BLIND ALLEY

A mean wind wanders through the backcourt trash.
Hackles on puddles rise, old mattresses
puff briefly and subside. Play-fortresses
of brick and bric-a-brac spill out some ash.
Four storeys have no windows left to smash,
but the fifth a chipped sill buttresses
mother and daughter the last mistresses
of that black block condemned to stand, not crash.
Around them the cracks deepen, the rats crawl.
The kettle whimpers on a crazy hob.
Roses of mould grow from ceiling to wall.
The man lies late since he has lost his job,
smokes on one elbow, letting his coughs fall
thinly into an air too poor to rob.


P.S : Sometimes,you feel like the entire world's conspiring against you.today was one such day.N yeah,didn't mention heaven..He gives me strength now,surprisingly!

A HATFULL OF NOTHING

In that posh continental restaurant, Prudence sat opposite Sid,her face full of contentment;beaming as a soon-to-be bride ought to be.Sid blessed her sincerely,as best as he could.

The restaurant was full of chatter and noise from the bar across the floor.

The two of them talked of many things over their chicken flautas and burritos.Prudence would be getting married in April in Canada,to someone she had known for ten months.Their conversation centred mostly around romantic love, relationships and marriage.

Sid found the idea of marriage to be ridiculous, though not impossible.But of course he didn’t say it out loud,for Christ’s sake.Prudence was a God-fearing Christian,and the day before Sid had just aligned aliens with god in an argument with Kylie who in turn accused him of being a devious pagan.

"You asked me how I knew he was the one, didn’t you?" Prudence mentioned as she swallowed her beef, followed religiously by a glass of water after every chew.She had forever been like this,ol' gal..six years now,who said times change!Their friendship had promised to flourish,but never did;he didn't know why-may be difference of opinion.."what are you brooding about?" "oh,nothing."he nodded,his expression neutral and effortless.He wondered how much a heavily agnostic person could learn from a devout Christian that night. But he was willing to find some answers very badly.

"God sort of handpicked him for me.But for Him I would never know;I didn’t even like him in the beginning and didn’t really start to love him until after I proposed to him.It was like God told me to," Prudence described with a peaceful smile.Sid nodded,understanding that all the emotions she had experienced from her fledgling love story to marriage were no different from those oft-proclaimed psychological doctrines.But he found beauty in their agreeableness and common grounds.

Faith and belief were their common ground.

Then there were the differences.

"Humans are animals," he told Prudence."That’s why the more girls a guy gets cozy with,the more respectable he would be amongst his peers."

"Humans were NOT animals!" Prudence rebutted, "Humans were born god-like!It was only after the deadly sins that were committed we became…"

"Like animals?give me a break honey,theology is but a branch of science isn't it?"

"That’s right,but I think we have different ways of interpreting things we have on our platter.Reason doesn't help always,sweets!"

A long pause.Silence is often so loud.

All of a sudden Prudence told Sid something that no one had said to him in what seemed like a lifetime. “You’re so pure inside,you know!” Prudence pointed to his heart. Sid blinked,a little wide eyed.

“What?”

“You’re really pure inside.I hope people see that in you because I don’t think many people do.”

“haha!People usually tell me the opposite you know. except a very few.”

“Yea, that’s because you dont flaunt it.I dunno,it's like you hide it!Look at the dyed hair you have,those piercings-it gives people very wrong impressions on first encounters.I mean I know you well enough to understand that you never fake,but what comes through is not the real you!”

“I know.But I believe those with the real vision are capable of seeing through,finding out the real me;I mean what's life without a bit of mystery,a tinge of cockiness?!I’m not concerned about people’s wrong interpretations.But I'd be interested in the few who look and judge beyond first encounters.” Sid smirked, and Prudence chuckled and shook her head.

He,however was concerned for a while if Kylie saw it in him,then quickly returned to more rational thoughts.

“So tell me about your girl!Now who’s this mysterious blonde Canadian girl?”

