A Lost Evening

The phone glowed and then vibrated. Well, they both should have happened simultaneously, but the phone's a bit slow now - with what it being almost 1/5th my age. So no qualms there. I digress even before I start. Well.. coming back. The phone showed 1 new message. There. That smile automatically came up on my lips. I picked up my cell. Unlocked and clicked view. Now it takes about 4-5 seconds for the sms to open up - remember how I told a while ago the phone was slow, yes? - and I was just anxious, with the smile on my face.

Anticlimax. Buy NA Plot near Karjat. Contact Mr. Anil. So, Mr. Anil - your account has been credited with a lot of curses from me. And to balance, I've taken away a good share of your goodwill and equity. I looked at the clock. It was 4:40 PM. So if I started now ... 10 mins to get ready ... 25 mins to walk to Nahur and get a ticket. Surely there will be a train at around 520, and I can reach in the next 30 mins. So 6 I can reach in any case at the latest. So I just picked up my phone, and started to compose an sms.

"What time does your party start".

"730 types .........dinner hai...."

Pat came her reply. Quick calculations ... 7:30 - 6 = 1.5 hours is what I've got if I can make it quick. But then again, was it worth making her take all the trouble and having her club back to back programs. She will get tired even before the party. So had to give it a second thought. And just then the door opened, and mother dearest entered. She was back from her singing lessons .. yeah she's an enthu I know, very good for her. I do like socializing, but have never been so good at it. You know, communication has never been my forte. I mean, I can chat up a random person, but to sustain the communication - nah, that art is beyond me. I think what would help here is a cours.... err... but i digress. Yet again.

Where was I ? Oh yes. Mom was back. Dad got up after his afternoon nap. And even before I could lay my proposal for the evening, I was booked.

"Apun ko abhi ye kaam karne ka hai" .. that's my mom when she wants me to do some work with her.

I blanked out. Maa kasam. Kya kaam aa raha hai. And I'm usually not one to say no .. you know I'm the achha bachha that everyone talks about in a family. Still thought, theek hai .. jo bhi ho, can finish it in the next 20 odd minutes and i'll still have an hour of meeting time. Sounds good that.

That was when it all broke loose. I was called in front of the computer. Dad was on the comp, and trying to do something .. don't know what. He asked me how do I type a letter in the computer.

This time I really blanked out. How do I answer this question? I mean, yes, I can say use MS Word to type. But if somebody asks such a question, almost surely doesn't know how to use Word. Now granted, it is no rocket science to use MS Word. But then leave it to my dad, to make lighting a matchstick a rocket science. I could easily anticipate the next 3 questions that would follow when I say "Use MS Word". And I also knew  equally well that there would be 3 more questions before the 3 that I anticipated. These came up

1. What can I do in Word
2. Where do I find Word
3. How do I start Word - single click or double click.

I gave some oral instructions on how to locate and start Word. All this while I had been thinking it would have been some small text/letter that he needed to type out. But when I saw what MS Word was about to get, I shrank back. There lay a bundle of pages - some 20 odd pages. And by the look of it, I'm sure they required some kind of formatting, paging, header, footer etc. Itihaas gawah hai - I am not the best when it comes to teaching parents to use the computer. Add to it if the student is my dad, then to fir ho gaya.

I started making some plans to excuse myself somehow. Some 20 odd mins later, my dad called out, and asked me how to save. Save was done. Barrage of questions followed on the Save feature. The Save As feature. The Auto-recovery feature. The Open feature. I don't think I've ever had so much trouble explaining the Save, Save As features. Like Ever. Hair would have been ripped out had I been alone. I did some estimations, and figured out that if this went on like this, then surely I'd lose my calm and peace. So, I volunteered to do the typing. 20 odd pages - that's fine. It shouldn't take long. I type fast.

