• Times change...

• Life is Good

"One double-cheese chicken burger and one cappuccino..." handing over a five hundred rupee note, I placed my order across the counter.
"Would you like to have a medium or a large coffee sir?" the girl at the counter asked.
"Small..." I snorted.
"...with cream or without cream sir?" she went on.
I took a deep breath and replied, "No cream!"
"Some extra cheese in your burger sir?" the girl inquired as she keyed something into her machine.
That was all that I could take."Look here young lady... I have ordered what I want. And if I don't get my food without any further interrogation from your side, I am afraid I'll have to cancel my order and maybe complain to the manager!!" I screamed at the girl.

She looked up from her machine and made eye contact with me for the first time. Her face depicted a site of extreme shock. Apparently, she didn’t see this coming.
“Ye-Ye-Yes sir… in a moment sir,” saying this returned me the receipt and change in no time.
“Please be seated, we’ll serve you. Have a good day sir,” she said smiling forcibly at me.

“Today I am getting to interact with all the irritating people that dwell in this planet,” I thought as I walked towards an empty table, carrying my helmet. I placed the helmet on the table and seated myself.
I let go off a deep sigh as the episode of today morning flashed before my eyes.

“We have no doubt about your capability Aaditya… it’s just that the policies of our company are such that only limited people in the department can be given an A-grade raise,” Prashanth, my Project Manager babbled without looking up from his laptop screen.
“But Subramani worked with me in the same project, just on a different module,” I tried to debate. “Then what was it about him that made him get an A and not me?” I put forth my point.
“See Aaditya… there are various factors that determine the grade of a software engineer in our project,” Prashanth explained. “Here, take a look at your performance chart…” saying this he turned the screen of his laptop towards me.
“The scheduled deviation shown by you during this project clearly depicts a dip in your efficiency during the last stage,” Prashanth blabbered as he drew a virtual circle with his index finger over a bizarre diagram on the screen.
As he went on and on, explaining the various diagrams he had prepared to flaunt during this meeting, I realized the fact that it was totally useless arguing with this adamant fellow. Managers are masters in sweet talking you to eat even shit.
I kept mum for the rest of the meeting. After about an hour, I left the room feeling like a total loser.

Slowly I ambled towards my cubicle… with all my dreams shattered. I sat at my desk and closed all the web pages that I had opened to check out the latest car models available in the market. With the current raise that I got, my own car still seemed to be a distant dream. Now I realized the significance of sitting late in office just to show off to the boss. I sure had been a fool.

“Your double-cheese chicken burger and cappuccino sir,” the waiter brought me back into the present.
“Thanks,” I muttered as I started stirring the sugar in my coffee. As I was just about to take the first sip of the beverage, a slam on my back shook me up.
“Aadi… you bugger! Where the hell have you been all these years?” I turned around to see Sumit, my friend from college. Sumit had changed a lot since I last met him at one of our alumni meets. It had been almost two years since then. He used to be a fat fellow with a mop of hair falling on his forehead. But now, his long tresses and the sparkling earring perched on one of his ear-lobes made him resemble a style icon.
“Dude… long time no see!” I expressed my surprise with an open mouth. To tell the truth, I wasn’t exactly happy to meet Sumit. He wasn’t liked by many ever since our college days. The typical rich, spoilt brat that he used to be... he would never ever be tired of bragging about himself all day long. His father owned some big petrol pumps in and around the city and his birthday gifts used to comprise of bikes, cars and all cool things every college student could possibly dream of.
“So… where have you been dude?” I asked shaking his hand.
“I am doing my masters from the Michigan State University in the US of A,” he informed me with a grin. “It’s my last semester… dropped by to visit India once before settling down for good in the states,” added Sumit.
Some people have all the luck, I thought. This guy used to pass his exams by buying question papers every year. His dad used to be friends with the local magistrate; hence even if the professors or the principal ever smelled something fishy, he managed to get away with it easily. It hurt to know that such a person could get settled in the USA so easily while I am toiling just to get my visa processing initiated since ages.
“Do you mind if I join you?” asked Sumit as he pulled over a chair. I had barely finished my coffee and was in no mood to listen to Sumit, brag about his American adventures, at this moment.
“I’m very sorry pal… but I’ve really got to leave for a meeting right now,” I said as I picked up my helmet and the chicken burger.
“Do you want me to drop you someplace in my dad’s new Mercedes Benz?” Sumit said flaunting the shining keys of the vehicle.
Huh! As if he really wanted to drop me. Anybody could decipher that this was just his method of showing off his dad’s money.
“Thanks dude, but I guess my bike won’t fit into your dad’s Merc…” I walked off with this taunting statement.

