A Chance Encounter

Roshan was on his way back home when an old friend of his called him to meet up for coffee. He would have skipped the invitation if Arnav hadn't told him that the "Gang" was there. This was incentive enough for him to overcome his laziness and head out to the mall. Everyone had got so busy with their jobs that there was hardly an opportunity for all of them to meet. The last time they managed to do this was right after college when they had planned a trip to Mauritius. Fond memories ran through his mind of the good old times while he headed out to the coffee shop.

The experience of seeing all of them at once was overwhelming. Once he got into conversations with others, he realised it all started when Arnav got nostalgic last night at a party and started calling one after the other. He would have received the invitation last night itself if his battery hadn't died on him. As he was talking to a friend, he noticed a girl on the other side of the coffee house. Strangely enough he gazed at her for a bit longer than normal. There was something familiar about her face but he couldn't make the connection. He kept jogging his memory for a hint but drew a blank. He was about to give up when it hit him.

She looked strikingly similar to his school friend - Bhavana. He hadn't spoken to her in ages but there was a time in school when they were inseparable. She had moved to a different city. They had kept in touch initially but the rigour of plus two didn't let them stay that way. He stared at her for longer than he should have and she noticed it. But there was no reaction from her side. He pulled himself back and got involved in a conversation with Arnav. But his mind kept going back to her. Was it really her? Had she totally forgotten him? Has it been that long?

After a bit of back and forth in his mind, he stood up and decided to check out. She was sitting with a group of friends. He walked up to the table, drew a deep breath and said to her -

" Hi ! Hope I am not bothering you. I am Roshan and you look a lot like a friend of mine from school !!"

There was moment of silence around the table. She looked a little surprised and replied " Sorry, I think you mistook me for someone else !!". Latching onto this, some of her friends started making jokes -

"How come guys would never come up with a better line?"
"Has it ever worked for you?"
"How many times have you said the same thing before?"

There were giggles all around and he found himself helpless. He was never so embarrassed in his life. After a minute he gathered himself, uttered a hasty apology and ran back to his table without looking back. Once he was back with his friends, he dared not look back in their direction. The giggles haunted him for the rest of the evening. But his thoughts kept going back to Bhavana. He chided himself for being stupid and promised himself never to put himself in such a situation again.

As the evening drew to a close friends started leaving one after the other. He was the last to leave. He walked towards the lift and realised that he would have to make a dash for it if he didn't want to wait for the next one. He reached the lift in a hurry and pressed the button. The doors which were closing, stopped momentarily and reopened. To his surprise, he noticed that she was in the lift.

After the dose of evening jokes he wasn't sure if he wanted to get into the same lift. He hesitated for a minute and entered the lift pretending not to notice her. As the lift started its downward journey, his hands started sweating. He felt nervous. He lifted his eyes for a minute and noticed that she was smiling. There was something different from the smiles he noticed at her table before. He stood there dazed for minute until she said -  " So what if I am who you think I am?"

Double of zero!!

I was passing by a conference room in office when one the members in the room said most earnestly on the phone:

Speaker : The count for Feb transactions was zero!!
(no surprises so far...)

A moment later, he announced enthusiastically,

Speaker : The count for March transactions was double though!

By that time, I had past the conference room and was trying to calculate in my mind what double of zero was??

PS : Sometimes overhearing a partial conversation can lead to unintended fun too

Noah and the Whale - Give a Little Love

I am generally not big on sharing but today seems like I am in the mood. Good video to watch. Here it goes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID0kgP9IVhs

Dumb & Dumber!

It was a boring day at office made even worse by the fact that I had to attend conference calls for a total of 6.5 hrs making an occasional observation or a comment. And it is on such days that i digress from work- perhaps read about the book I ordered on wiki,read some of the blogs that I follow and if nothing else sit on cricinfo till the page has nothing left to read. Today was a blog day.

