A quick tale: One ring to fool them all ..

'One ring to fool them all...', she thought, as her fingers slipped over the smooth cold metal and a smile escaped the controlled mask she wore. Resolutely, she suppressed the smile, though conceding grudgingly that it had been a brilliant stroke of genius; just like the book that had inspired it. She had not wanted to let go of her life so easily, "Or maybe I am addicted to procrastination!", she thought.

With half an hour to spare, the finished book lying beside her, she had made the decision. mumbling an incomprehensible excuse to her bewildered room-mate, she rushed out of the room to the Cartier store that lay on the way....

"The ring was beautiful", she acknowledged to herself. It was white and radiant, slender and strong. The strength came from platinum and the radiance from the small diamond that was set in the centre, flush with the metal. One look at it and she had known that it was what she had thought of. It was just the kind of ring she would have wanted him to give, when she was ready.

But the number of people, who were poised to take control of her life, had suddenly seemed too large to her; too large for her to handle each one separately. Of course, they all loved and adored her. She did too and it was this that made matters worse. "Had I not got here I would have probably been already living a decision... Would it have been mine?"... Or would it have been an implicit one thrust upon her by the culture and the unwritten code that she had grown up in and also, at some sub conscious level, grown to like ... She was not sure.

Her fingers brushed the ring again and she realised that it was easier this way... She pictured the questioning look she would get from Pappaji, her grandfather; the sweetest 70-year old she knew. She cringed subconsciously at the tirade of questions that her brave single mother would direct at her, at the first opportunity she got... "Maybe she would see through it...". She silently hoped she would. It amused her, to her surprise, when she imagined the angry look that would escape Arun's controlled countenance. "We are so alike".. but thats what made it insipid and unimaginable! And she silently thought about and pitied the trace of melancholy Arijit would quietly betray, totally unnoticed by others...

".. your attention please. All passengers travelling by flight AI 714 from Los Angeles to Mumbai are requested to proceed to Gate 3A for boarding...". The announcement broke her chain of thoughts... She lifted her hand and turned the ring around on her finger. She peered at the reflections the foyer lighting threw off the intricate cuts of the diamond and for a passing moment an inner voice debated with her about her decision, before it was drowned by a louder one that marveled at the beauty of the diamond. "A thorn for a thorn...!", she pondered and she smiled at the irony of it. Turning the diamond inwards, she clenched her hand. She shut out the doubtful voices in her head with a shrug of her shoulders and gave her bag a tug. It was going to be a long and imaginative flight ...

One ring to fool them all ...