As I stepped out of the café, without more ado I unwrapped the packing of the burger. The yummy smell of the mustard sauce filled the air. At least something good was happening with me today... this burger will make me forget all the miseries I am going through. I headed towards the parking-lot as I took a bite into my evening snack.
I was about to savor the next bit of the burger, when one kid zapped across me in such speed, that I almost lost my balance. I barely managed to regain my initial posture, when another kid shoved past me and this time I slipped and tumbled.
Splat! My burger landed just two inches away from my nose, on the ground. Gosh! Was I having a bad day or what? I collected myself and brushed my trouser. Picking up the helmet I took one glance at my chicken burger worth eighty five rupees, lying waste on the ground.
That was the most I could take in a single day. I felt fumes coming out of my ears.I looked around to locate the miscreants who had caused this untimely demise of my evening snack.

There they were… sitting behind the bush, guffawing away. I rushed towards them. As I approached the kids, I realized that they were rag pickers… hardly 7-8 years old. I was about to yell at the two when I noticed the reason behind their gleeful excitement. One of the kids had found a small piece of bread with some jam on it. They had neatly laid down that single bread piece between them, on the ground, and were totally engrossed in enjoying the treat.
I took one look at my burger lying at a distant and another at the piece of bread that the kids had. Even though I had so much in my life, I haven’t been half as happy ever as these two kids were at this moment.
I suddenly lost all desires to bellow at the kids… I guess a smile appeared on my lips for the first time today. The car that I wanted to buy didn’t seem all that necessary any more. The raise that I got today appeared quite sufficient. And who wanted to go to the USA now.
With these thoughts hovering in my mind, I strolled up to my rickety bike and drove off with a very new outlook towards life.
My life sure is good.

• Finally we Meet…

I lifted my coffee mug and took one sip. Yuck! It was ice-cold. One look at the wall clock made me decide that it was too late to heat up the coffee again.

It was late night... the clock showed half past one, and here I was sitting with my laptop, giving some finishing touches to my presentation that I was supposed to deliver tomorrow morning... oops, correction: today morning.

My project manager sure knew how to extract work out of each of us to the fullest.

“Our team will set an example for the company...” my project manager announced one fine day during a team-lunch. “We'll do off with late sittings. Don't worry, with my excellent time management skills, that would be a child's play,” he added.

Since then, from the very next day my team got habituated to leaving office comparatively earlier, however we used to get enough home-work to keep us up all night. That bastard had duped us.

After toiling for fifteen more minutes, I decided to call it a day. Shutting down the laptop, I headed to hit my bed. I had barely closed my eyes when my mobile phone started ringing. Shit! Hope it’s not from office.

I felt my way to the phone and opened my right eye to discover the name, Jade flashing on the display.

“Hey Addy, where are you?” enquired Jaydeep, or Jade as we called him.

“Home buddy… where else?” I murmured.

“Can you come over to Apollo Hospital right now?” I suddenly sensed the anxiety in Jade’s voice.

“What happened Jade? Tell me…” I exclaimed. I wasn’t feeling sleepy anymore and had already started fishing out my clothes from the wardrobe.

“It’s Rishi… he’s met with an accident. A truck hit his bike while he was on his way to the office!” Jade said it all in one breath.

I was stunned. Rishi used to work in a call center. Although a cab used to come to pick him up, but this crazy fellow preferred a speedy bike ride to the boring cab.

“My long legs don’t fit in the small company vehicle… I feel cramped pal,” the six-foot Rishi would explain whenever any of us tried to sermon him on that matter.

Jade was silent for a while over the phone now. I too didn’t utter a word.

“Hello… Hello Addy! You still there?” Jade spoke from the other end.

