Fate and Ice cream parlour date.
It was a tiring half-hour auto ride. I was wearing my favourite blue shirt, which had been nicely ironed by my mom looong back, and I had kept it saved for a day unknown, never knew it would come in use today. I never expected her to call me up and tell me.. "Will you like to be a coolie for an hour or so?". She lived in a different city. Was coming to my city, to meet some relatives, she had no enthu to meet, but it was the marriage season, she could not avoid. But, she told them to pick up an hour later than her train was supposed to arrive. And called me instead, two hours before her train reached Bombay. "Abbe, aata hai kya?". I was in eighth heavens :-)
Owing to the hurry, and as I later realised, I forgot the trusted umbrella, and it was pre-rainy season in bombay. The one you can never trust. I had an hour to get ready. So, ditched my class, asked my wingie to give my proxy in the HSS class. Got a lucky lift from hostel to main gate. Got an auto, and was on my way, to meet the you-know-who of my life. It was fate that I had an afternoon off that day when she was coming, fate that she actually wanted to meet me, (and who knows maybe get it over with). Anyway, I reached the train station, with zero planning or thoughts to what I was gonna say or do. And yeah, obviously, I was excited.
Her train was late, by abt 40 minutes or so, the announcement board didnt show her train's name, I thought, did I hear the wrong station? But this is what she told me. So, I waited.. And finally, it came, the train and the girl-I-was-dying-to-meet-for-so-long. We never doubted we would be able to recognise each other. We did recognise, thankfully. And she didnt even let me lift both her bags. One for each it was. Anyway, since I had just 20 minutes left, we decided (it was more my suggestion) to go to the nearby Baskin Robbins shop. I loved icecream and she knew it. So, she agreed. I had a cone of Alphanso Mango and she had a cup of chocolate crumbs.
It seems funny now that we didnt really talk much, and more often than not, caught each other looking in each other's eyes. Who knew eyes can do so much talking.
I didnt have time to pick up any gift for her. I dont know how it would have looked. She did tease me about not saving any chocolates I had brought from UK for her. Well, what could I do but blush.
Then came the call, her cousin was coming to pick her up in 5 minutes. Suddenly, her attitude totally changed. I felt like I was an outsider again. And almost like she was feeling guilty about meeting me. By this time, we had stepped outside the icecream shop, and a few rain drops had started falling.
I felt like I had too many things to say. But before I could say a word, she said.. "Listen, I've gotta go now. My relatives are crazy and I dont want to give them wrong idea". I was a bit taken aback, thinking, "I was the wrong idea??!!". But an ever-optimist, I replied.. "Hmmm, okay. So, when do we meet next?". She tried to smile, but couldn't. She waited a moment for the railways announcement to get over and said quietly.. "I am not so sure about it. sorry. thanks for coming."
She went away towards the main entrance of the station. She didn't look back.
I stood there, drenched in rain and pain, as the local train crowd buzzed past me....
Bloody Hell!! (V-day special?)
Saturday 8 am. Two days after my adventure which turned into a wet and sobby story, I was fast asleep having taken the sleep-inducing anti-allergic medicine, courtesy the cold I caught traveling in rain two days back.
And the phone rings. I hardly recall setting an alarm the previous day, for I had no reason to. Cold was one thing, but frankly, I had no enthu to wake up either. Nothing to look forward to for the day. The phone screen said.. “Susie calling..”. The fake name, to avoid friendly spying and suspicions, was obviously taken from the intelligent-and-smart-yet-cute neighbour of Calvin in C&H. After the fiasco two days back, I had decided to avoid talking to her, for my own good. But totally against my instincts, for better or for worse, (which I came to know later – for worse it was) I picked up the phone.
“Hellooo? Whats with this early morning call? --Sneeeeze!--
“Abbe. Dhyaan se sun, am not gonna repeat it. I want to meet you today, at 10 am, somewhere in Hiranandani. I need to talk to you. Tell me some suitable place”
“Yaar, why you coming all the way down here, and why so early?”
“See. My train’s leaving today evening. So, that’s ruled out. I told my cousin’s mom that I need some documents related to GRE at Sakinaka, where that testing centre is and will get some shopping done at HN”
“Lolll.. And she fell for it?”
“Ofcourse!”
