Hehe :),
Life is weirder than fiction is what they say, and I believe it because my life keeps taking turns into nowhere and nowhere is like not everywhere is :-). Here is a story of amazing constructs, parts picked from many lives I know, but all of them true, just that maybe such a long sequence can happen only in movies, but even then, even snippets of this story happening in real life is crazy stuff, so let me rattle on :-).
It was April the 5th, 2006. It was my convocation day at IIM-A, the last touch of my life as a student [hopefully :P], and it was time to go, leaving behind 2 years of probably the most impactful years of my life, a phase where I had grown from a no-hoper to someone concrete, someone who could face up to people and say Yes, I am here, come what may. And after a love life, which could count little more than shambles, I had decided to bury the word Love from my life forever and just work, work and more work :). So, with this mindset, I boarded the Ashram Express to Delhi with my Dad. And, then it happened. Bang opposite me sat two femmes chattering their way to glory, while my Dad chatted his way to a couple of uncles seated on the other side.
And, I thought, huh ! the only time God needs to put femmes in my bogey is when my Dad has to be with me and I put paid to it just like that. Like half an hour passed. I shuffled around, looking at people around me, chatting and passing their time, while I let my mind meander to the consistent rattle and hum of the train. Then, in an amazing turn of events as I would say in retrospect, my Dad (of all people !) turned and enquired these two ladies about their profession. And, it dawned on the whole cabin, that these two ladies R & P work for a firm which specializes in sending people abroad for educational opportunites [even for fraud courses like Horticulture :O] and were on their way to Jaipur for some training to be imparted to the local center. Now, after some amiable conversation with Dad, who inadvertently brought up an example of Bihar [its amazing how he can almost bring up any example from his repertoire of Bihari examples !], Ms. R turns to me and puts forth, "So you have just now had your convocation ?". And, me as usual in my all bumbling glory, stammer myself to an Yes [and I donn understand, why do I do that when I meet people in a personal capacity !], but then we chatted a bit more, and to be frank, I liked the femme, she was good-looking, carried herself verry gracefully and most importantly, spoke a hell of a lot and had an open, addictive laughter :).
So, ab time passed and it was time to sleep. I wrestled with my ego if I should ask for her number / card, but my ego would never let me do it as it is !! So, off I went to sleep on the middle berth, while these two ladies hogged the upper two berths, still chit-chatting. And now it started. Ms. R started popping these SMSes on her cell every 2 seconds and she would first open the SMS with relish and then reply with equal glee. And, as my ever-perceptive brain goes, I decided she already had a boyfriend (and it would surprise me if she din't), so as with all self-respecting guys, I simply went off to sleep :-). Woke up in the morning, and went back to my chores in Delhi and henceforth, with passing memories of the girl :-).
Now, comes the maxx coincidence part ! A couple of months later, being borred with life and home, I decided to take a Pan-India trip, which also went through Ahmedabad :-). I came back to IIM-A and met a few peepz. But, what I remembered from my train journey was that sometimes Ms. R goes to AMA (Ahmedabad Management Association) to give presentations or present herself :P or watever :-), so I thought since it was a Sunday and I was in Ahd anyways, I would as well give it a dekko. So, at 2 PM types I went to AMA. Now, there are two presentation rooms right opposite each other and both were occupied. I peeked into the first room, and it was a rotund 50-something academic who looked back at me from the podium disapprovingly, and the dinosaur withdrew his head as fast as he could ! The 2nd room's door was ajar and I hazarded a peek, and lo ! there she was, lecturing a clutch of about a 100-strong group on how her firm makes going abroad a piece of cake :-). And guess what, she suddenly looked at me, and I knew she remembered !!!!, and that was damn ossum...her gyan lasted another half-an-hour while I waited outside fidgeting. And then it got over and she walked out, royal and graceful as ever, and not for the first time I would want to believe :P, a girl's eyes looked for me. There was that awkward moment, the silence and the smile, and I suggested CCD, and we were off.
It was that day and it is today. Having logged hundreds of hours on fone, which seem really like no time, we like each other because we can talk for hours, mostly argue :), on topics as nincompoopic as the color of the sky and the philosophical reasons behind it [no offence meant to weatherbees :-)]. Her strict work schedule, wherein she is moonlighting an MBA by night, means we haven't met many times in the past year, but even then the sense of belief, the longing stays.
