Its Friday late night, the weekend mood has kicked in. I wish i was Neo, who could be plugged in, so that i dont have to eat, sleep or feel tired. I love the night and the net.
Given all that i’m happy that i have both my notebooks running and a sudden rush of euphoria, *click*
What is it about love that makes us so stupid? So stupid that we are ready to bear the agonizing pain of being in love…
At the end of the day when the dust settled, i saw her. The profile was like unmistakably hers. Felt a familiar pain in me, that i thought would never come back to me ever again, yet there i was feeling vulnerable and my feet sinking.
I was waiting for her at Transit food court of Forum Mall, the place busting with people. She walked towards me with a smile…
6th Feb 2009, after contemplating a lot, from morning till evening, through the daily work, i mustered the courage to pick up the phone and talk to her. She greeted me with a hello, that felt so warm and fresh, that it cooled my senses and took out the nervousness in me.We exchanged the usual, ‘How are you?”,”I’m fine” talk, then i knew it was time for me to make the purpose of my call,
I murmured, “Hi, What are you doing tomorrow?”
“Nothing much, why?”
“Hey, if you are not too busy, would you mind meeting for lunch? Have to tell you something…”
“I’m sorry, i cant, promised that i will join my friend for shopping. But i will be done by 3, can we meet in the evening?”
“Oh that will be great. You pick the place, i’m fine with anyplace”
“No, i fixed the time, you pick the place…”, she argued..
“Ok how about Transit at Forum, 3:30 sharp”
“Ok”, she agreed.
And the call ended with the “Buh Byee’s”, from her… Wow i was so elated that, my team mates asked me why i was smiling without a reason. I didn’t had an answer for them.
She was special. The past experience, had left a deep gash in my heart and the way i looked at life. I felt it healing and no longer felt dead at heart. I felt revived and relived. Rest of the day, went by without even me realizing it. She was there in my thoughts, i didn’t know what else to do. I counted the seconds that went by, but didn’t realize them turning into minutes and minutes into hours. I was lost in her thoughts, thinking how i would ever be able to confess to her what i felt.
Before even i realized it was Saturday, 7th Feb 2009, dragged myself out of the bed, to take a peek at the time, 12:30PM. Good, i have slept well past the morning, that means that in another 3 hrs i will meet her. I had effectively reduced the heart-ache by sleeping. Had a quick snack, and made me believe that that’s gonna be my breakfast and lunch. I left home at 2:45, to be sure that i’m well ahead of time and she doesn’t have to wait for me. I was there 10 min before our fixed rendezvous time, got a nice cozy place to sit and started counting the time, with occasional glances to the entrance and the mobile awaiting her call.
I spotted her, entering the place, stood up and waved at her and caught her attention. She walked towards me with a smile and sat across the table. I had ordered my favorite Torpedo Prawns from the SeaFoods Bay outlet, (they serve real good fish ‘n chips and prawns), i slid the plate towards her. She took a bite and smiled. She was telling me some thing about the shopping that she did with her friend, smiling occasionally.
I was lost, the earring dancing to every movement of her head, the pearl pendant that went up and down with every breath of hers, constantly tucking the strand of hair that fell on her face… At the corner of her lips i found solace…
“Hello… Are you listening to what i’m telling you…” snap!!!
“Oh sorry! i didnt expect you to turn up in the first place and more over speak so much. We had hardly met more than a couple of times and …”
“Oh c’mon, you have been a cheerful person, so that gave me the comfort factor, so i’m here… Now tell me why you wanted to meet…”
To be precise, i have no idea what i was telling her. But i did speak for 20 min. The conversation was about telling her that, i’m here for a friend of mine, who was interested in her. Finally when i had beaten around the bush, so much that no more bush was left neither here nor in America, i had to tell her the truth.
“The fact is, its me. I really like you…”
I expected her to say a no, and tell me why it cant work out between me and her. But she smiled. She blushed. It felt warm there. She was silent for a minute or two, making eye contact with me occasionally. Those moments was truly unbelievable, it sank the whole hustle around us, everything was quite for those few moments, we looked at each other and smiled…
There was a bottle of water on the table, in those few minutes, she drank half of that and told me, “No one has ever made me drink so much water in so little time, i’ll give you that credit…”, i didn’t really had anything to tell her, just smiled and stared into those eyes.