One particular blog interested me so much that I would have read close to twenty posts and began to wonder who the author might be. The author took great effort to conceal his/her identity. Well after a few posts and reading through all the comments (someone was really bored today..yup it was me!!) I figured out that it was a girl. I would have accidentally landed on this blog sometime in the past and couldn't recollect from where. When you read about someone for that long you start to wonder who that person might be in real life especially if its a chronicle of their day to day thoughts - Who is this person?What do they do in their real life? How come they write so beautifully while I am so pathetic?

So when I reached home cutting short my day, I had an option to hit the gym or do a bit of sherlock on the blogger. I decided to do the easier one. I have never been the inquisitive type. I am the kind of person who would wait for the details to come to him rather than lose sleep over something that I don't know. But when I do become curious, I take up the painstaking analysis. So it took me an hour and half to figure out who the person was !! Its was exhilarating how I used a combination of google, blogger, linked in and facebook to figure out who the person was!!  Some might read creepy but I will let it slide in the name of being curious. All this led to an important conclusion. While establishing the fact that I had no alternate career as a detective it made me realize one more thing - If I am not doing some dumb work at office I will end up doing something dumber at home. So I might as well stick to the dumb work!!

Foot steps on the floor above...

The Botone family had lived in the Whitmore Estate at Pinedale for over a hundred years. Aaron Botone had in fact bought it from a friend one hundred and twelve years back. It was said that the Estate was surrounded by lush green forests and the nearest town was twenty five miles to the south  and no other living soul in any other direction. The trees grew so tall that in the undergrowth it was difficult to say if it was twilight or mid day. Wild animals roamed freely in the estate for there was no boundary separating the estate from the forest. The house itself was small in comparison to the size of the estate. But the teak and mahogany were strong enough to keep any wild animals at bay.

Aaron Botone was a self made man who made his wealth running a trade ship importing silks and spices from far off nations. He had traveled around the world in his youth and when the time came to settle down he chose a place far off from the sea. He took a young wife who was nineteen when he was already pushing forty. Other men would have been afraid of the woods and the animals that frequented the forest but Aaron Botone was no ordinary man. It was rumored that he could kill a bear with his bare hands. It was said that he wasn't afraid of anything except the Lord who reigned over life and death. After buying the estate, Aaron set up a wood mill and sold wood to far off villages. He had bought slaves who worked for him and he treated them fairly providing them with food and shelter.

In the next hundred years villages mushroomed in all directions of the estate except the North. The North still remained pristine teeming with wild life. It made for good game. The current day Botone family was headed by Christopher Botone who was a big fan of hunting. It was said that there was no better hunter than him in the whole province. He was running fifty and had hunted more than hundred animals which included prized possessions like the Four Jaguars that adorned the Estate Entrance, the six bears he shot and many more other smaller animals. The family business was run by his elder son Stephen who himself was a good hunter having killed more than a dozen wild animals. The same couldn't be said of Stephen's younger brother Derik though.

Derik had taken up the physician's profession. He was a man of words and books. The townsfolk joked that Derik was the "Sheep among the Wolves" for he was a vegetarian something as rare as two headed snake.

His father almost stopped speaking to him when he declared that he no longer wanted to eat meat. Christopher felt that his son was queer. It took a lot of persuasion from his elder brother stephen before normalcy could be restored in their relations. But he was still an outcast in the family. While growing up his cousins used to taunt him by making up jokes - "Do you know they have discovered a new species of man? Yeah and what's that.. It's called Derik and it doesn't eat meat apparently!!".

It wasn't always like that. Derik used to enjoy the little hunting trips with his father. He used to shoot down a few quails himself. But it all changed when his father shot down a deer and the fawn didn't leave its side until they shot it too. Something in him told him that this wasn't right. His father tried reasoning with him saying -  "It was for the best since the fawn would anyway not survive without its mother. What if it was a tiger that killed him?". But Derik felt that humans were made better - To think and reason out. Ever since that day he had given up eating meat,became a vegan and gave up hunting.

