golb rorrim

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You would probably have to be Bengali to understand fully well, the meaning of Maha Ashtami, the eigth day of Dussera. It is the day when the festivities find a feverish high, truly deserving of the great Mahotsav. It would be the day a bong would want to celebrate most, even more so when he has travelled some distance only for Dussera. So I, being another run of the mill Bengali, would be expected to be where everyone else was, with other Bongs. With all these thoughts running in my head, I was asking myself if it was worth the trouble at all, while I was puffing away in the auto. It couldn't be as bad as the previous time I thought, at least we weren't meeting up at a Marwari restaurant that served vegetarian continental food. The venue this time was Raintree Park, Chennai (give it a try, especially the terrace ;) ). For the record, I was meeting Shreya (name changed) for dinner, terrace. My parents must have been wondering about what had made me skip Ashtami, my explanation sounded not even remotely close to real, as real it was. They knew who Shreya was, thanks to the countless messages that we used to send each other back then but theycouldn't understand why I was away on Ashtami. Anyway, I was crossing the road when I called my friend (formerly a chat friend but now we just quarrel) to ask her if she had reached. I was running fifteen minutes late already but she told me she'd be there in 10 (phew). I went up to the restaurant, beautiful it was, and enquired about a reservation. I called her again 10 minutes later when she told me she was at the lobby.
That place must be the tallest building in the world, wonder why I didn't notice or; maybe she just took the stairs because she was there 20 minutes later. I tried weakly to put up my best smile and was asked if I was drunk....... She was her usual though (from the 2 times that we'd met previously). Elegant, at ease,.... then she interrupted my thoughts with her loud voice. "Are you drunk Beda?! Are you?!" Now how would you not get thrown off by something like that? I didn't know what to say... I must have had my mouth open because she repeated that question 3 more times before we sat down. The next thing she asked was if I wanted to change seats. Life depends a lot on anticipation. But how does one be ready for such questions given the situation? She was the one who had booked the table and they always ask you what kinda table you want. The place was empty, save a couple of tables. Anyway, she told me I was looking smart! I wanted to say something too but didn't really want to be brushed off for being genuine. Its quite strange how I do not remember a single word from any of the conversations we've had when we met. What I remember was that she asked me if I wanted to smoke and ordered for cigarettes. We were seated by the edge of the terrace (its called the ledge). You know, it was a beautiful evening, I mean the skies, lit up with lightning and fireworks, a light drizzle and then came the food. I think it was a Bruschetta (spelling changed) and something else I don't remember the name of (hint: everyone else in Chennai calls it pongal). We were smoking my least favourite brand of cigarettes (I don't even know why she puts up such a show about smoking coz she clearly looks like someone smoking for the first time...and thats everytime). I was being hussled to speak (which I was failing miserably at doing), forced to eat the really mysterious food..this post is leading nowhere because I don't remember the conversation (perhaps the mirror image will be helpful). Its quite a thing that you meet a random person through an unreal medium these days and actually end up getting along quite well. I enjoyed talking about nothing, even though she never believes me when I say that. Anyway, I was made to eat against my will for the first time since I had recovered from chicken pox 10 years ago. I did. Those of you who know her probably know that you would have too. We were walking on the road right next to the hotel after dinner and again talking about godknowswhat. As much as I fail to remember the conversations, I know I wasn't bored. We were looking for an auto, two actually when she called home and informed me that her mother would pick her up. So we stood there for a while waiting for her mother. She then told me I should leave. Because her mother would be there soon. She hustled me into an auto and waved me goodbye. I waved too! I didn't quite want to go but I did (content here has been edited due to the mutual disagreement of the parties involved that I had left her stranded in the middle of the road at 11 o clock in the night in spite of me wanting to wait and even trying to persuade her into waiting at the lobby when she'd made it quite clear that she wanted me gone).
On the way back, I got the same thought as the one I had got after each one of our meetings (even though they keep getting worse).
I wished it had lasted just a little longer.


please check the mirror image of this post for an absolute fabrication of my account :

http://bloggingforinsanity.blogspot.com/2008/08/mirror-blog.html