“Yeah dude… is he serious?” I enquired.

“Can’t say. The doctors are examining him. I’ll get to know only in an hour.” Jade replied. “Please come immediately mate… I am finding it difficult to manage things on my own here. Try to get Anurag along with you,” he added before hanging up.

I quickly slipped out of my pajamas, put on my jeans, picked up the helmet and my bike keys and rushed out to start my bike. Just before driving off I dialed Anurag’s number.

Anurag answered my call right away. “Hey Addy! What’s up dude… so late?” From his voice I could figure out that Anurag wasn’t sleeping. It was almost a year that we had finished our college and this poor fellow was still on a job hunt. Since he didn’t have to get up in the morning for any engagements, he had become an owl by now.

Rishi had offered to help him get a job in his call center so many times, but Anurag had some ego. “I didn’t do engineering to join a call center dude,” would be his prompt reply every time.

“Quick dude! Get dressed up. I’m coming to pick you up in ten minutes,” I said.

“At this hour!! Anything serious?” Anurag queried.

“Bad news… Rishi’s had an accident. We’ve to rush to Apollo at once!” saying this I hung up and guided my bike towards Anurag’s house.

In less than ten minutes I was outside his flat. Anurag was sitting on the steps, smoking a cigarette. Seeing me he threw away the cigarette and came running.

“Don’t tell me that the ass was biking to office again,” Anurag asked about Rishi as he hopped on my bike. “Hmm…” I muttered as I drove off.

“Gosh! When will he start acting like a grown up?” he yelled just as I swerved my bike to dodge a dog’s carcass lying on the road.

“Easy baby, easy… I don’t want us both to land up in the hospital bed next to Rishi’s bed,” Anurag said putting a hand on my shoulder. “You want me to drive?” he offered.

“I am all right dear…” I assured him as I sped past a truck.

“So, who’s there at the hospital with him?” Anurag inquired.

“Jade had called me up… he’s there,” I said as I squinted to look for potholes in the dark road. Turning at the end of the road, we reached the building with ‘Apollo Hospital’ written across it.

Anurag collected the parking ticket while I parked my bike.

“Which way to the emergency ward?” I asked the boy at the parking lot. We ran towards the emergency ward as soon as the lad pointed his finger towards the same.

“Mr. Rishi Verma!” Anurag declared at the reception.

The nurse flipped through a couple of pages in her register and looked up.

“OT-7C, first floor. Please take the staircase,” she said.

Anurag ran… I followed closely behind his heels.

“Hey, hey! By OT she meant the Operation Theatre, right?” Anurag confirmed.

Before I could answer, we bumped into Harry.

“This way guys…” saying this he guided us towards OT-7C. There, seated outside the Operation Theatre was Jade, with his face buried in his hands.

I sat beside Jade and putting my arm around him asked, “Is he all right?”

Jade didn’t speak… he just shook his head.

Harry took over, “Doctors are performing a surgery on him right now. They say that the right side of his body has been hurt badly.”

“Let us hope for the best!” Harry added.

I looked towards him. Harry… or Harit, as his parents had named him, used to be the kid of our group. Ever enthusiastic… and game for the weirdest of adventures. He had changed a lot now. Something seemed very different in him… maybe that was because he had grown his tresses.

Actually, I was meeting Harry after almost six months today. In fact, not only Harry but also I hadn’t been in touch with the rest of the gang that often. And to think that during the four years of college, the five of us used to be inseparable.

We literally used to do everything together.

Now my job seldom allows me to freak out with my gang ever.

Jade is busy with his MBA preparations. Harry is looking after his dad’s business.

And Anurag… he is still looking for a job. Rather, a job of his stature.

“As soon as I got the news of Rishi’s accident, I called up Harry and dashed here,” Jade recalled.

“But, how on earth did…” before I could complete my sentence, the door of the operation theatre opened and two masked people came out. Of course they had to be the surgeons.

We rose to our feet… one of the surgeons came towards us and disclosed his intellectual face as he removed the mask.

I took a deep breath and didn’t let go of it until I saw a smile on the doctor’s face.

“Your friend is out of danger,” the doctor addressed us.

“Phew!!” chorused Jade and Anurag.

