Friday, September 18, 2009

Why long distance relationships rock.


Neil, are you sure? Don’t you think you’re moving a little too fast? I mean commitment, and the whole long distance thing... man, they kind of suck you in, like a black hole.
Neil, my friend of 10 years turned around and faced me. Neither of us had realized when things had come to this.
“Madhan, I’ll give you three reasons, why I think my long distance relationship will work, in fact why it’s going to rock.

1.We love each other. I mean it. Sometimes, what we share amazes me. No, don’t look at me like that man. You would probably understand it at some point of time. You’ll feel it in you, and it feels like heaven.”
Unable to see the point he was making I waved it off. “Whatever man! None of that made sense to me, so NEXT!”

“2. it’s meant to be so, dude. It’s like a curtain raiser for the next step. You really can’t ignore it. It’s an important leg of the big journey called love which is a part of the even bigger journey called life.”
“Whoa! Oh k Mr. Alchemist. Lets, for a second, think about this journey. There are bound to be problems. What’s going to happen then? Now don’t get excited. I’m not saying you guys will break up or anything, but there are just too many issues, that need to be considered.”
“Like what?”
“Like... I don’t know... ok how about staying in touch?”
He gave a smile, the ones you give, when you’re asked the lamest question in the universe, “Mobile phone, e-mail, gtalk, skype, orkut... dude you are so not web 2.0”
“Alright, let’s look at this your way. In this “journey” of yours, what if you face a puncture? Or what if you both run out of fuel? What if you get lost in a desert, where there is no green grass, no blue lakes, just strong, hot, sandstorms. What would you do then? Do you see it now? I mean, do you have a guarantee or something??”

Neil looked at me. His face told it all. It was calm, not nervous as some would be, as mine would be. It was a solemn look. One of determination and confidence. Was he expecting this question? If not, then why did his answer seem to be one that had been rehearsed a hundred times in front of the mirror? Why did it feel right?
“Have you heard of oases Madhan? They are like small glimpses of heaven for a traveller stranded in a desert. They say, one finds an oasis only in dire times of need. And dude, you forget that deserts are nothing but reservoirs of fuel. I just need to know where to dig, where to search. Madhan, stop thinking of life as a shopping mall, where I can ask for a replacement, or where I can opt for a money back offer. Life isn’t complicated at all. It’s just how we make it out to be.”

“And point three is, I LOVE this woman yaar. I feel super amazing with her. It’s not about whether we can make it through or not. It feels right. I mean, we are totally mad about each other and perhaps, I don’t know, but maybe she’s the one. Dude, I tell you, meeting her was fate and becoming her friend was destiny, but falling in love with her, that’s something I had no control over.”

I stared at him. I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t prepared myself for the conversation to turn this way. “Neil, you really love her, don’t you?”
“I do, and I’ve never been this sure about anything else in my life.”
I smiled, thinking about what he had just told me. “I guess, I envy you man. I envy you both. God bless you.”


Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. Sometimes we cry with everything except tears. In the end that’s all there is: love and its duty, sorrow and its truth. In the end that’s all we have - to hold on tight until the dawn
--from Gregory David Robert’s Shantaram

Monday, September 7, 2009

A drive down memory lane

8:30 am, NH 7— I had been waiting, since the past 15 minutes, carrying a black bag and waving my arms like a traffic policeman, in an attempt to stop almost anything on wheels for a lift. I thought about my boss, who was probably going to blow her head off, when I reach. But then, who cares. They knew I was underpaid. Just then, a car slowed down near me. The man behind the wheel, a spectacled, pot bellied fellow, spoke with a dash of an accent that seemed to be something between British and Australian “Need a lift my friend?”

I acknowledged him, by nodding my head and hopping in the passenger seat beside that of the driver. “Thanks a lot. It would be great if you could drop me near the fly-over.” I said, meaning it.

The driver, someone in his late twenties, asked without looking up from the wheel “Where are you headed to by the way?”

“Marathalli. Would be going there by any chance?” I asked, as I strapped in the seat belt. I hoped that he was, as it would save me a lot of time and money, if he would drop me till office.