“She’s not Canadian!”Sid laughed and rolled his eyes. He would have to tell the story all over again-the fake story,of course,about Kylie.He was really getting sick of it-like the story of a celebrity couple when they weren’t anywhere close to it.Then he surprised himself with his reluctance to actually talk about it.



As he stepped back into his apartment alone,he thought about Kylie privately and intently.They still had so much to learn about each other,but that didn’t seem to be the primary concern.He tried to recollect the two elements: similar interests and willfull thinking.He doubted the latter, then believed it, then again doubted it.

He found himself moving about in circles.

He couldn’t know the answer which was somewhere within him.But for now,he wanted to know if he had the ability to make her happy.She makes him happy in an uncanny sort of way,with her around he's at peace with himself.

God couldn’t necessarily do that.

People were so gullible about what God could do,about his powers,about his plans.Why couldn’t they seek it in themselves?Why could they not do it with their own hands and heart and the brain they were born with?Sid lied alone in bed,his eyes to the sky outside the window.Did he really have to believe in God to be truly happy?He pondered.If it wasn’t benumbed,nondescript celebration of happiness that he had found in beauty in many a form and at fractured places,what were they?

He rolled over on his stomach.

It was an eerie atmosphere in Kylie’s absence.She had been here often,and perhaps it was her absence that he wasn’t used to.He smiled to himself silly as he thought of her.“I really hope this is everything…”her voice resonated in his head.The mystery of science, the reaffirmation of emotions.He smiled even more widely as he remembered her telling him how carefully she tried to handle the copy of A Density of Souls he lent her.It wasn’t what everyone else would do.

Butterflies flew overhead and some hovered in the air. Sid closed his eyes and almost felt himself falling deeply into the ocean,where the darkness wrapped around him and challenged him to breathe,threatened to strangle;he held for as long as possible,then hauled himself onto the surface,water dripping from his dyed tresses,the air very still.

His dreams circumambulated around him,promising..

He would probably spend his entire lifetime dreaming,half of it for sure;as the world continues revolving 24/7 without noticing his presence.

Kylie, had noticed him...


P.S:don't think should be indulging myself in this right now,but feeling rather disturbed..the colourful occasion of holi has been rather blunt here,which's reflected.hoping for a brighter immediate future;Wishing my readers a very HAPPY HOLI!

MOMSY-PANSY

A solemnly void dreamy mind is a minefield for lunacy.But only when you are so old. What,do you think you would have done if you found a dear one wearing away helpless in search of a homily mirage while you are rendered motionless.Having nothing else to do but holding on to your wistful array of pipe-dreams and useless thoughts.But some people are instinctive,born with common sense.As the famous cliche goes "cometh the moment,cometh the man!"or in this case the baby.In case you are wondering if I have gone mad,you are mistaken.Somehow what happens at raw childhood escapes many a guys' memory.But the tooth fairies(or the likes) call on you every now and then and return.. no,not money but long-forgotten childhood memoirs..

Here was a lovely lady..bed-ridden, flu-stricken,suffering from chronic migraine pain,to whom even a pindrop seemed like an explosion,unable to bear any iota of light.She had none to look after her that day..except for a tiny tot;all of 6 months- he sat in a bundle chewing his thumb unable to comprehend why ma wasn't paying him any attention.He decided to make a close enquiry.Moving himself was however a quite tedious task,he was a real fatso.alas! :( 'ma ma!?'she was looking at him now,gritted teeth;trying to smile but she made no effort to take him in her lap,and somewhat alarmingly even closed her eyes.Something must be wrong,that made him helpless.Desperate to return some semblance of normalcy to the surroundings,he looked around for something familiar to which he could instantly relate ma with.So began his tiring crawling expedition.Finally he found something,but that was atop a table which was beyond his reach;after toiling for several minutes he managed to stand somehow and uprooted the confounded thing from it's perch..it was a little packet of Parle lozenges.Mom would take plenty of them all the time.Yesterday she even gave her a piece.Yummy!He didn't know how to get one outta the packet so he struggled.His baby brawn was of some use at last,he tore it open,got hold of a candy and crawled his way back to ma.She was still lying there with her hand across her face..he heaved over her hand and thrust the candy with it's cover on[:(] into ma's lips"ma,khao..khao" Which surprisingly worsened matters as big teardrops formed in her eyes.But then she smiled brightly and pulled him up to the bed showering him with kisses.That tight hug felt real good,so he's told.

