boy next door

Sweet dream - 28 - I need some time

2011-05-24T00:24:00.001-07:00

Previously in Sweet dream,

It was the last day of college. We had a small farewell party at college itself. There were a few drops of tears shed but overall it was a great feeling to have made such wonderful friends in the three years in that college. We said our good byes and left with a heavy heart. I had to meet Diya’s father that day before I left for home for vacation. I went along with her to Farm fresh (yes they had opened it during our exams) that evening.

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The two pick-ups were conspicuously missing. May be they had gone to pick up fruits and vegetables. That's what they're supposed to do. Her father was waiting for us in the shop. Once we reached, he asked one of the persons there to look after the shop and the three of us went to a nearby coffee shop.

We ordered coffee and settled down.

‘So how did you do your exams son?’ asked her father

‘Not bad uncle, I’ll get through’ I said

‘And how did you do my dear?’ he asked Diya

‘Yeah okay’ she sounded disinterested

'When are you leaving for Bangalore Dharshan?'

'In a month uncle' I replied

‘Hmm good. So you’re going home today?’ he asked me

‘Yes uncle am going home tonight. Shall we talk now?’ I wanted to get this over with

‘Ok ok I’ll get to the point. So what have you’ll decided?’ he asked

‘We’ve talked about this before and am gonna tell you the same thing now. I want to marry Diya, all I need is a little time’

‘But how much time? Now you’re going to Bangalore and who knows when you’ll be back. How long will I have my daughter waiting at home?’

‘Appa I’ll wait until he comes back for me’ Diya interrupted 'he'll be back very soon'

‘Shut up I’m talking to him’ he snapped her off. This man was different from whom I met a few months ago

‘It’ll take me two years to finish my MBA, that’s all I need. Am sure I’ll have a job in hand when I complete my education. So I can talk to my parents and have them agree to our marriage’

‘I’m not so sure about that. Moreover what will she do for two years?’

‘What? Isn’t she doing her M.Sc.?

‘M.Tech’ Diya corrected me. What a time to do that!

‘M.Tech?’

‘Yes she’s joining the course, but I don’t know..her mother does not like this at all. I can’t keep her contained for a long time’

‘Uncle, I know aunty doesn’t like this. That’s why am asking for your help here. Please please let her finish her M.Tech. and I promise I’ll be ready to marry her the next day’

‘Yes Appa..please help us. I'll be happy only with Dharshan, am sure he’ll take good care of me. Please pa’

He remained silent. He took a sip of coffee from the huge coffee mug. We hadn't touched ours. We waited for him to talk.

‘Ok..I’ll do whatever I can, but I can’t promise anything. All I want is my daughter to have a happy life’

‘Thank you uncle, thank you so much. You won’t regret this’ I said with some confidence

We drank our coffee now and spoke about other stuff.

When we were done, I shook his hands and he left the place letting Diya and I talk in private for a moment.

‘So here we are. Time to go’ I said

‘Don’t say that stupid. We’ll be back together soon’ her eyes welled up. I have no idea how much water she has up there

‘Hey sweetheart..am gonna miss you’

‘I have no idea how am gonna pass my days without you. I’ll miss you like crazy. Please don’t go’ she was in tears now gripping my hands

‘You know I have to go. We’ll be alright. I love you’ I meant every word

‘I love you too’

‘I’ll meet you the day when am leaving for Bangalore, am boarding my bus from here’

‘I’ll be there to send you off’ she promised

And she walked away and joined her father who was waiting outside. I left for home (Ooty) that night. I spent the three hours of my journey trying to convince myself that college life in Coimbatore had just ended, it was hard to believe!

I spent my vacation mostly at home by myself secluded from everybody and everything else. While the transition from the comfort of Coimbatore to the enormity of Bangalore and the stark change in culture and life style was fascinating, the fact that Diya wouldn’t be with me was almost impossible to accept though I knew I simply had to. I never imagined how life would be without her besides me..without talking to her..without making fun of her..without fighting with her..well I was just about to discover.

Sweet dream - 27 - Time to go

2011-05-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

Previously in Sweet dream,

And finally, Mouli came up to talk. He spoke less..he spoke brilliantly. When he was done, the entire audience was on its feet applauding him..tears of joy rolled down his cheek.

He also delivered the vote of thanks and the national anthem was sung. The event concluded to a standing ovation. People were slowly dispersing for dinner as we went to Mouli to congratulate him..the event was a hit. We were all standing together and giggling when Lekha walked towards us.

She looked at Mouli and said ‘Can I talk to you for a second?’

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The rest of us left the place smirking at Mouli and passing silent comments. I took Diya and all of us went to the dinner hall.

After about 20 minutes, Mouli came to us where we were eating. He came there and stood silent. We all stopped talking and looked at him. ‘What happened?’ I asked

‘What did she say?’ asked Madan

‘Where’s Lekha?’ asked Diya

He remained silent.

‘Come on what did she say?’ pushed Sathish

Finally...he smiled!

Dinner was over at around 11pm. The hall was almost empty. Mouli was with his parents sending them off. The girls had to be dropped off at the college hostel which was nearby. Sathish and Madan accompanied the other girls as Diya and I walked along a few steps behind them.

It was a beautiful summer night. Clear black sky with a million stars twinkling as if clapping in acknowledgement of what we had just managed to pull off. We held each other’s hand and walked slowly on the Avinashi highway.

‘It was a beautiful show’ remarked Diya

‘Yeah it was. Feels so full…so satisfied. It’s like the best part of my whole college life’

Wait...oh no!

‘Excuse me’ she stopped walking

‘Apart from you sweetheart’

Phew. Close call

She smiled and clutched my hand tighter.

‘I wish we could just keep walking like this forever, holding hands’ she said

‘Uhh yeah me too. Actually it would be even better if you didn’t hold my hand so tight’ I said, wincing in pain

‘Oh..sorry sweets’ she loosened her grip

I felt a lot better.

‘You still wanna walk forever? Coz at dawn, we’ll reach Erode and it’s gonna be bloody hot there man’ I said

‘Shut up. You and your stupid jokes. Don’t spoil my mood idiot’

‘Okay’ I kept quiet

‘Just the both of us in some distant place..nobody else. We can be so happy..we can do whatever we want..no responsibilities..no commitments..no parents..no gene technology..no MBA..no Bangalore..we can be together every second..just you and me’

‘Yeah it would be great’

‘We can go to different places..we can build a house for ourselves..I’ll cook for you..we can eat together’

‘Hmm’ now my concentration started drifting

‘We can marry and have two children..one boy and one girl..we can play with them together’

By this time I was kicking some plastic bottle cap on the road and I wasn’t listening to a word she was saying.

‘Dharshaannn’ she stopped and looked at me. ‘I am so happy that we are together and am talking to you about my dreams and you’re kicking some stupid stone on the road. I hate you I don’t even wanna look at your face’ she said and turned away

‘Hey come on now. Look at me...come on turn, look at me. I’ve been listening to everything what you said and I wish for the same too. I would love to spend every moment of my life with you alone. I love you..silly’

She smiled and gave me a hug. I hugged her tight. We had reached hostel and Sathish and Madan were there near the gate waiting for us. I let her go, she wished good night to the three of us and went inside. On our way back Sathish and Madan were ranting excitedly about what all had happened in that whole day. My thoughts were firmly stuck to Diya and our life from here on. Suddenly all the problems we had – our parents, our careers, our families – everything came rushing back to me. While I knew I loved that girl who just walked through the gate more than anything in my life, I had no idea how I was going to handle these problems. College was almost over and I would soon leave for Bangalore. I wouldn’t have any idea of whatever happens in Diya’s house, what her parents would do to her. A slight panic set inside me. I brushed it away only for the moment though as we came back to the hotel and rejoined the other guys.

It was 11.30 and we rushed to Krishna bakes. We had already told them that we would come there that night around 11. Jenny club was situated right in between GRD and Krishna bakes so it took us about 2 minutes to reach there. The owner was waiting for us, the cake was set on the table. A waiter came from inside with six cold coffee mugs. We cut the cake, raised a toast to Mouli and gulped the whole mug in a single shot. We remained there for another two hours reliving the whole book episode, everything we went through. Afterwards around 2 ‘o clock, we left for Ooty from there leaving the owner and the waiter to relish the chocolate whipped cream cake.

We reached Ooty at around 5 the next morning, had tea, reveled in the sunrise, came back to Coimbatore and slept off throughout the day.

Another three more days in college and it was time for study holidays. I couldn’t meet Diya throughout the two weeks of study holidays though I stayed back in Coimbatore.

Then, I got to meet her and talk to her every day before and after the exams. Throughout the exams I couldn’t concentrate, the fact that I would be leaving Coimbatore in a few days and I won’t be able to see Diya for a long time haunted me. The panic seemed to grow inside me with each day about what I was going to do to convince both our parents. I had a tough time finishing the exams, though I eventually managed to somehow clear all the subjects.

It was the last day of college. We had a small farewell party at campus itself. There were a few drops of tears shed but overall it was a great feeling to have made such wonderful friends in the three years in that college. I had all of my friends write something for me on a t-shirt. We said our good byes and left with a heavy heart. I had to meet Diya’s father that evening before I left for home for vacation. I went along with her to Farm fresh (yes they had opened it during our exams) that evening.

Sweet dream - 26 - Show time

2011-05-18T22:43:00.001-07:00

Previously in Sweet dream,

‘I love you poriki’ she said with that mischievous smile of hers

‘Me too’ I smiled. ‘Ok stay put I’ve got a lotta work’

‘Hey when do I have to light the lamp?’

‘Not now stupid. Once the function starts, there will be a prayer song and a welcome speech. After the speech the MOC will announce the lighting and you go along with the other ladies and light the lamp.’

‘Okay’ her cheeks were already blood red. One shy woman she was
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The chief guest had arrived. Mouli’s whole family had arrived. The crowd had gathered well before the starting time. I was so excited looking at the whole sight. All our hard work hadn’t gone for a waste at all.

The dais was to have the chief guest, Mouli and his parents. They entered the hall as everybody else settled down.

When they were climbing the stairs, Mouli sneaked aside to me and asked....... ‘Where’s she?’

I looked at him without knowing what to say.

