Wednesday, April 26, 2006

With a Photographer

It is so much fun to use a digi cam. We don't have to worry about wasting any film strips, don't have try tooo hard and focus using the lens, and it's very easy to upload the pics to the computer.

These are my experiments with a digi cam. I took these pics around my office campus as a part of the Earth Day celebrations. So I thot I'll brag about it ;) Enjoy !!
























The Modest Me !!

Cheers,
Prad

Monday, April 17, 2006

BOOMERANG

It was a hot summer morning in Mumbai. I was staying at Poonam Nagar, near Andheri. The college where I had to give my interview is at Deonar, a far far place near SION Trombey road. I got up early in the morning and caught a local to Bandra and got a bus from there to this college. Thanks to my friend who accompanied me on the previous day. Otherwise, with the amount of my Hindi knowledge, it would have taken ages to find out where this college is. The interview time was given as 10 AM in the intimation letter. But they were calling people based on the order in which we submitted the detailed application form on the previous day. I was helplessly waiting in a look alike dormitory room to get the interview call. There were so many other anxious aspirants with notes, laptops and what not!! Among all the others in the room, there was one girl who grabbed my attention. I could easily make out from her gestures that she was awfully nervous. She had an A4 size sheet in her hand which had something written on both the sides. It is anybody’s guess that the sheet contains answers to some basic questions like Why MBA? Why HR?? and so on. It was very funny to look at this girl especially when she was drawing virtual images in the air while trying to answer to questions in her mind. I kept looking at her when she suddenly turned and caught me. Not knowing what to do, I gave her a smile. She smiled back and continued with her virtual interview. But the smile was still lingering in my thoughts.

A couple of hours passed without any incidents. I went out for lunch to the college canteen. I saw that girl sitting alone and watching the India England cricket match. I bought a veg thaali and sat on the same table as hers. She turned around and gave me another smile, a smile of recognition may be. This time, I got a chance to see her more closely. Her eyes were a shade of gray and dark rimmed glasses were just a compliment to her beautiful eyes. I started off with a casual conversation by asking her about the match. I was surprised to meet someone from the fairer sex who was so interested in cricket matches and has so much knowledge about the game. Unfortunately, India was on the losing side on that day and I would have preferred to go to the interview with a positive note.

We finished our lunches almost at the same time. She asked me whether we could watch TV for some more time and I obviously said a Yes. I hope I didn’t make it sound very desperate though. I felt something really strange happening inside. Usually, I don’t jump into conversations with people whom I don’t know. I have never felt at home in those situations. But to my own surprise, I was very very cozy and comfy with this girl. I was feeling nervous early on at the interview-waiting hall, but I seemed to be better in her company, I thought to myself. Words were coming out freely and I didn’t have to try and be casual.

“Sorry if I am making you stay here. I hope your interview is not anytime now. I was feeling very nervous early on. I am feeling better in your company ”, she broke the streams of thoughts that were rampaging inside my mind with her sweet voice. ( Was it mind reading?? )
“ It’s perfectly fine , (Why wouldn’t I be fine ;)) are you a Mumbai localite? ”

The conversation continued for sometime till when I got up to buy a couple of packets of Lays. I offered her one, and we started eating from that. Unintentionally, our hands touched each other’s for short periods when ever we tried to take some chips from the packet. Her warm and soft hands had a magical touch to it.

“Have you looked around the institute? Did you like it?” I asked, hinting her to join me for a walk.
“ Not yet, I was not given the proper time of my interview”
“ May be it’s a good idea to take a walk and see around the place where we might end up for the next two years” I said in a more mocking tone.
“Yeah right” she acknowledged with a smile.

We came out of the canteen and walked through a narrow path surrounded by lush green trees and lawn. The ambience was kinda hot and I presumed it to be the summer heat ;) There was nothing much to see except for a library, a ground and lots of trees. I came to know that she is originally from Delhi and she has settled in Mumbai. The reason why she was so nervous was that she has already wasted a year in preparing for these entrance exams and this was her final resort with no back ups. It was around 4 30 PM and we decided to go back to the interview hall and find out about the slots. Ours were at 5 in the evening and coincidently, we were given the same panel with she as the last person and me just before hers.

“How about Coffee?” I asked.

We went to the cafĂ© near by for a quick cup. I realized that I wasn’t nervous or insecure about the interview anymore. I wasn’t even thinking about it. Things would have been different if I had to stay alone for the whole day waiting for the call.

“ I am not even thinking about the interview anymore” She said.
Man, what’s happening. Is she a mind reader?” I thought to myself.
I just gave her a smile.
“ Things may have been different if I didn’t meet you today. I don’t feel nervous anymore” she continued.
I can’t take this anymore. May be is this what people call as meeting someone of your frequency?
I opted to just finish off the coffee and not think about anything. We went to the interview hall where people were waiting in their chair queues and occupied the last two seats.

I wasn’t speaking anything for sometime, as I had not recovered from the previous conversation. To my surprise, she held my hand in hers and asked whether I was getting nervous. I lamely nodded at her not knowing what to say. She got up from her seat and brought me a glass of water. This was heights. I wasn’t nervous by any stretch of imagination and I told her about the coincidence thing. She started laughing and said that the same thing happened to her as well. Looks like when she wanted to ask me out for a walk and coffee, I did exactly the same. Even the words I used were similar, especially being there for the next two years part. It was truly amazing that something like this could happen. We talked on things like partying in Mumbai and stuff till I got my turn for the interview. I saw her looking towards the garden fountain when I came out of the room. I went close to her and whispered in her ears that I’ll wait till she is done.

She completed her interview and came out with a very happy face. She told me that she had just given the best interview of her life and hugged me. She broke into tears right outside the panel.

When things eased out, we started walking towards the gate. We didn’t speak much. I was thinking on how to end this magical day. I wanted to stay in touch with this girl and find out something more. But another thought in me was cautioning to keep it slow. It was all happening too fast for me to believe it. I stopped and looked into her eyes. She looked at me with something running behind those eyes. I was wondering whether I could go ahead and ask for her number. In every other situation, I would have asked for it. But this one was different. I won’t say this is love, no way near a mere crush, not friendship. We were good companions to each other for the whole day. I was sure that she made a lot of difference on my day and I think I had done something similar on her too.

“ I have to go to Andheri from here and then go to Dadar and catch a bus to Pune” I made a blank statement.
“ Oh that must be pretty tiring” she replied as if she was expecting some other question from me. May be something like, what’s your phone number? Even I wanted to ask her number. Only once in a while you come across people with whom you can experience such surreal days. But I believe that Life is a Boomerang. When you throw the Boomerang at the right angle, you can be more than sure that it’ll come back to you. So far, I have thrown this boomerang of a relation at the right angle. I want to enjoy the thrill and suspense of finding out whether it’ll come back to me or not.

“It was great meeting you today. Hope we make it into this college” I said with a smile, shook hands with her and left for the bus stand.

I don’t know where she lives or what’s her number. I only know that she has come to this college for the interview. I am not sure whether we will get to meet again in our lives. Some of you might say that I have done the stupidest thing in my life. But according to me, I’m enjoying every moment of this suspense. The repeated questions whether I will get to see her again or not keeps ringing into my ears for which I’m still not able to find an answer. This uncertainty with the die-hard eagerness to see her again is what I’m enjoying the most. I have let go what I like. Let’s see whether it comes back to me.

Cheers,
Prad