A Rendezvous (Out) Of Sorts ...

(After two emotional posts , another fiction, on a lighter side this time. )





Scene – Feb 14th , I am driving to my friend’s place and I’m already late by half an hour . My cell phone ringing , it was him ----

Me – “Hello ! ”

Him – “You still in the car ? ”

Me – “No, I’m running alongside it . ”

Him – “You must have reached here by now . I’m waiting . Where are you ? ”

Me – “On the way ”

Him – “Okay , where exactly are you ? ”

Me – “ In the car ”

Him – “ Okay , where’s the fuckin’ car ? ”

Me – “Street 29 . 2 mins ”

We hung up . I reached his home , found him and shook hands .

Me – “ Happy Valentines’ Day ..”

Him – “Happy Independence Day. You are single right? ”

Me – “Yup.Where’s your valentine ? ”

Him – “ With her valentine . I’m ‘ex’ now . ”

Me – “ Oh , where’s the party ? ”

Him – “You teasing me?? ”

Me – “ No , I don’t tease ‘betrayed bachelors’ u see . I only pity them . ”

Him – “ Shut Up ”

Me – “ Okay , what’s the reason you insisted me in coming here ?”

Him – “ Just a casual meeting over a cup of coffee ”

Me – “ It sounds like – Do me a favour and I’ll treat with you with coffee. ”

Him – “You are smart ”

Me – “ Well , I’m here to meet you , am I still smart ? ”

Him – “ Over Smart ”

Me – “ What can I do for you ? ”

Him – “ Dude , I flunked in 2 subjects . My mom literally blew steam into my ears whole night last night. ”

I was about to laugh out loud but for a gentleman I was , I din’t .

Me – “ So you aren’t joining us for the weekend picnic ? ”

Him – “ I want to, but you should convince my mom . ”

Me – “ No way . She is terror man, terror . How can I forget that day when she blew fire (not steam) when I wore a low waist jeans and stupidly gestured – ‘ It’s Fashion ’. I’m only glad that she din’t cane me .

Him – “Hey come on , please . One last favour for me , please .”

Me – “The fourth ‘last favour’. Okay , I shall try . ”

Him – “ One more thing ”

Me – “ Dangerous thing . What’s that ? ”

Him – “ I lied to her that you’ve flunked in 3 subjects. ”

Me – “ Dude , you are shit . Any other lie about me ? ”

Him – “Sorry . No . ”

We went in to meet her . There was something foreboding about this whole thing . Meanwhile , she was blasting at her cook . I heard her shout – “ Why is there less sweet in the sweet ? ” . Whatever that is . Finally , we entered the dragon , she saw me & we greeted each other .

His Mom – “ Looks like a ‘Failed Students’ conference . Can I know what is the agenda ? ”

Me – “ Nothing like that aunty . We are planning to go to Goa this weekend . Came for your permission . ”

His Mom – “ Oh , I thought he told me it’s to tirupathi ”

Oh shit . I was lost for bad words for my dear friend .

Me – “ Oh ya , Tirupathi ”

His Mom – “ Seems like your rehearsals din’t go right . I don’t like you people lying at me . ”

Me – “ Sorry aunty ”

His Mom – “ Okay , I’ll ask you one question . You answer me right now & I’ll consider about the permission . ”

After a minute’s pause

Me – “ Okay , go on. ”

His Mom – “ Where was my son last evening ? ”

Oh God , a liar what he was , I din’t have an idea as to what he had told his mother . I looked at his silly face wanting to kill him. I deduced that telling her “ I don’t know ” would be a safe bet .

Me – “ I don’t know aunty”

His Mom – “He said he was at your place for combined study and you yourself didn’t know about that. That’s Great . ” She continued “ No picnic , nothing . Liars . ”

Totally pissed off at his sillyness, his mother’s ‘adding insult to injury’ programme and my stupidness to go there in the first place , I drove back home .

A Journey To Nostalgia...




On a blustery , cloudy evening , sitting in my balcony , smelling the wet sand , sipping away a mug full of hot evening coffee , watching school children play in the small puddles that were formed after the rain , the high school girls carrying colorful umbrellas walking along the street giggling along , “Oh my…..!! Feels so nostalgic” . I was mesmerized into a valley of thoughts, feelings and sweet memories . I was in mood to rejuvenate. “Wow , Childhood was fun ….” .
Those days are over . Those days when mummy used to tell moral stories at night before going to bed . Those days when I waited for my dad till he comes back from work to take me for a ride on his bike . Those days when my grand parents used to take me to a children’s park every evening . Those days when I cried when my teacher punished me . Oh, so many…….....

