A Tale of two Rajs !!!

Raj and Raj were two different people, born in same times,with
different upbringing, different personalities, different experiences in life and
a different outlook towards important things.They were also similar in more
ways then one. Both of them could best be described as "dreamer ants" who
dream of things pleasant and beautiful, without ever loosing there
hardworking streak.They were both great romantics at heart, well at least in
the beginning.Witt, charm and persona aplenty, they were interesting normal
people without the need for or presence of any extraordinary qualities.
their flamboyance was in their being themselves, and that they did with
effortless aplomb. One Came from a small town, with a eased out pace of life,
that almost cared for you as it took you along. The other was from a big city,

which made you sweat every day, just trying to get through the day.

Small town Raj was a doer, a free spirited person.The impish streak in him
was unmistakably prominent, and oozed from him grin. He fell in love in his early days
and like all first loves, his too did not work out all that well.It shook him , and his
romantic fire was covered with ash of despair and angst. Gradually he turned into a
emotion less person,a bit of a hedonistic sadist. And a good one at that.

Big city Raj was a thinker, a procrastinator, who valued his word more then any thing.
The child in him was prominently strong and shone through his smile. He dreamt of finding
eternal love, but somehow was always struck in meaningless relationships.This gradually
hollowed his ability to trust and left him emotionally fragile

My Bucket List

On a lazy, and i mean really really lazy Sunday afternoon , I realized my T-shirt
was far too dirty to wipe my food smeared hands on , and decided to do a quick
wash up . Rugged haired, and sleepy eyed, wearing curry smeared T shirt and
an year and a half old shorts, I found my self too irresistible to not to indulge in
a bit of self vanity in the mirror. But horror off horror, I spotted a Grey hair, and
that to not on my head.And before some of you start running your thoughts in any
wrong directions , let me add that the Grey hair was in my beard, just to the right
side of my upper lip.
I would not have been too bothered on spotting a half baked hair on my head,
for that i can easily pass on as a sign of some one whose job involves a lot of thinking
and brain racking work.I do not in any way however endorse the fact that I.T professionals
are intellectual people.
But a Grey in my beard was clearly a sign of life leading down hill from here on.So the roll
of toilet paper is more then half used up. That calls for some rethinking, re-planning and re-estimation.. yeah you cant leave these out even in your day to day life.
What with so so many things left to do in life and with the growing speed at which we have started living our lives, there is so very little time left ahead.
The sudden realization that i have reached , or at least neared the summit and it will be all down hill from "hair" pressed me to come up with my own Bucket list.
A bucket list at the fag end of the life may include , from a large set, only a few thing that you want to do before you reach your expiry date. But at my age, a bucket list would include not only the must haves but the good to haves and the may of may not haves.
And again , more time to do things means , more time to procrastinate and keep pushing things for later, a dream come true... isn't it.
So here goes in no particular order. .

• Do a stage performance,and not end up sucking at it .
• Get over my fear of ridding bikes(Yeah ,right , i don't ride bikes.. so what .. )
• Date at least one girl each from each of the continents(give and take Antarctica).
• Survive a major accident( since an Accident is written in my palm lines, I'd rather hope to survive it ) .
• Gamble big money(winning isn't important,so this would probably be the last one i try to fulfill).
• Learn to swim.
• Write a book , inspired by my own life.
  
• Visit Manali .(give it up, there are no girls or money involved here, I just wanna go).
  
• Top 150kmph on a highway(Just making sure the task of surviving an accident doesn't have to wait for too long).
  
• End up with a feeling that my raise is too high after an appraisal round.
• Save enough in a month's salary to think of investments ( its either this one or the 5 continents one, not both for sure).
• Bitch slap some one ( any one , really any one) .
  
• Be hit upon, by a hottie in a club.
• And then turning her down( not because I swing the other way , for a proof see see the rest of the list) .
  
• Be the authority on some issue (even if its about what brand of toilet paper to buy).
• Grow a beard for some time ( and maybe dye it up ;) )
• Dude it up ( I don't know what it means, it just sounds cool).
• Be on TV ( would like that to be for the launch of my book, or wining on that big gamble , and definitely not because of the accident).
  