Derik sat by the fireplace reading about a new discovery in the field of medicine. He was alone in the house. His father and brother had traveled to the nearby city to close off a deal. The servants had gone to the Pilgrim festival where people from around the state gathered once a year to sell their wares. It made for good purchases because the servants received a one time bonus payment from their owners around that time as tradition dictated. The fair was a half days journey from the Whitmore Estate and the servants had set out in the afternoon after making arrangements for him for the next day. Only the night guard Ramon remained.

Ramon was a youth of twenty who worked as the night guard for the Botones. Ramon had fled Mexico when the bandits raided his village and killed his parents. He took up work with the Botones when he was nine years old. He didn't know how to read or write but if someone ever wanted a partner for a hunting expeditions Ramon was the best. He was good at spotting game and had patience to wait for the prey to walk in to the trap. Christopher Botone had personally taught him how to wield a gun and he hadn't looked back since. He never left duty except when he went to the whore houses in the nearby town. Ramon was coming of age and discovering passions that he didn't know existed before.

Derik looked out the window and saw that the sentry post was vacant. He decided to have a quick chat with Ramon when he returned. Ramon's night sojourns had become far too frequent. He fell asleep in his chair while reading the book when something disturbed his sleep. He heard a loud sound and thought that the cat dropped something on the floor above. But then he heard some more. They sounded like muffled foot steps on the floor above. He was surprised at first and focussed harder to listen again. The sounds were no doubt made by someone who was tip toeing on the wooden planks. He told himself that the thief should be really stupid. Hasn't he heard of Joseph Steadfast? How dare he rob in Steadfast's town?

Joseph Steadfast was the Town Sheriff of Pinedale which housed the Whitmore Estate. He was the most jovial man that town had ever seen. But things took a turn for the worse when his son got killed when he accidentally discovered someone robbing his uncle's place. The thieves in their panic stabbed his son while trying to make haste. Joseph has never been the same. He decreed that any thief who dare lay an eye on another man's wealth was to have his hands chopped off without substitution. And he followed the decree religiously.

Derik was in two minds whether to go up and confront the robber or wait till he leaves and call for help. But then it stuck him that his mother's heirloom was in the safe above. The jewels were the only memory of his mother apart from her the picture his father had commissioned an artist to draw when she was young. He couldn't let the last memory of his mother fall into some stranger's hands. He made up his mind.

He went to his brother's room and looked for the revolver in the shelf but he couldn't find it. There was shot gun and a rifle hanging on the wall. He decided that the shot gun would best serve the purpose. He wasn't entirely convinced that he was up to the task but did not see any other option. Sweat was dripping from his brow as he loaded the shot gun. His father's words kept ringing in his head as he gathered courage to walk up the stairs -  "Fear kills a man way before he is dead". He told himself that this was not the time to be afraid.

He picked up a torch while walking up the stairs. He reasoned that the fire would warn off the robber and he wouldn't have to face him or at least that was what he hoped for. As he slowly crouched beside the door thinking of the next course of action, he could still hear the muffled sounds from inside the room. He decided that he wanted to catch the thief unawares . He immediately sprang through the door with a gun in his right hand, the torch in the left and shouted out - " Surrender yourself!!You have no way of escaping"

What he saw next was not what he had imagined is his mind as he walked up the stairs. He saw a growling wolf with dark blue eyes staring right at him baring his teeth. The wolf was bigger than any other he had seen.  For an instant he froze. He didn't know what happened next. In an instant the wolf leapt at him and pinned him to the ground. He could feel the wolf's foul breath from its muzzle. His right hand was under the wolf's paw and he could feel a sharp stinging pain as blood trickled down from his veins. But then a strange thing happened. Instead of going for his jugular, the wolf studied its prey for a second. It was all the time Derik needed to compose himself. He quickly moved his left hand and swung the torch in a wild arc. The torch hit something in its path. The wolf shrieked in pain and jumped away from him.  But before he could get up on his feet the wolf had disappeared. He quickly shut door and fired a few rounds in the air to scare it off. Then he peered through the door to make sure that it wasn't around. He didn't dare to go down and chase it away.

