I go to the dance studio which is on the 5th floor at the extreme end and after taking a deep breath, enter inside.

Oh. My. God.

This studio is huge. Wow. It's like a hall. Almost the size of a hall.

In the front there is a small platform where there are these huge speakers. To my left is a wall sized mirror in front of which some boys are practicing. There are a lot of people in here, I don't know whom should I ask about the auditions.

"Excuse me" I call out to a girl who is warming up. She looks at me with a bored expression. "Um I'm here for the auditions. Who is the in-charge?" I ask her.

"1st year right?" She asks eyeing me up and down. I nod. "There that girl with the pink top" she says pointing towards a girl who is standing on the stage, talking with a guy, her back to me.

I say thank you and walk towards that girl. I'm literally sweating in this air conditioned room. Damn.

"Hey excuse me? Are you in-charge of the first year's dance auditions" I say standing behind her and she turns.

Oh. My. God. Again.

She's Viraj's girlfriend. Well ex girlfriend. I guess her name is Trisha. So she is a dancer too. Hmm..

"Yes I'm the in-charge" she says proudly and then suddenly frowns. "Wait.. you're Veer's friend right?" She says folding her hands and cocking her head.

"No we are just partners during class. He is not my friend" I say frowning. It's true actually. But why is she asking me about him?

"Yea whatever. So you wanna take part in the dance?"

No not at all. I'm here to play kabaddi. Duh!

I don't say that aloud obviously.

"Group dance" I tell her.

"For group dance, we have one salsa performance, one hip hop, and one bollywood item number. Come on show us some moves" she says raising an eyebrow.

Salsa, hip hop and item number?? Oh lord. I don't know these dance forms.

"Err.. I.. um. I don't know any of these dance forms. Is there something of Indian style?" I ask.

She scoffs and rolls her eyes.

"Bollywood toh indian style hi hai na" she says and I internally face palm myself.

"Dekho tumhe tumhare marzi ka kuch karna hai toh solo performance karo" she says and gives me a form. "Fill it up quick! We have to finalize everything today" she says and walks away.

Solo??? Solo??? No way.

But ab yaha tak aa gayi hu.. it's just 4 minutes on the stage. I've decided to make papa happy. So I'll just do it.

I can't believe I'm thinking about this. It's just that.. this studio is huge and I can't wait to dance here.

Okayyy... Lets do it!

I look at the form and start filling up the details. Name, birth date and stuff. At the bottom I've to write the dance form. I stare at the form for a good whole minute and finally write 'Kathak'.

I go and hand over the form to Trisha. "Here. I'll just grab my things from the locker and come for the audition in a minute" I say as I turn to leave.

"Hey wait up" she calls out and I stop to look at her.

"You wrote Kathak over here. Kathak, you mean the Bharatnatyam wala Kathak?" she asks with her eyes wide like she is talking to some retarded person.

"Actually, Kathak and Bharatnatyam are really different. But...."

I stop talking when she bursts out laughing. Like literally tears-in-eyes wala zor zor se laugh.

What the hell is wrong with her?

"KATHAK?" she asks, laughing hysterically.

Now she is getting on my nerves!!

She finally calms down and looks at me. By now some people have gathered around us.

"Are you seriously dumb? Kathak karogi tum competition me. Oh my god! I can't believe there are some people who still know this dance form. Do you want the audience to go to sleep? You can't perform Kathak, eww. This competition is just for western dance forms. Nobody is interested in all this Kathak vathak nowadays. If you are a Kathak dancer, you're not even a dancer. Ye sab college me nahi chalta" she says and starts laughing again.

I can't fucking believe this. Did she just say what she just said.

This dumb ass bitch!

Some students start laughing along with her while some stay quiet.

I take a step towards her and square my shoulders looking at her in the eyes. Now she'll get it!

"You know what. Now that this shit came out of your dumb little blood drinking lips, I don't think I wanna take part in this competition. As long as you're the in-charge, I don't think that our college will ever win. And I'm sure you know nothing else but twerking. And that's something even Sunny Deol can do!" I snap at her and throw the form in her face, while everyone starts laughing.

