The Uninvited Guests

“Hi N”, she said cheerfully and hugged me tight.
“Hello A”, I replied as I hugged her back.
“A year, and look at you N, you look different. What’s that I am missing out??”, she asked scrutinizing me from top to bottom holding me at some distance.
“Different?? I am as I was a year back.”
“Umm.. may be..”
“Definitely! Let’s go and have lunch, I’m starving.”
We headed for lunch towards the nearest restaurant we could locate. A was convinced that I had gone under some change which she wasn’t able to point out. I wondered what change was she talking about. I felt none.

“What are you still thinking? Still stuck on same thing?”
“Not exactly, but there’s something that’s missing my eye for sure…”
“Oho!! Forget it now!!”
“Yah! So, what’s that package? Is it the thing responsible for your late arrival while I waiting here alone?”, she demanded.
“Umm, yah! It’s my birthday gift. My sister gifted me this handmade scrapbook this birthday. I had given this for lamination. So had to pick it up today.”
“Oh! That’s so sweet of her. Show it to me please.” It was an order more than a request. Seeing me hesitating, she grabbed it herself and unpacked it. It included funniest of my pics, which I was obviously not wanting to share at the moment, when I looked so different to her!
She started turning page by page, watching my whole life year by year, right from the childhood. After little chuckles and giggles she stopped at the page which particularly embarrassed me. It was my picture of the School Farewell, I might have looked beautiful but the uninvited guest at most inappropriate date and time adorned my face. The next few pictures were of the same category, my birthday party perfectly ruined by this uninvited guest at not-so-perfect timing. Another one of Cousin’s marriage where this pimple again appeared on my right cheek, most conveniently a day before the main function.
My sister had done a great job in collecting all my precious moments and bringing it one place but at this moment all I could notice were those uninvited pimples that had decorated my face every now and then, especially on the special events!
As she was turning page after the page, I was getting a flashback how I used to shy away from the camera to avoid letting these getting captured forever; how I used to pose with someone or the other or at different angles so as to shift the focus away from these unwanted beauty symbols. I remembered how these pimples had become the misery of my daily life. I didn’t want to attend any function or event. I dreaded getting clicked. I would refuse all offers of going out with friends not wanting to share the camera space with these uninvited guests.

“I figured it out N!!”, she shook me as she said this.
What?? I wondered as I gave her a blank look.
She smiled nonchalantly.
“Your Pimples are gone! How?? Those little uninvited guests you used to call them. How??” she asked.
I couldn’t stop laughing hearing this. After the laughter finally paused, I spoke, “Not totally but yah they visit rarely now!”
“What’s the secret then?”
“Oh! There’s nothing really. Just a few home remedies and my regular FaceWash.”
“oh!”
Soon, our girls talk shifted focus from the disappearance of my uninvited guests to the regular appearance of words on my blog.
Going back home, I wondered if my face really looked different. I blushed to myself! Silly me. My regular Garnier Pure Active Neem have been effective in shooing away those not-so-welcome guests, it seemed!

This post is written for Indiblogger.in and Garnier Pure Active Neem.