Maybe I enjoy re-living it now more than how I felt then . But no denying that it was the best part of my life . Life is a journey . Both good and bad memories are a part of that journey . But the fact is – ‘Bad memories makes the sweet ones sweeter’ . By now I invented that re-living childhood memories is the most efficient stress buster . I was in no mood to end my nostalgic journey . So , I decided to walk to my primary school which is just a stroll away from my place.

Walking down the street , I observed a lady and a small girl with her . The girl was crying for an ice-cream after seeing another kid having one . Couldn’t prevent a smile on my face . I also came across an old woman kissing her grandchild on her cheek for reciting a rhyme . I was on a smiling spree . My second invention of the evening – A stroll across a street isn’t actually boring .

I reached the school , entered it with permission . It was empty as it was almost 6 in the evening . I passed through the basket ball court recollecting that we used to play everything other than basket ball there. I walked through the assembly hall , my class rooms and the playground . School friends , incidents involving them , all those memories kept popping up simultaneously . It was once that I said that my dad was an AGM in a company when my friend told his dad was the GM , unaware that GM was a higher post . Luckily he din’t know that too . Another reason to smile though . Anyway , I was feeling so blissful about the whole evening . I started heading back home wondering how life changes with time , how even bad memories manage to bring out a smile and how time moves so fast.

I was lost in a totally different world altogether . The world of past , innocence , pure affection and love . Just then I got a call on my cell phone . It was my friend – “ Hey , How about a movie tomorrow Morning Show uh?? ” . Yes , that ended my ‘ Journey to Nostalgia ’. After a short sojourn of the past, I was back to the real ,pestiferous, present world . Cell phones , movies , bikes , lap-tops ………….more gadgets , less time for feelings , apparent fun but less or no fun , responsibilities , competition and a monotonous life . With people factitiously getting ‘broad minded’ and ‘modernized’ ,it’s become hard to find a seat for human values .The world is getting dissolute. Whatever it is , Human Beings are fallible & The World is still a beautiful place to live in . It’s only that we have to live and re-live our experiences to enhance freshness in life.
And ofcourse I watched the movie the next day .


(P.S – Its my first shot at fiction . A ‘goal’ or a ‘miss’ is for you to say …..
Cheers..!! )

I CALL IT FATE...



It was Winter , it was a Saturday and it was six in the evening . It was one of those days when I just couldn’t find company for a Saturday evening outing . For me , a Saturday without an outing is like a ‘ Coffee without Sugar ‘ .After all the ideas draining out of my mind , I decided I should be adding sugar(to the coffee) all by myself and hence got up, got dressed and left with the destination undecided .

As I was walking down the lane , I observed that none of my neighbours were around . I had a stupid imagination of them partying in a club . There was a feeling of freshness intilled in me maybe because of the weather which was asusually (in Bangalore) so romantic . The Orange evening sky , a cool breeze which was kind of soothing my senses and the chirping birds which left me feeling peaceful made for a perfect evening . The poet in me was in flowing form. Or maybe it was one of those silly imaginations of mine (untolerable says my sister ) . Anyway , I put a full stop to my ‘in-form’ imaginations and proceeded .

Just as I moved a few paces , I noticed a familiar face looking at me in excitement . I could recognize that he was my primary school classmate . He approached me and said “ Heyy , Arjun right ? ”

“Yeah”

“You remember me ? ”

“Ofcourse Naveen ”

“Heyyy , I’m Sachin ”

(Uff!! Not again ….)
“Oh ya ya , sorry ”

“Haha , You are still the same .!! ”

Strolling along the pavement , we made few more enquiries and exchanged memories of our school days and our teachers . He was so excited about our unexpected rendezvous . We entered a near by park and we did the ‘ Walk the Talk ’ . Though it was long time since we met , we developed very good chemistry between us . He already made it to my ‘Good Friends’ list .
He offered to have some Tea , which he still remembers that it was my favourite drink . While sipping the tea , he invited me for a picnic that he was to go with his friends the next day .It was to some WaterFall . I was busy with a family function the next day , so told him I can’t make it . We left it at that . He had so many things to say about our school . He was up to date with all it’s advancements . After some more talking and walking , we decided to disperse . I told him “Lets catch up on Monday , I’ll take you to my place ” .
He said “ Sure ”.
We shook hands & departed . More than happy with the evening’s proceedings, the freshness still intact on me , the poet in me asleep, I headed home looking forward to meet him on Monday .


And Monday evening I get a call saying “ Sachin is no more . He drowned in a WaterFall near Mysore”.