bade saalon pehle ek pyaari si ladki meri zindagi mein aaee thi...i was happily playing about...going to school...when she moved in next door...One find day..just like that...
Just passed out of college, all confident, a job with a top firm, a big bungalow rented on her own salary...
Though our first encounter was quite the anti climax...a smart assy comment she made...a bet i took up...changing her wild bush of a lawn into better than my own mom's in less than three months...
And in those three months we became pals...buddies...chuddy buddies...She used to walk into our home at any time, from the morning pooja to the dinner...un announced like it was her only...and I could do stay overs at her place any day...we would stay up late to watch movies together...we saw the whole of Hannibal Lecter series in one night...
Heck we even used to go on dates together...we had so much fun...she knew the bouncers at this pub so I was the only kid of my age who managed to get an entry into a disc...
That was 8th class...she was 21...
One day she asked me what will you do when you grow up...i looked up from my computer and told her i'm gonna be an engineer...build autos...better than dad does...
She smiled...no i think she laughed...she ruffled her hand through my hair...and said...i think you'll make a fine gardner...
that was 10th class...
One day she introduced me to this guy, and by the look in his eyes I knew she had found her man. They were still dating when I left for college to Pune.
She used to write to me every week, i preferred letters to phone, i've never liked phones. She married him, I finally met her family. She was looking regal that day.
I was working in Pune those days
Then one day the good news, she was pregnant. I knew that was what she had wanted the most in her life. I had been her kid for many years and now I was glad she was getting to do, getting to be what she had always wanted to be...a mom.
And then the call, there's always this call that you get once in your life that turn your world upside down. She told me, somehow you know I expected that call, I had been expecting that call since the day I first saw her in my house, standing in that blue salwaar kameez with small white floral print in her cute little white sandals...I knew that day that she would go away, that she didn't belong to this earth...
I took the next flight out back to Delhi. For the next month he and I took care of her. She delivered a fine little baby on 3rd March. Funnily she handed her over to me, that little bundle of joy. On the night of 3rd she went back to where she had come from.
He, me and the little her took off to his farmhouse near Chandigarh. He never remarried, I never married...when you've been touched by perfection, you don't somehow require anything more...ever. Our little bundle of joy is now a fin little lass of 5, as peppy and mischevious as her mom.
I'm still a software engineer but only by hobby...three landscape artist awards later, one wonders, why was god so kind on us to pay a visit in person
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
One rode past the cuckoo's nest
[Knocking on the door]
'The store's closed'
'Yes I know but I'm not here to really buy anything. I was just hoping to share a cup of coffee. Look I even brought the coffee '
She smiled through the closed door at the semi-stranger holding up the thermas cheerfully. It was hard to say no to a persistant guy, much less one who brought you coffee at the end of the day.
She let the stranger...well now that he has been introduced...Sahil, in. They had bumped into each other in the Metro, only figuratively though :P. She was happily sitting there on her seat next to the door and he was stuck somewhere in the middle of the coach. But from there he had noticed her, guys have a very sharp radar when it comes to such things. He wasn't very sure what about her caught his eye her straight falling hair like a black waterfall, or her eyes like a cat's full of energy and dreams, gleaming like green emerald, or her co-ordinated sense of dress.
Now if you know a girl or some common friend introduces you it becomes easy to well make an entrance. But how do you do it if you're in the middle of a metro coach in India, where lechorous men with corny lines have made it almost impossible for a normal sane guy to make his case, heightened risk being that given the skewed sex ratio its also almost certain that the girl you like is going to be...well not available. But anyways thats the second question the first was about making an intro. The step which even the handsomest, richest and smartest men can get wrong. But our protagonist (i desist from calling him hero for a certain reason) saw his opening and he blessed his luck for having roomie who was into fashion journalism.
And with his opening line repeating in his mind our novelist ( or aspiring to be one, really works as a journo with one of the dailies, does the crime beat, hates every bit of it) nudged his way to our dear lady (sweet girl, really hard working, but more about her later, right now the situation is quite tense, our chap is barely managing to break out into sweat).
