Friday, November 23, 2012

Until Then..

Foraying into new territories. Novice attempts at feelings-y, short story writing.

“Trrdwwing”
Listening to the familiar notification alert, she absently touches the whatsapp icon on her sleek new smart phone.
“What’s up, Dumpy?”
“:(
“What what?”
“Had a bad day dude. Made an utter fool of myself today with a couple of Mumbai wala managers :|
“Who who?”
“One Anand Pandey and one..something Phadnis”
“Nikil?”
“Yeah..your floor?”
“Yes. Both are fools.”
She allows herself a little smile.
“Ahan? Why so? They threw so much attitude man.”
“They do only that best. One is a serious retard. The other chews paan and spits it everywhere.”
She giggles a little bit now. She also has the sense to understand that ABC corp has more sense than to employ Manager cadre people of such descriptions, especially in its Mumbai office.
Still, she eggs him on.
“Oh yuck! :D”
“And you know the best part?”
“Oh there is a BEST part to this? :P”
“He offers me a drop and Im sitting in the passenger seat, and he spits right in front of me, at  XYX gate. And it all layers on his limited edition City. It is so easy to spot his car in the parking :P”
She snorts.
“HAHAHA :D :D ok that made me laugh :P”
“Ok ok. Bye Dumpy. I’ll sleep now.”
“Ok bye :) :)
She doesn’t create a fuss about the abrupt ending of the chat. She had a problem with it when they were seeing each other. And a problem with his aversion to smileys. But as she warmed up to everything about him, their families got colder. Eventually both of them decided that it was futile to carry a relationship that caused so much heartburn to everybody else forward.
“Hummm.” She locks her phone and turns her bed side lamp off, the shadow of a smile still lingering on her lips.
A few hundred kilometers away he buries himself under blankets, trying to keep warm. He understands he will never be able to be there for her all the time, like he strives to, now. Just as much as he cannot stand to watch her sadness, he knows that he will never be able to turn her lips up, like he just did now, forever.
Still, he vows to himself, reading her gay, laughter filled text once more, Until that day comes- until then, I will make sure she never, ever stops smiling.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

She loves me.. she loves me not..

     So, it is 12 am here, and I am sipping sugar less milk and typing away about something that has been troubling my head for all of the past few days. Last night I had this TALK with a friend that stretched into sunrise- about how, plainly how stupid most of us can be at times, with respect to this cannot-do-without something called relationships.

     I have a friend named Arjun who told me something really sensible way back when we were in school. It goes like this. You know fire can scald. Some people blindly go by that hand-me-down knowledge that fire is bad, and don’t dare go near it. There are some others who see other people getting their fingers burnt, get some sense and stay away from fire. And then there are some others who realize the perils of it only after they stick their own fingers into the furnace- yes a lesson is learnt; but so is a scar earned for life.

    Here, I only write about what I have learnt- from experiences of my own; and what I have seen happening around me- to friends of mine, to people I know. All of us have burnt ourselves at some point of time or the other, haven’t we?

     It is so sad- that while most of us may be experts at giving free advice, we simply lose the power of sight when the protagonist of the soap happens to be ourselves. I see so many, many smart, successful and sensible men and women claiming to have found ‘THE ONE’ and singing dreamy duets with him/her, when  the one in question is holding a placard that screams- BACK OFF! Most times, we are so caught up in our own fantasy land, too confident about ourselves and our capabilities in making this thing work- because this is what I want, that we simply fail to see if we are throwing energy, effort and time into the right individual. More often than not- it is going to end up in heart ache, and at the end of it all, you will be the one to who the world says ‘We ALL told you so!’ – You were too wound up in your flowery dreams to listen!

     I am at a loss to understand why many of us- myself included- fail to notice these signs. I made a list of all the visible signs I could think of. You are free to add more to this list.
The first and foremost would be ‘I love you, but_’ When this comes from a man, especially, it is time for the woman to pick her clothes, bags and all the broken shards of her heart and run. In my opinion, when someone says this- they are simply being nice. We better take the hint and scoot. Because- when you try to sort out the first issue they have with you, they will invariably come up with another issue. Because, if a man or woman really, really wants something to work out- excuses tend to evaporate.New paths are created. Mistakes are absolved. Everything- from your stutter to your family- is taken in stride. A man who says, ‘I’ll take care of everything’ deserves you more that a man who says ‘I really, really like you- but ..’ 

     Sometimes- we come across people who are just too busy. I have heard this hurled at myself too, more than once. There will be people who you feel are interested in you, but whose priority list will never include you. And I am pretty sure that when it doesn’t include you today- it will never include you ever. For good, or for bad we will never know now, but being well bred and sophisticated people, it is best we make our exit from the back door in the most graceful way possible- and not make a scene.

     And then, for some reason or the other- there will be people who let go of you too easily. The smallest issue might turn them off; the tiniest fight might cause them to break things off. ‘Ok let’s break up’ will be their mantra. The other unwilling partner, ofcourse, would be as unrelenting as ever. ‘When I want this so bad, I will make it work!’ But when the other person is not willing to even share the responsibility of making it work- even a bit- then there is something fundamentally wrong with your choice, my friend. 

     Then there is this lot- who claim to love you- but hate you. They hate your guts, your dressing, your looks- somehow- you will never be good enough for them. YET they will cling along- for reasons best known to them. ‘You cant do this- you cant do that..you are no good!’ flows the tirade. And Miss I-cannot-imagine-life-without-this-psycho will live through the daily erosion of her self esteem hoping her LOVE will make him change. Haha. Lady, grow up. It will never happen. Negativity is bad and negative people seldom change- get rid of both at Once!

Some folks out there might be waiting to get their fangs on me.
Love is holy, love is pure!
What would you know, you little thing-immature?

I seriously believe that Love is something that is a mix of respect, pleasure and joy. Mutual.

Matter of opinion. Like all other things in the world. :)