The three of you are eating chaat at a South Indian Cafe in Silicon Valley, US. You all know eighteen Rupees in Mumbai, India fetches much better delectables than the eighteen dollars you spent above, did. Well, you rue.
The geek talk gives way to lewd talk about a girl – an acquaintance of one of the guys. You may not be the gentlest-of-men, but you are not the lecherous kind either.
Well, the two of you are not; the third one acts so. It's his forte. He pines for the girl, you laugh. To extend the joke, you laugh scornfully at the piner and in a threatening tone, remind him of his girlfriend in India.
With a blank glance, he corrects the tense of your reminder – from present to past.
The joke's on you, buddy!
You bite your lip – regret is never enough. You cannot escape but ask, "Why, you guys broke up?" with what you hope is a straight face. What follows is a straight answer.
"She got married," he stirs the food on his plate, you fight your expressions.
"Was married off - against her consent, by her parents as soon as we told them about us."
He looks down at his plate with defeated eyes.
Your heart cries. Were you the General of an army, and the piner – your warrior, you would slay him for meeting defeat and then avenge him by killing the monsters.
Civilisation condemns such ferocity.
Instead, "Oh shit!" is what you utter, and mean.
Brevity reigns. Propriety prompts, you inquire about the necessary details and finally curse the girl's parents, Indian society and fate for ruining a four year old relationship over religious trivialities.
Silence follows, more depressing than awkward, till the piner dismisses the subject with an entreating dejection.
You, the General of an emotionally incapacitated army, sigh.
The lewd talk resumes.
The geek talk gives way to lewd talk about a girl – an acquaintance of one of the guys. You may not be the gentlest-of-men, but you are not the lecherous kind either.
Well, the two of you are not; the third one acts so. It's his forte. He pines for the girl, you laugh. To extend the joke, you laugh scornfully at the piner and in a threatening tone, remind him of his girlfriend in India.
With a blank glance, he corrects the tense of your reminder – from present to past.
The joke's on you, buddy!
You bite your lip – regret is never enough. You cannot escape but ask, "Why, you guys broke up?" with what you hope is a straight face. What follows is a straight answer.
"She got married," he stirs the food on his plate, you fight your expressions.
"Was married off - against her consent, by her parents as soon as we told them about us."
He looks down at his plate with defeated eyes.
Your heart cries. Were you the General of an army, and the piner – your warrior, you would slay him for meeting defeat and then avenge him by killing the monsters.
Civilisation condemns such ferocity.
Instead, "Oh shit!" is what you utter, and mean.
Brevity reigns. Propriety prompts, you inquire about the necessary details and finally curse the girl's parents, Indian society and fate for ruining a four year old relationship over religious trivialities.
Silence follows, more depressing than awkward, till the piner dismisses the subject with an entreating dejection.
You, the General of an emotionally incapacitated army, sigh.
The lewd talk resumes.
Interesting read.
ReplyDeleteas always i read this first (references to the past 3 ones will not be severely dealt with)but didn't leave my 'mark' till later ;)
ReplyDeletethe way you use your words, ans so sparingly too (as always) and the images, the descriptions bring to the mind and the post-scripts to each scene..
so brilliant!
you set the scene well, let reader-reactions soar to the sky, and yet keep it all firmly grounded in reality and practicality
another 'typical you' i think
:)
yeah,an interesting read.
ReplyDelete@powerslave - thanks :)
ReplyDelete@meghana - the post-scripts are my favourite too :)
and the last 3 posts have been referred enough and nicely, so it's ok.
@diwakar - well, thanks for stumbling upon the wanderer's diligence :)
oh man..i had commented on ur blog two days ago but i guess woh mila nahi tujhe...
ReplyDeletei cannot help but wonder and gape at the way u use ur words!!! its like so carefully picked up and used! its so perfect...flawless..."entreating dejection"...wow!!!! u lways have a coined phrase in ur posts which leaves me speechless!!!
nthng more, let he brevity rule;)
Nice one........and I guess I know the acquainted girl and her DOggy which you were talking about.......I may be wrong .....
ReplyDeletebut doesn't matter......heheehe
lolz!!
ReplyDeleteno, it is not the doggy!
Well my friend....an amazing choice of words..to describe a scene so perfectly.
ReplyDelete