I came out of the shower and just stood right under the fan. The A.C. was gunning on all cylinders and it felt good to be feeling clean again. It was early evening- around 8 pm. I had come home half an hour ago after a hard day's work. My single malt , on the rocks, was waiting for me on the table. I'd made the drink before going in for the shower and now it was chilled, with rivulets of icy sweat running down the glass. What a bloody dichotomy, I thought, we sweat when we are hot, and whiskey sweats when it is cold! God! I needed a drink! In fact, I needed quite a few. I'd been busting my butt the last few days, trying to negotiate a good deal for our organically grown farm produce. The buyers had flown in from USA, driven a tough bargain, but had finally signed on the dotted line. For the next three years, they would buy most of the herbs that were being grown on our new farm. The new farm was my project, and not only had I faced a lot tough questioning from my old man and elder brothers, but also a lot of good natured ribbing about what we were going to grow. I'd decided that we needed to break the cash crop cycle and diversify into herbs. The two herbs that could be grown well in our climatic conditions, and had a good international demand, were 'Ashwagandha' and 'Safed Musli'. Unfortunately, the two drugs were used as aphrodisiacs in traditional medicine, and that had caused a lot of leg-pulling at my expense. Old man only half-jokingly had complained that a father of nine would now grow aphrodisiacs! Mom had, in her own witty way, said that she hoped that I would get married once the crop was harvested, implying that perhaps I was weak in that department!! It was not as if the family was against my project, it was just that they wanted to be absolutely sure that I knew what I was getting into. I had managed to convince them, and once the project had been approved by the old man, it was 'action this day' stuff. Dad was cautious while making decisions, but very decisive once his mind was made up. I'd inherited his decisiveness, but was too impulsive for my own good.
Aargh! Enough of introspection, I thought and took a few gulps from my drink. God! This felt good! The hectic parleying, the non-stop meetings, the running around had taken its toll. I was tired; I could have slowed down a bit but the frenetic pace had helped me keep my mind off Pushpa. The days had gone by in a blur but the nights had been melancholic. I had tossed and turned in the nights, trying to remember everything about her. Funnily, everything else about her had blurred but her deep, hypnotic eyes haunted me in the long, seemingly endless nights. Another thing that I'd not forgotten even one bit was her 'global-warming' smile. Even now, a week after I'd last seen her, the memory of that smile could almost make me smile- almost. It was a good thing that my mother could not see me now. I had 'John Lennon glasses' style dark circles under my eyes and looked like crap. I drained the drink and fixed another one, picked up my Ipad and walked out of the room. I was staying at an apartment that our family owns. The apartment has a huge terrace overlooking the Juhu beach and I could see many couples walking hand in hand. I had held her hand only briefly when I'd said goodbye to her. I now wished I'd never let go. I fired up the Ipad and signed into my Facebook account for the first time since I had reached Bombay. Lots of notifications, a few messages, and a friend request. I typically look at friend requests first and so clicked on that icon. Pushpa's smiling face took my breath away. I stared at her picture mesmerized. It seemed an eternity till I was able to break the spell, and then the battle between the head and heart started. Head told me to ignore her friend request and try and move on. Heart told me that it would be one way of having her in my life; a small part but she would be there. While the battle was raging on, I clicked on her name and went to her profile. Unfortunately, her privacy settings prevented me from looking at anything more than her landing page. I wondered what Shantaram would have done in such a situation and realized that he would have listened to his heart. That made my mind up; I went back to her friend request and clicked on 'accept request' button. I now went to her profile and clicked on pictures. There she was, right from her college days, to her ex- workplace in Delhi, with friends, with family, in public places, in her home, and even in diapers! She looked bloody cute even as a kid and I could not help wonder that we'd could have had a daughter that looked like her had God been kind. But God's sense of irony was awesome, I noted with a rueful shake of the head. My daydreaming was interrupted by the ping of a message on the messenger. "Hey Sour puss" said the text next to Pushpa's face. I smiled. Having decided to let her into my life, orrather, cling on to her as long as i could, I now wanted all that that I could of her before Rohit whisked her away. It was almost comical to imagine that fatso on a mare, whisking Pushpa away. Except that it wasn't funny at all.
"Hi beautiful", I replied, suddenly feeling a bit reckless.
"Whoa! I never thought I'd hear that from you", Pushpa replied with a smiley.
"Me Shrek, you princess", I pushed my luck further.
"The princess will like to have your phone number, Shrek, so that she can invite you for a night on the town.", Pushpa said.