Mistake. As if to prove me right, there was a loud crack and the weather became stormy and all set to rain. The weather became more and more beautiful, and I got engrossed more and more into the typing. Type - type - type - type - type. My whole estimation went haywire. What I had thought of finishing up in 20-30 mins, ended up taking 2 hours of my evening time. Here I was ... on a beautiful saturday evening ... one for which I could've killed to be with my beloved ... but was instead, sitting at home, typing away to glory. half hour became an hour, hour became two. And I finally finished. Yay ! at last. Little did I know, abhi to kaam aadha hi hua hai. Proof reading baki hai

Dad sat by my side and started reading out whatever I'd typed. Few mistakes here and there. Few sentences to be edited. Some grammatical mistakes - obviously not mine (I hate grammatical mistakes). Few sentences to be revised and redrafted. Couldn't leave in between. The one time in the whole of my lifetime with phone, that I didn't sit with my phone beside me. All in all, an hour and 30 mins more spent. Got up and it was 910. 3 hours 40 mins away from the phone. I didn't know what I felt. Was it anger? Was it frustration ? Was it hopelessness ? Or was it just plain simple sorrow for an evening lost.

I didn't know yet. Because I hadn't checked my phone yet. 10 missed calls. 4 unread messages. I guess I felt all of the above for the next half hour, including a lot of disappointment. It didn't help when I learnt that my beloved was not in a mood after all. And she's not one who is ever in 'not a mood'. Felt ever so responsible. 50 lashes ? 100 lashes ? There has to be some measure of punishment for letting people down. I haven't figured that out yet. And tomorrow morning doesn't look so bright either.

There are a lot of dark clouds hovering on the horizon right now. But I am the optimist. I choose to find the silver lining. The Evening today has been lost, and most likely the morning tomorrow. But I do hope to redeem the evening tomorrow, and maybe some more ...

I hope ...

Aditya's Diaries

Aditya's Diaries

This is from before the days of blogging, when the book was where the soul could be poured into. Aditya maintains a personal diary for his thoughts. What follow are some random leaflets (most of them being parts of the leaflets) from his diary. The entries focus on his encounters/experiences/meetings with Anushree - a good friend.

25 Nov 2006

"Haan utar.. tank pe mil. Misal khate hain", saying so Mukul disconnected. I had just reached. My weekend getaway home was messy. Thought of giving it a quick clean-up before Misal. Picked up the broom and started dusting superficially. Detailed session awaited tomorrow. Cleaned up the bedroom. Looked down the window to see if Mukul was already at the tank. Nopes, he wasn't. That would give me 3 more mins to clean up the kitchen as well.

"Dard-e-dil ... dard-e-jigar ... dil me jagaya aapne .." Rafi saab sang beautifully on the radio, as I came into the Kitchen. Paatrams lay on the kitchen medai absorbing dust. Jhaadoo was not the best instrument to clean up the dust on them. Opened up the kitchen window to pull up the spare cloth for cleaning purposes. *Flutter* *Flutter* ... 2 pigeons flew as I opened the window, and took in the cloth. Feather pieces everywhere. Did some elementary cleaning and decided that's enough for the day. The cloth was reinstated at its position. Bent over the window and strained to see whether Mukul was already down there. He was. Talking on the phone. That would give me another couple minutes. I stretched to pull the window. And that's when it struck ...

I could see her from between the branches and leaves of the Gulmohar that stood on the garden between the two building. She stood there on the balcony with her mother. The cool November breeze patted my face. It was as if the wind decide to start blowing right then. I kept looking at her. The breeze made her hair fall over her face. Ah. Such grace as never seen before. Aesthetically, she pushed that lock of hair behind her ears. If that were not enough, she also did her mother's hair with equal elegance. Aahaa. I guess that's what is called pure innocence. Some of the flowers in the garden blushed, I'm sure. All of a sudden, the wind stopped. The air became still once again. I strained once again to see her. But couldn't see her. The balcony was empty now. By some force of nature, the leaves of the branches now came right in the line of sight mostly blocking my view. *Curses*

"Apun ka raaj hai kisi ka darr nahi, duniya me raaj hai koi fikar nahi"...rang my cell. "Abe utar na .. kya kar raha hai ..." shouted Mukul. I came to senses, closed the window, washed my hands and left. Missile had left, misal awaited now...

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Aditya's Diaries

Aditya's Diaries

This is from before the days of blogging, when the book was where the soul could be poured into. Aditya maintains a personal diary for his thoughts. What follow are some random leaflets (most of them being parts of the leaflets) from his diary. The entries focus on his encounters/experiences/meetings with Anushree - a good friend.