He bolted the door hard and leaned his back against the door. He looked at his hand and realized that he had to bandage it before there was further blood loss. He quickly tore off the window curtains and dressed the wound. He didn't know when he fell asleep. He was too tired to think of anything else.

Ramon came up in the morning after he realized that Derik hadn't come down for breakfast. He told Ramon about what had happened last night and gave him a piece of his mind. Derik had thought about that night for a long time after. He woke up with nightmares dreaming of the grey wolf with blue eyes. He often wondered why the wolf hesitated. Was it providence that intervened? Was it his good deed when he gave up hunting that saved him or was it plain luck? He had no way of knowing....

The MUSH Strikes back !!

Mush 2 : Me 0

For those of you wondering how it became 1-0 in the first place here's a link to the part one.

http://mespeakethrandom.blogspot.in/2007/07/uncle.html

And I thought I had gotten over the phase where people think I am much older than I am really am now that I am pushing close to 30. But then people being people always have higher expectations of me.

This time the venue was the airport where I had gone to receive my friend's (lets just call my friend X for the sake of anonymity)  friends to guide them to his wedding. One of them was late and idle time led to chatting about where you are from? what do you and all the harmless details? It would have been nice if the conversation stopped at that. But it was not to be.

One of his friends asked out of the blue - " X says that he has a friend in hyderabad whose son used to ask  : Uncle X when are you getting married? Is he your kid?"

Well that felt like being hit by Brett Lee bouncer.In the back of my mind a quick calculation told me that to have an English speaking son, he should be at least in first standard making me the proud father who has been married for at least 7 years and yet I stand there single. I should have stood there dazed for a few seconds because she gave me that what's taking you so long look.

I just recovered in time to say - " Not my kid" still leaving the possibility of me having a kid open..

India's HENRYies

No I am not talking about Henry Ford or Henry Kissinger or Henry David Thoreau for that matter. I read a very interesting article at the below source which referred to HENRY as "High Earner Not Rich Yet" and it made me wonder if the Indian middle class especially the ones reaping the benefits of IT boom is stuck in this particular category.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-18/the-problem-with-henry-may-derail-u-s-recovery.html

The Indian IT industry has contributed a great deal in increasing the disposable income in the hands of middle class Indians but in the process did it create a new middle class who probably do not realize it themselves. They are definitely high earners but yearning to be rich or in essence to be wealthy. Being wealthy is still an aspiration for most of working IT force. The growth in income has brought more material comforts. To detail an instance, while growing up as a kid, we lived in a middle class colony where in the entire colony of about 200-300 residents there was one Maruti 800 and whenever the car was in the street children used to gather around to get a glimpse of what's inside and run along until it has accelerated its way past the street. Those were the days when owning a scooter made for a comfortable existence. You were not dependent on the Lord Rickshawallah who was the master of his own existence and could care less about what you thought of him.

Things have changed today. Perhaps you would not find any such middle class colony without a dozen i10's or swifts ( May be there will still be a Maruti 800 somewhere in the colony). Cars are no longer a fancy but something that you expect to own over time. The independent rented houses have given way to apartments though not the skyscraper kind. But in all of this transformation what possessions would classify someone as a middle class has come to change.Today owning a car is something that would not classify you as rich. May be an independent house does make you upper middle class. The increase in Income only seems to have elevated the standards of middle class but has not been able to create the illusion of wealth. The struggle still remains the same. If it was about owning a scooter back then, its about owning a car now. If it was about meeting expenses back then, it is about meeting the auxillary expenses - paying for that year end recreational trip etc. But the sense of wealth has still eluded the middle class. But the hope still floats that the High Earners  would become rich one day and in that hope the middle class struggle continues as before....