Now when your are nudging your way across a crowded coach, you do cause some bit of a commotion, even if you try to be as soft as possible about it and a tiger making its way towards its prey (hey that rhymes) through high grass doesn't want to startle the prey. Luckily though our girl was on her ipod and busily sms-ing away (her boyfriend? perhaps, who knows, always presume its to her brother who she loves dearly) to notice all the commotion Mr. Sahil was causing.
So there he was standing in front of her ready with his now reheased over a hundred times the grand opening line. The problem though was how to get the lady's attention who was still on the ipod and sms (somethings can be a double edged sword). Well as god got to do his bit he did by letting a major station come, where more people got off than on. And the ensuing commotion made our lady to take of her earphones and look up. And just as the train started again and before missy could get back to her busy-ness the following things happened.
Sahil: 'A very nice adaptation from Valentino's fall line that they showed last month at Milan'
Now as dilli ki kudeeyaan are known, the reaction wasn't exactly as romantically inclined as our chap would like it.
Girl: 'and you're who' in a tone which meant bug off before the point of my shoe find how sensitive your balls are.
However, as stumped our chap was, he knew this was one of the few times he had seen someone pretty and had an opening line too. So willing to take the risk of his two most dear assets.
Sahil: 'Someone who knows what Valentino showed last month, someone who knows its a rather nice, infact nicer inspiration from the original, and someone who just can't help admit that its looking awfully nice on you'
The greatest of mountains move and even if outside this novel the scene next would've been the crying holding his crotch and making his way back in pain in this story the following happened.
Girl: Giggling, increasing in volume slowly till she reached the uncontrolable laughter stage 'ha ha ha ha'. Sahil managing a smile hoping the laughter was positive, that he was the undisputed conquerer of the first step in this bout.
'Ok i must admit it, that was a decently good opening hello, come have a seat'
Heaving a hidden sigh of relief our dear chap takes the seat next to her (readers note again god's hand here, morning rush hour seat in Metro, never seen).
Girl: 'This designer at the shop I work, Elvira's in CP, made this for me. How come you know this is from Valentino's, you're a designer or something?
Sahil: 'Ermm...no i'm a journo...my roomie is a fashion journo, so well. I'm Sahil by the way'
Girl: 'I'm Sarika, and looks like my station is coming up'
Sahil: (cursing the speed of the train before a realization dawned on him) Our station. I also get down here.
This is where the girl smiles back, understanding the guy's persistence but comes up with a disappointing line.
As they get off the train
Sarika: 'Am meeting my friends here, we share an auto to the shop'
Sahil: 'Oh ok, so do we meet again, for a coffee or something?'
Sarika: 'Hmmm, maybe lets see, I guess the conversation that started really didn't get a chance to take off and I would be real interested to see where it goes, but then again, going out with a stranger in Delhi, that would be real mad' And with a giggle she waved him bye as she turned right to meet up with her friends
And here we are, inside Elvira's a designer store, with our dear lady Sarika having saved our protagonist from a very embarassing ending to the second step by actually letting him in the shop (maybe she's a little mad, or too adventorous). Though you know with guys they can mess up even the best of situations and in the process making an ass of themselves, like spilling coffee on a very expensive dress...
'The store's closed'
'Yes I know but I'm not here to really buy anything. I was just hoping to share a cup of coffee. Look I even brought the coffee '
She smiled through the closed door at the semi-stranger holding up the thermas cheerfully. It was hard to say no to a persistant guy, much less one who brought you coffee at the end of the day.
She let the stranger...well now that he has been introduced...Sahil, in. They had bumped into each other in the Metro, only figuratively though :P. She was happily sitting there on her seat next to the door and he was stuck somewhere in the middle of the coach. But from there he had noticed her, guys have a very sharp radar when it comes to such things. He wasn't very sure what about her caught his eye her straight falling hair like a black waterfall, or her eyes like a cat's full of energy and dreams, gleaming like green emerald, or her co-ordinated sense of dress.