16 Sept 2007

It was 9:03 in the morning. The train was supposed to reach Kurla by 8:57. Late by a full 6 minutes. I was cursing the Central Railways in my mind - though I guess I might have been saying it aloud as my co-travellers seemed to nod and agree. What with the overflowing crowd in the second class compartment alongwith the various aromas that people carry, taken with the fact that the fans are also not working very well - the physical as well as the emotional energy pretty much drains out in the brief 18 min ride from Mulund to Kurla. I was quite sure I would miss by 9:01 Panvel. 9:13 Belapur was the next train. Aaj to bhai late honewala hai. Inhi khayalon me uljha hua, I got off the train alongwith the hordes of several others, and headed towards the stairs - kitna bhi late ho jaoon - I won't cross the tracks - the law abiding citizen that I am. Took a glance at my shirt. Or rather what remained crisp of my nice ironed off-white shirt. The necessary creases weren't visible. There were many others which shouldn't have been there. There was also a small grease strain conspicuous on the light background. I couldn't have been more frustrated

And thats when I saw her. She was dressed in a Yellow chudidar dress. You could see her slender frame from the midst of all the crowd. She was like a lone fresh, blooming sunflower in a vast field. My heart skipped a beat on seeing Anushree. I did know that she used to be on that train, but had never seen her before. She was climbing up the stairs. Contrary to the crowd around her, she looked unruffled, totally at peace. It was as if she hadn't been in a local train, or rather that she had been just teleported from her home to this staircase directly. I am not sure about it, but I think I lost my pace, my hurry, my apprehensions at missing the train, getting late and also to close my open mouth gaping at Anushree.  

"Arre bhai .. chal na.. kya hogaya" I kind of fumbled and started walking towards the stairs. I hurried up and was just a couple of stairs behind Anushree. She didn't know I was behind her. I didn't know whether I should call her and talk. I have never talked to her before. In person that is. Few times over the phone. And I am basically a shy type of person. Not really the kind who'd walk up to people and start talking - even lesser with the ladies. Predicament Predicament. Kya karoon... Only 5 stairs were left. After that she'd go left, I'd go right. And then I thought Chal yaar baat kar hi leta hoon. Himmat juta dost himmat juta. And so I just reached out to her elbow and called her softly - partly hoping she will hear, and partly hoping she won't. But she did. Anushree gently turned back. Again - I half felt she won't recognize me, half felt she would. And she did. She gave a surprised, and yet an enthusiastic "Hie". We proceeded to have the briefest conversation over the next 4 stairs. I don't recall what I talked. All I remember is a sunflower (or was it a marigold), freshness in the eyes and a sweet voice talking to me for the next 1 min 30 seconds. I do hope I said a "Bye" when we parted on the staircase. 

Refreshed - I saw the time in my watch. 9:07. What ! It's just 4 mins since I got off the train? It had seemed like an eternity. I picked up my pace, my hurry, my apprehensions and hurried to platform 7. 9:05 Chembur train had just arrived. I personally think this is a wasteful train. Who benefits by the Chembur train. I walked up to the rear of the platform. Kedar was climbing down the stairs, and waved at me. 

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A New Beginning

The clock on his laptop showed 5:12 PM when he returned to his desk after his workout session. He still had a couple of hours before he could call it a day. He opened up his laptop, started checking the agenda for the meeting with the business folks at 5:30. Another window on his laptop showed his Gmail inbox – which had 1 unread email. Now, Aditya Krishnan was a man very particular with his mails and messages. He usually cleared off any pending items as and when they came in. And that’s why he just casually went to his inbox to check out the latest item. Seeing the sender’s name automatically brought a smile on his face. It was an email from a friend he considered very close. It was from Anushree, also the younger sister of Bharath – Adi’s good friend and classmate through school and junior college. Though Bharath went on to get his BTech from the most prestigious institute in the country – the IIT – Adi had done his B.E from Mumbai University. Around the same time, Adi and Anu had gotten to know each other better. Over a series of communication over yahoo chat, gtalk, orkut, and telephone in the period of next 6 years, Anushree and Aditya became close friends. Aditya had always liked Anushree. He used to openly flirt with Anu, and she being the sport always took it in her stride and laughed it off. But despite all those flirtings, there was an element of feeling in Aditya’s heart. He did harbor some ideas regarding Anushree, but he mostly disguised them in his flirtations.