I had to ask her eventually, “So what do you think…”
“I knew something of this sort was there, but was hoping that you wont say it….”, she smiled after saying this.
“I’m not asking you to take a decision now, think over it, take you time, let me know. The fact is i like you…”
“I know, but you’re JERRY…”
“What do u mean by that?”
“Nothing, you are JERRY!!! I dont know, i’m confused…”
“Look dear, you dont have to give me an answer soon, take you time and i’ll wait. Don’t worry i can take a NO for an answer. So just think and let me know …”
There was a certain relief on her face. She was still smiling. I wanted to shout, ‘Kudi hasi tho phasi…’, but it just died within me. We continued talking and enjoyed the rest of evening in each other’s company, till she parted to get back home.
Now i’m waiting… for her reply
… haan, bas ek haan ki guzarish hai ….”
(Still wondering what a BFG is? read on…)
I was there, standing at a railway crossing. I can walk across the rails and go ahead on the road, on my way, where ever it can take me. But, No! I park my bike and start walking on the railway line. Minutes and hours pass by. I come across green meadows, houses, hills; it was a timeless journey. No thirst, no hunger, no pain, nothing. It was me, the railway line and the view. I don’t know how far i was walking. The sun was there shining high up in the sky. He never moved. I was lost in my thoughts.
It has been quite sometime that I’ve started hearing some strange sounds. It sounded like the ringing bell of an old steam-locomotive. Ting…. Ting…. Ting….
I was high on my spirits. After a long walk, i have a train to go forward. This was like the ultimate dream. Or am i dreaming? I stop to turn around. What the…. my legs are glued to the ground. I cant move!!!. I was struggling like hell to free myself. Behind me i could see the dust and smoke rising up in the horizon. What ever it may be, the dream was just about to turn ugly. My heart’s beating a 1000 beats per minute.
I look behind. I see a shining far behind. Its small, its fast and its coming my way. I’m struggling like hell. I hear the bell ringing even closer. I turn behind… What the #$#%^&^(*(&)(*_)… a pandit with neatly shaved head, big pony tail flying behind him, ringing his bell with one hand and a ‘portable’-fireplace (might be some new 21st century invention).. running towards me. What on heaven’s sake is that?
“Son”, holy crap!!! its my dad, standing to my right.
“What… How… Why…”
“Son”, jeeezzzz, its my mom, standing to my left.
“What… What are you guys doing here?”
“Tie the knot my son!!!”, they both say that with absolute precision that can even leave the most meticulously synchronized systems to shame.
“Tie what?”, i look in front of me and i almost faint. I’m holding a ‘mangalsuthru’ and there is this girl standing in front of me. I don’t know jack shit about her. Is this a right time to at least ask her name?. What am i doing …
Ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting …….
I was still sweating and breathing heavily as i jumped out of my bed. Checked around me and all round my flat just to make sure that i didn’t really wake up after my first-night… or worse 20 years after my marriage. So why do i get the feeling that this is what is going to happen to me????
Parental-pressure is high! By parental-pressure i mean damn crazy pressure that can cause you to go sleepless for days at end. If i thought that could only be the only one which can cause unrest in my serene life, i was wrong. There was… No… there IS a far more greater pressure that will eventually get happy bachelors to get married. Its scientifically called Peer-Pressure a.k.a Friends.
Celibacy is not my way of life. But Yes, face it! Its your FRIENDS who will eventually get you married. They will all be there. They are the greatest treasure that u can have. Even long after you are gone, you will live within your friends. ‘Gone’ as in not like you are dead. ‘Gone’ as in, you go on-site and they will still talk about you as, ‘Kaminaa Saala!!! On-site se kuch nahi leke aayega. Fakeeerrrr…’. You live now, not after you’re dead.
They are there. But have you ever though about what happens when they all eventually face the running-pandit, gets run over by him, never gets a chance to wake up and lives the ‘dream’. Oops you’re in trouble.
