Guess what? After nine years, Preethi bumped into Nawaz yesterday. Don't you think it's strange that she should, just after I write about her love story a few days back? Well, I think it is.....infact I keep looking down at my hands to see where exactly the magic is hidden.
Anyways, she was walking down precariously, balancing on her high heeled slippers. High heels not only give one the view of a taller person, they also bestow on their owners a sense of zen; the total and complete involvement needed in simply placing one footstep after the other. But ofcourse, some seem as if they were born wearing six inch killers on their heels;maybe there is something zen-like about that too.
Preethi's boyfriend, Mohan was waiting for her in front of the movie hall in Garuda Mall. He had tickets for Mungaaru Male. She was very angry with him, because he hadn't picked her up from work. This time ,atleast, she would make sure she didn't talk to him, even by mistake, until it was the interval. The movie would start in five minutes and the highly polished floor made sure she took her time walking across it. She got off the escalator and saw Mohan standing at the doorway. She conciously looked away when he waved at her. Wondering if she was being sufficently checked out by the hangers-around, she did her ususal scan-across-casually-with intent-look. Much to her annoyment everyone seemed busy in their own worlds.
Suddenly across the floor she saw him. Nawaz stood talking on his cell phone and since he hadn't made the scan-across-casually-with intent-look, to see if he were being checked out, he stood gently stroking his soon to be paunch. Preethi's heart quickened; "Ushu" she thought to herself, maybe she should just pretend she hadn't seen him.She looked back at Mohan who was gesturing wildly about how late is was getting. And immdeiately she turned around and walked towards Nawaz.
"Hi stranger" she said, in a voice that she had cultivated with immense patience, one which she thought combined the right degrees of sexiness and cuteness. He turned his head and his eyebrows shot up after the initial moment of registration. "One minute", he mouthed, sticking up a finger. "Ya ya" she mouthed back animatedly.
O God, she should never have come up to him, she thought. The movie must have started already and Mohan must be getting more bugged than she wanted him to. But this gave her time to look at Nawaz. He seemed too much of a man now. Nothing had changed perceptibly but still it had. "Hmmmm, I think I'll just sign out to him that I'm going off"
Just when she was about to, he hung up and said "HEY How are you?"
"O I'm fine. I'm fine!What a surprise to see you here!"
"Ya I came to book tickets for tomorrow's show"
"O ok!"
"How are you?"
"I'm very fine. How are you?"
"I'm absolutely great!"
"So what are you doing these days?Dad's business only?"
"O you still remember!Ya very well it is going. What are you doing? How is your family?"
"O I'm working in the Human Resources department of this company. Family is good".
"Hmm what a surprise no?"
Both managed to laugh a little, was he already married, she thought to herself.
"So when is your marriage?"
"O mine is in November", he said
She was taken aback, she never expected him to have an answer to the question. She thought he would have laughed it off or said , "Whenever you are ready". Wasn't that the Nawaz she knew?
"What about yours?", he asked
"Huh?"
"When is your wedding?"
"Mine?O........mine... is in October"; she added hurriedly, "Listen Nawaz I have to run, it's getting really late now."
"O ya okay. Nice seeing you here after all these years."
"Ya so surprising!Okay bye ,I'll run now"
"Bye!All the best!!"
She waved quickly and walked towards Mohan. "It's so late already and then you come and waste so much time speaking to some random guys"
"Not some random guy he happened to be completely crazy about me."
"Ya you will surely drive everyone crazy. Can we go in now?"
She hated entering the movie hall late, especially if their seats were not at the corners. After saying the customary excuse-me's, they finally sat down to the show. She sat glumly. The whole world seemed to be moving ahead, leaving her alone in a movie hall, playing a loud, senseless movie, next to a man who.......who....who hadn't picked her up from work! "Uff! Why couldn't she remember that she wasn't supposed to have talked to him until the interval?!"
"Was this the kind of guy she wanted to marry and spend the rest of her life with?", she wondered. "What if he behaved so callously after marriage also?What would she do when she would feel so lonely?When she cried?"
She looked at him "Maybe all that is not important. Atleast he got the movie tickets. And last Sunday had been so much fun. It won't be such a bad idea afterall"
In the interval he walked away to ease himself. She sat alone and wondered when, and if ever, Mohan would ask her to marry him.
