All the characters, incidents and places in the
following post are fictitious.
Resemblance to any person living or dead or any incident or place is purely
coincidental.
Ohk it all started like this we had just shifted our base to
Chennai and Mom was pestering Dad to resume the cable connection as she had
left her serials at a point where missing even one episode may result in a massive
rise in Blood pressure. I had been lazing around and Hibernating the entire day
and as a ritual Dad loved shaking me from my slumber as soon as he
returned from office. I dragged myself in those faded jeans without even
washing my face or tying my hair, looking like one of those ghosts from
paranormal activity and cursing Dad for forcing me to accompany him on our
quest to bring Tulsi and parvati back(they are famous creations of ekta kapoor
!!! )
The “AIRTEL –express yourself” office housed many counters
and many customers buzzing around impatiently. We were allotted the token
number 261 which was like a zillion light years from the current token number
100. We made ourselves comfortable on the couch which magically happened to
pull my Dad into a parallel universe named ‘sleep’. I sat musing at the 5 year
old kids playing temple run and the senior citizens chanting hanuman chalisa
only to be disturbed at that moment when the universe conspired to freeze my
heart beat, he enters the room, removes his dark helmet and lifts his face to
look around. Smart, Handsome or sexy were words too shallow to describe him .He
was classically divine, with some slight touch of makeup he would have made the
apt looking Krishna or Ram in any Indian mythology serial. He got his token and settled down to watch CNN
IBN,and all this while I had been gaping at him like one of those apes from
“The planet of apes” and his indifference towards me was as cold as Iceland.
And every now and then he made my heart skip a beat by
getting up to offer a seat to an old gentleman or bending down to give back the
coins that had slipped from the purse of one of the fat aunties. While I was
loyally following the tag line “Express yourself” my eyes following where ever
he went, he turned suddenly looking directly into my eyes and asked “do you
have a pen”. My mind flunked unable to register an iota of what he spoke.
“Pen ………do you have a pen” he gesticulated
My Dad Indeed had one but I felt it was inappropriate to
disturb him or to be more honest I dint want him to disturb “us”.
“No” I replied my voice quivering
The uncle next to me got up to leave and he came over
swiftly and sat by my side.
“I ‘ve come to get a microsim, my new mobile doesn’t support
the normal one” he said in a tone like we had known each other for years
I responded with a silly smile as I was busy trying to
figure out as to why a guy like him would even notice an average looking girl who
was at her ugliest best that day. That left me with only one embarrassing
explaination,may be I had way too much “expressed myself” generating a pinch of
sympathy in him.
“So what have you come for and what’s your token number”
“Oh mine is 261 and I am here for ……….. “
“Hey wait looks like you lost track ,look 270 is running now next is my turn gotta go “he smiled and left
Embarrassed at my stupidity to have not kept track of the number,
woke up Dad and went to the DTH counter. I promised myself to never look at him
again but I guess girls are born with this mechanism to be able to sense a gaze
on them and to my surprise I found him stealing glances at me. While my dad was
busy arguing with the sales representative, like some kind of an unsaid custom
we would smile at each other whenever our eyes met and gestured asking whether
the other was done.
“You know this is going to take time and it’s too crowded
here you better go and sit on the couch “my dad said
The very next moment I found myself sitting on the former
spot and he besides me juggling with a
couple of Xerox copies of PAN card, address proof and the usual jazz.
“Airtel services are so pathetic seriously,… you’ve come for DTH right? " and then he went
on and on about how he had been roaming around for 2 weeks now to get the work
done ,while I was trying to get a glimpse of the name on the Xerox copy of the PAN
card .
“The sim is not on my name…….. “he blurted and I felt a
sudden spasm of embarrassment making
my face go red “SHITT……..EXPRESSED MYSELF WAY TOO MUCH AGAIN“I
thought.
“that’s why it’s getting troublesome for me to procure a microsim on the same name in
that person’s absence ” he continued and I heaved a sigh of relief though it
was quiet evident he found out.
“Are you from North India or do you belong to Chennai you
don’t seem tamil ?” he asked
“Actually I am a kannadiga born in Chennai and I am quiet fluent in Tamil” I dint know
why I added the second line may be in a pursuit to impress him ,as by then I
found out that he is tamil speaking.
“oh that’s great nanage swalpa swalpa kannada gothu(I know
little bit of kannada)” he replied in his usual charming tone.
“So where do you live ?”he asked
“OH WOAHHH NOW THIS IS GETTING PERSONAL” I thought
“T.Nagar “ I replied promptly ,I was disappointed with my lack of presence of mind why was I telling
him everything while I was supposed to be taking it slowly.
“Oh I too stay around here “he replied there was a brief pause
then came “So may I know your
name ?”
“Lavanya” came the reply
SHITTT LAVANYA COMMON WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU ?? YOU WERE THE NO NONSENSE RIGID GIRL WHOM GUYS ARE
SCARED TO APPROACH my inner conscience yelled at me. Had it been for any other
guy in his place I would have either dodged the question or would have faked my
name but no this guy was capable of dissolving my brain and rational.
“You know I gotta go bbye” I said getting up abruptly and hurried
to the counter where my Dad was busy scribbling forms and never turned towards
him until we left .
Before we left I shot a brief glance at him and he was not
looking at me rendering me expressionless as I left from the ‘AIRTEL-EXPRESS
YOURSELF’ center and my mind was left suspended amidst thoughts like OH WAS I TOO
RUDE …NAAH YOU WERE SO EXPLICIT ,MAKING HIM THINK THAT YOU ARE TOO EASY AND
VULNERABLE.NO NO HE SEEMS NICE ATLEAST COULD HAVE ASKED HIS NAME …………………………………