“But we need to keep him under observation for an hour, so he’s been moved to the ICU right now,” the doctor concluded.

“Thank you doctor,” Jade said, heaving a sigh of relief. The rest of us echoed Jade’s words as the doctor walked off.

We celebrated with a high five followed by a group hug.

The doctor returned. “Any of you with blood group A-positive?” he enquired.

Anurag stepped forward, followed by Jade.

“It would be great if one of you could donate a unit to compensate for the blood we used on your friend… there’s no compulsion though,” the doctor added.

Anurag said, “No issues... I am game for it.”

“Great! I would request the rest of you to wait at the reception and you please come with me,” saying this he walked off with Anurag.

“So, how did you come to know of Rishi’s accident?” I asked Jade as we strolled towards the reception.

“Incidentally Rishi had put my mobile phone number as the emergency contact in his company I-Card,” Jade explained.

Rishi used to stay alone in the city in a rented one room flat. That room used to be the after-college and weekend hangout for us during our college days. Even after getting a job quite far off from the city, Rishi never ever considered shifting to a place nearer to his office. Guess he had some emotional attachments with that flat… well, so did we.

Harry picked up the Sports-World from the magazine rack before we settled down at the sofa. He had forever been a sports freak.

He was a member of our college football team and used to miss out on a lot of lectures because of his practice sessions.

“This year Japan has very good chances of upsetting some big teams in the football world cup… what say?” Harry put forth his point.

“Nah… these five-foot Asian players stand no chance against the giants of Europe and South America”, I debated.

Jade wasn’t interested in our conversation. I noticed that he was too much engrossed in gazing at the pretty nurse over the reception counter.

I nudged Harry and pointed towards Jade with my eyes.

“Pretty babe, huh?” Harry mockingly addressed Jade.

“Hmm?” Jade made one of his most innocent faces as he turned towards us.

“What babe?” Jade added with a wink. That was typical Jaydeep. During college days too he used to sneakily stare at all the chicks and nobody used to notice. Guess it was his naive expression that never gave him away.

“Remember the time when I had almost got Jade to give up this habit of his totally?” Harry recalled.

I remembered quite well.

It was one fine Delhi winter morning. The five of us were sitting at the amphitheatre steps soaking up the warm sun, just as a very pretty girl passed by us. Jade as usual took a sneak preview of the lady without our knowledge.

Ten days later it was Valentine’s Day. However, for us unattached guys; this day didn’t hold much value. So, that day we decided to mourn our single-status by attending a lecture… a feat that we very rarely performed.

Harry was however missing from the classroom that day too. He and his football practice, whew!

Suddenly the monotonous tone of Professor Sharma was disrupted by a melodious voice, “Excuse me sir… may I speak to Jaydeep Roy for a moment please?” It was the same pretty lass who had walked past us some days back, at the amphitheatre.

Jade was astonished. Professor Sharma gestured him to go out of the classroom and meet the girl. Jade walked off mystified.

I sensed something fishy… so I pulled Rishi and Anurag with me and followed Jade.

The girl started speaking to Jade and the three of us listened with strained ears from a distance. “Is this you who has written this?” she said waving a sheet of paper at Jade.

Jade took a look at the sheet. “Love letter!! Gosh no…” Jade leaped back.

“My brother saw you staring at me some days back, and he’s sure you are the person behind this letter,” she exclaimed. “He’s waiting for you round that corner… go meet him,” she added as she pointed towards the lab.

Jade was traumatized. With meek steps he started walking towards the corner. He looked at me once and I assured him that we are behind him.

Our college was notorious for bullying lads; hence all of us were a little nervous. Slowly we crept behind Jade.

“Muahahahaha!!” the stupid ass Harry jumped out from behind the wall.

“Scared you Jade… did I?” Harry enquired.

We all were amazed. The pretty lady who was the partner in crime of Harry also burst into peels of laughter. “Let me introduce you to my cousin. Guys… meet Sonia,” Harry said pointing towards the girl.

Recalling the episode, Harry and I burst into peels of laughter. Suddenly we realized that we were in a hospital and had to suppress our glee for the moment.

“I will surely take revenge from you someday for that episode Harry,” Jade sneered.