He turned away and walked up to the dais without a word. I didn’t like the sight of it at all. I hated Lekha for not coming. I hated Mouli for falling in love with her. How headstrong can a girl be?’

Keerthi was MOC and announced the prayer song. Sindhu came to the dais and sang “Chinna chinna Muruganuku” a praise to Lord Muruga. Sindhu’s had a sweet voice and the song was very soothing. The start couldn’t have been better.

Then came Shiva with the welcome speech. After him was the lighting of the lamp.

Mouli’s mother, Ms. Chitra our English teacher, Ms. Hema another lecturer, Vibha and Diya were called upon to light the lamp.

There she came again...blue had just become my favorite color. With the candle in her hand, my angel walked..it was like a procession where blue and gold were the only colors. Her eyes glowed in the light of the candle and she looked even brighter and beautiful. She was the last in the order..she bent down..adjusted the wick of the lamp..lit it and smiled gently as it sparked to life. Beauty! My eyes were glued to her even as she walked back to her seat. Once seated, she looked at me, raised her eye brow and tilted her neck to one side quizzically. I knew exactly what she meant. I raised my thumb and nodded. She smiled..and you know what happened next. What..you don’t know? That falling in love thing….yeah exactly.

Meanwhile after the lamp was lit, a small video on the chief guest was played on the big screen. This was for the set of people in the audience who had no idea who the old man sitting in the dais was.

Then came my favorite part of the event, “Aayul reghai – uruvaana kadhai” (The making of Aayul reghai)

Mouli had written this too, in poetic form. To me this was his best work compared to all his poems inside the book. He had portrayed every event starting from the day he met Lekha to the present day where he was releasing a book for her - a 13 page masterpiece, straight from the heart.

Asha came up to the stage to read it. She waited until the last ounce of sound in the hall had disappeared and complete silence settled in. And then she began reading. Yani’s nightingale started playing gently in the background. Each word on that paper oozed love and Asha was doing justice to the whole feel of the story. The nightingale was mesmerizing and her voice blended beautifully along. The sculpted words reverberated in a blissful rhythm engulfing the ruby hall. I was immersed in the whole aura of it when something caught my eye at the back of the room. I noticed the back door opening slowly and a thin figure in a red dress entered the hall. It was Lekha!!! I wanted to make sure, I looked again…yes it was her. Lekha had come…oh yes she was there!

The very cause of ‘Aayul reghai’…the reason for all our efforts towards making this thing happen was standing there at the back of the room…frozen. She stood there not knowing where to go, what to do. I felt a sudden thrill shoot through my body and instantly turned towards Mouli in the dais. He was in another world, spinning his mobile phone on the table in front of him, staring into the floor. What was he thinking? Was he thinking of calling her now? Come on dude, wake up. I somehow managed to get his attention and pointed towards the back of the hall. He looked towards the direction..he saw her..saw her for an extra second..looked back down at the table in front of him..stopped spinning the mobile phone and broke into a slight grin. His face lit up the whole auditorium..all the labor was forgotten in that moment of disbelief and it was plain joy..victorious joy!

I nudged Sathish besides me, he saw her and in the next few seconds all our friends in the audi knew she had come. I looked at Diya and signaled her to look back. She turned and looked at Lekha and looked back at me and winked. She had done it. I thought of the pink handbag. And then she got up, went to the back, brought Lekha and made her sit beside her.

Asha was done by this time. The chief guest was called upon to speak. He spoke for about half an hour, somehow managing to keep the crowd interested.

Then, it was time for the main event - the book release. The chief guest released the first copy of the book and Mouli's father received it...with pride, joy, humility and honor. I could not completely capture what his feelings would have been at that moment. The audience let out a thunderous applause!

And finally, Mouli came up to talk. It was a proud moment, for him and us. He spoke less..he spoke brilliantly. When he was done, the entire audience was on its feet applauding him..tears of joy rolled down his cheek.

He also delivered the vote of thanks and then the national anthem was sung. The event concluded to a standing ovation. It was a hit, we got a lot of appreciation from the audience, family and friends.

People were slowly dispersing for dinner as we went to Mouli to congratulate him. We were all standing together and giggling when Lekha walked towards us.

She looked at Mouli and said ‘Can I talk to you for a second?’

Sweet dream - 25 - April 2nd, 2007

2011-05-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

Previously in Sweet dream,

‘You really think I can pull it off?’ she was still in shock

‘Come on now don’t make such a big deal out of this, you’ll do great I’m sure’

‘Hmm ok, I’ll do it for you’ she smiled

‘Good’

‘Ok what color should I wear?’

‘Not this now’

‘Ok ok I’ll take care of it myself’

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We had three days left and we had to invite Mouli’s parents. He wanted to do it in person so we all left for his house in Salem. His mom and dad were completely surprised when we went there. It was evident from their faces that they were a little scared too looking at us. They had no idea what to expect. We let Mouli do the talking.

He silently gave them the invitation card and fell at their feet.

‘What’s this?’ asked his father lifting him up. His mother too.

‘Open it and see dad’

‘Son, are you getting married?’ his mother asked smiling. She was a wonderfully hilarious woman

‘Ille ma. Just have a look at the invite’ he tried to stay calm

‘What? A book? His father’s eyes popped. ‘You’re releasing a…a book?’

‘What? What are you saying?’ his mom snatched the card from his father

His mom was trying to make some kinda sense from the card while his father continued talking

‘Its..its wonderful! We are so happy. Its difficult to believe. But what’s it all about? Why so suddenly without even telling us?’

‘It’s about Lekha and some other social stuff dad’ Mouli said with pride ‘I wanted to do the whole event without your help, that's why I didn't tell you'll earlier’

His parents already knew about her

‘It’s in Jenny club? How did you manage to do this? I can’t believe all this’ his mom was still awestruck

‘Yes how did you manage the money? Such a big function would have cost you a lot’ his father was puzzled

Mouli turned and looked back at us. We all smiled.

‘Na nenachen…unga velai dhana idhu? Ivlo kaasu epadi pa saethenga..adhuvum indha paiyan solradha kaetu?’ his mom asked us…she was flush with obvious pride and limitless joy

(I knew. All this is your work huh? How did you kids manage so much money? That too for this fellow)

‘We are not here to talk about all that ma..we came here to invite the both of you in person’ Sathish said

‘Please be there. Bring everybody from home..its going to be a great function’ I joined in

‘Sure sure we will be there’ his father didn’t know what to say further. His eyes said it all

‘We will definitely be there. Nothing is more important to us’ his mom said

Mouli kept smiling through all this.

His parents were so happy and proud about Mouli. Both of them hugged him tight. The three of them got all senti for a few seconds. We remained quiet in the background.

Once they were done they talked about how he had gotten such great friends in us and all that.

We spent some more time there at their house, had lunch and left that evening. Mouli’s father gave him 10000 rupees when we left without us knowing. Mouli told me in the car. His father had insisted on him getting it in spite of him refusing as much as he could. Yay!

When we returned I went to meet Diya. She told me that she had talked to Lekha but wasn’t very sure if she would turn up. I asked her to talk to her once again. ‘Do something Diya, she has to be there’.

It was the big day. The 2^nd of April, 2007.

All the last minute arrangements were being taken care of. By this time all our other friends had joined in to help and everything was ready. The one worry we all had was if Lekha would turn up or not. I somehow had a feeling Diya would manage to bring her.

After all she managed to make me hold her pink hand bag once in Bangalore while she was trying on a kurti at a store.

I was running across the reception for something when Diya arrived. I stopped to an abrupt halt. She walked into the hotel slowly draped in a blue saree. It was like she was floating..or maybe I was floating..or maybe the whole world was floating. She looked absolutely gorgeous…stunningly beautiful! For a few seconds I forgot everything that was happening around me and was just looking at her without the blink of an eye. She walked towards me, I felt like hugging her and giving her a million kisses…just that I didn’t do it.

‘Hi’ she was already blushing

I was still staring at her.

‘Hey’ she waved her hand

‘Hi’ I said

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

‘Uhh nothing’ I was kinda lost

‘Hmm how do I look?’ she asked me smiling

Now..now..say something good something sensible. Tell her she is beautiful and that’s it.

‘You look unbelievable. You look….you look….wow am so lucky’ there I go

The words came out of my mouth without me knowing it. Idiot

‘Shut up’ she was blushing even more now. She was super conscious too about her saree and I went on making fun of her the whole day.

I took her inside ever so carefully as if she was a delicate glass object which would break at the slightest shake and made her sit in the second row.

‘Is she coming?’

‘I don’t think she is’ she said, ‘I did all I could but…’

‘That’s okay. She doesn’t have to be this stubborn’

‘I know but that’s how she is. Am sorry’

‘It’s okay sweetheart you did what you could. Well fine, we’re making this event a huge success with or without her’ I said ‘we’ve come too far’

‘I love you poriki’ she said with that mischievous smile of hers

‘Me too’ I smiled. ‘Ok stay put I’ve got a lotta work’

‘Hey when do I have to light the lamp?’

‘Okay’ her cheeks were already blood red. One shy woman she was

Sweet dream - 24 - Farm fresh

2011-05-17T02:05:00.000-07:00

Previously in Sweet dream,

We used to sit in the bakery until the time they shut it around 11.30 in the night and then we used to walk back to hostel, which was a distance of about a kilometer. Krishna bakes used to be a tiny bakery when we joined college and when we left, it had flourished into a huge bakery along with a fast food section. We could safely say we were partly responsible for its growth!

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The invitations came a few days later, it was the third week of March and we had to start sending out invitations. It was important to send out the invitations as early as possible coz that way people will block their calendars and won’t give excuses for not attending, at least that’s what we thought. Our friends were going to be the most part of the audience and we didn’t have to give invitations to them. So we had printed about 50 cards and gave them to selected people including one to Lekha - the root cause of all this, one to the chief guest, to our college lecturers, some of our parents, couple of newspaper offices, one each in the temples in Marudamalai and Eachanari and one each to every room in the boys’ hostel.

We hadn’t given it to Mouli’s parents yet, they would be invited the last. We wanted to ensure they didn’t know about this until the last moment, we wanted to give them a huge surprise. However, I used to rant about the whole thing to my parents every night almost since the day we decided doing this.