Yes! I'll get to see her! Whoopee!
I gave her my number and had to remind myself to wait for two rings before receiving her call. No way she would know that I'd been missing her.
Her husky voice was as sensuous and soothing as warm honey with cinnamon tricking down one's sore throat. It was music to my ears and I had to pull myself together so that I could concentrate on what she was saying. Pushpa was asking me to meet her at Tito's garage, a popular joint in Bandra. She said we might go pub hopping. I would have been glad to train hop with her all the way back to Punjab! We agreed to meet at Tito's 10 p.m. Whoever got there first would try to keep two chairs at the bar- finding a table would be impossible.
Suddenly, the day did not look so bleak; to me, my life did not seem so empty. Yes, she was still getting married to that fatso, but tonight, she would be with me. Tonight, in spite of everything, I would celebrate my love for her.
Aargh! Enough of introspection, I thought and took a few gulps from my drink. God! This felt good! The hectic parleying, the non-stop meetings, the running around had taken its toll. I was tired; I could have slowed down a bit but the frenetic pace had helped me keep my mind off Pushpa. The days had gone by in a blur but the nights had been melancholic. I had tossed and turned in the nights, trying to remember everything about her. Funnily, everything else about her had blurred but her deep, hypnotic eyes haunted me in the long, seemingly endless nights. Another thing that I'd not forgotten even one bit was her 'global-warming' smile. Even now, a week after I'd last seen her, the memory of that smile could almost make me smile- almost. It was a good thing that my mother could not see me now. I had 'John Lennon glasses' style dark circles under my eyes and looked like crap. I drained the drink and fixed another one, picked up my Ipad and walked out of the room. I was staying at an apartment that our family owns. The apartment has a huge terrace overlooking the Juhu beach and I could see many couples walking hand in hand. I had held her hand only briefly when I'd said goodbye to her. I now wished I'd never let go. I fired up the Ipad and signed into my Facebook account for the first time since I had reached Bombay. Lots of notifications, a few messages, and a friend request. I typically look at friend requests first and so clicked on that icon. Pushpa's smiling face took my breath away. I stared at her picture mesmerized. It seemed an eternity till I was able to break the spell, and then the battle between the head and heart started. Head told me to ignore her friend request and try and move on. Heart told me that it would be one way of having her in my life; a small part but she would be there. While the battle was raging on, I clicked on her name and went to her profile. Unfortunately, her privacy settings prevented me from looking at anything more than her landing page. I wondered what Shantaram would have done in such a situation and realized that he would have listened to his heart. That made my mind up; I went back to her friend request and clicked on 'accept request' button. I now went to her profile and clicked on pictures. There she was, right from her college days, to her ex- workplace in Delhi, with friends, with family, in public places, in her home, and even in diapers! She looked bloody cute even as a kid and I could not help wonder that we'd could have had a daughter that looked like her had God been kind. But God's sense of irony was awesome, I noted with a rueful shake of the head. My daydreaming was interrupted by the ping of a message on the messenger. "Hey Sour puss" said the text next to Pushpa's face. I smiled. Having decided to let her into my life, orrather, cling on to her as long as i could, I now wanted all that that I could of her before Rohit whisked her away. It was almost comical to imagine that fatso on a mare, whisking Pushpa away. Except that it wasn't funny at all.
"Hi beautiful", I replied, suddenly feeling a bit reckless.
"Whoa! I never thought I'd hear that from you", Pushpa replied with a smiley.
"Me Shrek, you princess", I pushed my luck further.
"The princess will like to have your phone number, Shrek, so that she can invite you for a night on the town.", Pushpa said.
Yes! I'll get to see her! Whoopee!
I gave her my number and had to remind myself to wait for two rings before receiving her call. No way she would know that I'd been missing her.
Her husky voice was as sensuous and soothing as warm honey with cinnamon tricking down one's sore throat. It was music to my ears and I had to pull myself together so that I could concentrate on what she was saying. Pushpa was asking me to meet her at Tito's garage, a popular joint in Bandra. She said we might go pub hopping. I would have been glad to train hop with her all the way back to Punjab! We agreed to meet at Tito's 10 p.m. Whoever got there first would try to keep two chairs at the bar- finding a table would be impossible.
Suddenly, the day did not look so bleak; to me, my life did not seem so empty. Yes, she was still getting married to that fatso, but tonight, she would be with me. Tonight, in spite of everything, I would celebrate my love for her.
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