“Grow up Jade,” Harry giggled.

“Why? What did this kid do now?” I heard Anurag’s voice behind me. He was holding a piece of cotton in his arm. “These bastards took a lot of blood out of me… I'll have to workout extra tomorrow. Well the doc said that we can meet Rishi in fifteen minutes.” he added as he aimed and threw the cotton bud directly into the waste basket.

I was the only person who took notice of this hole-in-one accomplishment of his. As he looked at me I signed an applause using my eyes.

“So, did you give a thought to what I said the other day?” Jade was talking to Anurag.

“What?” Harry and I chorused, unable to withstand our curiosity.

“Nothing guys… this Jade was suggesting me to prepare for the MBA exams along with him,” said Anurag. “Bad idea”, he added.

“I don’t think so…” I intervened.

“Well, I don’t want to become just another manager in just another big-shot company, wearing a tie and attending meetings throughout the day,” Anurag argued.

“Believe me dude, that way you’ll be much better than what I am now… just slaving for my project manager, toiling day and night doing some miserable work.” I tried to explain to Anurag.

“Whatever… but I can’t study anymore,” Anurag concluded.

“Forget it!” Jade spoke up. “It’s of no use trying to explain things to this idiot… he’ll do whatever he wishes to do.”

Jade was right. Anurag was a typical Leo. He was filled with ego till the brim and his stubbornness seldom allowed him to let us have our way with him.

“I wish we all had never grown out of our college days…” Jade suddenly sounded very nostalgic.

“Yeah dude, those sure were the best days of my life… no tension, no worries, just plain fun,” I nodded with a smile.

“That’s why I sometimes feel lucky that I haven’t found a job yet… at least I have some time for myself,” Anurag said. “Look at you all, busy with your jobs and MBA preparations. We guys never meet nowadays,” he complained.

“True pal… very true. And for this we have nobody else to blame but ourselves,” Harry concluded.

The telephone at the reception rang.

“Yes doctor… sure doctor,” saying these four words the nurse disconnected the phone.

We looked towards her with expectant eyes.

“You can go and meet your friend now… Ward 33, Bed 5,” she said.

We all rushed to see Rishi. Just outside Ward 33, the guard reminded us to keep our voices down. We almost tiptoed towards bed number 5 to avert waking up any sleeping patient.

There he was… Rishi was leaning up against a pillow with his right hand plastered. A tube from the hanging glucose bottle had found it’s way to his right arm. He would have appeared to be in a miserable state if it wouldn’t have been for the smile that dwelled on his lips.

“Hey, hey… all you rascals are here! Sorry to spoil your sleep at this hour pals,” Rishi said with a wink. He was struggling while speaking, but he seemed fine enough.

“Just shut up you ass…” Anurag bellowed. “Who do you think you are, Batman? Driving his Bat-Mobile in this dark night…” Anurag went on.

“Chill dude… and please don’t insult my Yamaha by calling it names such as Bat-Mobile and all…” that was typical Rishi. Not failing to crack jokes even at such an hour.

I saw Anurag too sporting a faint smile.

“All the best dude… hope you can put your YA, MA and HA together into one piece after this accident,” Harry commented slyly.

The look on Rishi’s face changed, thinking about his broken bike.

“Come on guys… just for courtesy sake I have been holding on for so long,” Rishi announced suddenly.

We all looked at him questionably.

Seeing the confused look on our faces, Rishi explained, “With so much glucose water flowing inside, a man desperately needs to pee guys!”

“You haven’t changed at all…” was all that I could mutter as Jade fished out the necessary container from under the bed and helped Rishi with his relieving activity.

I felt really tired now. We all had positioned ourselves comfortably around Rishi’s bed. With the gang getting together after such a long time, nobody could contain their excitement and we chattered on unstoppably. It won’t be long before the warden will shoo us off, so each of us wanted to make the most of this time we’d got together..

I looked at us. Times surely have changed.

The five of us who were always together… now it took something as big as a near fatal accident of one to reunite us.

This day surely goes into my diary as ‘The Great Reunion’. Finally we all did sneak out some time from our respective ‘busy’ schedules.