4/27/2007
4/25/2007
Baa-thos
(This post is dedicated to my brother-in-law)
Babu, made a friend yesterday in the market-place. When he asked to be introduced, the butcher laughed and said that his goat didn't have a name, but if Babu wished he could call him Bakra.
Bakra had been carefully fed and fattened and today was going to be his day of liberation. Somehow looking at the wise eyes of the meaty goat, Babu felt a deep sense of the world and it's ways. He looked at the butcher and asked "How do you find it in your heart to cut up the friend you fed and brought up with your own hands?" The butcher was like many people I often witness, who think you've made a joke when you've asked a question. He and his skinny assistant looked at each other and laughed. Babu sat sometime near the goat, then got up and asked the butcher if he could take Bakra for a walk.
The butcher's magnificent paunch and the assistants intrusive adam's apple bobbed up and down in mirth, as the butcher agreed to the proposition. Babu untied Bakra and said "Come". Bakra stood rooted. Babu gently tugged at his tether, Bakra's wise eyes seemed like they masked a not so intense intelligence or a great acceptance of one's destiny; one couldn't judge in a hurry. "Hurra Hurra", said Babu. And finally it was that call which usually moves buffaloes that seemed to strike a chord with Bakra, and he bleated a little, and strode forward gently.
Babu and Bakra walked hand-in-rope across the mountains of green chillies, succulent tomatoes and fragrant corriander; past the voluptuous vegetable vendors who broke out in song, touched by the sight which filled their eyes:
"Babu had a fat lamb, fat lamb, fat lamb
Babu had a fat lamb
Who's fleece was black and muddy.
Everywhere that Babu went, Babu went, Babu went
Everywhere that Babu went
Bakra followed like a chaddie-buddy"
In step with the beat of the song, Babu led the way, with Bakra sagely following, savouring the smells of his last walk around the world. Bakra bleated and lovingly butted the kind soul who was leading him. Babu turned around and said "O you poor thing, hold on". Babu stepped to the bakery at the corner and bought a bottle of mineral water. He walked to Bakra and un-screwed the cap and held it to his mouth. Bakra in all his eagerness almost chewed the entire bottle away. There they sat, two friends, not needing any words to bridge the silence they shared.
It was time for Bakra to be taken back. Babu tied him to the post and as he turned to leave, the butcher came up to him and said "I don't think I'll do any business today, my knife seems to have rusted suddenly", and he hesitated, as if to say something else, but he just smiled and lightly touched Babu on his shoulder and went away.
Babu went home but I think it will be a long time till he goes back to the market. He doesn't want to know his friend's fate yet. Until then his wife will be the one who will have to buy the vegetables.
Babu, made a friend yesterday in the market-place. When he asked to be introduced, the butcher laughed and said that his goat didn't have a name, but if Babu wished he could call him Bakra.
Bakra had been carefully fed and fattened and today was going to be his day of liberation. Somehow looking at the wise eyes of the meaty goat, Babu felt a deep sense of the world and it's ways. He looked at the butcher and asked "How do you find it in your heart to cut up the friend you fed and brought up with your own hands?" The butcher was like many people I often witness, who think you've made a joke when you've asked a question. He and his skinny assistant looked at each other and laughed. Babu sat sometime near the goat, then got up and asked the butcher if he could take Bakra for a walk.
The butcher's magnificent paunch and the assistants intrusive adam's apple bobbed up and down in mirth, as the butcher agreed to the proposition. Babu untied Bakra and said "Come". Bakra stood rooted. Babu gently tugged at his tether, Bakra's wise eyes seemed like they masked a not so intense intelligence or a great acceptance of one's destiny; one couldn't judge in a hurry. "Hurra Hurra", said Babu. And finally it was that call which usually moves buffaloes that seemed to strike a chord with Bakra, and he bleated a little, and strode forward gently.
Babu and Bakra walked hand-in-rope across the mountains of green chillies, succulent tomatoes and fragrant corriander; past the voluptuous vegetable vendors who broke out in song, touched by the sight which filled their eyes:
"Babu had a fat lamb, fat lamb, fat lamb
Babu had a fat lamb
Who's fleece was black and muddy.