Speaking of parents, Diya’s parents had planned to open a fruits and vegetables store. She was super excited about it.

‘And it’s fully organic you know’ she beamed

‘Wow that’s so..uhh…so..socially responsible’ I tried to sound impressed. I was.

‘It’s going to be called “Farm fresh” how’s it?’

‘Nice nice sounds fresh! Does this mean I would get free fruits and vegetables when I come there?’

‘I’ll talk to my dad about it’ she smiled sarcastically

‘You better do’ I played along ‘so when’s it coming up?’

‘Second week of April, near Bishop Appasamy College on Race course road’

‘Oh good place that is’

‘Hey and you know what, my dad bought two pick-ups, one for fruits and one for vegetables’ she said that as if her father had just bought two BMW X3s!

(a pick-up is a kind of a jeep which is open at the back. It is used as a load vehicle, especially for agricultural products)

‘Wow cool man..did he take you on a ride?’

‘No not yet, may be this weekend’ she said

I tried hard not to laugh.

‘Dad and mom will take care of it. Brother will help them for sometime before he leaves abroad for his post graduation’ she gave me the details

‘Oh..ok ok. Invite me for the opening ceremony okay, I don’t mind doing the ribbon cutting’

‘Yes Sir, I’ll talk to my dad about that too’

‘Good girl’

‘He he thank you’ she laughed. That falling in love thing happened to me yet again. Is her laugh so beautiful or is there something fundamentally wrong with my genetics?

‘Ok listen, I want you to do something for me’

‘Anything sweetheart’ she was all romantic. Man..see what a pick-up does to a girl’s love life!

‘Not the time’ I snapped ‘I want you to make sure that Lekha attends the function. Mouli has invited her personally and she has refused to come. I want you to talk to her and somehow convince her into coming’

‘Hmm difficult task, but I’ll try’

‘No trying business, I want her there and you have to do it’

‘Ok she’ll be there,’ she promised

‘And bring the other girls too from hostel, we need some crowd’

‘Ok ok I’ll bring in the girls, what else?’

‘Just one more thing’

‘What?’

‘I want you to come in a saree’

‘What? No way, I can’t wear a saree’ she was terrified

‘You have to. I have promised Mouli that you’ll be in a saree and will light the lamp’

(Lighting a lamp is a tradition in south India at the beginning of any function)

‘What? Lamp? No..no..I can’t do it’ now she freaked out

‘No you’re doing it, you won’t do it alone you’ll be one of the five females who will light the lamp, so you’ll have to be in a saree’

‘Am scared, I can’t do this. You know am scared of crowds, why are you doing this to me, that too in a saree’

‘Obviously you can’t do it in a mini skirt, you know that’

‘Shut up I’m serious. I seriously can’t do it idiot, I start to shiver when I stand in front of a crowd’

‘You’ll do alright man, just a lamp it’s a very traditional thing. And I can’t wait to see you draped in a saree, you look so beautiful in it’

‘You really think I can pull it off?’ she was still in shock

‘Come on now don’t make such a big deal out of this, you’ll do great I’m sure’

‘Hmm ok, I’ll do it for you’ she smiled

‘Good’

‘Ok what color should I wear?’

‘Not this now’

‘Ok ok I’ll take care of it myself'

Sweet dream - 23 - M.Tech in Gene technology

2011-05-16T03:09:00.001-07:00

Previously in Sweet dream,

It was February. We had enough time but we wanted to make sure everything went to plan as the final exams too were happening in the same month.

Meanwhile, my MAT exam was coming up in February. I had screwed up badly in the December exam, so I had been preparing pretty hard this time around. I attended the exam and secured 97 percentile and eventually got into a reputed business school in Bangalore just as I wanted.

Diya was happy that I got into the college which I wanted but she just couldn’t digest the fact that I was going to Bangalore. It took her time but she eventually understood and accepted.

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The next day at college, some of our juniors came to us and said they wanted to throw a farewell party to us before leaving college. We happily accepted and then they said they would like to sponsor dinner at the book release function as a farewell gesture. And now we were even happier! We could save some 5000 rupees in the form of dinner. We said yes and let them organize dinner at Jenny club.

We prepared the content for the invitation cards and gave the order to the same printing press where we had printed the books. The books were due to arrive in another few days.

‘I’ve decided to do my PG’ Diya said

‘Great, you were always going to do it right?’

‘Shut up I have no interest in studying any further’

‘Then chuck it man, why do you wanna do a PG?’ I asked

‘Idiot, if I don’t study my parents will get me married to somebody immediately after UG, is that okay?’

‘Hey cool, send me pictures okay I won’t be able to attend the wedding, I’ll be busy in Bangalore you see’

‘You’re dead today poriki. It’s okay huh? It’s okay if I marry somebody else? Huh? Its okay?’ she started hitting me

‘Hey hey was kidding man, I won’t let go off you that easily’ I said while dodging the blows

‘Keep this in mind idiot, if something like that ever happens and if am forced to marry somebody else I’ll first murder you and then go marry that fellow’

“What? Hello that’s not fair. Why will you kill me?’

‘Coz I can’t imagine you with any other girl’

‘Oh..You can’t imagine me with another girl but you’ll marry another guy huh?’

‘Ya ya I know how to handle it’ she smiled

I smiled too ‘coz the both of us knew it was impossible for us to live our lives with somebody else

‘Ok shut up now and listen to me stupid’

‘Am all ears’

‘I’m going to do my M. Tech in Gene technology in Bharathiyar University’

‘Uhh M.Tech in what?’

‘Gene technology. Gene technology’ she repeated

‘Oh..big people, gene technology and all’ I made a face as if I was amazed at it

‘Oh yeah big people MBA and all’ she tried to give it back to me

I smiled and asked her ‘Why did you choose this? Isn’t it like bloody difficult and all?’

‘Whatever it is, the course is for 3 years, that’s the most important thing’ she said ‘you have another three years to do whatever it takes and get ready to take me with you’

‘Genius’ I smiled mockingly ‘did you talk to your parents about this?’

‘Yes I did. They agreed, half-heartedly though. I just hope they don’t have any plan in mind to screw it all’

‘They won’t do anything like that’

‘No they will, especially mom doesn’t like me doing my PG, she might do something, am worried only about that’

‘It’ll be alright, they won’t do anything cheer up now’

She smiled.

‘Hey you’ll come back no?’ and her smile disappeared

‘I’ll come back for you. Am not going to another world, just 360kms away’ I said

‘I wish I could come to Bangalore with you, but my parents won’t let me’

‘No no don’t come..don’t come there’ I was suddenly nervous. Boy I need to have some fun in Bangalore I thought to myself

‘Why? Why don’t come? What are you going to do in Bangalore without me huh? tell me why shouldn’t I come’

‘Well..nothing. But you don’t have to come there, the place doesn’t suit you dear’ I tried to pacify

‘Oh I see. Listen to me fool, I know you better than yourself and am sure you wouldn’t do anything there which would worry me…anything’ she smiled

I smiled back at her.

‘Or will you?’

‘No..no..I love you’ I confirmed

‘Me too’ she grinned widely

‘I know’

It was another week before the books were ready. We went to the press and got the 250 copies together. We brought the package to hostel and opened it. It was one of the best feelings of accomplishment we had ever felt. Those red front pages glittered making the books look more beautiful than we imagined. The job was half done now, a sense of satisfaction grew into us. We celebrated it that night at our usual hang out place – Krishna bakes near our college with our favorite drink, cold coffee! Cold coffee at Krishna bakes had become an integral part of our lives in the last few months of college. There was nothing great about the drink or the place but the time we spent there during the nights after dinner (we used to sneak out of hostel) were memorable.

We used to sit in the bakery until the time they shut it around 11.30 in the night and then we used to walk back to hostel, which was a distance of about a kilometer. Krishna bakes used to be a tiny bakery when we joined college and when we left, it had flourished into a huge bakery along with a fast food section. We could safely say we were partly responsible for its growth!

Sweet dream - 22 - Aayul reghai

2011-05-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

Previously in Sweet Dream,

The six of us Mouli, Madan, Sathish, Viswa, Ram and me together put in about 12,000 rupees in 3 days – we didn’t pay our hostel mess bills that month – and we were able to pay the advance amount to the hotel and the printing press and we had 3000 rupees remaining.

Sathish and Atma, another friend of ours set about designing the front page of the book, both of them were very good in Photoshop. The theme would be anything that resembles love, preferably predominantly red in color!

We had given them a week’s time during which the other five of us would somehow gather the remaining 20,000 rupees. We had work to do.

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We started talking to friends, friends of friends, their friends, near and far. We are grateful even today to those people who willingly contributed to the cause. About 15 people lent us money with an indefinite payback period and we had collected the remaining 20,000 rupees in a week!

Things were getting done in such a pace that we forgot the fact that we still didn’t have a name for the book. We asked Mouli himself to come up with a few names of his choice and we all would together choose one. He came up with “Kalloori kadhal” (College love), “Kavidhaigal unakaga” (Poems for you), “Avinashi salai” (Avinashi road) and “Aayul reghai” (Lifeline). We chose “Aayul reghai”. It had something to do with the name of the girl and the fact that the girl was his life. (You could probably not guess because the name of the girl has been changed here).

Sathish and Atma prepared the front page of the book along with the title. I showed the copy of the first page to Diya in college and she loved it.

‘Will you write something like this for me?’ she asked sheepishly

‘May be I would have. If you hadn’t accepted my proposal’ I smiled

‘Hmm yeah I wish I hadn’t. But it was just not possible to say no to you idiot. I would have proposed myself if you had delayed your act a little more’ she said staring right into me. Wow that was romantic

We were looking at each other quietly for a few seconds.

‘Hey’ I broke the silence

She finally blinked her eye.

‘Yeah’

‘So…’

‘So…hey do you want me to help you in some way?’ she asked

‘Yeah there’s something you could do for me’

‘Tell me’ she sounded happy to help

‘Just sell a few books when they are done’ I winked

‘Got it’

Mouli wanted Kavignar Puviyarasu as the chief guest. He was 65 years old but a very reputed poet who wrote for social causes. He was also working in the Tamil film industry and had worked in most of Kamalhasan’s films. Luckily for us he resided in Coimbatore itself, we met him at his house and spoke to him about the whole event. He was a bit hesitant since the book was mostly about love and things like that, but eventually agreed after Mouli promised to write for social causes in the future (wink). He agreed to come no money, gentleman he was. But the saddest part was that he and his wife didn’t even offer us a glass of water the whole time we were at their house!

