He was gazing at the dilapidated building across the flyover
through his 5th floor window. Perhaps decades ago, this would’ve
been the bustling Haweli; now in shambles. Among the quietness of its
symmetrical piers and the aloofness of its structure; he tried to picture herself
with him. How would she look in a traditional Indian dress?
Jai walked frenetically into his room disturbing his
reverie. He asked for his laptop and without looking at him logged himself into
Facebook.
What happened to your
lappy? And don’t you see I am working?
My lappy is hung and you
need a break – ‘Jai’ retorted satirically.
He saw him liking pics, updates and quotes without even
reading those. Yaar ye kya? Bina padhe hi tu like mare ja raha hai?
‘Bhai! Saare updates bandiyon ke hain; samajh me aaye, na
aaye, achhi ho ya bakwas- Like marna padta hai. Aise hi nahin pat jatin
bandiyan’ – Jai said
Hmmm! So this is the
secret of your array of female friends? He sighed and just watched ‘Jai’ do all
those stuff deftly. He wondered whether he would ever be able to pull this off
with such aplomb.
‘Quit playin games with
my heart’ ringtone… .. ‘Heyyyy, Hie- How
d’ya?’ putting on his ‘hands free’ Jai walked out of the room.
He was bit startled by
Jai’s Dhamaka entry. Jai was his colleague in his engineering
company. They used to share the apartment. Despite his occasional rashness, ‘Jai’
was a nice person and a buddy. He went to the window of his room and looked
outside. Among the mass of traffic on the flyover, bikes were moving - Guys
with their girls. The envelope of excitement and fun in their movement struck
him. He imagined himself riding that bike and ‘Anjali’ sitting behind. Was it
possible? Could this ever happen?
Only if there was a formula
- dating morphed into a complex mathematical equation. He would’ve dived deep to
solve it. But how to pierce through her heart - how even to approach this
problem called girls.
Jai told him – Beedu!’ Unless you go
and talk to girls, flirt with them, Aasman
se nahee tapkegi GF.
Not that he didn’t try
but he was shy and added to that his fumbling approach did the disaster. Try
to karta hoon yaar, but aise kisi se kya baat karne lagoon? I go and say
‘Hi’ to them with genuine smile. They sometimes ignore; sometimes respond with ‘Hi’ and
then it peters out. Koi context to hona chahiye na baat karne ko.
You have to create the context
dude! Why don’t you introduce yourself and tell them that you are from IIT? Intelligence
is a big turn on for girls. They would fall for it – ‘Jai’ suggested.
How simple was it for
‘Jai’and his ilk? Where did they learn all of that?
Only if there were
electives in IIT called love 101. He would’ve taken all the electives in that
series. At least these courses were something having direct application in real
life. And of course, one could totally relate to it.
Yaar!!! (He said
with slight pain in his voice) – This is not something to be bandied about. I
cannot wear it on my sleeve.
Bhai! Rehne de, tere se na hogi; Just keep on
living in your idealistic ivory tower- ‘Jai’said irritatingly.
Was he rigid, idealistic,
cut off from the zeitgeist? Or it was something else?
The fact is that IIT
trains you in a craft, to be able to identify and solve the most difficult
problems in that field. But that’s one part of life. Life is big – like ocean,
with many dimensions. How can mastery in one dimension prepare you to sail
through it? Each dimension, personal/professional, is to be tackled separately.
One cannot make up for another.
It’s not about idealism
dude.
Jai –To fir kya hai?
It’s your values, philosophy, fundah blah blah…
Bas mujhe odd lagta
hai. I am from IIT – This has
something to do with my professional life as a signaling factor in the job
market. But, what it has to do with my dating life?
Jai – The same thing
which Swiss bank account has to do with black money or Taliban with world peace
or 100 Cr film with good cinema . It’s pointless to argue with you. I am going
for my guitar classes.
He felt exhausted and
dejected. It is better to go and take a stroll outside- he thought.
He got down and moved
towards the little park outside. A child was carrying his little sister around
in the pram while his mom talked on the phone. Some senior citizens were sitting
discussing the politics of the day. A labor was resting after morning’s hard
work. There was a swirling silence amidst the chitter chatter. It seemed that
an Umbrella of light and warmth had been spread over the green lawns.
He looked at the marigold
flowers glowing in the afternoon sun. He saw Anjali’s face in it – Her falling
hair, her sweet dress and her pose. Tears came to his eyes. What was it? Why
was he so helpless? He had come out into the open to run away from this coiled
pain. And here it was – embedded into all the freshness around.
He felt the cool November
wind swift through his body. He wanted to throw himself away – with the wind,
into the light where she was hidden.
2 comments:
It's not that hard. One just needs to be himself, trust himself and back himself. The first step is the hardest. There're very many Anjalis in this world, alone, chased by guys they don't like, waiting for the nice guy to not finish last.
Phoenix,
First of all, you need to lend your name to me. It suits me.... :)
Thanks for the advice. The 1st step might be tough for some people. But the ones who live 1st step, 2nd step becomes tougher. You carry the danger of not being noticed, of being misjudged. Good or bad but in real life, packaging takes precedence over the content inside at least in 1st impression.
Life doesn't give 2nd chances all the time... And in such eventuality, to be able to execute 3rd step is tough.
If 'Anjali' could recognize the guy, her nice guy and 'He' is able to live the three commandments, there is potential of spark... the progenitor of fire....
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