Do I need to reveal who the tiny kiddo was?That's obvious isn't it-for once,when this story was being narrated,felt an inkling of pomp growing within.:) God that tiny boy was damn lucky,could spend all his time with ma.His 'zoom out' version can't though:(
He has to do with celebrating her budday remembering jolly times and planning for jollier ones in the forthcoming buddays.He wonders how she can love him soo much although he irritates n hurts the hell out of her.He doesn't mind though.
Love you ma!Really really missing your hat ka khana err..you too-hee hee hee
HAPPY BUDDAY!!

....

And you invade my soul again.
How do you do it?
Everytime.

You echo my thoughts like a pensieve.
Hold them like glistening silver smoke,
turn them over at will.
And hold them out for display.

But you are not supposed to.
Then why do you do it?
How do you do it?

I, like a drop of rain,
on a dry window pane,
watch the sun kill me.
Yet, you make me live.

Can you for once, give me your essence.
Unwrap it from the gold foil,
and give yourself up to me.
Vulnerable, weak.
I'll give you love.

AN ELOPEMENT

Rosalene was traversing the bridge between adolescence and teenage.She was waking up to all the beautiful,ethereal things that nature had to offer.Previously she had been oblivious,but now that she had the vision, she lapped it up.But her rendezvous with the wonderful weren't lasting.They were always punctuated with complications and problems.So much suffering all around,she'd have loved to rid humankind of them.But there were obstacles galore which were hard to overcome;exploring the unknown and appreciating the same were unthinkable.She looked up heavenwards - a garland of unknown birds presented a perfect picture against the azure,autumn sky.Birds,she thought were the happiest creatures on the face of earth.How she wished she could sprout wings and fly away to faraway lands.Where there would be no worries,no conflicts; only blissful existence in the mother's lap. "please God,make me a bird in my next life" she prayed everyday before going to bed.One fine morning as she woke up,to her utter surprise,she found that her pleas were answered,in advance.Her happiness was unbridled.She had been transformed to a humming bird.


Flying high above the seas
wasn't as she thought it'd be
Could she flap her wings and sore so high?
The grounds were a treat,will so be the sky?
Ever confused she'd sing her song;
As others would hear...the humming bird.


The tree she lived on was small
to every leaf she'd say as it would fall,
I'll make you fly too-she thought they were one
but the winds would never do and she ended up moving none
Still confused, she'd sing her song
and others would hear...the humming bird.


The seasons came and went,every year four.
But autumn held her transfixed,as peers veered for more.
Even as her tranquil soul got an auburn tinge
silent tears escaped the longing eyes;
Perplexed yet singing her song
while others heard...the humming bird.


One day with the sun's first ray
fed up of the nature's laws,
The humming bird made up her mind;
and she left her song behind..
They then saw her fly high
beyond the pallid,cloudless sky!


Image courtesy:deviantart.com

ADIEU

In my tumultuous
slumber,I waited
and waited;till
finally I had
My dream.

Her replica,
she has no eyes,
Kindred in form,
But nothing inside.

"Brother, what'll happen,
When she too dies?"
"I... I don't know"
Poor brother sighs.

Numbness.And despair.Witnessing miracles is not a commoner's privilege. Hoping against hope is.It's no different with me..princess has tricked everybody.The past few hrs have been spent in careful construction of an imaginary safe in which her image-all memoirs can be safely conjured up so as to avoid atrophy.Improbable as it may seem,she has already resumed her journey of trickling away.Life would soon resume it's normal course. No matter how much it hurts,Thank you for the memories, princess Dora!

A LOT LIKE LOVE

Now this one's real close to erm..my mind;whatever that means...Inspired by zillions of bolly-wollies that me has gobbled up over the years.Inspite of the ridiculing,the imprints left by have been anything but modest.Right,unfasten your seat belts,here goes.. :)



It was a lovely October morning in the most charming city of this world. Well,not quite. But Kolkata certainly has it's irrefutable appeal which does set it apart from other well-adorned locales.But again,I digress.

