Which is beauty ?

The door bell rang. Vandana rushed to open the door. It was the courier boy. "Madam courier for Mr. Shekar" he said. "Ya he is my father only , can i have it ?"said Vandana .The boy nodded his head and showed a blue paper ."Please sign this madam"he said.Vandana signed and collected the courier. It was from that marriage matching company in which mama and papa had registered her name two days back. They had sent few suitable horoscopes .Not only in this marriage matching company, vandana's name was registered with all marriage matching companies across the city and also in most of the marriage portals. Added to this, they had also advertised in various publications but for no avail. All the marriage proposals would only reach the bridal meet, a ceremony where the prospective bridegroom and bride and their families would meet up. There was no progress at all. The neighbors and relatives had started talking ill of vandana and her family.Vandana was extremely unhappy. she had many sleepless nights and the entire family was grief-ridden.

Vandana was an extremely intelligent girl blessed with multiple talents. She was the top-ranker in her university. Apart from studies, she was also good at singing and hand works. She was also a good writer . She had won several prizes for her short stories and poems. Her stories and articles have got published in many top-of-the-line magazines and newspapers.She was aslo an active participant in music and dance competitions during her school and college days. The cups and shields in her room itself would vouch for her talents. But because of the twist of the fate ,she was not very beautiful. Atleast,in a world where people are not ready to see the internal beauty of a person ,she was not very beautiful. The dark skin ,short and slim frame and the big nose makes her appearance less appealing.Consequently,all the prospective bridegrooms turned down the marriage proposal. Vandana lost the belief that she would get married.But she had to flaunt a happy look for the sake of her parents.

Days rolled on. One day vandana started to her office by her car. Unusually, the road was clear of traffic . she could reach her office ten minutes earlier than her usual time. She parked her car and reached the office entrance. The reception was empty. She browsed through some magazines and newspapers in the stand. With an intention of having some coffee , she marched towards the pantry. Suddenly, she stopped at the doorstep of the pantry hearing the mention of her name. " Vandana madam may be nominated for this year's best employee award "said one voice. It must be the HR Head Rajesh."Ya, she deserves it" said the programme analysts, Gayathri. Vandana understood that her collegeues are talking about her in a casual early morning talk. She further tuned her ears to the conversation."she is a nice person yaar.For her calibre and richness , no woman would be this humble"said the receptionist Anusha. Slowly their conversation turned towards other topics. Vandana was surprised. There was not even a single mention about her looks. Neither her dark complexion nor her slim frame was counted against her talent. Now, Vandana understood that the real beauty is inside . she also blamed herself for being critical about herself. She also had a sense of belief that a man who could see her inner sense of beauty would marry her soon. It was not a long time, her belief turned a reality very soon.