Now if you know a girl or some common friend introduces you it becomes easy to well make an entrance. But how do you do it if you're in the middle of a metro coach in India, where lechorous men with corny lines have made it almost impossible for a normal sane guy to make his case, heightened risk being that given the skewed sex ratio its also almost certain that the girl you like is going to be...well not available. But anyways thats the second question the first was about making an intro. The step which even the handsomest, richest and smartest men can get wrong. But our protagonist (i desist from calling him hero for a certain reason) saw his opening and he blessed his luck for having roomie who was into fashion journalism.
And with his opening line repeating in his mind our novelist ( or aspiring to be one, really works as a journo with one of the dailies, does the crime beat, hates every bit of it) nudged his way to our dear lady (sweet girl, really hard working, but more about her later, right now the situation is quite tense, our chap is barely managing to break out into sweat).
Now when your are nudging your way across a crowded coach, you do cause some bit of a commotion, even if you try to be as soft as possible about it and a tiger making its way towards its prey (hey that rhymes) through high grass doesn't want to startle the prey. Luckily though our girl was on her ipod and busily sms-ing away (her boyfriend? perhaps, who knows, always presume its to her brother who she loves dearly) to notice all the commotion Mr. Sahil was causing.
So there he was standing in front of her ready with his now reheased over a hundred times the grand opening line. The problem though was how to get the lady's attention who was still on the ipod and sms (somethings can be a double edged sword). Well as god got to do his bit he did by letting a major station come, where more people got off than on. And the ensuing commotion made our lady to take of her earphones and look up. And just as the train started again and before missy could get back to her busy-ness the following things happened.
Sahil: 'A very nice adaptation from Valentino's fall line that they showed last month at Milan'
Now as dilli ki kudeeyaan are known, the reaction wasn't exactly as romantically inclined as our chap would like it.
Girl: 'and you're who' in a tone which meant bug off before the point of my shoe find how sensitive your balls are.
However, as stumped our chap was, he knew this was one of the few times he had seen someone pretty and had an opening line too. So willing to take the risk of his two most dear assets.
Sahil: 'Someone who knows what Valentino showed last month, someone who knows its a rather nice, infact nicer inspiration from the original, and someone who just can't help admit that its looking awfully nice on you'
The greatest of mountains move and even if outside this novel the scene next would've been the crying holding his crotch and making his way back in pain in this story the following happened.
Girl: Giggling, increasing in volume slowly till she reached the uncontrolable laughter stage 'ha ha ha ha'. Sahil managing a smile hoping the laughter was positive, that he was the undisputed conquerer of the first step in this bout.
'Ok i must admit it, that was a decently good opening hello, come have a seat'
Heaving a hidden sigh of relief our dear chap takes the seat next to her (readers note again god's hand here, morning rush hour seat in Metro, never seen).
Girl: 'This designer at the shop I work, Elvira's in CP, made this for me. How come you know this is from Valentino's, you're a designer or something?
Sahil: 'Ermm...no i'm a journo...my roomie is a fashion journo, so well. I'm Sahil by the way'
Girl: 'I'm Sarika, and looks like my station is coming up'
Sahil: (cursing the speed of the train before a realization dawned on him) Our station. I also get down here.
This is where the girl smiles back, understanding the guy's persistence but comes up with a disappointing line.
As they get off the train
Sarika: 'Am meeting my friends here, we share an auto to the shop'
Sahil: 'Oh ok, so do we meet again, for a coffee or something?'
Sarika: 'Hmmm, maybe lets see, I guess the conversation that started really didn't get a chance to take off and I would be real interested to see where it goes, but then again, going out with a stranger in Delhi, that would be real mad' And with a giggle she waved him bye as she turned right to meet up with her friends
And here we are, inside Elvira's a designer store, with our dear lady Sarika having saved our protagonist from a very embarassing ending to the second step by actually letting him in the shop (maybe she's a little mad, or too adventorous). Though you know with guys they can mess up even the best of situations and in the process making an ass of themselves, like spilling coffee on a very expensive dress...
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Stranger in the city
"They put more ice than liquor in the LIT here, you would rather do well ordering the muggers' pitcher...very potent"
And that is how the conversation between the man in the green chequered shirt and the one in the Chelsea jersey started. Had one been there for hours or days one could have seen the Chelsea guy almost permanently fixated to this place for hours and days in the bar cum pool joint, so one guesses he knew about the drinks when he set out to make his recommendations. LIT btw is referring to the drink known in its long form as Long Island Iced Tea, though probably the only liquer the drink lacks is tea.