After consulting with the chief guest, we decided to hold the function on the 2^nd of April, 2007.

It was February. We had enough time but we wanted to make sure everything went to plan as the final exams too were happening in the same month.

Meanwhile, my MAT exam was coming up in February. I had screwed up badly in the December exam, so I had been preparing pretty hard this time around. I attended the exam and secured 97 percentile and eventually got into a reputed business school in Bangalore just as I wanted.

(You can find the whole MAT exam story here).

Diya was happy that I got into the college which I wanted but she just couldn’t digest the fact that I was going to Bangalore. It took her time but she eventually understood and accepted.

Sweet dream - 21 - We had work to do

2011-05-09T04:48:00.000-07:00

Previously in Sweet Dream,

‘I don’t know’ Mouli spoke slowly looking at the 35,000 rupees written on the paper which I had rounded several times, ‘ can we do this?’

‘Yes we can’ Madan was pumped

‘Book launch panrom…kalakarom...Lekha va kavukurom’ Sathish pledged. We all smiled.

‘Arrange your poems, decide your chief guest, we’re doing this’ I said and we jumped over Mouli and screamed and rolled him over and giggled and laughed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day at college, I told Diya about the whole book idea and she was excited about it, she even offered to help us in any way she could.

‘And don’t forget your MAT exam, it’s in 2 months. Are you preparing at all?’ she reminded me

‘Yes yes I know, am preparing..don’t worry about it’

‘And listen. You sure wanna go to Bangalore?’

‘Baby we talked about this a million times, am sure I wanna go there and do my MBA’

‘But those girls in miniskirts with beer tins in their hands didn’t look good at all, am scared’

(Remember the industrial visit? We had been to MG road and Brigade road on a Saturday night and Diya has not wanted me to go to Bangalore since then)

‘Hey I’ll be fine. You trust me don’t you?’

‘I trust you sweetheart, not them’ she said

I chuckled.

‘Look honey, I’ll be alright, I’ll go there, finish my MBA, find a job in some glass building with ACs, come back, ask your dad for your hand, marry you, have babies and live happily ever after. Okay?’

‘I’ll be waiting’ she smiled.

That evening Mouli brought all his poems and we proof read them together because we had to give it to the computer centre where they type it in Tamil. We went to Squid systems and gave all the writings to be typed and print out a draft copy. The typist began to type the poems…as each letter appeared on the white screen I could see pride creeping slowly into Mouli’s eyes, he was smiling at the monitor without even knowing it. I silently reaffirmed my decision, “We are going to do this, no matter what it takes!”

We had only 100 rupees with us and the typing and printing charge was way beyond a hundred bucks. We could have it in credit because the owner of the centre was a friend of Sathish. That’s why we went there in the first place J

We came back to the hostel with the printouts and Viswa was there in the room. Viswa already knew about this but he wasn’t quite sure if we were really up to this. But now after seeing the prints in our hand, he pledged himself in too. We felt even stronger now.

The three of us sat together and figured out the layout of the prose in the book. We segregated the poems into categories – of course Mouli made the final decision on each segregation – we put them under topics, arrived upon an order, prepared the table of contents and also helped him write down disclaimer and credits. It took us two days to get the above mentioned ready.

Diya was getting a little frustrated at me getting occupied with the book but she was trying hard to conceal it. She was a terrible actor. I said I would make up for it by calling her that night at 10 and talk to her until 2am. I called her by 10 and we started talking…

I met her the next day and that was when I realized I had slept off somewhere around 11 while she was still talking. She was mad at me and wouldn’t talk to me. I apologized and I tried everything I could to console her. Finally she smiled only after I promised her to call her the following night at 10!

That evening we went to Squid systems again – with a heavier wallet this time– with the proper order and layout in which we wanted the book. The typist started typing and again I caught Mouli smiling into the monitor. This time I thought, “Well, maybe it’s a disease or something!” We got the print and took it back to Sathish and Madan, they approved it too. The dream was slowly taking shape.

I was constantly keeping Diya updated about the developments with the book because she had to know I was doing some work when I was not calling or texting her after classes every day.

We had the content ready, now we had to find a press to print the books. We could not afford a publisher so we had decided to release it ourselves. Sathish knew a friend who had a printing press. This fellow has got himself some useful pals. So the next day – after college – we sent Sathish and Viswa to the printing press to try and strike a deal with them, Ram too joined them. Me and Mouli went to Jenny club (a 3 star hotel near our college) to have one last shot at the manager to give us a reasonable deal. After two long hours of negotiation, we ended up with Rs.20,000 for 4 hours in the Ruby hall with a seating capacity of 200 people, they would take care of everything from the backdrop to the podium to the sound system. Dinner would be a buffet system, non-vegetarian. We agreed to it and bought 3 days time to pay the advance of Rs.5000. The press had agreed to print 250 copies for Rs.5000 after these guys promised to give them the ‘invitation card’ order too.

We also had to pay an advance amount at the press – it was time to gather dough!

We had given them a week’s time during which the other five of us would somehow gather the remaining 20,000 rupees. We had work to do.

Bleed Green!

2011-03-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

The British fled our country on 15th August, 1947, but Hindustan was broken into two a day earlier!

Two children from one womb, separated by the evils of individualistic and religious ideals! Brothers killed each other in the name of Gods, the connection being a war bed for years to follow. Off-springs of the same blood turned into unforgiving rivals for eternity. Leaders came and leaders went..the blood though was here to stay.

The urge to kill and destroy planted deep in the hearts of a few maniacs has been murdering innocent lives and thwarting the process of two beautiful countries!

But one thing has never failed to bring these two warriors together..its the game called CRICKET.

A cricket match between India and Pakistan has been a breathtaking spectacle each and every time it happens - not only to the people of the two countries but to the entire sporting world!

The passion..the adrenalin..the prayers touch unbelievable levels when these two cricketing giants face off each other out in the center. All the bitterness..rivalry..hatred..patriotism..condense into one palpable desire - win the game! And that desire has been the one common thing between these two countries for decades now.

This game has been the dream of advertisers and broadcasters 'coz their ratings and revenues topple over in that single day of magic.

Come Wednesday, the 30th of March, 2011 is no different. The stage is set.

Its the day of reckoning.

Its the semi-final of the Cricket World Cup.

Its India vs Pakistan!

I love to see that the people of the two countries including their Prime Ministers are going to sit together and watch the battle. I love the way people are going to cheer and pray for their countries to beat each other. I appreciate the fact that its going to act as a bridge for all the diplomatic acts between the two countries since 26/11. I would love the countries to be brothers and friends again.

But, tomorrow afternoon..when the players of both the teams step into the field in Mohali, one thing I would love for..one thing I pray for..one thing my heart aches for..is to see team India rip apart the Pakistani team and storm into the final of the world cup. Am Indian after all!

Bleed them green, India..! Jai Hind.

Sweet dream - 20 - For our friend

2011-03-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

‘You don’t have to change yourself Diya, I love the way you are’

‘ No, its for the good. I need to give you your freedom. All I want is you to be happy and I’ve been foolish enough to think only I can make you happy. I’ve come to understand that there are other things too and I need to let them be..just like you’ve treated me always. Am lucky to have you’

‘I love you’ I smiled

‘I love you too’ she said squeezing my hand.

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Things had settled down back home when we returned. Diya’s parents were no longer talking about marriage and alliances – may be they are giving it a break – I felt a little relaxed about it but I didn’t know how long they would stay muted. Meanwhile, I had started preparing for my MBA entrance exams. I was determined to do my MBA in a reputed business school..in Bangalore! Microbiology to MBA sounds crazy but that’s me, crazy.

It was the last days of college, so we were having maximum fun at college and hostel. Night show movies, birthday parties, playing cricket in the basketball court throughout the night with the flood lights on, hostel day celebrations, nights out at friends’ homes…we were doing all sorts of things to make the best out of the time we had with each other as we never knew where each one would disperse after college.

Mouli, my friend whom I’ve already talked about writes poems beautifully in Tamil. The talent was inborn but the emotion and flourish to his writing could be attributed only to Lekha, the girl he himself was in love with. He was crazy about her, had proposed to her and did all he could to convince her of his love for her but the girl wouldn’t budge. She hated him for no particular reason and never even spoke to him. So, with not much time to go in college, Mouli had an idea of compiling all his poems as a book and launch it with hope that the book where he had poured all his feelings would make Lekha understand his love for her.

‘It’s my last shot. I don’t know if it’ll work but it’s the best I could do, it’s the only thing I know’

‘Super! Lets do this. A book..by our Mouli! Seriously, a book?!! Wow! That’s so cool’ I instantly agreed to the idea

‘Oh yeah we’ll do it. Book release panrom..kalakarom..Lekha va kavukurom’ Sathish too was excited.

(Oh yeah we’ll do it. We release the book..we rock..we overwhelm Lekha)

Madan just smiled and we knew he was in.

Launching a book was no mean task but we had decided to do it. All we had were his scriblings in bundles of papers. We didn’t know a thing about launching a book but we knew it would cost us a bomb. We immediately sat together and listed down the things we had to do.

Designing, printing, publishing, invitations, auditorium, chief guest, dinner, newspaper ads..it was a long list. The next day after college, we set about meeting and calling people and trying to arrive at an approximate cost estimate.

After two days of roaming around the city, going to printing presses and hotels and making a million phone calls, we had a more or less realistic cost estimate to do this whole thing. It came up to 35,000 rupees. We looked at each other not knowing what to say. Mouli was utterly disappointed. His face showed the expression of a shattered dream, we couldn’t look at him like that.

‘Forget the book’ he said, ‘it’s a useless thing anyways and we’ve got more important things to do.

We remained silent. 35,000 rupees sounded a huge amount, and managing it without the help of our parents was going to be almost impossible.

‘Seriously, college will be over in a few months and we have to prepare for our MAT exams and stuff. This is a waste of time, I was insane to even have thought about this. Let’s drop this guys’ Mouli continued, his tone in grief and failure.