Preoccupied by the rigours that another gruelling day in office would bring,I mounted the company bus on my way to work, as usual trying to catch up with some sleep.Previous night was all about pending workload.Which was the way most of the times nowadays. On this particular day,however, a girl got on the bus, and with an angelic demeanour descended on the seat next to me. “Good Morning,” she beamed. I looked back at her through half closed eyes, replied “Good Night,” and then proceeded to return to my half hour long nap before the bus reached the office. Unfortunately,a soft punch interrupted my reverie .

“Wake up, idiot!” She was wearing that familiar smile. “I'm not sitting next to you to listen to you snore.”

Half-heartedly, I opened my eyes and turned to her. “What's up?you bankrupt?company bus?” I asked.

Alolika Verma aka Rinkie was tall, good-looking and slightly tomboyish. She was also my best buddy. “Come on,” she said. “Don't look so disappointed. You'd rather sleep than talk to me?”

“I talk to you everyday, Rinkie.”

“You also sleep everyday.”

“It's not enough.”

“So you've had enough of talking to me, eh?”The smile had disappeared,up came a frown.

You can't argue with a statement like that, so I had to give up. I grinned and said, “OK, sweetheart. Shoot.What's on your mind?”

“I wanted to tell you what happened yesterday. Can you guess?”

“Rohit called you last night.”

“How on earth did you know?” She was stunned,so much so that she nearly fell of her seat.

“Oh, he asked me for your number yesterday.”

“And you gave it to him?”

“I'm a thorough gentleman you know? And don't you dare complain. Wasn't he oh-so-cute only the day before?The way you were drooling over him,he must have thought he had a chance.”

Rinkie was like that.The silly sort.She would openly ogle at every other guy she saw. And yet, she would not respond to any advances of a romantic nature. She'd happily join a group of boys to go to a cricket match, but if asked out to a movie, dinner, or even coffee, she'd never oblige.

“You like putting me in these situations, don't you?” she said.

“No. That would be lying in the confession box of a church. I love putting you in these situations!”

Another soft punch.A giggle.

I had known Rinkie for a year. We found it real soothing to confide,to share-our joys and sorrow;triumphs and debacles. I'd tell her about all my crushes and she'd scold me for being silly. She had dragged me to classical music concerts and after initial revolts,I voluntarily added them to the ever-growing list of things she 'owed me' for.

And though I never let it show, I must say that she punched soft,but pretty hard in a way.


It was 12:00 am and my phone was ringing. “Hello,” I said, as I picked it up.

“Happy Birthday!” Who else could it be.

“Whoa!Just a call!!You're supposed to throw me a surprise party, sweetheart. Not just call to say Happy Birthday.”

“Well then open your door, you creep!”

So I did and found her, cell-phone in hand, at my doorstep -- with what seemed like half the population of my company. My roommates were supposed to be working late that night. Now I knew why.

I blew a lot of candles (seemed like much more than 23), cut my cake, got my dose of GPLs-graded points in love, and got painted,err pounded with the cake's icing. If Rinkie had had her way, she'd probably have preferred to use a paintbrush and a can of paint. But I bribed her with a copy of the book ”Lord of the Rings”. She'd borrowed it from me three times already. I thought it was about time I gave her a copy for herself.

We chatted for an hour after everyone had gone. “I think it's time I left,” she said finally, trying to stifle a yawn. I nodded. I dropped her home in my roommate's car. As she was getting out of the car, I stopped her.

“Oi Rinkie.”

“What?”

“Thanks honey.You really did make my day.”

“Besharam!Senti deta hai” she smiled.I loved the way she did. “Are you trying to worm out of that gift you promised me?”

“You know, it's interesting how I'm getting you a gift on my birthday.”

“That's just because you're stupid and a weirdo,” she grinned. “And you better get me that book, or I won't return your copy.”

“Hey, that copy was a gift to me from my dear friend Alolika Verma. I can't let you keep that.”