But, as happens with most real-life fairy tales, they are bound to never prosper :-). She is a Christian, and me a Hindu, and on top of that her parents are extra-conservative sorts, and she thinks if we go ahead with our relationship, her parents would be ostracized by her community and she cannot let that happen to them. Its not even funny, how human appertunances, frivolities like caste, religion (its debatable I agree), come to determine your fate, come to stand in the way of nature and usually defeat the natural way ! One can very well say, In the long run, Nature takes its rightful place, but cummon, we mere mortals, spend lifetimes in the short run, and so what about Us ? Why are we forced to pay for generations of human greed which has manifested itself in trying to divide humanity in silos, each one so similar, yet vying to be differentiated, killing, mutilating fellow humans over it ? I guess, none has an answer, I just hope, our generation has the guts to stand up against this unnatural phenomenon, and bring back the Natural process back to humans. As Mr. Coelho says, as humans progressed, they stopped listening to their hearts, enmeshed in the pangs of society and pragmatism, we broke away from the cosmic soul that threads though all of us, now the thread is really a thread, its no longer throbbing with life, as it was originally ordained to do. Okay, enough of gyan :-), now back to my shhtorry ! So, like the Gangster tagline, the day, she told me that She loved me was the day we decided to part ways :-). For, good or bad, we decided not to speak to each other, because it would hurt a lot, it was simply as if one nice morning, both of us lost our telephones !!
Did it hurt ? Am I bitter about what happened ? The answer would be mostly negative, because I understand, even with the best of intentions, life never yields what you think you deserve, so its fine :-). But, I am happy I got to know her, I always thought I would never find someone who understood and appreciated me well enough. But, find I did. And, I will always be happy that I helped her in making the toughest decision of her life, and did not act selfish when it probably most mattered in my life ! And above all, this incident totally vindicates my stand that life is afterall like movies :-), so you need to watch maxxx movies, you know and yessh I will always have a story which will be the most non-conformist of them all !
U take care and I hope magic enters your life as well and hopefully, stays forever :-).
Maybe, Luv is probably magic, the magic which breathes life in our existence, makes our days beautiful and tough times a breeze. So, never get bitter about it. Just be glad, you luved and more importantly, someone found you amazing enough to luv you back :).
Bye Ms. R. Stay beautiful and have a wonderful life.
Luv,
Ranjan
Life is weirder than fiction is what they say, and I believe it because my life keeps taking turns into nowhere and nowhere is like not everywhere is :-). Here is a story of amazing constructs, parts picked from many lives I know, but all of them true, just that maybe such a long sequence can happen only in movies, but even then, even snippets of this story happening in real life is crazy stuff, so let me rattle on :-).
It was April the 5th, 2006. It was my convocation day at IIM-A, the last touch of my life as a student [hopefully :P], and it was time to go, leaving behind 2 years of probably the most impactful years of my life, a phase where I had grown from a no-hoper to someone concrete, someone who could face up to people and say Yes, I am here, come what may. And after a love life, which could count little more than shambles, I had decided to bury the word Love from my life forever and just work, work and more work :). So, with this mindset, I boarded the Ashram Express to Delhi with my Dad. And, then it happened. Bang opposite me sat two femmes chattering their way to glory, while my Dad chatted his way to a couple of uncles seated on the other side.
And, I thought, huh ! the only time God needs to put femmes in my bogey is when my Dad has to be with me and I put paid to it just like that. Like half an hour passed. I shuffled around, looking at people around me, chatting and passing their time, while I let my mind meander to the consistent rattle and hum of the train. Then, in an amazing turn of events as I would say in retrospect, my Dad (of all people !) turned and enquired these two ladies about their profession. And, it dawned on the whole cabin, that these two ladies R & P work for a firm which specializes in sending people abroad for educational opportunites [even for fraud courses like Horticulture :O] and were on their way to Jaipur for some training to be imparted to the local center. Now, after some amiable conversation with Dad, who inadvertently brought up an example of Bihar [its amazing how he can almost bring up any example from his repertoire of Bihari examples !], Ms. R turns to me and puts forth, "So you have just now had your convocation ?". And, me as usual in my all bumbling glory, stammer myself to an Yes [and I donn understand, why do I do that when I meet people in a personal capacity !], but then we chatted a bit more, and to be frank, I liked the femme, she was good-looking, carried herself verry gracefully and most importantly, spoke a hell of a lot and had an open, addictive laughter :).