All four of us sat there staring silently at the mosaic floor of the hostel room. Suddenly I felt like this was my responsibility to make this happen and I was sure Sathish and Madan were feeling the same, I knew them too well. It wasn’t his dream alone anymore, it was ours. We felt some kind of liability towards releasing this book in a big way. I looked at Sathish and Madan and the three of us knew how much we wanted to do this.

‘Machi why don’t we rob Lekha’s dad’ Sathish broke the ice. I loved him for this.

‘We’ll have to do this somehow da, gotta make this big. Should be the best part of our UG lives’ Madan was determined.

‘But how? It’s gonna cost us so much money, you yourself saw it. How are we gonna manage it’ Mouli asked dejectedly

‘We’ve got friends man, we’ll talk to all of them. Am sure they’ll help, that’s our only option’

Madan was absolutely right. Our friends were our only option.

‘Am scared, this is a big risk. I don’t want you guys to do all this for the shit I wrote. As it is I don’t even know if people will read it’

‘Dai shut up. Whatever you’ve written is beautiful, people will love it, especially that girl’ Sathish encouraged.

‘I don’t know’ Mouli spoke slowly looking at the 35,000 rupees written on the paper which I had rounded several times, ‘ can we do this’

‘Yes we can’ Madan was pumped

‘Book launch panrom…kalakarom...Lekha va kavukurom’ Sathish pledged. We all smiled.

‘Arrange your poems, decide your chief guest, we’re doing this’ I said and we jumped over Mouli and screamed and rolled him over and giggled and laughed.

From that moment on, all our heart and mind was into the launching of Mouli’s book.

Sweet dream - 19 - Nice things happen

2011-03-15T04:35:00.000-07:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

At one point a girl called Sonam stood up and joined me. She gave good company, we blended together rather too well. The cheer got louder and louder and Diya too was laughing and shouting, I felt good she was enjoying it. It turned out to be a super-hit performance and the audience including our profs were cheering at the top of their voices. Me and Sonam high fived each other and settled down in our seats.

I went back to my seat near Diya and sat down. The cheers and claps were still on, I was wiping my sweat off my forehead when ‘thud’ I felt an elbow crashing into my ribs! I squeaked in pain but the sound went unheard in the noise of the bus. It was Diya, staring at me.

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I just looked at her, puzzled, regaining my breath from the unexpected blow.

‘What?’ Are you mad? Why did you do that? And how come you’re that strong? You don’t look that way

‘You seem to enjoy dancing with her huh?’

‘Well, everybody seemed to enjoy it’

‘Not me idiot, I couldn’t stand the sight of you holding hands and dancing with another girl’ Oh my God. Again

‘Hey not this again, its a fun trip man and you know I love to dance’

‘I love your dance too but you didn’t have to do it with her’

‘But…but you too were clapping and cheering, I thought you liked it’

‘I did..only as long as you were dancing alone. You two looked so good together and I hated it’

Testing circumstances! I knew I had to keep my cool, I couldn’t let this to spoil all the fun we were having but I didn’t know how to respond..I kept quiet. How convenient

We remained silent..she was staring outside the window, I was looking at my friends singing and dancing. It was a whole 5 minutes before she spoke again.

‘Dai…’

I pretended not to have heard her, I was still looking at the others

‘Dai Darshaa..’

She was louder this time. I continued to sit still

‘Dai..sorry da’

Yes yes yes. I tried hard to conceal my smile and still wasn’t looking at her

‘Dai poriki..’ she slapped my thigh and I burst out in laughter. She smiled too.

‘What is it? You want to crush my right rib too?’ I was being false-serious ‘Christ, you’re strong!’

‘Shut up, is it paining?’ she put her hand gently on my rib where she elbowed me.

‘Aah’ I screamed pretending to be in severe pain and she pulled off her hand in shock

‘Sorry sorry..is it paining very much?’ she looked genuinely worried

I laughed loudly this time and she beat me all over.

‘Idiot..stupid..you scared me’ we were laughing together once again as a drop of tear fell off from her eyes.

‘Am sorry for behaving that way’ she said. I could see in her eyes she was sorry

‘You don’t have to be sweetheart’

‘No I was wrong, I need to handle these things better’

‘Hey come on now’

‘Ille da..I’ve not been allowing you your space, I realize it now..I’ve been thinking about these days. I’ll change myself, I just need some time. Please bear with me da magha please’ she said and I fell in love with her all over again!

‘You don’t have to change yourself Diya, I love the way you are’

‘I love you’ I smiled

‘I love you too’ she said squeezing my hand.

The dance though remains to be a sweet memory. Fatema, a girl from my class recorded it without me knowing. She gave a copy of the video after we returned home. Fatema has turned out to be one of my best friends. It was a shame we got to know each other very late in the course, rather too late, we had hardly talked to each other until the industrial visit. ‘Better late than never’ we tell ourselves even today. Sonam too is married now and has a beautiful girl baby.

Sweet dream - 18 - Most wanted break

2011-03-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

‘Mom started screaming at me when I told her about us, she was very upset with the way I talked to them. She was very angry and was cursing me. She even came to beat me, dad separated us’

I felt a tinge of love and pride for my mom.

‘It’ll be alright ma, we’ll make them underst..’

‘I didn’t have a choice da I had to do it. I cant imagine a life with anybody else, I need you da..I love you’ she was crying like a baby clutching my shirt

‘I love you too’ the words were stuck in my throat

We remained silent sitting there as the leaves danced down to earth to the melody of the evening breeze.

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That night I called my mother and told her what Diya did. Mom said she wanted to talk to Diya. I felt a glimmer of hope. Was she finally taking me seriously??

I arranged the call the next day and the women spoke. It turned out to be no different from my first meeting with her dad. Mom almost recited the same speech as Diya’s father, about her age, my career, my sister, relatives…everything but us. And they shed a lot of tears too. That wasn’t a surprise because I knew mom was a sentimental person, however not as prone to crying as Diya!

We could now see the battle we had to fight, we fully knew the stakes of it and above all this we knew we loved each other and we believed in it. We were determined to go through this together because the last thing we wanted was to hurt our parents in any possible way. Both of us loved our parents and adored them too much to do such a thing.

The next day in college, the plan for the industrial visit was discussed. I was most happy with it as we badly needed a break, it had been a stressful period, the past month or two.

I knew it would be a fun tour. We would visit a couple of industries and click a few pictures just for the sake of it, otherwise it would be sight seeing, shopping, eating and having fun for a week..am sure this is what happens in most colleges.

Diya’s parents wouldn’t let her go. I made her friends talk to her parents and persuade them into letting her go and after a lot of explanations and promises, they finally agreed.

It would be a 4 day trip – 3 days in Bangalore and 1 in Mysore. I was secretly excited about going to Bangalore because that’s where I intended to do my MBA.

All the preparations were in place – travel, accommodation, permission from companies, everything. Each one of us was excited and looking forward to it and it happened to be a lot more fun than we expected!

The trip was a blessing. Diya and I were away from all the trauma of home. We could finally afford to smile and scrub off the recent failures and diappointments and bitterness from our souls. We spent time as much time together as possible, we ate, walked, shopped and laughed together. It was 4 days of pure fun including one particular incident.

On the morning of the third day, we started from Bangalore to Wonderla, a theme park on Mysore road.The plan was to spend the day at Wonderla and reach Mysore that night. We were excited and I was sitting alongside Diya shouting and chanting as the others sang and danced and chatted in the bus. Suddenly the song ‘mukala mukabla’ from a movie called ‘Kadhalan’ (tamil) came on. Everybody settled down in the bus and started calling on me to dance. I never needed a second invitation to dance..I instantly stood up and started dancing as my friends cheered along.
At one point a girl called Sonam stood up and joined me. She gave good company, we blended together rather too well. The cheer got louder and louder and Diya too was laughing and shouting, I felt good she was enjoying it. It turned out to be a super-hit performance and the audience including our profs were cheering at the top of their voices. Me and Sonam high fived each other and settled down in our seats.

I went back to my seat near Diya and sat down. The cheers and claps were still on, I was wiping my sweat off my forehead when ‘thud’ I felt an elbow crashing into my ribs! I squaked in pain but the sound went unheard in the noise of the bus. It was Diya, staring at me.

Sweet dream - 17 - Climax of confessions

2011-03-09T21:43:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

     Dharshan, I got marriedJ Harish is such a sweet fellow and loves me so much! I love him too and he takes such good care of me. We are so happ….

Dharshan, it’s a girlJ I am so so happy! Both Harish and I wanted a girl baby and we’ve got one now! She’s so beautiful and chubby. We are going to name her Dharshini….

Dharshan, Dharshini has got first rank in her class! So brilliant she is..just like her father:)

Dharshan...

I woke up to a start and my phone was ringing. It was a dream, a nightmare!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was Diya on the phone, the time was 2.15PM. I sat straight and gathered myself and picked the phone.

‘Hey, what happened?’ I asked

‘They are gone’

‘Gone? Wh…what happened there?’

‘Am on my way to college, come to the basket ball court’

She sounded like she had achieved something and I instantly knew what had happened.

‘Ok’

I went to the basketball court and waited.

She came there, puffy eyes, blood shot cheeks, tired and dull – just the opposite to how I saw her when I first proposed to her almost a year back – obviously she had been crying a lot, I made her sit down.

‘What happened?’

‘They left. I told them’

‘Told them about us?’

‘No I just told them I liked another guy, I didn’t tell them it was you. I knew it would cause problems in your family’ See..See..that’s Diya, so sensible, so empathetic, how could I ever let her go

‘And then?’

‘They took it well, they just left. And after they left I told mom it was you’

‘I told mom too’

‘Oh you did? What did she say?’ she asked, expressionless

‘She said I didn’t know what I was doing and I was spoiling your life. She asked me to let go off you and she refused to call them’

She flashed a tired smile and looked away

‘What did your mother say?’ I asked

She remained quiet for a moment and then tears rolled down here eyes

‘Hey sweetheart’ I put my hand on her shoulder ‘what happened? what did mom say?’

She leaned over my chest and cried again. I waited without saying anything, brushing her hair

She spoke after sometime

‘Mom started screaming at me when I told her about us, she was very upset with the way I talked to them. She was very angry and was cursing me. She even came to beat me, dad separated us’

I felt a tinge of love and pride for my mom.