The email had a subject title “Hii”. This perplexed Aditya even more since Anu was not the one to send a lot of personal emails. He still had 15 mins to the next meeting, but he just couldn’t put off reading this mail from Anushree. With a little anxiety, Aditya opened the email. Anu had poured her heart in the email. She had mentioned about her feelings for Aditya in the email. It was not a very lengthy mail, but not a short one either. She had written about the anxiety that she had in composing and sending this mail after saving it as a draft multiple number of times. Aditya read the mail at least three times just to make sure he didn’t misread or misunderstand her email. He had least expected this from Anu. But once he was sure, he immediately hit the reply button to compose an appropriate response.

Adi’s mind was flooded with all of the thoughts about Anu from the last 6 years. Anu’s cheerful face with her brilliant radiating smile, her simplistic nature, the beautiful way in which she carried herself, all came flashing in front of his eyes. He could almost feel a tear welling up in his eyes. He took out his cell to call her up and declare his “yes”. Just then he realized it was 530 and he had to get back to reality and into a meeting for the next couple of hours. The next couple of hours were painfully slow. Time seemed to have come to a standstill. Adi could hardly concentrate on the discussions in his meetings. It was as if he had been transported to a different land, and only his physical presence was left back on earth. A constant smile adorned his face for the remainder of the day.

Somehow, Aditya managed to wind up his meetings for the day and left office. With his smile. He called Anushree. Anu had just reached home and was her usual cheerful self. Both talked for about half hour. Both knew that nothing had changed between them – that they still remained friends. Both also knew that something still changed – that they were now in fact more than close friends, who wanted to share their life and passions and ambitions. Neither spoke about the email exchange, but both knew what it meant. 

Both knew that this was a new beginning for both of them . . .

A Revolutionary Concept

After the political revamp, here's another revolutionising concept to ponder about. Redundantising the concept of Marriages. Before you start forming opinions and start judging the concept, please take a few minutes to read out the script here. Could help.

Let us begin with the basic premise of Marriages. Why do people marry? "People marry for many reasons, including one or more of the following: legal, social, emotional, economical, spiritual, and religious" - says Wikipedia on Marriages. I am not going to dispute or contest any of those. For those who have any of these reasons or any other legitimate reason and a person to justify that reason, please, go ahead and get yourself enrolled in the knot of holy matrimony. However, for the lesser fortunate others, spare a thought. 


Shouldn't there be a Necessary and Sufficient condition to get married???


Allow me to explain the terms in the above statement.


Necessary Condition: Existence of a condition, which may or may not per se justify marriage. For e.g. Love. You are in love with someone. Being in Love could be a necessary condition for someone before getting married. However, not really the prime justification to marry.


Sufficient Condition: Existence of a condition strong enough to marry. For eg., A relationship of deep Love, supplemented by emotional and financial stability - a sureshot justfication to get married immediately :)


Some would like to consider "unexpected emergency conditions" as sufficient condition to get married. As I said, to each his/her own. I am not going to dispute / contest them.


My point here is that unless we have a strong justifying reason, I don't see why one has to enter into the institution of marriage.

Institution. It really is. And very much so here in India, if not so much elsewhere. Marriage in India is a union of not only two people, but of two families. It is a social contract by virtue of which the couple lives together in the society. People getting married should be fully aware of what they are getting into. It is a question of at least two lives and plus the few more that they choose to bring in. 


Every person deciding to get married should be aware and conscious in making this decision. They should get married for the correct reasons. Just because they love each other, doesn't mean they should get married. They might want entirely different things from life. Their priorities might be totally different. Some get married because they want a sense of security. For their senior years of life. What they fail to realize is in this process, they risk their present. And then they bring another life into this world to look after both of them. Again, a wrong decision for the wrong reasons. Raising a child is a whole big exercise in itself. Emotionally, financially, mentally, and many such -allys.


Let's analyze this from an entirely different perspective.


What do you get from a marriage that you cannot legally get otherwise. Coitus. If you leave that aside for a while, for everything else, you have friends and family. If there are some like-minded friends, they can start by living together. All needs, except for the aforementioned, are definitely met. Social - yes. Company - yes. Support system - yes. Old age - yes again. Old age you say? Adopt a child. Give him/her a better life. 


The only question remains is what happens to the anatomical needs. Well, there are outlets for everything !