Indira drove a few miles on the Mahabalipuram Mahindra city road,when she spotted a young couple speeding on a motorbike overtaking her car.She found the girl on the pillion,with her chin over her boyfriend's shoulder,almost pressing her cheeks against his and hands tightly clasping him,as if to portray that she was ready to go anywhere he took her.That instant almost conveyed that may it even be their death,she was happy to die with him happily.Indira couldn't drive any longer and she stopped at the beach roadside.
A sudden feel of chill went through her spine and her heart started palpitating at a frenetic pace,as she pressed the email button on the dashboard of her car.She glanced through her Gmail account which was nearing its 1 Gb limit and searched for the word 'Sriram'. The infinite number of emails exchanged,the innumerous Orkut chatbox comment email reminders,the egreeting cards etc sprouted open in front of her as she was magically transformed for the next hour to an enchanting era 16 years ago in 2004 at Bangalore.
A young beautiful palghat brahmin girl,in her early twenties,who had just graduated from her B.Sc from RV college of science in Bangalore and was spending her days dabbling between her GNIIT coursework and stitching classes!The cold december mornings,that started very early with her clique of girls singing the 'Thirupaavai' and thiruvambaavai' songs ;the evenings dedicated to the 'Kaatyayani' pooja and the vrata(fast) that she had undertaken to get the choiciest man of her dreams;all started appearing as a cascade of thoughts in front of her eyes.
She got out of her car and strolled towards the sea,as she was confounded by the same kind of distressed feeling she had been experiencing every night before her sleep! She could not remove the image she saw on the portrait-Sriram, from her mind..the young dashing and cheerful software guy from adayar,Chennai,whom she had almost decided to marry..the guy with whom she had spent one of the most memorable phases of her life ,dating for almost daily for a month! Sriram,who worked for Wipro had fallen head over heels when he chanced upon the chubby faced,pleasing looks and graceful smile laden face of Indira on the online matrimonial webpages.He took a monthlong break from his Amex client in Phoenix and flew down to Bangalore to meet her.
As Indira started browsing across the email conversations,the entire phase started to appear as if it was a wellmade movie in flash..
...The mornings when Sriram used to be the only odd man out at the Durga temple filled with girls in half-sarees at Malleshwaram,where he would have assembled at the entrance,wearing his Greensboro leather jacket and Oakley glasses ,just to have a glimpse of newfound goddess of his dreams-Indira!
...The evenings when he used to pursuade her successfully into bunking her GNIIT classes and take her to M.G.Road Pizza Hut.She being the most conservative of all girls of her age from a middle class family,used to be thrilled with all the sudden exposure to the crazy Bangalore outings.
...The funny fashion in which Sriram got introduced to her folks one fine day when they spotted him from their verandah,waiting outside her gate waiting for her to sneak out secretly.It then became a standard 2 minutes of public embarassment every evening,when the whole family used to assemble at the 10th floor verandah to wave at Sriram ,when he came to pick up Indira.
...The way,Indira's dad Ramakrishnan put Sriram in an awkward situation every subsequent visit he made to their house to take Indira out,by shaking his hands and saying "Goodluck".She even remembered Sriram joking about it often to Indira saying.."Am I taking you to Olympics or what?Why does the Oldman have to wish me goodluck when I infact, pathetically steal his daughter out for a date?"
...The way Indira used to avoid any food that whole month,owing to the fast that she had been keeping for Goddess Kaatyayani and the way he had fooled her into eating egg for the first time..the way he made her feel casual when he touched her hand as they crossed the roads.
...The way she herself had started feeling comfortable to put her hands around his shoulder as they asked the traffice policeman on Brigade road to take a snap of theirs.The snaps where she was successful in having her fingers stretching over Sriram's head as if he had horns..
...The evenings when she used to carry her knitting needles and half-finished sweater on her way to the stitching classes,finally ending up at Cubbon park under the Banyan tree,with Sriram being the one who ended up spinning yarns!
...The incident when Sriram shouted out "Mr.Ramakrishnan".."Mr.Chandramouli" like in the movie Mouna Raagam from the 'Barista' Coffee shop glass window ,with Indira ducking her head underneath the table to avoid being spotted by her father and later kiddishly throwing the spoons and fork at Sriram's face,much to the amusement of everyone in the coffee shop.
Indira bounced upon en email which had some lively chat ..
Indira: Sri..what do you expect from me?
Sriram:Indu..Ur smile should being me happiness!Nuthin else Indu..
Indira:Oh..so cute..shows your poetic frame of mind and sharp wit..
Sriram:Hey..I am intelligent but not studious..
Indira:I am neither..:(
Sriram:But you are cute!whatelse matters?
The next mail spoke about her first kiss,which made her even more nostalgic,as she bent her head and started crying silently,only to be disturbed by the Beach patrol cop .She hurriedly left back home and slept like a baby,completely oblivious of Kaats.
To be continued..
-Raapi
Posted by rajesh | 
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