‘It’ll be alright ma, we’ll make them underst..’

‘I didn’t have a choice da I had to do it. I cant imagine a life with anybody else, I need you da..I love you’ she was crying like a baby clutching my shirt

‘I love you too’ the words were stuck in my throat

We remained silent sitting there as the leaves danced down to earth to the melody of the evening breeze.

Sweet dream - 16 - Face to face with failure

2011-03-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

“I have to tell you something important ma, and I don’t have much time”

“What’s it kanna, tel me”

“You know Diya, don’t you”

“Yeah I know her, what happened to her?”

(I had introduced Diya as a friend to my mother long back and they’ve spoken over the phone too)

“Nothing happened to her ma, it’s about me and her”

“What?”

“Amma…” My heart was pounding

“Go on” her voice was now firm and emotionless or may be she was concealing her emotions

“Amma I like her am in love with her”

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Silence at the other end.

Strangely I felt a ton of weight was put down from my shoulders, I had finally told mom about my relationship with Diya. Whether she would accept it is a different issue altogether, at least she knows now.

There was no still no sound from the other side of the phone, I decided to wait.

Mom finally spoke, ‘Dharshan this is not right’

‘Amma…’

‘No..you don’t know what you’re doing this is wrong’ She was firm but she was concerned

‘I know what am doing mom, I really do’

‘No you don’t it’s no joke magha, it’s a girl’s life’

‘Amma I was never more serious, trust me I really like this girl. She is such a nice girl and…and she likes me too ma’

‘Dharshan..’

‘Amma listen to me we can talk about all this later, right now I need your help. Please.’

‘Help? What help?’

‘Amma Harish and his family are at Diya’s house now. Harish, Parvathy aunt’s son’

‘Yes I know her mother called me today morning before I left for grandpa’s place. How prompt

I told her the family was very good and they could give Diya to Harish’ DON’T say that mom. Screw you Harish

‘No ma this can’t happen, I want you to stop this’

I looked at the clock and it was 12.45PM. Not so good

‘Stop this? What are you talking Dharshan? They are at her house and they would have probably fixed things by now, I can’t do anything now’ Mom wouldn’t budge

‘No. No I want you to call aunt now and tell them not to fix this marriage. Please mom do this for me’

‘Shut up Dharshan I can’t do that. Crazy are you!’ Oh yes I am. Oh yes I am. What do you think

‘You have to ma you have to. I don’t have a choice’ I was desperate, frantic, exhausted…in tears. I didn’t know what to talk anymore. I love you Diya I won’t let you go

‘Magha listen to me, you don’t understand the seriousness. What you’re asking me to do will only cause shame to all our three families. Just let the girl marry da and it’ll all be fine, both of you’ll get over it in a few days. You’ll have a life in front of you, this is the right time for her to get married and you will find a better girl when the time comes. Just let it go. Now you take the bus and come home, I want to see you I’m worried magha, come now’

‘Amma I won’t get convinced. I love her ma..unmaiyaa (truly), I can’t let her go’

‘You have to magha, come home now. You’ll thank me for this later.’ Thank you for what? For snatching Diya right out of my hands and giving her to some random idiot?

‘Amma...’ I didn’t have it in me anymore

‘I’m keeping the phone down now Dharshan. Let the girl go’ and Mom was gone.

I didn’t call her again, it was of no use.

Was I too late to tell mom about this I don’t know. All I knew was, this was not going to be easy as I thought.

I drank some water, it was 1.30PM. I lay there all alone having no idea what was going on at Diya’s house.

Dharshan, I got marriedJ Harish is such a sweet fellow and loves me so much! I love him too and he takes such good care of me. We are so happ….

Dharshan, it’s a girlJ I am so so happy! Both Harish and I wanted a girl baby and we’ve got one now! She’s so beautiful and chubby. We are going to name her Dharshini….

     Dharshan, Dharshini has got first rank in her class! So brilliant she is..just like her father:)

     Dharshan...
I woke up to a start and my phone was ringing. It was a dream, a nightmare!

Sweet dream - 15 - I tell Mom

2011-03-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

“1‘o clock??? Why did she go there today? Can’t she come back earlier?” I was losing my cool now. The phone at grandma’s house was out of order for the past three days. I cursed my luck

“Kanna, what happened to you? Any problem?”

“No maa, nothing. I’ll talk to her when she comes back”

“Ok…I’ll ask her to call you when she’s back”

“Ok maa” I cut the call.

What was I going to do now? They are due at Diya’s house by twelve and I somehow had to reach mom before that. I was baffled, had no idea what to do. The awe of the moment was getting the better of me, I tried to relax…it was already 9 ‘o clock. I did not have much time with me. Do something Dharshan.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I started calling frantically. I made a hundred calls hoping to somehow get hold of my mother but it was just not my day, she was no where to be found. Texts poured in from Diya and I kept telling her I was trying. Her tension was infectious. I tried hard to stay calm, there had to be a way out. Mom, where are you?

The clock ticked on… 9.30am……. 10.00 am…… 11.00 am…… 11.30am. I waited for my mother.

11.30 am.

“They’ve started from their place” read Diya’s text.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be alright” I replied. Those were the most consoling words I could find at that moment.

I had called home four times by now and had caused enough worries in aunt’s mind too. There was no one left to call, I had no one to help. I put the phone down and closed my eyes.

11.50 am.

Diya had lost hope at the other end, she decided to tell them herself today. I did not respond.

12.05 pm.

“They reached I’ll take care of it now” she texted. There was finality in that text message. I did not want to think what was about to happen.

Still no sign of mom…

12.15 pm.

Finally my phone rang and to my relief, it was my mother.

“Dharshan, what happened? Why have you been calling so many times?” her tone was tense.

“I have to tell you something important ma, and I don’t have much time”

“What’s it kanna, tel me”

“You know Diya, don’t you”

“Yeah I know her, what happened to her?”

(I had introduced Diya as a friend to my mother long back and they’ve spoken over the phone too)

“Nothing happened to her ma, it’s about me and her”

“What?”

“Amma…” My heart was pounding

“Go on” her voice was now firm and emotionless or may be she was concealing her emotions

“Amma I like her am in love with her”

Sweet dream - 14 - Mom, I've got news for you

2011-02-28T04:38:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

I wanted to break it to her that her daughter and I were in love with each other but Diya had told me that her mother was very short tempered. That’s why she had told her father about us and not her mother. So, I somehow felt that my confession at this moment will only spur her on to seal this alliance as soon as possible. I was on a knife edge. I decided to wait…hoping that I wouldn’t be too late in the end!

“Oh..I see” her mother paused, “then can you give me your mother’s phone number? I’ll speak to her”

What? This lady was on a role.

“Ok…note it down aunty – 04266 272319 – mom doesn’t have a mobile phone” I added

“Thank you Dharshan, I’ll speak to mom”

“Fine aunty.” Blip. The line got disconnected.
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I lay there on my bed, thinking. Diya could just tell my cousin’s family today that she loves me and I her, but the consequences will be disastrous. It would first of all be an insult to my cousin’s family to hear this from her after being invited home which would eventually infuriate her parents too. Then, those people would pass this on to my mother which I never want to happen, I always wanted to tell this to her myself. Finally, it’s also the least preferable way through which we wanted Diya’s mom to know about our love. I couldn’t imagine what was about to happen later that day.

7.55 am.

My phone rang, it was Diya…

“Do you really love me?” her voice was dry. May be she cried all the water off her body. I understood that her mother had called mine.

“Why are you asking this?”

“Do you really want to marry me or were you pretending all these days?” She was getting hysterical.

“Hey what are you talking?”

“Shut up. What do you think of yourself? You gave a certificate for your brother? Now it’s all decided, they are going to finish off things in sometime”

“Nothing like that will happen, calm down now”

“Look Dharshan, I love you and I’m not ready to marry anybody else. So if it gets out of hands today afternoon, I’m going to break it to them myself. I don’t care what happens after that”

I was not going to let her do that.

“You won’t have to tell them. I’ll take care of things” I assured her.

“I don’t know what you are going to do, but remember they’ll be here by 12. Mom’s getting everything ready, she is so excited…I hate her”

She was back to her childish innocence. This is why I love her so much and this is why I was just going to call my mother and tell her that I love this girl.

“I love you” I said.

“I love you too. I need you” she said and kissed me on the phone.

8.10 am.

I dialed - 0..4..2..6..6..2..7..2..3..1..9

The moment which I dreaded the most had just arrived. This is as late as I could wait. I had to do it now, no matter what. I prayed hard, my heart was almost in my mouth.

The phone was ringing. Mom…hold your heart, am coming

Still ringing……Pick up mom

Finally she picked up…

“Hello”

“Hello amma”

“I’m Prema amma da” It was not my mother, it was my aunt on the other side. I called my aunts amma too. There were three of them.

“Where’s mom maa?”

“How are you sweetheart?” aunt asked me. There was no time for aunt’s love now

“Am fine, where’s mom?” I hurried on

“Mom’s just left for grandma’s place da…what happened? You sound tensed”

“There? When will she come back?”

“She will come around 1 ‘o clock I guess, anything urgent?” she asked.

“1‘o clock??? Why did she go there today? Can’t she come back earlier?” I was losing my cool now. The phone at grandma’s house was out of order for the past three days. I cursed my luck

“Kanna, what happened to you? Any problem?”

“No maa, nothing. I’ll talk to her when she comes back”

“Ok…I’ll ask her to call you when she’s back”

“Ok maa” I cut the call.

Sweet dream - 13 - The phone call

2011-02-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

My friends too started pushing me now. That night, “dude, are you going to tell your mother now or should we go to Ooty and tell her?” they threatened. I knew more than well they would do it without any hesitation. I promised them that I would tell my mother the next day as it was too late into the night by then.

The race was on. I had to call my mother before Diya’s mother called me. I decided to call mom at 8 the next morning, as that was the earliest I could without getting dad to know about this.

I went to bed trying hard to recall all the sweet memories of my times with Diya…

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The next morning, I woke up to a start, it was my phone ringing. I stole a peek at the watch which showed 7.15 am (I had slept sometime after 5)

I saw the number and was shocked to see who was calling. It was Diya’s mother! I had lost the battle, I never expected her to call so early

“Hello” I swallowed

“Hello, is this Dharshan?”