• Ask a manager technology to debug my code ( and see him fail .. he he ).
• Be involved in a brawl ( fist fight to be exact) and come out on top .
• Work up some serious muscles ( helps survive mishaps, beat up people, look good on TV, pick up girls .. this is a must haves).
• Have a protege.
• Give drinking and smoking a shot( just in case the accident doesn't kill me , or the 5 continents thing doesn't work out).
• Vote (don't you need a voters Id for that.. I am not closed on it being in India for sure).
  
• Laugh ( at people,look out for the list of names in my book ).
• (censored, for your safety).
• Get a barbwire tattoo on my arm. ( or whatever is in vogue 20 years hence).
  
• (censored, for my safety).
• Be stalked by a lady.
  
• Go back to school to study literature ( or to make interesting chapters for the book).
• Attend my school/college reunions ( juts that).
• Euro Trip ( must haves .. hmmmmm).
• Wear Versace ( and not look gay).
• Have great hair once again.
• and continuing......

How I plan to do all this amid the usual hustle bustle, is another story.

King !!!

He really felt like the king,Walking on the star studded path,
with the wind blowing into his face.He had 180 Dollars in his pocket and
a smile on his face. He smarted at his reflection in one of the building glasses,
passer by`s nodded at him with a warm acknowledgment as there shoulders
rubbed while passing each other.
Oh the life was good, the spring in the steps was obvious and walking through
the crowd seemed effortless, even with a load on his back.
With a satisfying day of work behind him , and a promising weekend ahead,
he was all but stressed.There was something about this breeze today,it made
him feel rested and energized. Nothing seemed wrong in the world today, nor
in his life.The day in the city was coming to an end. It was bustling with energy
without being in a rush.The natural flow of things and the thousands of footsteps
was captivating.
Clearly, any other day , walking such a long distance would have been
discomforting, but not today. A quick glance at his watch told him it was only 6
and he had another hour before he needs to be where he is heading. And he isn't
too far from that place. He could feel that energy churning inside him, he took
a detour, so he could walk more. He stooped under a bridge to admire the
impending sunset, which was a few hours away ,yet so there.
He watched kids playing in water, we watched a group of young girls starting of
there week end revelries with ice cream.He watched a street side man counting
up the change he had got through the day, and he watched a young couple kiss
good byes out side the station.
He just couldn't wait any longer and headed for the coffee shop he was to go to ,
he reached there when it was only 6.20 and he was to meet some where there
no sooner then 7.As he pushed through the door, the cold air conditioned air woke
him up of his warm trance.He let go of the door in a jerk and as the door slammed shut,
a pair of blue eyes turned towards him.
She was already there, and by the two empty coffee cups lying in front of her ,
looked like she was there for quite a while.So he wasn't the only one having a
heart warming day today.
He moved over and sat besides her, making so effort at concealing his smile while
trying hard not to get immersed in hers.
As he was about to take the chair opposite to hers on the table, she took his hand
and guided him to the chair next to her and they started talking.
That evening the sun never went down for either of them.

Where is the need for love

They sat facing each other, thinking what to talk about. He never thought he would be meeting some one for the first time,in such a situation. His romance with CCD and barista went back to his college days. He was a sucker for cafes and loved hanging around in them.

He looked at her tall slender glass of ice tea; he liked her already, for she wasn’t like all other girls bickering at the straw endlessly, she had kept the straw aside and was addressing the concoction through the glass itself. She was dressed in a peach colored Indian suite, but she wasn’t clinging on to a handkerchief the way it’s usually expected from suite clad girls. She had left her hair open, but not a strand of hair was out of place, or needed being tucked at its place every five minutes. Quite in contrast to his usual behavior, he arrived early today; took his table and decided to wait. She did not make him wait to long, the place was quite busy, and so he didn’t mind either.

“Just in case you are wondering why I am dressed in a traditional attire today , its not because I want to appear as a MTM, its just that I love wearing such clothes and my work doesn’t allow me the chance on week days”, she said. He was stunned at the way this thought cropped up out of the blue and even more by the calmness with which she spoke.

