THE Toilet Seat Rodin's Blog

Pushpa was getting ready and thinking of Happy. She could not quite put her finger on why she had sought out Happy and invited him out. Yes, she liked the fact that he was very easy to get along with and that he seemed to belong to a class of people who are real- with no affectations whatsoever. Yes, he was a bit larger-than-life but that could hardly be held against someone who came from a culture that practiced hyper-masculinity. If anything, he was better mannered than most men she knew. Not the most polished- she didn't think he would be very comfortable in an ultra-formal setting- but he seemed to have his heart in the right place. And yes, he was a flirt! He had flirted with her on the train and now on the phone too. Pushpa, however, knew that he would never cross the thin line between flirting and harassment. Oddly, she reflected, she trusted him implicitly even though she had met him just once. He would be a great friend if he ever got over his moods- Pushpa thought o...

I looked at my watch. The time was 8:45 pm. I almost jumped out of my skin. Reaching Bandra would take an hour in an auto- rickshaw and I was to meet Pushpa at 10 pm. As I nearly got up, I remembered what our mom always says- Never start anything new at three quarters of an hour. I was getting late but was willing to make Pushpa wait five more minutes than start off an evening with her on an inauspicious note.  Fortunately, my phone pinged and there was an SMS from my bank advising me of a large credit in my account. I opened my banking app and there it was- a six figure amount. As usual, there was a homily from Karan with it- "All work and no play makes Happy a sad boy". I had to smile- trust big bro to take care of his younger siblings.  Karan had sobered down since marriage but the villagers still remembered him as a hell raising, hard drinking Casanova who was as ready with a hug as with a punch. He had terrorized all of the village and us siblings at one tim...