So, ab time passed and it was time to sleep. I wrestled with my ego if I should ask for her number / card, but my ego would never let me do it as it is !! So, off I went to sleep on the middle berth, while these two ladies hogged the upper two berths, still chit-chatting. And now it started. Ms. R started popping these SMSes on her cell every 2 seconds and she would first open the SMS with relish and then reply with equal glee. And, as my ever-perceptive brain goes, I decided she already had a boyfriend (and it would surprise me if she din't), so as with all self-respecting guys, I simply went off to sleep :-). Woke up in the morning, and went back to my chores in Delhi and henceforth, with passing memories of the girl :-).
Now, comes the maxx coincidence part ! A couple of months later, being borred with life and home, I decided to take a Pan-India trip, which also went through Ahmedabad :-). I came back to IIM-A and met a few peepz. But, what I remembered from my train journey was that sometimes Ms. R goes to AMA (Ahmedabad Management Association) to give presentations or present herself :P or watever :-), so I thought since it was a Sunday and I was in Ahd anyways, I would as well give it a dekko. So, at 2 PM types I went to AMA. Now, there are two presentation rooms right opposite each other and both were occupied. I peeked into the first room, and it was a rotund 50-something academic who looked back at me from the podium disapprovingly, and the dinosaur withdrew his head as fast as he could ! The 2nd room's door was ajar and I hazarded a peek, and lo ! there she was, lecturing a clutch of about a 100-strong group on how her firm makes going abroad a piece of cake :-). And guess what, she suddenly looked at me, and I knew she remembered !!!!, and that was damn ossum...her gyan lasted another half-an-hour while I waited outside fidgeting. And then it got over and she walked out, royal and graceful as ever, and not for the first time I would want to believe :P, a girl's eyes looked for me. There was that awkward moment, the silence and the smile, and I suggested CCD, and we were off.
It was that day and it is today. Having logged hundreds of hours on fone, which seem really like no time, we like each other because we can talk for hours, mostly argue :), on topics as nincompoopic as the color of the sky and the philosophical reasons behind it [no offence meant to weatherbees :-)]. Her strict work schedule, wherein she is moonlighting an MBA by night, means we haven't met many times in the past year, but even then the sense of belief, the longing stays.
But, as happens with most real-life fairy tales, they are bound to never prosper :-). She is a Christian, and me a Hindu, and on top of that her parents are extra-conservative sorts, and she thinks if we go ahead with our relationship, her parents would be ostracized by her community and she cannot let that happen to them. Its not even funny, how human appertunances, frivolities like caste, religion (its debatable I agree), come to determine your fate, come to stand in the way of nature and usually defeat the natural way ! One can very well say, In the long run, Nature takes its rightful place, but cummon, we mere mortals, spend lifetimes in the short run, and so what about Us ? Why are we forced to pay for generations of human greed which has manifested itself in trying to divide humanity in silos, each one so similar, yet vying to be differentiated, killing, mutilating fellow humans over it ? I guess, none has an answer, I just hope, our generation has the guts to stand up against this unnatural phenomenon, and bring back the Natural process back to humans. As Mr. Coelho says, as humans progressed, they stopped listening to their hearts, enmeshed in the pangs of society and pragmatism, we broke away from the cosmic soul that threads though all of us, now the thread is really a thread, its no longer throbbing with life, as it was originally ordained to do. Okay, enough of gyan :-), now back to my shhtorry ! So, like the Gangster tagline, the day, she told me that She loved me was the day we decided to part ways :-). For, good or bad, we decided not to speak to each other, because it would hurt a lot, it was simply as if one nice morning, both of us lost our telephones !!
Did it hurt ? Am I bitter about what happened ? The answer would be mostly negative, because I understand, even with the best of intentions, life never yields what you think you deserve, so its fine :-). But, I am happy I got to know her, I always thought I would never find someone who understood and appreciated me well enough. But, find I did. And, I will always be happy that I helped her in making the toughest decision of her life, and did not act selfish when it probably most mattered in my life ! And above all, this incident totally vindicates my stand that life is afterall like movies :-), so you need to watch maxxx movies, you know and yessh I will always have a story which will be the most non-conformist of them all !
U take care and I hope magic enters your life as well and hopefully, stays forever :-).
Maybe, Luv is probably magic, the magic which breathes life in our existence, makes our days beautiful and tough times a breeze. So, never get bitter about it. Just be glad, you luved and more importantly, someone found you amazing enough to luv you back :).
Bye Ms. R. Stay beautiful and have a wonderful life.
Luv,
Ranjan
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