Alright, guys after a long tryst with silence. I am back, to bug you with a fresh new story. A story which has only two versions hers and mine (needless to say that there are masala versions too). As usual this is a piece of fiction, any resemblance to any person living or dead, place, thing is purely coincidental.
Bhau: (leaving a huge cloud of smoke) So, how serious are you?
Me: (waiting for him to pass it to me) very much… No fooling around…
Bhau: (looking at me with resentment) what if you mess up? (dramatic pause) Again?
Me: (me with the ‘what-the-f’ expression) Trust me dude … she is different!
Bhau: Bara baghu (- a Marathi way of saying ok let’s wait and watch)
Me: Listen, the idea is to take her to the Bhushi dam spot, around 12ish with the moon high above in the sky (check paper for moon rise timings- Check), with some cake, roses and candles (Cakes and Bakes, Ferns and Petals for candles too- Check) and then I ask her out! What do you say?
Bhau: Bara, I’ll see you sometime.
Me: Ahh.. ok. (Now what’s wrong with him?)
Bhau: (He walks towards the end of the wing and yells) Dev bhai! Plan kadak hai!
If someone asks me where it all started – this was the moment I realized how serious I was with my plans. But the start was somewhere else. It was at the beginning of the first year when the batch was a group. When anyone hung out with anyone and I found a blonde. We talked in class, and by the second year, we played Antakshari in Sita Bhatia’s- Pol Sci Lectures. But It was not until that drive from Apache to Pashan Road that the watch started ticking. I promised her a date on Valentine’s day BUT, but that never happened. The semester got over and the regular smsing and fbing were on, after which Hyderabad happened for me.
During my brief stay in Twin City, I had a creepy encounter. This guy with a popat claimed that he knew everything about me. ‘Aaj kuch Tuffani karte hai’ – I said to myself and asked him to read my destiny out to me after the parrot selects a card (he saw the card and restacked them). Then the marathon began most of it was crap 50% true though but I remember one thing, in particular, he said ‘Sahib apke zindagi main char bar Pyaar likha hai’. SHOCKING!
Act 1 . Bombay (I like calling it that)
Back in Bombay, I took her for a tour after her office hours to rediscover the city in my Esssshtyle. It was my attempt to keep the fire alive with some bhel, pav bhajis, goals, crispy sesame chicken and Leopold towers accompanied by a lot of lights. It must have been the crowds in the locals of Bombay or the cosy taxis or the creepy galis of kurla but we came closer than ever (no offence to anyone but we were roaming without disturbance.)
Act 2. Pune
My living alone in Pune had affected me in a million ways. I became selfish with my emotions, with my happiness, sorrow and thoughts. In a week I realized all the mistakes I had committed in my past and that I had done some or the other thing correct them or overlap them with good memories. Lost in myself I looked at the moon and thought why not? Let’s do it? My mind demanded – Why now? I told him: It’s now or never! The drive to Chandani chowk and back was just a test if the fire was still on or not… thankfully it was on.
Act 3. Monday, 6th August 2012.
Everything went wrong. The chicken wasn’t available, rice wasn’t being cooked the right way, I couldn’t find the right wine, lemon became pahadi, araki became afghani, precise glasses were missing and to add I got fined for crossing the zebra crossing but all I said was ALL IZZ WELL! RELAX! THE SHOW MUST GO ON!
But as she entered the house blindfolded everything was perfect, the music, the candle lights, the food the timings the mood… it just happens when you want it to.
A point came in the night when she had to leave and the next algorithmic step was to open the driving playlist on my blackberry which would reach ‘Jao Na’ exactly when the ride was going to end. Sometimes it happens that in a programme a file becomes corrupt and messes up the programme. That is exactly what happened with my brain as the alcohol hit me.
I stood up.
I kept the glass down.
I overlooked the view from the balcony.
I took a quick about-turn and said:
‘Oh-kay, I am gonna do something insane’. I went close to her, held her tensed palms, and looked at the eyes which had popped out to the maximum limit. In the moonlight, with stars as the witness, candles lighting up the ambience, wine filling the silence I broke it out to her-
‘I can’t wait for one and a half years, … I … aye …’ (Honest to God I don’t remember the things I said all I remember is I spoke for a good 10mins after which I was searching for the answer of the question asked in the film around her eyes.)
She said I’m sorry I’m not saying a yes or a no. I dunno what to say.
SOS Protocol: Before she breaks on to crying say something- joke- pj – and I said ‘Abbe yeh KBC ka 5050 hai only YES or NO hai .. yeh can’t say kahan se aya?’ She smiled and surrendered herself in my arms. I asked if she would even think about it. I was ready to spend my life with a rejection (call it that!) and I tried!
However (bad habits die hard) I told her, I’ll ask you every day if your decision has changed for this rest one and a half years (the smile faded, moist returned).
SOS Protocol: Before she breaks on to crying say something- joke- pj – and I said ‘Mujhe khana banana ata hai, khana ata hai, I am good with kids, Gadi toh main chala leta hin, dho bhi leta hun, dhishum dhishum bhi kar sakta hun (waqt ane pe), kama bhi lunga, photography bhi atti hai- zindagi main dp ki kami nahi hogo’ (the smile was back).
It took her 48 hours, to say YES but she said it… after coming back I jumped in the pool with my blackberry (FYI it’s still working).
Happiness has many forms
One of them is love.
Pain has many forms
One of them is love.
Love has no form…
It is just giving, giving, giving… without expectations.
Published on 26 August 2012
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