Why the Chelsea guy had made that comment to this chequered shirt man is quite unknown since of all the time that he had been here other than playing pool he had always kept to himself sitting at the barstool just observing the crowd.
It could have been that he want to pry the chap into ordering a pitcher, for having ordered it the chequered shirt guy realized that...well one pitcher of that stuff really wasnt doable by a singleton.
And so the two of them got down to demolishing it, together. And when they did, like most times when one finds himself in a train journey or a bar with a stranger one ends up sharing the most deeply personal things of one's life before coming to such trivial stuff such as exchanging names. so spoke the chequered shirt guy, of his girlfriend having ditched him, his dog having gotten run over and a bad appraisal all in one week. And though he had liked his girlfriend a lot and didn't care much for the dumb job he was in, he really missed his dog.
The dog had been his companion since college days, having found him lost in a park as a small pup with an injured leg, a fine little specimen of an alsatian, he had taken the shivering little thing to a vet and then to his hostel room and while the hostel didn't really allow dogs in the premises, most wardens would find themselves unable to resist a soft spot for a little whimpering pup. And that had been the saga of the two of them. The pup grew and the guy graduated and the two of them together adapted to a new city, the pup to his new colony and the guy to his job as a software coder.
At the half pitcher level the chequered guy talked about how he really didn't like his software job, how he had lofty goals of doing something meaningful when in college and now he really didn't know what he was doing other than being a small part of a huge system repairing one small piece of a gigantic machine.
Some of his best friends had also been ripped apart...having taken up jobs in different cities and here it was time to reband, though in a strange city all he had with him were his colleagues who seemed to suffer from the same gigantic machine syndrome, with weekends spent mostly catching up sleep or some other laundering of pay in silly things which after a while got boring.
Life would have become hell had he not met Sarita (finally some names). By a rare chance in a crowded country the two of them found themselves together and alone in a slowish lift for about five floors wherein she pointed out to him that his shoe laces were open, in response to which he managed to prove that girls can make a guy go very clumsy by dropping his files upon trying to lace them back, which evoked a light cackle from her and made her bend down to help him and then the exchanged names and rest is history. But alas the gigantic machine could not see its nuts and bolts getting together so they posted Sarita onsite for two years. It was a great move for her career but for a relationship only into its eighth month it was a death knell, they both knew it but played along till one day when she called and told him that she had started seeing someone else there.
After all of his sob story was over, he looked at the Chelsea guy probably expecting some comforting words to come out, but what happened was totally different after looking at him straight for like a whole minute that guy just burst out laughing...a laugh loud and resounding, for a moment it left him flustered and then he couldn't but help out laughing himself, almost as loudly as the the Chelsea guy.
And just like that the evening turned from one of mourning to one of laughter, from bitching about the boss or to some of the wierd things of his now ex, to the F1 season to the treks he had been to and on and on and on
They crashed at the chequered guy's one room flat ordered pizza...watched die hard series and conked out. Then next morning...or afternoon one should say late afternoon the Chelsea guy dragged him out of the house to another small apartment half way across town. The door opened to reveal a bunch of cronies similar to them huddled over maps, almost as if to plan a robbery, though they were into something a shade less exciting, trying to finalize on the destination of their next trek. The chequered (though he is now wearing a different shirt ) shirt guy didn't know when he started of as a stranger and when he became one of the gang. After an hour of deliberation on location, date and other such details everybody slunk out for lunch, some split up to head out elsewhere while in the remaining another deliberation as to where to head for lunch began only to be cut short by one member who was just getting of his cell to anounce that Ramesh had just set up his Nintendo Wii, not that one would begin to think how many of them there knew Ramesh, but they all knew the Wii and that quickly decided where they were to head.
Cramped up in a taxi with half of the gang...the other following in another...the chequered shirt guy smiled...wasn't it just yesterday that he felt a stranger to the city.