“Yes aunty, tell me” my heart was pounding

“Did I wake you up son? I’m sorry, it’s urgent Dharshan”

“No problem aunty, I was going to wake up anyway…what is it?” How I wished her answer would be something else

“It’s about Diya’s marriage son” she said. “Actually, your cousin Harish and his parents had come home yesterday asking for Diya”

“Oh…is it” I tried to sound surprised. God this is not happening

“Yes. We told that we’ll tell them our decision tomorrow, so they are coming back today afternoon”

“Fine aunty, is Diya ok with this?”

“She says she wants to study further but we can’t delay this anymore, people say a lot of things you see” she smiled, “she’ll be fine once the marriage is over, she’s just scared to go to another house and live with new people”

“Ok aunty” I couldn’t feel my lips speaking anymore, it was getting out of my hands

“So I just wanted to ask you about your cousin. How is he? We know the family is very good, but I thought you might know better about him as a person. Can we give Diya to him? Will he look after her well?”

Give Diya to him??? This was torture.

“Uh…actually aunty I don’t know about Harish, I’ve only met him rarely. May be, mom will know him better”

What the devil am I talking? I could have never imagined myself in this situation, it was almost as if I myself was finding Diya a good match.

“Oh..I see” her mother paused, “then can you give me your mother’s phone number? I’ll speak to her”

What? This lady was on a role.

“Ok…note it down aunty – 04266 272319 – mom doesn’t have a mobile phone” I added

“Thank you Dharshan, I’ll speak to mom”

“Fine aunty.” Blip. The line got disconnected.

Sweet dream - 12 - Things get out of control

2011-02-25T23:37:00.001-08:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

“No pa, I’m serious, you can’t see me alive if you try to stop our marriage”

“Diya…”

This was getting out of control, she was not listening to him. I was starting to feel embarrassed.

“I love him pa, I can’t live without him. I…”

“Diya shut up” I said, in a firm voice.

She stopped, looked at me and then put her head down staring at the ground without speaking a word.

Her father looked at me startled! She went on talking all this time without listening to him and now, one word from me and she obeyed abruptly. I left that place, a proud lover!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After this meeting, her parents had hastened the process of finding a match for her other than me! Diya too had now started forcing me to tell my parents. She had a hope that her parents would agree if my parents spoke to her’s. I still hadn’t found the courage to tell my parents about this. We were beginning to have misunderstandings on this until one day.

One of my cousin’s families had asked her parents for her. Finally, from my family? What the … They had gone home to see her. His name was Harish, he had seen her in some marriage function (these guys go to weddings just to find girls for themselves??) His parents had somehow hunted down her family and were at her home today. They discovered that Diya was my classmate and hence revealed my relation to them. Diya’s parents too had liked the family and expressed interest. So, they went back vowing to come back the next day and ‘finalize things’.

“They are coming back tomorrow” she was still crying on the phone.

I remained silent..dumbstruck. What all can happen?

“And you know what?” she went on, “my mom’s going to call you tomorrow“

Well well well

“What? Why is she going to call me? Why does someone or the other in her family always wants to call me?

Diya’s mother still didn’t know about us, only her father did.

“She knows the guy is your cousin. So she wants to ask you about him before saying yes to them” she explained.

“I can’t believe this” I meant it

“So…are you going to tell your parents at least now or are you going to help my parents get me married?” she was sobbing.

“Shut up” I said, “I’ll do something”

Couldn’t I just take her and go off to some island or something where there’s nobody else to bother us? Couldn’t our parents just come and say “Dear children, we love you…your happiness is our happiness, so go on, get married!” Couldn’t…..

“Please do something…I trust nobody else now, it’s all in your hands”

She was absolutely right, it was all in my hands

The realization hit me hard. I couldn’t delay it any longer, I had to tell my parents now.

The race was on. I had to call my mother before Diya’s mother called me. I decided to call mom at 8 the next morning, as that was the earliest I could without getting dad to know about this.

I went to bed trying hard to recall all the sweet memories of my times with Diya…

Sweet dream - 11 - A failed act of desperation

2011-02-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

“Hello Dharshan. How are you doing? How are mom and dad?” he asked. He appeared relaxed.

We talked about a few other things for a while before he got to the point. He asked Diya to stay there while we took a walk along the passage and have a talk about the issue at hand. Issue? The word didn’t do any good to my confidence.

“No, I’ll stay here” she said.

“Listen to me, I talked to you yesterday, now I need to talk to him” he raised his voice a little. She stayed there as we walked.

Show time! It was man to man from now on…

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, what’s in your mind my son?” his words were like that of a Supreme Court Justice.

“I don’t know to beat around the bush uncle, I’ve come here to ask your daughter’s hand” I said, as plain as that.

He did not expect this from me at all. He took a few moments to gather himself and speak again. I felt proud of myself, more importantly, I was feeling relieved now.

“It’s not that simple Dharshan” he started, “you all are still too young to take important decisions like these” he said. My mind accepted, my heart would not. He went on……

He talked for another half an hour about various things – age, society, our families, and my career.

Finally, I spoke. “I understood everything you said uncle, but I did not think of all these when I fell in love with your daughter. I don’t think these things such as age and the opinion of the society should matter when we both love each other and believe in it. We are sure we will lead a happy life and keep you all happy too” I confirmed my status, “so please think about only us and not the people around and let us live together. We will never let you regret your decision anytime in your life, I promise” I finished it off as assertively as I could. He kept quiet.

By now, we were back in the temple and she was there waiting for us anxiously.

“We spoke” he said to her, “you both seem to be pretty sure about this.” he said.

“Yes uncle”. “Yes dad”.

“Hmm…but this is not going to happen. It is impossible for me to have my daughter wait at home until you get settled in your career. I don’t know how long it will take and you have a younger sister too. Your parents would not agree to you getting married before her. And I need to get Diya married soon as she is already 20 years old and I can’t wait any longer. So, I would say it’s better for both of you to give up these things and shake hands as friends. Don’t have intentions like these. Dharshan, I see that you are a sensible boy, so think about this and tell me an answer which would do good for everybody”

Everybody? Who everybody? It’s both of us who are going to live together. Is this fellow mad? Are all fathers as stupid as him? Will my father be the same?! When will these people ever try to understand what their kids want and not what the ‘society’ wants? Is this the state of all girls in our country? Can anything be done about this?

“How much ever I think about it, I am going to tell you the same thing uncle, I love her and I want to marry her. I need your consent for this, I’ll do whatever it takes to make you all understand that your daughter will be happier with me than she was with you and your family”

“Yes Dad, I’ll marry only Dharshan and nobody else” Diya echoed my words.

“Listen to me Diya it’s not that easy, we’ll have to answer a lot of people…..” her father reminded her of his obligations.

“No daddy” she interrupted him, “I’ll marry only him or I’ll die” Huh? Where did this come from?

“Shut up. What are you talking?” he shouted at her. Now we had attracted the attention of the people outside the temple.

“No pa, I’m not going to get convinced. I have decided and I’m sure about this. I don’t care what others think or want” she continued. His face was turning red, his blood pressure was rising.

“Stop it Diya, you don’t know anything”.

“No pa, I’m serious, you can’t see me alive if you try to stop our marriage”

“Diya…”

This was getting out of control, she was not listening to him, I was starting to feel embarassed.

“I love him pa, I can’t live without him. I…”

“Diya shut up” I said, in a firm voice.

She stopped, looked at me and then put her head down staring at the ground without speaking a word.

Her father looked at me startled. She went on talking all this time without listening to him and now, one word from me and she obeyed abruptly. I left that place, a proud lover!

Sweet dream - 10 - Time to meet the elders

2011-02-24T22:47:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

“Tomorrow, 7 pm, Codissia grounds!” she smiled. I forced one myself

“You’ll be there?” I asked

“Yes darling, always” she said assuringly. She was such a source of hope and strength for me in times of desperation like this.

“Love you!” I meant it so much this time now more than any other.

“Love you too. Call me when you reach hostel”

Yup.

I had already started preparing for tomorrow’s meeting. Codissia grounds…again! Will it be as successful as the previous one??

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Dai…super chance this is. Impress your father-in-law somehow. He should never talk about marriage for her daughter for another 4 years” encouraged Viswa.

“Machaaa paathu da, ava appan aruvaal kondu vandhu unna ore podaa potura poraan. Indha appanungala nambave mudiyadhu” warned Sathish.

(“Machaa careful…he might bring a knife and stab you. Never trust these girls’ fathers”)

“Hey shut up Ram! Not the time to play” Mouli intervened, “listen dude, he should be a sensible person to speak to you in person about this. Not all fathers of girls are as decent. So, just be bold and tell him whatever you feel. Make sure that you convince him that this is serious and not just another college affair. Everything will be fine, we are always there.” Mouli was as calm as ever. This is why I always go to him in my most troubled moments.

My friends were as excited as me about the next day’s meeting. Now that her father wanted to meet me, they were happy that we were making progress and also tensed about her father’s reaction to this. Whatever happened, I knew for sure they will be there when I needed them…anytime for anything. God…what would I do in life without these guys!

“You ready? We’ve started from home” she texted.

“Am ready, will be there in another ten minutes” I replied.

“I’ll try as much as I can to stay with you, but if he insists to talk to you alone then you’ll have to manage”

“I’ll try” I said rather casually.

“Hello, I’ll kill you if you flop today!” she threatened

“Ok..ok..It’ll be fine, I’ll take care” I was trying to sound confident.

I left hostel.

"You sure you wanna go alone?" asked Sathish with a smirk. I stared back at him and left.

Codissia was only 5 minutes away from our college, so I took a walk hoping that the evening breeze would absorb all my tension and nervousness before meeting her father.

When I reached, they were already there…just out of the Isckon temple. Wonder what he had prayed for. Her father was tall, around 50 and dressed in a simple manner.

“Hello uncle” I shook hands with him, “Hey Diya” I looked at her for as less duration as possible.

“Hello Dharshan. How are you doing? How are mom and dad?” he asked. He appeared relaxed.

“No, I’ll stay here” she said.