Finally we did meet…

• Gone Are The Days...

Gone are the days...
When, I rode a cycle to my school.
In case I had a puncture,
I’d walk without losing my cool.
Today things are much easier for me,
I have a big car… all mine.
But, sitting in the AC too
A little traffic jam makes me whine!!

Gone are the days...
When, I waited eagerly for festivals to come.
Granny used to give us a rupee each
To eat out and have fun.
Today I celebrate all festivals
Sending emails to friends & family
Spend thousands to eat out lavishly now
But I miss that samosa worth one rupee

Gone are the days...
When I flew my kite... up, up so high
Just seeing it soar above the birds
I could feel that I could fly
Today I fly so often,
Official trips rule my days.
Soaring above the birds isn't fun anymore
Heck! Such are life's ways!

Gone are the days...
When summer holidays was D-event of the year
Playing football in the scorching heat
Dehydration & sunburn... What's that dear?
Now during summers, I take special care
Not to step out much in the sun
And sometimes, if I do go out,
A sunscreen lotion protects me from sunburn

I know those days will never return
Can only recall them and feel good
Those sure were the golden days
But life will move on as it should
If ever in my present life,
My past invites me over to her place
I will kick off my burdens and take the plunge
My golden childhood I will embrace

• Merry Christmas my Love

“Don’t you think we should meet some time?”
“Of course dear… why not!”
I knew she was lying… like she had in the past,
But to me, just hearing this ‘Sweet lie’ meant a lot!!

“I don’t have much work at office today…
…At around four, maybe I can meet you”
I pinched myself… couldn’t believe my ears!!
She sounded too good to be true.

Rushing through my work, I got set for ‘d-Date’
Got delayed a bit midway… the mirror was the cause.
She was waiting at the stop… saw me… she smiled!
Was she looking pretty? Damn! She was!!!

“Are you by any chance drunk today?”
I winked, “How on earth did you agree to this date?”
“Date my foot! Don’t get any wrong ideas mister…”
“Lets move… we’re already late!!”

Me and my bike, followed directions given by her…
She took me to her favorite bistro!
“They make good sandwiches here, should I get one for you?”
How on earth could I ever say no…

For the rest of the evening, she chattered on…
About her work, about her friends… and what not!!
For the first time in my life, ‘food’ was in front of me…
And about it, I totally forgot!!

Time flew by and she got up to leave…
“It wasn’t that bad, spending time with you”
“Maybe we can meet more… if you have the time”
With these parting words, she bid me adieu!!

The Christmas bells that were adorning the place…
Suddenly came to life and started to chime!!
If falling in love in the very first date is illegal,
Please forgive me… I just committed the crime!!

• Why I Love You…

The way life seems so wonderful, since the day I met you.
The way you make me feel, like no one else can ever do.

The way you pinch me so hard, when I look at another gal.
The way you are so care-free, more than a girl friend you are my pal.

The way you show off a new bracelet, everyday in your wrist.
The way you check my mobile, for the names in the calling list.

The way you make me so angry, when you talk nicely to other guys.
The way I forget all my woes, just by looking into your eyes.

The way you talk and talk non-stop, when you are sitting with me.
The way you say ‘Oh Dear’ and pull my cheek in glee.

The way you express your anger by pouting your nose.
The way you give one hug to me, and all my tension goes.

The way you are so conscious about your lovely double chin.
Yet when I order any food you add, “I’d like some cheese put in!”

The way you can wear your old chappal, with any kind of dress.
The way after getting down from my bike, your hair’s in a state of mess.

The way you tell every evening, “Don’t wait for me today dear”
But actually you want me to wait; from your tone it is very clear.

The way you try to change the topic, when during the movie we kiss.
And whenever I see a movie with you, how all the scenes I miss.

The way you feel so sleepy, yet you SMS me till late night.
The way you feel so short with me, but still you love my height.

The way you came into my life, like the lovely morning dew.
All this and many more of your antics, made me fall in love with you.

