3.45p.m..
As the autos slowly started approaching like swarms of bees looking for nectar,towards the Panagal Park bus-stop trying to lure one of those frustrated passengers,Sreeni checked through his Baggy pant pockets for his 50 rupee note and the change for the bus that he had snagged from his mom's Pooja room shelf.He had been successful in persuading Laxmi to sneak out of the last hr of her engg-"Antenna & Propagation" class that friday and she grabbed the opportunity to escape the most boring of all subjects.When she expressed fear over losing attendance,Sreeni as usual surprised her with the news that he had called her friend -Narmada and arranged a proxy- "yes ma'am" shout for her!
That friday evening,things were not going right for Sreeni.The fear of resistentialism started to creep in when he recollected that suddenly all the inanimate objects were acting against him at crucial times-the printer at his house losing its cartridge when he wanted to get a copy of the poem he had written abt Laxmi;the cordless phone losing charge when he was rushing to call Narmada;the shoelace snapping when he was dashing out to the bus-stop and now the omnipresent "12-B" bus not being in sight for almost 15 minutes.
4.06 p.m. .
Finally,after much deliberation,as Sreeni called an auto and recklessly bargained the price for the 3.5k.m ride to around 20 rs,even the auto-driver was taken by surprise.All through the bumpy ride,Sreeni was thinking about what reason he would give Laxmi for his 10 minutes delay and how he would be able to manage the day's coffee bill with just 30rs that he would be left with.
4.15 p.m..
Laxmi was standing few meters adjacent to their meeting place with her head covered with her pink Dhupattaa,to escape from the scorching sun.Inside the dark,tinted glass doors of Coffee Day,the waiters were busy arranging their tables and cleaning the floors to make way for another exciting business day.As Sreeni jumped out of the auto,it was well evident even from a far distance that he was apologetic,as he almost went down his knees,twisted his hands and clasped his ears in a religious fashion.Laxmi couldn't hold her serious looks for long and burst into laughter noticing Sreeni's antics.
"Sorry daa Luckoo..I got late..12-B-Worst Bus service in the whole universe!Shanian.."
"Ok daa Chikkoo...cool it..I myself got here only 2 minutes ago..!
As they walked towards the cafe with Sreeni taking charge of Laxmi's mickey-mouse bag laden with 15 kgs of Engg books with Laxmi insisting that she would carry the Gun-holster shaped Engg-drawing T-scale herself,the air was reverberating with the words "Luckoo..Chickoo";one of those funny little unique aliases the 2 addressed each other with bountiful affection.The next 3 and half hrs saw one medium glass of Arabian Mocha,being shared by the 2 habitual coffee drinkers,sipped with 2 straws from the same cup at intervals of 15 to 20 minutes,to the bewilderment of the cafe owner and the waiters..!
Laxmi's dad - Mr.Sheshadri Iyengar was a septegenerian who had retired as the headmaster of the Tirunelveli Govt High School and Sreeni's dad - Ramakrishna Iyer was comparitively a younger man in his 50's who had got voluntary retirement from his Income Tax Dept job and was busy with small-scale shirt business and occasional R.S.S meetings.
Both Laxmi's mom and Sreeni's mom worked in the Telephone department which was a boon to them as both of their houses had 2 free telephone connections.Sreeni's sisters- Kamali and Vimali, who were twins had a gazillion friends calling them but Sreeni never had to worry about the phones being engaged as he had a line entirely dedicated to him in his room.Laxmi's recently married brother -Vinodh was employed in Bangalore at Vadafone telephones(his mom's Telephones Dept boss' recommendation had worked)and shuttled between bangalore,Madras and his occasional trips abroad.
7.00 p.m..
Sreeni cursed the 12-B bus as it sprang a surprise this time emerging out of the blue,as Sreeni and Laxmi boarded it from 2 different entrances, with the destination being Laxmi's SSI computer class..Sreeni always had a thrill in getting through the rearside of the bus and manoeuvring his way through the crowded bus towards the front where Laxmi waited for him;that way he avoided the stigma being attached to them in public that they were lovers.He had scanned through all the shops near the SSI building and every alternate week he would be a customer to a different shop where he would wait for an hr till Laxmi's class got over.Today it was the "Murugappa Chair repair Cantre" where Sreeni had given the old wire chair from his house to be re-wired.For the past few days,his getaway phrase at home was "Amma..Chair pinnitaanaanu paaka poraen..vara late aagum!".Lately the shop owner had started quipping to his colleague that in his 35 years of service he had never noticed such a customer who was so passionate about his old chair that he visited it daily to check it getting repaired!
9.36 p.m..
As Sreeni finished his dinner cutting short his favorite curd rice part and the 25 paise A.R.R betelnut paaku that followed it,his mom gave a weird look at the twins ,which transformed into a smile as they watched him spring back to his room to pick up the phone at the 3rd ring.As all others in the table were reminiscing about their day that had got over,Sreeni's Arabian Night had just begun.Taking a leaf out of a popular tamil movie song "Sangeetha swarangal" from Azhagan,both Sreeni and Laxmi would have their TVs on for the next 4 hours and indulge in their ever-interesting conversations.Every incident spanning from the upma that she ate in the morning to the college romeos proposing to her to the pet dogs-Johny and Danny getting sick,was discussed to the minutest detail.
To be continued..
Posted by rajesh | 
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