He glanced at me through his dark spectacles and replied “Yea, I am…. Say, are you from NIT Durgapur, by any chance?”

Now, this was one of those moments I always dreaded, ever since I left college. I had found out, that I was pathetic at remembering names. I was always left embarrassed, as I proved to my batch mates, that I had forgotten their names in a year. It’s not that I had never spoken to them back in college, but somehow, I seemed to have forgotten many faces and most names. Though somehow, I felt, he wasn’t one of them. He seemed too old to be my batch mate. As I tried to remember, I replied, “Yes, I am… are you?”

“Yup, you’re a mallu right??” came the next question.

“Yea!... ok, I’m terribly sorry, I’m just not able to place u in my head, have we met before?” I asked trying to sound least embarrassed as possible.

“I passed out in 2005” replied the mysterious pot bellied driver. “I was in the thambi family”

Then, the realization hit me. “Whoa, wait a sec, I remember you, you’re… Biju, final year thambi!!!”

“No, actually I’m Varun, but it’s ok, at least you recognized me. But, I’m sorry I’m not too good with names, I just don’t seem able to recall your name.”

“I’m madhan, man, Varun, you’ve changed. Wow…. how have you been?”

“Ah, yes, Madhan, right, right. I’m good. Was in UK for sometime now. Just returned 2 days ago. How are you? Are you in touch with any one else?”

“I’m fine.. Yea, in touch with couple of guys….”

And then yours truly and his new found friend talked about how much has changed over the past 4 years. We caught up on, who was doing whom and who was doing what and where, profs., reunions, and the usual college nostalgia. The half-an-hour drive was far different from my daily office rides in BMTC volvo.
As we neared my destination, Varun turned to me, and said. “Hey Madhan , listen… about what happened back in college. That was just ragging. I know you must have forgotten it already, but I want to say sorry for slapping you then.”

Now, after 4 years, Those 301 technical advice (that’s what slaps were called then) I had received, and with this sudden mention, the hard and bloody ones flashed in my mind together, almost at once. I remembered his. It was, what the seniors called, a “squash shot”. It had been hard, so hard, that I nearly fell down. I had decided for vengeance then.

“Hey, no issues man. You’re right I had forgotten it. And besides, that was 5 years ago, chill maadi.” I replied with a smile so fake, that even Mona Lisa would envy it.

“Yea right! Good seeing you again bro! Here, take my number, we should stay in touch. Keep me informed, the next time there’s a reunion ok..?”

“Yea, I will.. you do the same too. Hey, that’s my stop.” I pointed out. I got out of the car, and closed the door behind me. “Thanks Varun, was great meeting you man”

“Yea, you take care..”
I paused for a minute, and then said “Hey, there’s something, you gotta know. Remember that day, when u asked me to refill the water bottles?
Varun laughed.“No, not really… I think you’ve refilled couple of times. I guess I have asked you to bring me food, couple of times too. That’s what you junis did back then, serve us” said Varun, with a silly smirk.

“Yea.. right, about that, I spat in them.”
The laughter was cut short.
“And perhaps, in the food too, not every single time though.”

What followed was an awkward silence, and puzzled expressions on either faces. I had to break it.
“So, great meeting up huh? We should meet up sometime, you know ,for drinks…and food too Take care alright.” I tried to manage a clean goodbye before I did any more damage.
“Yea, I guess I have to now, enjoy” Varun replied, slowly recovering from what he had heard. He started the car, we waved, and off he sped off.

As I walked into the building, I thought about how crazy the whole of 1st year had been, especially ragging period. Proposals, dancing, fundae, MR, my final years. I remembered what I had told my friends before entering the room before MR.
Tonight is the end of our misery, tonight is our freedom night. This is that part of our lives, that never existed. None of us would ever want to remember what happens behind this door. Bleed we will, but if lucky, we won’t be deaf, when we enter hall 9 again. So all the best my friends, all the best for Hell.

A smile escaped my lips. Yea, 1st year was crazy. I was crazy, to once think, that I would never want to see my seniors, ever again.
Just then, I received a sms. It was from Varun, and it was a smiley. :)