• Sixteenth January (Sequel to "Some Other Day")

Today is the day.
Fishing out from the mess in my wardrobe the new Hugo Boss perfume, which my friend had got me from a customs shop at the Riyadh airport, I looked at myself in the mirror while spraying it on me. Hmm… I looked handsome enough. One final dab of my brother’s fairness cream made me all set to set the ramp on fire.
I extracted the “Diamond” ring from under my mattress and gave it one final look of admiration. The reason I am putting the word “Diamond” in between double quotes is because it wasn’t real diamond, but “American Diamond” However, the lady across the counter had assured me that it was just as good, only a little less expensive. However, the rest of the ring was real silver. If things go well, I won’t have to keep this ornament with me tomorrow onwards.

Dropping the ring into my pocket, I rushed down the stairs… only to bump into Sandy, my brother midway.
“Oh I see… so today is the day?” Sandy confirmed.
“Yeah!” I said blushing. “Now please move aside. I am already late,” I added instantly to stop the conversation from heading any further.
Crossing him I started descending down, two stairs at a time.
Sandy shouted behind me, “Don’t forget to buy a red rose and please get a bottle of perfume to replace the one that you just emptied on yourself!!”
Grrr… that was typical Sandy. He wouldn’t let go of an opportunity to pull my leg ever.

I kick started my bike and headed towards Corner Breads. Corner Breads, the place where I had my first ever date with her. That place sure used to bring back some good old memories. Lost in the thoughts of my past dates with her in Corner Breads, I almost zoomed past the bouquet shop.
Screeching to a halt I shouted at the boy sprinkling water on the flowers, “Hey, quickly get me a red rose…”
He briskly picked up a rose, wrapped it in plastic and came running to me in no time. “Ten rupees sir,” he said handing me the flower. Giving him the amount in change, I headed straight towards Corner Breads.

It has almost been three years that I have known her. But it was only since the past few months that I started having feelings for her. Sandy had warned me, “Dude, never get too serious about any girl. If you get into a relationship, your life is over… gone!!”
Sandy’s words seemed reasonable enough at that time, when I spent half my day SMS chatting with her and the other half day, thinking about her. Life seemed to have gone haywire, no direction at all.
But now my mind was all made up. She definitely is the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with. And today I will definitely propose to her, come what may!
Scared of rejection I couldn’t take this step earlier. Eventually I had put off this task till Valentine’s Day. That’s when Sandy came to my rescue.
“Bro, you are not in college any more. No girl takes a Valentine’s Day proposal seriously nowadays,” he explained. “If you have to do it, might as well do it right away,” with these golden words he mustered me up for this day.
I pulled up my bike at the parking lot outside Corners Breads. There she was, looking beautiful in the purple dress, waiting at aisle to the gate. She looked at me and I waved, only to get a grim look in return. One look at my watch made the reason clear to me. I was fifteen minutes late. This delay from my part called for some serious sweet talking.

“Hello dear… did I keep you waiting for long?” I initiated the conversation.
“You are twenty minutes late,” she said grimly.
“Fifteen minutes dear, not…” I cut myself short at just about the right moment. Arguing with her at this moment to prove myself five minutes lesser guilty didn’t seem to be a good idea. She walked into the food joint… I followed briskly.
“Your dress looks good. You look beautiful in purple,” I started with the sweet talk.
“That’s mauve,” she said without looking back. “What’s mauve?” I expressed my bewilderment. “Idiot! The color of my dress is mauve,” I guess she let out a little chuckle as she said this.
These last few months that I had spent with her, increased my knowledge about women’s dresses and colors to a great extent. My color-vocabulary, which consisted of just a few words such as black, blue, brown, yellow, green and red, suddenly found new companions like bage, mustard, crimson, lavender etc. However, mauve was an entirely new entrant.

“Mauve… mauve,” I repeated inside my head as we settled down at our usual corner seat.
She looked at me irately and asked, “Are we eating something or not?”
“I’ll get… you be seated,” saying this I went over to the counter and came back with her favorite: Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Lemonade. As I placed the tray on the table the inevitable smile cropped up on her face.
“Hey dear… you don’t have to get sandwich & lemonade for yourself too every time just because I love them,” she said patting my cheek. This gesture of hers generated enough guts within me to fish out the rose from my shirt pocket and present it to her, “For you!”
“Wow! What’s the occasion?” she asked.
“Nothing… Nothing, just like that… I mean you are s-s-special to me, so…” I stammered on and could not even complete my sentence.
“You are really sweet Aadi,” with this statement I got another pat on my cheek. This time I was expecting at least a peck, if not a kiss. Doesn’t matter, at least I managed to complete half of the operation without any mishaps. Taking a sip of the lemonade I prepared myself for the finishing act – the ring.

