Four Aaanas for Peppermint : Story One

(For a short introductory note on the theme of the story, please refer Prologue)

Worth a thousand words?

Shifting her gaze from one dress to another, she scanned the entire collection brought in by the  Wardrobe Team. She was searching for the one perfect dress that could do justice to today’s portrait. It was a special one, of course, unlike the usual one-hour-passport-size face portraits. One could afford to look hideous in their Government ID portraits, but this one deserved her time and money.

“Have you zeroed on the perfect light arrangement yet?”, she asked the Light Director hurriedly. “Yes Ma’am,” he quipped nervously,“This corner near the balcony seems to be an ideal spot to capture natural ambience accentuated by our focus lights. With some shuffling, we would be able to create the perfect sun-kissed effect for the portrait. Our team is setting up the barcalounger at the exact angle to enhance your best features as guided by the Posture Team. It should be all done in a few minutes, Ma’am!” “Make it quick! The painting team should be here in ten minutes. I don’t want to make them wait even for a second. This painting has to be completed in broad daylight.”, she retorted sharply.

The Hair and Make-Up Team was the largest of all troupes that arrived in her house today. One group was busy setting her blow-dried hair to perfection. A small fan was kept in place to give a wind-ruffled look to her hair. Another group was busy blending the contour, perfecting the lip-gloss and applying blush to her face. They were entrusted with the job of reapplying makeup every twenty minutes to remove perspiration from her face. They were ready with their background work. Everyone was waiting for the Painting Team to start the main work.

She adjusted her white and blue summer dress as she sat cross-legged on the barcalounger. Focus lights enhanced the colour of her hazel lens to portray an adventurous yet innocent stature. The Posture Team guided her with the perfect stance for her portrait. The Painting Team then began with their five-hour-long effort to fill the digital canvas with strokes of their stylus. Meanwhile, she kept dreaming about the number of right swipes this profile portrait would get her on Tinder.

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“Ma’am, next time do opt for our outdoor package! It is quite popular for social media profiles nowadays. You can look at the sample beach portraits on our website. We also have other popular attractions like silhouette themes, charcoal sketches, funny comic and multicolour hue. They can give a modern vibe to otherwise monotonous profile portraits! Nowadays, regular face portraits are only meant for official applications or LinkedIn!”, the Portrait Studio Manager pitched during his visit to collect payment.“Yeah sure, if I’ll ever be able to afford those!” she replied with a tinge of sarcasm. She could only wonder what the world would have been like with a cheaper and quicker alternative to portraits.