They all get married and start their family. They no longer enjoy the jokes that you shared. Even worse they even reach a point where they tell you, “Dude don’t talk about all that, she doesn’t like all that”. Worse still, his wife hates you and more worse, her husband starts having feelings for you.
Oops! your friend will change. They all change eventually and you are left alone. You just cant go and make more friends because, the ‘make-great-friends’ list gets shorter with age. Soon you will find yourself without the great friends that you used to hand out with, no new friends and you are being treated like an adult where ever you go. And i believe the later stage is definitely not where i want to find myself at.
So now there is even more pressure on you to get married…
Whats that… Ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting… Where is that BFG (Big Fucking Gun), i’m gonna kill that pandit…
WTF… its full platoon of relatives and friends marching towards me. Dad and Mom holding a garland each, friends with kids and its then i realize that the pandit was just a side-kick.
I just stand there like a scapegoat as they dance around me… Ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting…
After going silent, again, i’m back , again. This time the news is quite big ..
No, i didnt get married!
No, i didnt get engaged!
No, i’m not GAY!
Oh c’mon!!! I bought a flat here in Bangalore. Thats the news … i was waiting for the property rates to come down. But who could have guessed, i bought the flat and it came down. Any how, i’m all settled here at my place.
Got the broadband connection today. So here i’m back.
The following is the location . Anybody is more than welcome to drop in. Gimme a call b4 you come. I might be at BIAL having SubWay
View Larger Map
Ya ya ya, The UPA government won the trust vote. Now everybody is happy, lets say the UPA and its allies are at least happy that the nuclear deal will happen without any glitch.
So whats keeping the Left in the news, well they have dutifully expelled Somnath Chattergee, as of now!!!
And the BJP, the poor saffron brigade had MPs that switched sided, took money etc etc and are finding themselves in their pool of shit.
As for the wanna-be PM or rather the future PM, Rahul Gandhi, his speech at the parliament was meant to be patriotic. Its amazing when somebody out of the blue has a burst of patriotism. The wanna-be PM Lalooji (i will only call him lalooji as he is the only devil around with an angel’s halo – look at the railways), he sure did crack some dialogues and made his point on the Lok Sabha floor. At least he had the balls to say that he wants to be the PM, may be not now but later (great!!!). I would rather see the nation run by him than by Mayawathi.
So you thought that everything is going to settle and die down after the trust vote? That we will have our so called ‘nuclear-deal’, of which half of the debating politicos have no idea what its about, going through and life will go on as normal. I cant believe that somebody as dumb witted as the Muslim League (or one of their clones) comes up the brightest allegation – Nuclear Deal is anti-Muslim!!!.
Well Nuclear-deal is done or rather will be. Now what will i do for my entertainment. At home the trust vote sparked so much of interest that after we lost our borrowed tuner-card back to whom it belonged to, my room mates went on a buying spree. They bought a new internal tuner-card and DAMN!! the thing never worked. They had to cuddle themselves in front of the streaming video that they could salvage out of the Wimax connection. Next day i reach home to find an external tuner-card. Great!!!Perfect!!!
When all my hope was lost – Ram Sethu pops up. Ok! i’m sorry, i thought we done with that controversy a long time ago. Naaahhh, the government needs something to remain in news. The latest news says that Ram nuked the Sethu after he was done with Lanka. So what? Preserve it!!! Preserve something that is speculated to be God’s creation and let the freight ships make a Lanka journey. Let the price of goods carried by the ships to the Bengal coast be more, let the people suffer.
But hey wait a sec!!! why is it that we have controversy and allegation and political drama filling up the air-waves. Guys, just rewind a new weeks back. What was it that hit the news then? INFLATION!!! and we were damn sure that the Government couldn’t do much about it, than sit and watch. The price of a barrel of crude oil just went beyond Mars and there was no stopping the inflation arrow. But what happened???
Aren’t we still in that same phase. Aren’t we still facing the Inflation terror???
Ohh wait!!! the govt has diverted all public attention to Nuclear-deal.. Ohh that’s done.. its Ram Sethu now!!!!
Enjoy the Price Hike!!!!