“Okay, fine. We’ll meet at the Pizza Hut. You love cheese, isn’t it? What do you want to shop for anyway?”
“Gadhe. No shoppinggg! Its to meet you”
“Ohhh, ok. See ya. Mujhe sone do abhi..”
“Kumbhkaran ka baap hai saala... chal, bye.”
Obviously, within a nanosecond of finishing that call, I had lost every shred of sleep I had. I got up, had a quick breakfast and got ready. Wore some casual clothes. I had no intention to impress. But, I still wanted to hear her side of the story. Everything was going so well. What happened? Why me? Why not me???
I met her at the Pizza Hut entrance, at HN. Reached there just 10 minutes late. She was already there. And when I saw her, for a moment I thought, I never knew her at all. She was dressed in this cute pink top, and a white frilly skirt. Gracious. Breathtaking. Any pics of hers, which she had shown me before, were in some casual jeans, tshirt. And then, it happened, she smiled. I felt my heart drop, just like I felt when I had first told her on phone that I liked her and she had simply said.. “Yeah. I know re” and grinned. Anyway, so at the pizza hut, she dragged me in and got me to order a mini double-cheese for her. I asked for a Pepsi for myself.
She looked at the menu card blankly for a while, and suddenly said in a very calm voice.. “Did I ever tell you? I think I like you too..”
My jaw dropped. I managed to utter.. “But, that day..”
She said.. “Yaar. I just could not tell you.”
“What??”
“ I haven’t had the best experience with guys in my life. I liked a guy a lot, but he left me, just like that. I was terrified and hurt. Cried for days. And everyone in my family turned very protective. But I couldn’t tell you all this, coz you’d feel sad for me. And I don’t want to see anyone, especially you, sad for me anymore.”
“Hmmm...”
“Ab kya sorry bhi bolna padega? Kitna kasht hai life mein!! ;-) ”
“Heheh.. Its fine. I did feet hurt. But I knew there must be something compelling for you to go away like that.”
“Hmmm.. ”
She was pondering over something. I could see it in her eyes. But, I didn’t dare to ask. Everything was turning out so surprising, I didn’t want to break the flow.
The pizza arrived.
And suddenly, she was back again, smiling, her usual charming self. All my doubts, apprehensions simply evaporated. Over the hot slices of pizza, she told me about how her cousin’s wedding went. How she gorged on the food there and claimed that she must have gained 5 kgs in last two days. She even talked about my projects and how I should get my lazy ass to work more often. We talked for a looong time, about everything! I realized it, so did she, that somewhere in those conversations, was hidden the reason why we were there in Pizza Hut in Hiranandani on a Saturday morning. We liked each other a lot.
It was time for her to go. As we left the pizza hut, she could see it in my eyes, I was worried about something. She said.. “What now?”. I told her.. “ It’s the distance. It scares me.” She smiled, and said.. “Dude. Three hours distance isn’t much of a distance anyway. We’ll see re..”. And she was off onto the autorickshaw back to her cousin’s place.
As I was going back to IIT, I sms’ed her.. “Bloody hell! Now, things get interesting!!”
Within a minute, my phone buzzed back,
Her reply? “Yeah, I know :-) ”
Life is.. well, life.
It’s been more than a week since the most special Saturday in my life. I remember every movement, every sound of the dream sequence of events that happened that day. But, today, somehow I get a gut feeling that very soon it’ll become a hazy memory which I’ll want to forget.
Hmmm..
She got home late that night, and sent an SMS that she had reached fine. I saw the message in morning when I woke up. Believe me, there is no fresher feeling than to receive her message the first thing on a Sunday morning. I replied back almost as soon as I woke up, even before I switched on my computer. And, I got her instant reply. She hadn’t been able to sleep well, and she said she’ll talk to me later after freshening up. I looked forward to chatting and talking with her as soon and as much as possible. But it wasn’t to be.
No news from her till night, when I got impatient and called her. She told me to stop fretting, we were not a couple yet, and that she just had been busy all day, cleaning up her hostel room etc. “Alright. Fair enough”.. I thought.
Weekdays started. Three days passed before we really got to talk much. Both of us got busy with our colleges, assignments, etc. It wasn’t like I couldn’t live without talking to her, but there was this sudden empty feeling every night before I went to sleep when I wondered.. “And another day just got over, without any laughter or happiness”. I hate weekdays.