Everywhere that Babu went, Babu went, Babu went
Everywhere that Babu went
Bakra followed like a chaddie-buddy"
In step with the beat of the song, Babu led the way, with Bakra sagely following, savouring the smells of his last walk around the world. Bakra bleated and lovingly butted the kind soul who was leading him. Babu turned around and said "O you poor thing, hold on". Babu stepped to the bakery at the corner and bought a bottle of mineral water. He walked to Bakra and un-screwed the cap and held it to his mouth. Bakra in all his eagerness almost chewed the entire bottle away. There they sat, two friends, not needing any words to bridge the silence they shared.
It was time for Bakra to be taken back. Babu tied him to the post and as he turned to leave, the butcher came up to him and said "I don't think I'll do any business today, my knife seems to have rusted suddenly", and he hesitated, as if to say something else, but he just smiled and lightly touched Babu on his shoulder and went away.
Babu went home but I think it will be a long time till he goes back to the market. He doesn't want to know his friend's fate yet. Until then his wife will be the one who will have to buy the vegetables.
4/20/2007
Drummer Drums
My sisters most favourite WOW...words of wisdom
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it’s because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears however measured or far away.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it’s because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears however measured or far away.
4/18/2007
First Kisses* (Part 1)
Preethi and Nawaz
Sindu's party was a noisy one, she outshouted the crowd to introduce Preethi and Nawaz to each other. It wasn't much of an introduction because they knew each other's names already. Everytime Preethi would hear his mother call him, she would smile. Their eyes had met all those times across their balconies and now it was time for their fingertips to, in an excuse called a handshake.
That handshake led to lunches, dinners and long conversations. On their eighth date, Nawaz took Preethi for a long drive into the summer evening. She smiled thinking he had given her a life, if life were a box of choclates. He telling her how beautiful she was, they went through their lives, one chocolate after the other, until the last one. She asked him if he would take it, he chivalrously offered it to her.
Intoxicated by the summer breeze, his intense eyes and descriptions of her own beauty, she put the last one in her mouth, and asked him if he had changed his mind.
Years have passed and lines were drawn, where they actually had no business, between hearts. But when Preethi talks about that kiss, she still blushes and smiles slightly idiotically.
(*All names changed on request)
Sindu's party was a noisy one, she outshouted the crowd to introduce Preethi and Nawaz to each other. It wasn't much of an introduction because they knew each other's names already. Everytime Preethi would hear his mother call him, she would smile. Their eyes had met all those times across their balconies and now it was time for their fingertips to, in an excuse called a handshake.
That handshake led to lunches, dinners and long conversations. On their eighth date, Nawaz took Preethi for a long drive into the summer evening. She smiled thinking he had given her a life, if life were a box of choclates. He telling her how beautiful she was, they went through their lives, one chocolate after the other, until the last one. She asked him if he would take it, he chivalrously offered it to her.
Intoxicated by the summer breeze, his intense eyes and descriptions of her own beauty, she put the last one in her mouth, and asked him if he had changed his mind.
Years have passed and lines were drawn, where they actually had no business, between hearts. But when Preethi talks about that kiss, she still blushes and smiles slightly idiotically.
(*All names changed on request)
4/16/2007
I wanted my first entry to be a love story...
I know someone called Balaji. I call him Baals. He calls me rarely. We can't meet as often as I would like us to, because we live in different time zones. When I wake up Baals is falling asleep, when he opens his eyes, I'm busy dreaming about him. Weekends we meet.
I'll call and say 'Let's meet', he'll say 'In or Out?'. Baals is a paradoxical guy. 'Out' means when we stay in. We like to sit around a lot, so we find different places to do so, his room or mine, or some place in the city. 'In' is when we ride on his bike to the outskirts of the city. Baals says that riding out helps us soak in ourselves. Maybe he has a point.
Yesterday was hang out time. We sat in a loud, coffee place. Neither of us drink coffee and noise makes us both cranky. When I'm cranky I say nasty things and I said a lot of them then. Baals is a gentle guy, he hates scenes, especially unnecessary ones. Baals said 'I don't think you particularly want to hang-out today, I'll call you later', and he walked off, without looking back. I called out to him 'Baals....BAALS', this seemed to amuse the young people on the table next to me. They said 'O God, listen to her man!!!', 'Why do people even try to be hep?!!
Funny how people can for no reason say mean things. I shrugged my shoulders and went off. All the way back home, I could only think of how he never looked back.
When things go wrong they really do. Today was an important presentation and my promotion depended on it. I had practised hard in front of the bathroom mirror. Things seemed to be going well. Fully confident of the impact I seemed to be making, I ended with a flourish, 'Now ladies and gentlemen, the court is in your baals'.