She wasn't falling for that. “Your dear friend? And what about me? Am I not dear to you?”

“Oye,very smart eh? That won't work with me. I'm not one of your Love Crazy suitors. Why do you need the book anyway? You've read it umpteen times already.”

“That is besides the point. Now shut up and buzz off.You are getting me the book. We both know that.” She smiled that wide confident smile of hers. “Good night.” And she got out of the car.

I sat there for some time, just thinking. Our conversations were always like this – a little kiddish, lots of joking and teasing and a lot of demanding. But somehow, I felt that something had changed since the moment she had turned up at my door that night. I wonder. Suddenly a paper ball landed on the windshield. I craned my neck out of the window and looked up. She was standing in her balcony.

“What are you still doing there?” she whispered loudly.

“Waiting for you honey.Thank God you have finally tee-d off the paper-ball fight,” I shouted.

“We will complete that tomorrow. Go home now. It's way past your bedtime!”

“Ok!meri ma!” I grinned back. “I'm off!”


I'm an extravagant gift-giver, and it is definitely going to be my downfall some day. I made her wait for it, but finally bought her the book. That, and half-a-dozen other omnibus collections of various authors, including a copy each of `The Complete Works of Pablo Neruda' and `The Complete Short Stories of Ogden Nash'. She.All an expectant me got for it was a shrug of the shoulders and “I told you so.”

I started spending a lot of time at her place after that. Mostly because I wanted to read all those books, and she wouldn't lend them to me.

“I'm not as stupid as you, weirdo!Ever seen your books-seems like you feed them to rats. You're not doing that to these masterpieces. So if you want to read them, you read them here. And if you want to mark your place,puhleeze use a bookmark.”

So that's what I did. She'd even make me wash my hands before I touched the books. It was as if they were sacred.

“Need I remind you that it was me that bought you the books in the first place? For my birthday!”

“So? They're mine now.”

“Well, then. I've been meaning to ask you this for a long time. Where exactly is my birthday gift?”

“It was in your tummy at one point of time. It's probably been washed into the sea by now.”

“How do you mean?”

“Remember the cake I baked you on your birthday?”

“You what?”I ogled. “You can't bake cakes!” That was a mistake.But that's very me-ish. She looked hurt. “You baked me a cake?” She didn't say a word. She just shrugged.

I was stunned. “But you never told me.”

“You didn't ask.” This was typically Rinkie.

“It was fantastic! And you wasted most of the icing on me!”

“The cake was for you, Mr.Dumbo.”

“How long did it take you to make the whole thing?” It had been a two-layered vanilla-chocolate cake with four flavors of very creamy icing. She had done all that!

“Well, the chocolate cake took an hour and fifteen minutes, and so did the vanilla. Then cutting them up and putting them together took another 15 minutes. Each flavor of icing took 15 minutes for preparation, and then putting it on the cake took another half hour. Cleaning up the mess took an hour,I think.”

She seldom claimed the credit for anything, but once she begun, she needed a dozen speedbreakers. However, I wasn't thinking about that right then.

“You spent over five hours on that cake?”

“A little over four hours preparing it, and an hour cleaning up. Yes.”

I was speechless. I didn't know how to react. She hated cooking.

“I forgot to mention,” she continued, “the hours I spent the week before that, practicing. Even the birds wouldn't touch the first three cakes!”

I couldn't help but ask. “Why?”

“Because the first one got burnt, the second one was only half cooked, and in the third one, I forgot to add sugar.”

It was just like her,expertly diverting the conversation.How I hated that! “I mean why did you spend so much time on baking me a cake?”

She looked at me like I had just asked her why birds flew. “For your birthday, stupid. Of course, I also wanted to beat every gift you've ever got me. Try beating this one.” She was grinning like she'd won the world championship.

As far as I was concerned, she had. I'd never spent a week making her anything. I'd never even spent an hour making her anything. Getting her a gift normally involved me taking her to the store, letting her choose and use my credit card. Suddenly, I felt very small. “Thanks,” was the only thing I could say. ”Thanks a lot.”