Thursday comes and I get into active mode. Obviously, I didn’t expect her to come to Bombay again. I asked her if she was free this weekend and if I could come down for a few hours. Fortunately, she was free and more or less, in agreement.
In simple words, I was excited. My first trip to an outside city just to meet a girl.
And then, Friday night happened. She told me on chat she couldn’t meet me this weekend. She wasn’t feeling okay. It wasn’t clear to me if she wasn’t okay healthwise or she wasn’t okay with meeting me? I offered to call and talk to her, but she said she just needed to sleep and logged off.
Saturday morning comes, and goes, evening comes, and goes. One day out of two wasted.
Desperate for an answer, I emailed her.. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on? Why didn’t you come online or call me at least??”. After five minutes, I was thinking.. “Oh god, why did I write that? What if she was actually busy! I am such a cynic! What will she think about me now!!”
Sunday morning, 7 am: I am wide awake, checking my mail as soon as lan-ban got over. And I have her late-night reply. She had extra classes and labs at college. And no, we couldn’t meet on Sunday either because she was too tired.
Again Monday comes, gets over in a flurry of classes, one dumb lab, with dumber lab partners. No communication with Susie. I hate Mondays the most.
And as I lay awake on my bed, tonight, Monday night, I can’t help but reminisce about the week gone by. I haven’t been so happy and so sad simultaneously. Why do I get this weird feeling that she is trying to avoid me. Life seems so empty, so boring. Was I better off before the special Saturday? Maybe I expect too much. I don’t know. I am just not feeling good about this. Life sucks.
And then, the phone rings… “Susie calling…"
The First (?) Date.
5 minute 52 second long phone conversation.
And life was pure bliss.
This weekend, she is coming to Bombay. To meet me. Ofcourse she didn't tell that to her hostel mates. She probably didn't tell them anything at all. Maybe to her best friend Betty, but none else. In her words.. "Its my life and I'll spend 400 bucks of travel money the way I want to. And, dont you dare to make an excuse.".
Excuse? No wayyyy. I would love to meet her. Second time in my life. :-)
The plan is worked out over the next few days through chatting, phone calls and for me, even in dreams. :D She'll get off at the main bus stand at Dadar, avoiding any hassles of stops in between. I'll be there to pick her up and we'll go somewhere. Yes, somewhere. We weren't able to decide about that. All in the name of planning. :-)
When the day comes, am there at the bus stand an hour earlier. Arggghhh, I hate waiting. But its alright, I brought my camera. I can always fiddle with it, take some photos of life in Bombay. Finally she comes. And after a 15 minute long discussion, we decide (more like she decided). "Lets be normal. Go to some Cafe Coffee Day or Barista and have a nice time resting and chatting." Obviously, I suggested Hiranandani, even if it was a bit far off, I loved the place especially after the Special Saturday.
And, we have a really nice time at CCD. Forgive me for my poor memory, I dont remeber what we ordered. (You can also attribute this to the confusion I have coz of the many CCD trips I've had with Susie ;-) ). Anyway, with a variety of musical tracks, (which included the super-awesome Himes :P ), CCD is a nice place to be for a meeting with the girl.
Unfortunately, there's a bad thing about all dates and meetings. They get over. I dropped her off back to Dadar, helped her onto a bus back, waved goodbye.
To have something to look forward to in life.
You know, it feels good. Really good.
p.s. Unfortunately, my camera was hijacked by Susie during the entire duration of the date, and hence, I have no photographic evidence. At all. She found the Erase-all option.
Feedback?
And she said to me.. "Why have you stopped the meri-kahani series? I think I liked it."
"You 'think' you liked it??"
"Ummm.. well.. it was interesting re. Maybe not all true, but definitely worth a second read"
"Hmmm. I didnt stop it, I just got bored of it. Kind of. The readers got bored with it."
"I didn't."
"Obviously you didn't! You got to look at it from a completely different angle na.."
"But why do you think they are boring??"
"Coz, I went too close to the flame. Too close to the reality. Reality is boring. And reality is sad."
"Ohh! Its not!!!"
"Yes, it is, my dear Susie!"
Meri-kahani, the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?
(I wanted to get on with other kahanis, so I am going to skip over a lot of senti stuff of this story. You can safely assume there were lots of troughs and crests in this story, just like every other story. :-) )