“You know what? This action of yours reminds me of Viju,” she started keeping aside the rose. I was startled for a second. “Who Viju?” I managed to ask.
“Don’t you remember Viju? Vijay … used to work with me in my last office,” she tried to remind me.
Of course I remembered Vijay… her colleague who used to consider himself a Casanova. The one time I had met that creep was enough to make me want to shove two earthworms up his nostrils. And why the hell did she need to call that ass “Viju”???
“Ok Vijay… yeah I remember,” I said trying my best to keep an unperturbed look on my face. “So why did I remind you of Vijay suddenly?” I asked.
“Well, other than you, Viju is the only other guy who has ever gifted me a rose. He sure was a baby,” she said with a grin on her face.
“Why… I mean why did he do that??” I stumbled upon my words.
“Oh nothing special… last year, Valentine’s Day… just a friendly gesture!” she explained.
Friendly gesture! Friendly gesture my foot! That skunk had no other better thing to do than flirt around with girls. I really wish I had those earthworms and his nostrils in front of me right now.

“Hey leave that… you tell me, what special occasion calls for this rose?” she repeated her query. “Nothing much… just wanted you to have something in your room that’ll remind you of me,” I sighed.
“Shit! I didn’t think about that factor!” she exclaimed.
I looked at her with an expression which clearly asked her, “What?”
“I will have to hide this rose someplace when I go back home. My dad is very strict!” she uttered.
“Is he?” I queried.
“Yes dear! You won’t believe how angry he got when Sunny got a bouquet delivered at my place on my last birthday!” she elucidated.
Sunny was her old college friend. Ok-type guy but I knew at least three girls he was going around with, at the same time.
“So, what was the big deal? It was just a birthday gift, why did your dad loose his temper?” I asked.
“Oh! You won’t believe, Sunny had signed the card on the bouquet as ‘a secret admirer’… such a prankster he was,” she said unable to hold her laughter.
That monster Sunny! His nostrils also invited my earthworm couple desperately.

Here I was, trying to tell the lady in front of me how special she was to me… and all I ended up doing was listen to her talk about these rats that I suddenly reminded her of. Damn! Proposing sure is fun!

“Forget it, forget it… You tell me Aadi. You want to say something it seems?” finally she spared me some thought.
I started afresh, “I just wanted to ask you, were these last few months that we spent with each other, as special to you as they were to me?”
She didn’t speak. I guess she wasn’t expecting a serious talk from my side?
After about two odd minutes she finally spluttered some words, “Aadi, of course you mean a lot to me and these days sure were special. But why do you ask me this?”
I reached for my pocket to fetch the ring as I set out to speak the golden words, “I just want to let you know that you are the most special person in my life and I… I… I…”
Shit! The ring was not in my pocket. I checked the other pocket… under the table… over and under the chair. That looked-for box was nowhere to be seen.
“Tell me dear… what exactly are you heading to?” she put forth this query while I was busy checking the cushion covers.
“I… wait a second… phew! Where on earth is that…” muttering on I speeded up my search operation.

I was under the table when her voice boomed over me, “I love you too Aadi.”
Astounded I hit my head on the table.
“What???” I rose to my feet only to discover that she was holding the ring in her hand. The smile on her face at that moment could surely light up a thousand lamps.
“Yeah! I love you too… and surely you are the most special person in my life,” she said.
“How… I mean where did you find this ring?” I expressed my astonishment.
“In typical Aadi style you dropped it when you went to get the food,” she winked.

She walked up to me and rested her head against my chest. My arms went around her and the fragrance of her hair filled up my head. Wow, I was hugging her for the first time… it sure was an out-of-the-world feeling.
“You sure are one careless idiot… you almost lost the most precious thing today!” she exclaimed.
Little did she know that I didn’t lose the most precious thing. In fact, I just found it…