“Oy Dumbo,senti deneka sochna bhi mat!”

I was.

I was still mulling over my feelings for Rinkie the next day at work when my boss asked to speak to me.

It was routine stuff.Very formal.But all of a sudden he declared that he had a surprise.The company wanted to send me to New York for a couple of years.Normally, this wouldn't have made much of a difference to me. I could work anywhere and I did like to check out new,exotic locales.But right then, the first thought that came to me was that I'd be away from her for two whole years.Just twenty-four hours before, I'd have been disappointed to lose her company. But right then, I was devastated.I knew now, I was in love with her. I'd had crushes before. Lots of them. But this was different.definitely.

“Do you have any problem in going?” my boss asked, since I hadn't responded.

“Not really,” I replied.How could I have possibly said that I was in love, and couldn't bear the separation?

“When do I have to leave?”

I had a month.


“Wow! New York! Great! I've heard it's a fantastic city! Did you know it snows there in winter?” Rinkie was obviously very excited about this new development. She didn't seem to share my disappointment on what I now definitely saw as 'separation'.Atleast, she didn't show it.

It was a weird feeling. We'd known each other for a little over a year, and we were very close, but beyond some mild flirting, the relationship had never got even close to romantic. That was, of course, until I found out she had spent a week baking me a cake. It's funny how small things seem to make such a big difference.

“What happened?” she asked. “You don't seem very happy.”

“Oh,” I replied, “it's just that it's so sudden, that's all. And you know I was never all that interested in going to America.”

“What an idiot! Go see the place. I've heard the women there are stunning.And men too.haha” She had a sly smile on her face. I wanted to tell her I didn't care if I laid my eyes on another woman again, if she wasn't with me. But I didn't.

I realized that I only had another month with her. She'd rejected every guy who'd asked her out ever since I'd known her. I didn't want the same to happen to me, and I didn't want to make it awkward between us. I didn't want to risk that month. I wanted it to be the best time I had ever spent with her. After I came back from the US, I might not even get to meet her again. Two years was a long time.

We ate out almost every night. We visited some of the best restaurants in the city. She also helped me shop for warm clothes, formalwear, shoes, toothpaste and a million things I'd never have thought of on my own.

“You need to buy a nail-cutter.” My roommates and I shared one.

“I've prepared a list of must-have medicines that you should carry.”

“You need at least two pairs of formal shoes and at least ten pairs of dark socks. The East Coast has a formal dress code. And you won't do your laundry more than once a week or two.”

“Do you have enough ties and trousers?You are so into casual dressing na!and what about blazers?”

“Better get a haircut before you leave from here. Knowing you, you'll postpone the first haircut for too long.”

She'd call me up at one in the morning to tell me to add 'one more item' to my list.

And with every passing day, I was falling more deeply in love with her.

The month swept by quickly. The day I was supposed to leave, I asked her to come with me to the airport. “Of course, dumbo. You think I'd let you go just like that, or what?”

After packing my bags for me and checking the lists for the hundredth time, she finally pronounced me “Good to go.”

We reached the airport four hours early to beat the rush, because it was an international flight. She got a visitor's pass to sit in the waiting area while I went ahead and checked-in my bags. Rinkie had got a spring balance from somewhere and so we knew my bags were well within the weight limit. I finished the formalities and came to sit with her. We had only a few hours before I had to go for my security-check. We decided to get something to eat at the food court. And all the time, the one thing that was going through my head was that, after this, I wouldn't see her for at least another two years.

“Hey, Champ! Why so glum?You really are impossible.” She saved 'Champ' for special days. Normally, it was just 'dumbo', 'idiot', 'creep', 'matchstick man', 'weirdo', or if she was very irritated with me, 'numbskull'.

“I don't want to go,” I said.

“I don't want you to go either.”

“No, you don't understand.” I couldn't hold it in any longer. “I can't stand the thought of living without you by my side.”

She stared at me. There was a strange look in her eyes. I couldn't read it.

“I am madly in love with you, Rinkie.”