“Not that I am complaining, you are doing justice to the dress” he said. “There you go again, don’t make it go the way a date should, you are here to meet her as a prospective life partner, it’s a matrimonial meeting”, he reminded himself. Amid his thoughts he did manage to steel a glance at her, just to see if she was blushing at his remarks, she wasn’t and he liked her even more for that.

“The silence is getting a bit too long, I must say something…. .. "How is every one doing at home? What’s your favorite color? Who do you think will win the ongoing tri-series? What is your work schedule like? Any thing!!!”, his mind went dizzy thinking about what to say. “Do you want some thing to eat?” he blurted out, and before he knew it, he was waving to call the waitress.

“Anushka I’ll have a slice of cheese Cake”, he saw a hint of childlike smile on her lips , without even asking, he ordered another slice of cheese cake for her too. The order arrived and in no time they were both at it. About 450 calories each and 30 minutes of conversation around their jobs and social lives later, she suggested that they head out.

“Head out and do what, go home??” he was disappointed, and his face showed it. He was starting to have a good time talking to her, “No, how about some place where we can talk?” she asked and the answer was unnecessary, as she led him away.

As he walked dazed by her sassy exuberant personality, he found himself talking and found her laughing, as the walked.He noticed how she walked with an earthly confidence, and how her voice changed to different octaves, as she got more or less excited during the conversation.

He quite liked the fact that she talked to him, looking straight at him, without showing signs of discomfort or looking away. They were heading to the terrace of the mall they were in. The initial newness had worn off and they were contributing to the conversation equally.

He remembered this place; he had been here ever so often in the last 2 years. Some times with company and sometimes all by himself. This place had some of his favorite restaurants and he used to drop in all by himself to treat himself to a good meal. People found him wired to be going out by himself. But he told her that any ways.

She wanted to sit close to the edge of the terrace, it was dusty and slightly sunny, any other girl would have run miles away from such a place if she could.Her Cell phone buzzed, it was her friend. “ Yes I will tell you in detail about him when I come back , he is right next to me and I don’t want to say mean things about him within his earshot” she looked at him and they both laughed.

He liked that fact that she didn’t excuse herself out every time she got a call.

This was dangerous, he thought, Specially after the initial conversation they have had on meeting.

He has no intentions of marrying in the near future and he had forthrightly expressed his thoughts right in the beginning. Having told her that he felt a little uncomfortable, until she told him that she came here predetermined to say no anyways. So the blame was not on him. It was mutual. He expected her to not stay for long, and he would have had the time to himself, In fact he planned to come to the very same place once she left. But now he was here with her. He glanced at his watch and suggested that they get going, since there would be no acceptable reason as to why a one hour meeting got extended to four.She stiffened up all of a sudden and a after a coldish god bye they were both on there way.

Nearly home, he got a sms from her thanking him for showing her a good time.He had a good time too, She was so much like him. He wished he had met her under different circumstances.

But for now, a different challenge awaited him. That of his parent waiting to hear the details; it’s been 4 hours where the meeting was planned for 1. He got home and shut himself up in his room, just to speed break his family’s barrage of questions.

By dinner time the focus had shifted and the questions though still insistent were easy to handle. He expressed his honest opinion about her and it quickly got interpreted into a “yes” by his family. “ Oh son of God, what have I done, well at least I know she is going to turn it down, so I will not have to face my families probing, in fact after being turned down by her, the family would be all the more sympathetic to me” he grinned.

But the destiny had it planned differently; They got engaged to be married in a year’s time.

“So why did you say yes?” He asked him while returning from a dinner a few months later...

“I don’t know myself, is it because you liked visiting cafés, is it because you like cheese cakes just like me, it is for the way you like me in traditional attire, it is because you address attendants by there name, is it because you like spending time by yourself, just like I do, is it because you make me feel as good as I feel when I am by myself,Is it because you looked straight at me when talking, is it because of the fact that you stayed and were comfortable even after expressing your reluctance to marry,is it because I loved the disappointment on your face when I suggested that we should get going, I think I said yes because I liked you, and I thought if it isn’t meant to be, let the “ no “ come from him.“

“hey, I asked you something” his words broke her thoughts

“Well … because you are just like me” She replied.

Disclaimer: This is purely a work of fiction,Any resemblance to any person living of dead is purely coincidental.