I didn't get the promotion. Infact, they've sent me back to training. I sat the entire day with a lady who told me ' It's- Can I take your cOll and not "your caal". One needs to round one's O's'
At the end of that day, I cOlled Baals.
'Baals..', I said.
'In or Out?', he asked. Immediately the burdens of everyone in the whole, wide world, which had somehow gotten misplaced on my poor shoulders, disappeared. Just like that. Still didn't want to push my luck too far
'Don't you have work now?', I asked.
'I'm bunking', he said.
'O then In! In!' I said.
'Ok hang on I'll come to your office and pick you up'.
I hung up and wanted to fly. But my boss would have disapproved a little, he's a strange guy. So I merely jumped a little in my chair.
'However bleak the world may seem', I thought to myself, 'Thank God, I'll always have Baals'.
I'll call and say 'Let's meet', he'll say 'In or Out?'. Baals is a paradoxical guy. 'Out' means when we stay in. We like to sit around a lot, so we find different places to do so, his room or mine, or some place in the city. 'In' is when we ride on his bike to the outskirts of the city. Baals says that riding out helps us soak in ourselves. Maybe he has a point.
Yesterday was hang out time. We sat in a loud, coffee place. Neither of us drink coffee and noise makes us both cranky. When I'm cranky I say nasty things and I said a lot of them then. Baals is a gentle guy, he hates scenes, especially unnecessary ones. Baals said 'I don't think you particularly want to hang-out today, I'll call you later', and he walked off, without looking back. I called out to him 'Baals....BAALS', this seemed to amuse the young people on the table next to me. They said 'O God, listen to her man!!!', 'Why do people even try to be hep?!!
Funny how people can for no reason say mean things. I shrugged my shoulders and went off. All the way back home, I could only think of how he never looked back.
When things go wrong they really do. Today was an important presentation and my promotion depended on it. I had practised hard in front of the bathroom mirror. Things seemed to be going well. Fully confident of the impact I seemed to be making, I ended with a flourish, 'Now ladies and gentlemen, the court is in your baals'.
I didn't get the promotion. Infact, they've sent me back to training. I sat the entire day with a lady who told me ' It's- Can I take your cOll and not "your caal". One needs to round one's O's'
At the end of that day, I cOlled Baals.
'Baals..', I said.
'In or Out?', he asked. Immediately the burdens of everyone in the whole, wide world, which had somehow gotten misplaced on my poor shoulders, disappeared. Just like that. Still didn't want to push my luck too far
'Don't you have work now?', I asked.
'I'm bunking', he said.
'O then In! In!' I said.
'Ok hang on I'll come to your office and pick you up'.
I hung up and wanted to fly. But my boss would have disapproved a little, he's a strange guy. So I merely jumped a little in my chair.
'However bleak the world may seem', I thought to myself, 'Thank God, I'll always have Baals'.
Hello
I write this blog especially for my sister who said she would be proud of me if I did. Don't ask me why she said something like that. But if you still went ahead and did- it's because she's a character. You'll know soon enough because she is going to feature often here.
It's also for anyone I know, well, or even remotely, because you're going to feature here too! It's even for those whose stories I plan to bend so beyond fact, that they feel a little bad I never write about them. It's also for people I don't even know. For the bored. For the interested. For the ones in office who are reading this, (especially the one's who write long blog posts on official time, passionately worrying and complaining about how the system sucks because people don't have integrity). It's for ones who don't have offices to go to.
I even write for the people who dare or care enough to look within and the ones who don't. To those who think they have to ask why and the ones who have all the answers.
I write because I also do. There are countless blogs floating out there, but these are my words. They don't reflect me, they belong to the vast www.
I live every moment.......I also write.
It's also for anyone I know, well, or even remotely, because you're going to feature here too! It's even for those whose stories I plan to bend so beyond fact, that they feel a little bad I never write about them. It's also for people I don't even know. For the bored. For the interested. For the ones in office who are reading this, (especially the one's who write long blog posts on official time, passionately worrying and complaining about how the system sucks because people don't have integrity). It's for ones who don't have offices to go to.
I even write for the people who dare or care enough to look within and the ones who don't. To those who think they have to ask why and the ones who have all the answers.
I write because I also do. There are countless blogs floating out there, but these are my words. They don't reflect me, they belong to the vast www.
I live every moment.......I also write.
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