“Listen to me, I talked to you yesterday, now I need to talk to him” he raised his voice a little. She stayed there as we walked.

Show time! It was man to man from now on…

Sweet dream - 09 - Troubling times

2011-02-23T22:19:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet dream

Her possessiveness over me was genuine. She wanted me only for her and I obliged. (By the way, I didn’t mind her talking to other boys, really.)

By this time, I had made a few enemies among the boys who had a crush on her. They even had plans to beat me up on a college fest day which never happened. But as time passed on, they just couldn’t help but wish me luck with my love life.

It was all looking great, but life has its turns. Ours was just around the corner…..

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She started having marriage proposals back home. Every other day there was a boy’s family approaching her parents asking her for their son. (The one thing I hate about my community, for that matter our country itself, girls are still bound to get married at an early age. Don’t they have dreams? Don’t they have ambitions in life? Don’t they aspire for a career of their own? Don’t they have the freedom to decide when to get married and whom to marry?) Her parents were no exception and were already considering getting her married immediately after graduation.

She kept denying them saying that she wanted to do her M.Tech and did not want to marry until then. Things got serious though when one of them was prepared to let her study after marriage. It was an unexpected blow, we were caught off-guard. We thought of every escape route possible but everything was closed. Finally we were forced to take the only way out – she would tell her parents about our relationship. We had to do it now at least to slow down the rapid progress at her home. She was always confident that her parents would understand us since theirs was a love marriage too.

That night around 9, I was on my way back from a one day trip to Kerala with friends having bunked college. My phone rang and it was her.

“Hey wifey! tell me…what happened?”

“I told my father about us”

“You did? Awesome! What did he say?”

“He wants to meet you”

“What?!!”

“He wants to talk to you about us”

"What does he want to talk?" I instantly knew it was a dumb question to ask

"About you and me idiot. What do you think he is gonna talk?"

I was suddenly feeling very nervous. I had no idea whether this was for good or bad

“Ok ok…when? and where?”

“Tomorrow, 7 pm, Codissia grounds” she smiled. I forced one myself

“You’ll be there?” I asked

“Yes darling, always” she said assuringly. She was such a source of hope and strength for me in times of desperation like this

“Love you!” I meant it so much this time more than any other

“Love you too. Call me when you reach hostel”

Yup.

I had already started preparing for tomorrow’s meeting. Codissia grounds…again! Will it be as successful as the previous one??

Sweet dream - 08 - Life is splendid

2011-02-23T21:33:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet dream

I leant forward and hugged her…………..heavenly! She gripped my shirt tight…for the next 10 seconds, I forgot everything else in the world. It was only me and her, our love…our passion. I wished we could stay like that forever.

“Oh God!” she let off her hold suddenly and looked at her watch. “I’m late, I have to go, mom will kill me! I’ll call tonight, love you darling. Will never forget this day in my life” and off she went, like the breeze which was still blowing with all its might. It was as if God had sent it to cool down the heat of the moment…in vain. I stood there admiring her walk…still not able to believe what happened in the last 15 minutes.

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We loved each other madly. Second year in college was the most beautiful period of my life. But it was never about flirting, ours was not the restaurant-beach-park kind, though a bit of lust was there. I always believed a healthy amount of lust was necessary for any relationship to sustain…to strengthen. After all we were of the opposite sex! We were determined to hold hands, live a life together…for each other. Among all this, both of us had a lot of respect for our parents. We wanted their consent more than anything else to get married. We were waiting for the right time to tell them (I was dreading that moment). My parents are wonderful human beings. They had always let me live my life as I wanted, while also making sure that I got the best of everything. But, this time I was not sure how they would react. I was 19 years old, the prospect of them even considering my plea looked dull. God save me.

Meanwhile, life was just splendid, I adored her. She was the best thing that had ever happened to me in my life…my wife. We dreamt together – of getting married, of having kids (two of them), of building a house for which we had decided on the paint color too after a lot of arguments…of living a life full of love and happiness. We fought every single day over some girl who would have talked to me or just got a notebook from me. She would shout at me…she would cry…she would beat me with all her strength, and the next moment we would be smiling and giggling. Her anger on me was never real, it never lasted more than a minute, I enjoyed every bit of it. Her possessiveness over me was genuine. She wanted me only for her and I obliged. (By the way, I didn’t mind her talking to other boys, really.)

It was all looking great, but life has its turns. Ours was just around the corner….

End of the beginning: I am leaving VWR, Coimbatore

2011-02-23T20:20:00.000-08:00

And here I am on the brink of my stint at VWR, Coimbatore. First job is one of the most memorable experiences in anyone’s life and mine has been no different. Joined here as Business analyst and was put in a team of men who’ve turned out to be a wonderful bunch of folks.

Its been an eventful year, a wholesome experience. I played, I danced and yeah I worked a little too! Work wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do but that alone isn’t life, is it. I met some lovely people, some not-so-lovely people. I’ve made good friends, people worth the time spent and I’ll cherish them.

Now its time to go…I came here with no expectations and am leaving with no regrets.

To my Team Reporting & Analytics,

You’ll taught me the trade

helped me have fun doing it

bailed me out when I screwed up

always listened to what I had to say

Thank you for being there!

All the others out there in VWR,

Good luck with whatever you’ll are doing. Have fun!

Catch me on Facebook. Call me when you are in Bangalore.

Cheers.

Bye.

Sweet dream - 07 - Yes or No

2011-02-23T02:15:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

I went on…”I want to marry you. I can’t imagine a life without you. I will do whatever it takes to win your hand! I love you Diya!”

She was still looking at me…without uttering a word.

The clock ticked…we stood there in silence. The breeze was still blowing, the devotees still chanting.

I waited for her to speak. Each and every second was like a lifetime to me. I was praying as hard as I could, inside. It seemed it would never end. Talk girl…on any other day you keep talking until I can’t take it anymore. What’s wrong now? Talk….say something! Yes or no? What is it? What are you thinking inside? You hate me…huh you hate me? Or…are you feeling the same as what I am feeling? Come on….speak up! The wait was killing me…she was still looking at me…numb.

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Finally she spoke…breaking the silence, ending my torture….

“When shall we marry?”

Did she say what I just heard?!

“Huh?” I was still blank.

“I asked…When we shall marry?” she smiled

I could not believe what I was hearing. She just asked when we shall marry. She had just accepted my love! I was suddenly the happiest man in the world! I am not able to find words now to explain my joy at that moment! I felt like I was flying…I wanted to jump to the sky…I wanted to scream!

“So…do you love me too?” I asked, with my usual bluntness. Even at this time

“Yesss, I love you idiot!” she screamed, “I love you…I love you madly!” she pounced at me. She started slapping me, “What on earth took you so much time to tell this? How long have you made me wait for this day?”

By this time I was running and she was chasing me, laughing…It was the happiest moment of my life!

“Wait…Idiot. Stupid. Dumbass. I love you! I love you! I love you!” she ran behind me still shouting.

I halted and she ran straight into me! We collided…looking into each other’s eyes. She was in my arms now, man and woman. How much I had longed for this moment. She was my life, every vein in my body was yelling her name now!

She was still looking at me….her eyes piercing into me.

“Oh God!” she let off her hold suddenly and looked at her watch. “I’m late, I have to go, mom will kill me. I’ll call tonight, love you darling. Will never forget this day in my life” and off she went, like the breeze which was still blowing with all its might. It was as if God had sent it to cool down the heat of the moment…in vain. I stood there admiring her walk…still not able to believe what happened in the last 15 minutes.

Sweet dream - 06 - The decent proposal

2011-02-22T20:32:00.000-08:00

Previously in Sweet Dream

“Ok…5 ‘o clock, Codissia. I’ll be there. Have to go now, mom woke up. You better sleep soon. Good night! And hey…”

“Yeah, tell me”

“I miss you. Bye” Teen. Teen. Teen.

I could hear the noise of the flush as she cut the call. I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night.

April 14, 2006.

It was Tamil New Year and the whole state was in a festive mood. I was in a different mood altogether. Today was THE day for me. Today, I was going to propose to my girl, the most beautiful girl on earth! From the moment I saw her, I knew we were destined for each other.

I rehearsed a thousand times what I wanted to say. I had to sound completely confident when I was telling her what I felt for her. I was ready! Or was I?

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4.45pm, Codissia grounds.

I was standing there at the Codissia grounds alone, I went there early. Codissia is a huge industrial complex alongside the Isckon temple. It was a holiday; not a soul present, the place was unusually silent. Only the chanting of the devotees from inside the temple could be heard at a distance. It was a peaceful rhythm adding to the charm of the pleasant summer evening. The cold breeze swept away all the tiredness in me from a sleepless night. It was serene. It was perfect!

5.00pm, Codissia grounds.

It just got better! She was there. I saw her walking towards me…she looked like an angel in that impeccable white salwar! Her free long hair swayed beautifully in the air…stunning! She was more beautiful than the Western Ghats in the background! Thank you God for bringing her into my life.

“Hi!” her voice was silken.

“Hey!” I swallowed.

“So, how u been? Studied something? I didn’t touch my books” she said.

“Me neither” I tried hard to smile. My heart was pounding

“Ok, what’s it. Tell me fast, I have to go. I’ve told mom that I’m going to get photo copies to study for the exams. Tell me tell me tell me.” Didn’t she have any clue what I was about to say, or was she pretending? Was she enjoying my tension just like I enjoyed her possessiveness? Was she taking revenge?

I was sweating heavily in spite of the cool breeze. This was going to be difficult than I expected.

Come on man…just tell her.

“Diya…….”

“Yeah. I’m Diya and I know that. What’s wrong with you today? What do you want to say? Say it, it’s just me” she smiled.

It’s just me. I felt far better after hearing those words. Now I’ll tell her. Wait…what if she does not accept? What if she slaps you? What if she cries and runs off? I must be crazy.

I looked at her, right into her eyes! Gathering all the courage I could, I finally said…

“I love you”

Her smile disappeared. She looked at me, shocked!

I went on…”I want to marry you. I can’t imagine a life without you. I will do whatever it takes to win your hand! I love you Diya!”

She was still looking at me…without uttering a word.

The clock ticked…we stood there in silence. The breeze was still blowing, the devotees still chanting.