh trailing right behind her. “Look who I picked up off the street,” she said, sitting down and tossing the paper onto the opposite bench.
Laksh reached over, gave me a forehead kiss, then said, “Hi, girls. Mind if I sit down for a sec?” He didn’t really need an answer. He sat down facing us, and said, “Guess what?” “Urn . . . there’s a movie going to be filmed in Lucknow?” Nisha took a wild guess. “Bingo!” Laksh said.
“And my dad has assigned me to cover it for the paper. I’m going to be taking pictures.” He held up the DSLR I’d gotten him.
“Oh, that’s so cool!” Swara said. “I’m going to be an extra.” Suddenly she was already cast! “Excellent!” Laksh said. “You know, you could probably all get cast if you wanted to. They’re casting seventy people or so.” Swara’s face fell. “Only seventy?”
“Don’t worry, Swara,” I told her, taking her hand. “You’ll get in. You’ll see.” “I’ve just got to meet Ayaan!” Swara moaned. Then she turned to Laksh. “Ragini’s coming with me.”
“I see,” Laksh said, surprised. “I didn’t think you were into acting, Ragu—or is it because you want to meet Ayaan, too? Should I be worried?” “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not even auditioning. I’m just being a crutch for Swara.” “She’s the best,” said Swara, giving me a squeeze. “You’re the best, Ragini.” “I know, I know,” I said, digging into my ice cream with something less than excitement.
Soo here I finish with the second part. 2nd chapter coming soon.
Tejasswi Prakash – Ragini Vyas
Helly Shah – Swara Bose
Surbhi Jyoti – Nisha Roy
Hiba Nawab – Nikita Verma
Namish Taneja – Laksh Maheshwari
Paras Kalnawat – Ayaan Kapoor
Shivani Tomar – Rishika Mehrotra
Kanchi Singh – Shruti Rawal
Rohan Mehra – Arjun Mehra