At this, a sound escaped her lips that sounded like midway between a sob and a laugh. “Well, dumbo, you've picked an absolutely fabulous time to tell me about it!”

A tear escaped her eyes.Anticipation kept myself from even wiping it off her cheeks.

“How long have you felt this way?” She seemed amused, though she was definitely crying. I didn't know what to make of it.

“From the day I found out you had baked me a cake.”

She laughed. “That's all it took? Well, bozo, I guess a way to a man's heart is certainly through his stomach! Hold it. A month? You waited a month? You were the one who kept saying that if you really liked a girl you wouldn't waste a day in telling her!” She was smiling widely now. It looked funny, with her eyes all wet.

“Well, I was confused. How did I know how you'd react? In fact, I still don't understand your reaction. I thought it would change things between us. You've rejected every guy who ever proposed to you!”

“That's because I'm in love with you, you overgrown idiot!”

“What?” Somehow, I'd never expected her to say that. She was in love with me? “How long have you been in love with me?”

“Ever since the day you offered to carry my bags for me.”

“But that was the first day I met you!”

“I guess I was always a sucker for chivalry.”

“All this time you've been in love with me and you never said anything! Then you go and complain that I waited a month!”

“You guys are so bad at reading a girl's mind.”

“You women are so good at keeping your thoughts a secret! Even Einstein couldn't figure you out.”

“Einstein was a nerd. Casanova, on the other hand, understood us very well.”

“I love you.”

“I know.”

That moment, was pure magic. I looked into her eyes and took her hands in mine. Physical contact for us had been limited, until then, to a punch in the arm, a slap on the back of the head, or giving each other a 'high five'.

“You realize, don't you,” she said, “that this is our first date?” Leave it to her to notice the little things.

“I really don't want to go.” I'd always maintained that love is a bucketful of emotions. I wasn't exactly delighted to be proved right.

“Don't worry. I'm coming there in a couple of months.”

“How? On a dependent visa?”

She laughed. “For that, I'll have to wait, won't I? I've got a project in Boston.”

I couldn't believe my ears. “What? When did that happen? You never even told me!”

“Well, I wasn't sure you'd propose before you left. And I couldn't exactly sacrifice you to those New York women, could I? I had to watch out for myself. So I went on a project-hunting spree. There is an opportunity coming up for a project in about two months. Someone is coming back to India, so I'll be taking his place. They want me there for a little less than two years.” She was beaming. “See,again I have struck gold!”

“And if I'd not told you how I felt? When were you planning on telling me about it?”

“Around a month before I reached there. I had to make it look natural. Or you'd think I was desperate.”

“Well, you are desperate!” This was incredible. All I'd done in the past month had been to mope around, listen to sad songs and write her letters that I never intended her to read. “You've been scheming all this while! How come you didn't lay a trap for me a year ago?”

“I tried giving you hints, dumbo, but you just wouldn't pay attention!” She was laughing. “You're the only guy I ever spent any time with. Wasn't that a big enough hint?”

That was true. She would happily join a group of boys to go to a cricket match, but I now realized, only if I was one of them.

“What if I had rejected you?” I was extremely flattered that she'd been crazy about me for a year. My ego was swelling.

“You must be kidding!” she was clearly amused. “I get proposed to every few days. You are the one who's been rejected more times in the last year than I can count on two pairs of hands!”

She really knew how to burst my bubble.

“Hey,” she said softly, “don't look so dejected. I said 'Yes', didn't I?”

I grinned. “Yes, you did. And you've made me a very happy man. But you know what would make me even happier?”

“What?”

“If you learn to cook as good as you bake cakes.”

This time,her touch felt so silkier,so very nice!



guys,I am not an idealist..but i like to feel good. :)
hope you do too.

image courtesy:deviantart.com

LISTLESS

In this room of paper
I sit with my ear to the dark.

Sleepless, I am listening to
the night with its sounds

of sleep, as hours sift
through all the rooms

of the heart, uncovering
again the river that is your

flowing laughter. O, would you believe
me if I said of all the dream cities

I will travel to,
it is in your voice's echo that
I wish I was sleeping tonight?