PART ONE
"H...H..Hi." Sudhir stammered, standing before Priya in front of her house. He bowed down his head slightly and joined his hands, but kept his eyes raised so he could still see her incredibly beautiful face. There was no training oneself for a moment like this. What should one say when they see the Goddess? What is the appropriate greeting? Sudhir had spent hours staring into his mirror, puffing up his chest and saying with a bold voice- "Good afternoon, your highness!" and "I am here to worship you, the Goddess of Infinite Beauty. And submit to you in every possible way. If you would only have me." Long sentence, so he repeated it several times with his voice, then in his head as he drove to her big house.
All that preparation was the equivalent of practicing swimming instructions on a bed. Reality was cold, scary and dangerous. Sudhir needed to go for it, make the attempt. That is the only way to learn.
"Who are you?" Priya asked, spreading a conspicuous frown on her face.
"Hello, Priya. I am Sudhir." He blurted out. His mind screamed at him. 'Hello? HELLO? Did you just greet the Goddess of Infinite Beauty with a 'hello'? What the hell is wrong with you?'
"Sudhir?"
"Y...Yes."
"How can I help you, Sudhir?" Priya asked, folding her hands.
The question threw him off-balance. How can a dominant woman ask such a question? His mind had played all possible scenarios in his head several times over and over again, every day and every night for the past five months, and not once did it play out like this. How can I help you? Madame, I am here to sacrifice my life in your service. Hmm, that was a pretty good thought. Say it. Say it, he told himself.
"S..slave." Sudhir said. Only one word actually came out of his mouth.
"Oh!" Priya said, rolling her eyes. "I don't care." she said and shut the door close with a resounding slam.
Sudhir stared at the patterns in the wooden door, then closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. Then one more. He raised his hands and shook them as hard as he could. He rang the doorbell again.
Priya opened it up after about a minute. "I said I don't care."
"Priya." Sudhir said. "I have come all the way here from Hyderabad just to meet with you. Please give me the courtesy of one little interview. That's all I ask. One interview." He was pleading before the Goddess, but he was smiling inside. He'd finally said it right.
"Oh, alright!" Priya said, opening her door. She walked inside and made for the couch, then sat herself on it. "Close my door," she commanded. Sudhir did.
He then stepped up to the couch. Her glorious mansion was but a blur in his eyes, for all he could see was the Mistress's legs stretch out onto her glass topped tea-table. "Sit." she said, pointing to the floor below her legs. Sudhir knelt down on the floor.
As he looked up to the Goddess, Priya examined him thoroughly. She caught his cheeks, turned his face left and right, but didn't say a single word for several minutes at a stretch, maintaining her frown at the candidate's face. She finally broke the silence. "How did you find out about me?"
"I read the stories written by one of your slaves on MistressPriya.com"
"Oh no!" Priya said. "Did that idiot put out my address on that website?" Priya asked.
"No, actually." Sudhir said. "I went through every Priya in the phone-book and finally found you."
"Okay." Priya nodded. "Now Sudhir, take off all your clothes and keep them in one pile under my feet."
Sudhir felt excited. This was his very first real order. He took off his shirt, pants, his vest and under-pants and knelt back down, stuffing his clothes under Priya's feet.
"Why do you want to be my slave?" Priya asked.
"My supreme Goddess, I love the thought of handing over my life to one dominant, sadistic girl and living a life of servitude according to her whims."
"You think your life would become great if you find such a girl?"
"Life would be very hard. But I would love every moment of it, Goddess." Sudhir said, joining his hands.
"My slaves don't have the right to happiness." Priya said. "Nor do they have the right to eat or sleep or wear clothes. Sometimes, I don't even let them breathe. How can that possibly make you happy?"
"The thought of accepting pain for your pleasure. That is the feeling that I'm willing to live for and die for. I would do anything for you, Mistress."
"So, what makes you think I have an opening?"
"You don't want more slaves?"
"No I don't." Priya said. "Besides, even if you turn out to be a great candidate, you would only get to be a foot slave, nothing more."
"I am willing, Priya." Sudhir said. "Please let me be your foot slave."
"Do you know what the job is?"
"Yes Mistress. I would be responsible for keeping your feet clean by licking them or kissing them. And I would have to accept your kicks to my face whenever you feel like it."
"You have it all memorized." Priya said. "But before I consider you for this job, I want some collateral."
"Why, Priya?"
"Well, I am spending my precious time considering you for this job. So I want you to give me something of value that I can keep, irrespective of whether I accept you or reject you."
Sudhir looked around. "My clothes, under your feet."
"Hmm!" Priya said. "I kick you out, you would be out on the streets naked. That would be good fun, but I want something with more value."
"Priya, my wallet and car keys are in my pants' pocket."
"That is good." Priya said. "It makes sense. I should get a new car just for considering you as my foot slave. Which car are you giving me?" She smiled.
"It's a Tata Safari, my Goddess. Quite a new one, too. You can have it just for considering me." Sudhir gulped.
"But, how will you ever go home? No clothes, no money and no car."
"I am determined to succeed, Priya." Sudhir said. "I will end up as one of your foot slaves. No matter what it takes."
"Is that so?" Priya stood up and pointed to the foot of her couch. "Submit your head there." Sudhir placed his head where she pointed. Priya then placed her foot on his back and closed her eyes. She moved her foot around his back a bit. "I sense a lot of bottled up anger in you, Sudhir."
"What?" Sudhir raised his voice, then calmed himself down. "I mean, how is that possible?"
"I've had thousands of men under these beautiful feet. I would know." Priya said. "Plus, you are one overconfident son of a bitch." Sudhir began to cry, the tears flew out of his eyes with no sign of ever stopping. Things weren't looking good for him at all. His mind began running amok. What if he didn't succeed? How could he possibly go home without his things?
"I have made my decision." Priya said. "You are not good enough to be my foot slave," she declared.
"Please, Priya." Sudhir begged.
"No." Priya said, grabbing her candidate by his ear. She dragged him to her front door and made him sit on all fours at her doorstep. "I said you are not good enough to be my slave. Now get out of my life!" Priya kicked his buttocks as hard as she could, thrusting him towards her front gate.
Sudhir looked around. A few people walked by her house, began to laugh at him. He tried to curl his body into a ball, but that didn't help one bit. He saw his car. His beautiful black SUV now belonged to the Goddess. He contemplated catching the city bus, bus there was no wallet, and no pants to put them in, either. He quickly headed for the neighbor's house. There was a newspaper lying in front of the house. He picked up the paper and covered up his body, at least some of it with the paper. Then, he headed for the group of people laughing at him and got down on his knees, held out his hands and cried. "Spare change, Sir?"