And that is how the conversation between the man in the green chequered shirt and the one in the Chelsea jersey started. Had one been there for hours or days one could have seen the Chelsea guy almost permanently fixated to this place for hours and days in the bar cum pool joint, so one guesses he knew about the drinks when he set out to make his recommendations. LIT btw is referring to the drink known in its long form as Long Island Iced Tea, though probably the only liquer the drink lacks is tea.
Why the Chelsea guy had made that comment to this chequered shirt man is quite unknown since of all the time that he had been here other than playing pool he had always kept to himself sitting at the barstool just observing the crowd.
It could have been that he want to pry the chap into ordering a pitcher, for having ordered it the chequered shirt guy realized that...well one pitcher of that stuff really wasnt doable by a singleton.
And so the two of them got down to demolishing it, together. And when they did, like most times when one finds himself in a train journey or a bar with a stranger one ends up sharing the most deeply personal things of one's life before coming to such trivial stuff such as exchanging names. so spoke the chequered shirt guy, of his girlfriend having ditched him, his dog having gotten run over and a bad appraisal all in one week. And though he had liked his girlfriend a lot and didn't care much for the dumb job he was in, he really missed his dog.
The dog had been his companion since college days, having found him lost in a park as a small pup with an injured leg, a fine little specimen of an alsatian, he had taken the shivering little thing to a vet and then to his hostel room and while the hostel didn't really allow dogs in the premises, most wardens would find themselves unable to resist a soft spot for a little whimpering pup. And that had been the saga of the two of them. The pup grew and the guy graduated and the two of them together adapted to a new city, the pup to his new colony and the guy to his job as a software coder.
At the half pitcher level the chequered guy talked about how he really didn't like his software job, how he had lofty goals of doing something meaningful when in college and now he really didn't know what he was doing other than being a small part of a huge system repairing one small piece of a gigantic machine.
Some of his best friends had also been ripped apart...having taken up jobs in different cities and here it was time to reband, though in a strange city all he had with him were his colleagues who seemed to suffer from the same gigantic machine syndrome, with weekends spent mostly catching up sleep or some other laundering of pay in silly things which after a while got boring.
Life would have become hell had he not met Sarita (finally some names). By a rare chance in a crowded country the two of them found themselves together and alone in a slowish lift for about five floors wherein she pointed out to him that his shoe laces were open, in response to which he managed to prove that girls can make a guy go very clumsy by dropping his files upon trying to lace them back, which evoked a light cackle from her and made her bend down to help him and then the exchanged names and rest is history. But alas the gigantic machine could not see its nuts and bolts getting together so they posted Sarita onsite for two years. It was a great move for her career but for a relationship only into its eighth month it was a death knell, they both knew it but played along till one day when she called and told him that she had started seeing someone else there.
After all of his sob story was over, he looked at the Chelsea guy probably expecting some comforting words to come out, but what happened was totally different after looking at him straight for like a whole minute that guy just burst out laughing...a laugh loud and resounding, for a moment it left him flustered and then he couldn't but help out laughing himself, almost as loudly as the the Chelsea guy.
And just like that the evening turned from one of mourning to one of laughter, from bitching about the boss or to some of the wierd things of his now ex, to the F1 season to the treks he had been to and on and on and on
They crashed at the chequered guy's one room flat ordered pizza...watched die hard series and conked out. Then next morning...or afternoon one should say late afternoon the Chelsea guy dragged him out of the house to another small apartment half way across town. The door opened to reveal a bunch of cronies similar to them huddled over maps, almost as if to plan a robbery, though they were into something a shade less exciting, trying to finalize on the destination of their next trek. The chequered (though he is now wearing a different shirt ) shirt guy didn't know when he started of as a stranger and when he became one of the gang. After an hour of deliberation on location, date and other such details everybody slunk out for lunch, some split up to head out elsewhere while in the remaining another deliberation as to where to head for lunch began only to be cut short by one member who was just getting of his cell to anounce that Ramesh had just set up his Nintendo Wii, not that one would begin to think how many of them there knew Ramesh, but they all knew the Wii and that quickly decided where they were to head.
Cramped up in a taxi with half of the gang...the other following in another...the chequered shirt guy smiled...wasn't it just yesterday that he felt a stranger to the city.
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