I leave the room as I hear her mutter, "Sunny Deol is related to Sunny Leone? Can he twerk really good?"

God, she is really stupid, I think as I leave the studio rolling my eyes.

This whole dancing plan was just dumb. Kathak is a beautiful dance form but these pea sized brain people can never understand it. It's not that I'm criticizing other dance forms. Twerking is bloody difficult and I know it. But someone says something bad about my passion and I'll not be able to take it. I guess it was better to keep this passion hidden. Nobody will know and nobody will say anything bad about it.

I enter the library and Mrs. Rathod gives me a smile. "Why that sad face? Auditions itne jaldi ho gaye?" she asks.

"I didn't get selected" I reply and take the books that are scattered on the table and start arranging them on their respective shelves.

"Aw girly.."

"No it's fine" I say and she just sighs and gets back to her work.

"Hey" Saumya comes towards me and gives me a smile. "I heard what you.." she starts speaking and I cut her off. "Oh no mujhe waise bhi koi ummeed nahi thi select hone ki. It's okay. So tell me who are your favourite writers..?" I say trying to change the topic and it works. We get into a easy conversation and talk about books.

But deep down I feel bad, really bad. For once I thought about finally showing my talent to the world and this happens. But I'm not supposed to feel bad right. Mai dance khud ke liye karti hu.

I push my thoughts away and sit on one of the desk and start doing my class work.

~•~•~•~•~•~•

"Hey it's almost 7. You girls can leave. Here are the keys, just lock the door and give it in the office okay? Bye" Mrs. Rathod says and hurriedly leaves the class. Saumya starts packing her bag.

"Tum jaao mere bass 2-3 pages bache hai, I'll complete it and leave" I tell Saumya, not looking up and writing down the notes. She leaves after saying goodbye.

When I'm finally done, it's 7.25. Shit! Bahot late ho gaya. I quickly pack my bag and lock the door and leave. When I go to the office, the peon dada is closing it.

"Dada ruko ruko! Mujhe ye library ki chaabi deni thi" I say running towards him.

"Idhar nahi ab. Upar ke 5th floor wale office me ja ke do" he says and leaves without hearing another word from me.

Ugh no, wapas 5 floor chadho. I'll just use the lift now that it's after college hours. I give the keys in the office and walk outside feeling tired. Today was a really long day.

I see the dance studio at the far end and I'm automatically drawn towards it. I walk towards the door and slowly open it. Nobody's here. Sab ki practice ho gayi hogi.

Now that no one is present, this room seems more huge. I wish I could dance atleast once here. I look at myself in the mirror and sigh. I look around and then suddenly get an idea.

Yaha abhi koi nahi hai. I can definitely dance once. 5 min ki toh baat hai. No but.. kisi ne dekh liya toh?

Ye time pe college me koi nahi hoga. Hmm... Jyada sochte baithungi toh yahi 9 bajj jaayenge. Ab toh ho jaaye!

I take my bag and go to the changing room and wear my off white simple anarkali kurti which I brought for the auditions. I am already wearing my beige jeggings so no need to change them.

I take out my ghungroos and tie them tightly around my ankles. Here we go.

I connect the phone to the music system and play my favorite track. Wow, the music system is awesome.

Standing in front of the mirror, I do the namaskar and take a deep breath and the beautiful melody of 'mohe rang do laal' fills the room.

I close my eyes and start dancing. I lose myself in the song forgetting about everything and dance, taking up the whole space and looking at myself in the mirror so that my expressions are right. When the song is about to end, I twirl in sync with the music and finally stop at the last position for a few seconds.

Wow I feel so much better now. I look at myself in the mirror and smile at my reflection. Not bad Aslesha. I could do this everyday after college.

I don't know what comes upon me and I suddenly look towards the door and there, it's none other than Viraj Singhania, standing.

~•~•~•~•~•~•

Aashi's secret is not a secret anymore. I think this has to be the best cliffhanger.. or maybe the worst!! Heheh.. keep reading to find out what happens next. Ily :)