A Bag of Bananas
I wish I had good news to write about. But no luck so far. Last weekend, I went to meet the girl mentioned in my last post. As I had mentioned, the family had a religious function at home. They had a nice big house in the outskirts of Houston. It took almost an hour to get there. I was accompanied by my friend who I shall henceforth refer to a H1( I am sure there will be other H's I will have to mention). Neither of us had seen the girl although H is good friends with her brother. As I drove on the meandering roads of the concrete jungle that my city is, anticipation welled up inside me. Could she be the one?
Involuntarily, my mind kept on conjuring up images of a "dhood nalon chiti" sikhni who will smile and smite me dead. I have disciplined myself not to build up expectations, because invariable when you are burdened with the leaden load of expectations, you fall flat on your face. Anyways, I must admit I was quite excited about the whole thing. So, we reached their house around 11.00 AM and there was a fair crowd already present. I hesitated for a second when I enetered their house but then experience took over and I walked in with my head held high. As I walked down the aisle, I could feel the poking of piercing eyes. I could feel that somewhere hidden among that crowd of devotees was a princess who could be God's gift to me. I took a sneakish glance around the room looking for the one whom I had seen several times in my dreams.
Boom, my visual scan system detected two bogies: one at 2.00 clock and another one at 9.00 clock. The one at 9.00 seemed more lethal and demanded immediate attention. The one at 2.00 clock looked ok from the distance and would require closer observation. However, I could not decide which of the two would blow me off to bits. Both looked eligible young women......God, who is it? who is the one that I have waited so long for?
I came back after paying my respects and took my place among the devout. The melodies of keertan were floating in the air and on an ordinary day, would provide balm to my yearning heart. But today was no ordinary day. I kept looking out of the corner of my eye to check out both the ladies. The one on my left was quite pretty and had a facade of gravity which could not hide the naughtiness within. She was wearning a blue punjabi suit. For a moment, our eyes met and then we looked away. Her eyes did not betray anything. Poets would have described that moment as a blissful eternity but to me,it felt nothing special. A fox in a sheep's clothing, I told myself. Interesting. I then turned my eyes to check out the other lady. She gave the girl next door look, was wearing a pink suit and seemed very studious and devoted. She was sitting at an obtuse angle to me and I could not take a direct look at her. As I was making my observations and taking mental notes, I felt some distant eyes groping at me. There in the corner was an auntie doing her own reconnaissance over my person. The Mother, I guessed.
Suddenly, I felt a flutter on my left lateral T5 dermatome. Gosh, that was my heart. Call me shallow but it was brimming with anticipation. I almost wished that the girl to my left was the one I was supposed to meet. Certainly, I would not marry somene for their mere looks (although my rogue friends tell me that it is not a bad idea) but she could be the one I would be interested in knowing more about. More on this thought later..
To cut the ong story short, I later met her brother. He seemed like a nice guy who I could get along with. We exchanged pleasantries and the the usual questions about each other's demographics. And finally,after a few minutes which did indeed stung like eternity, he offered to brng her sister over. As he went away to bring her sister, H1 snuck upto me and whispered into my ears:"Blue or Pink?who do you think it is". I smiled and shrugged my shoulders in ignorance. And then, the moment of truth.........
I hope you would have guessed the outcome from the title of the post. For the naive, "kela ho gaya" is a colloquial Delhi idiom expressing one's anguish over the death of one's expectations. It is usually in much lighter spirit that I have been able to convey but I hope you get it. I would love to stretch this already long post and finish the story but it is getting late and my loneliness is calling me to bed reminding me "Honey, you have to drag your ass to work tomorrow". Well, she is right. Soon, I will wind up this story as well as describe the protracted retrospection that followed. It has taken me days to recover and start my oddysee again. Soon, you shall know why...
Involuntarily, my mind kept on conjuring up images of a "dhood nalon chiti" sikhni who will smile and smite me dead. I have disciplined myself not to build up expectations, because invariable when you are burdened with the leaden load of expectations, you fall flat on your face. Anyways, I must admit I was quite excited about the whole thing. So, we reached their house around 11.00 AM and there was a fair crowd already present. I hesitated for a second when I enetered their house but then experience took over and I walked in with my head held high. As I walked down the aisle, I could feel the poking of piercing eyes. I could feel that somewhere hidden among that crowd of devotees was a princess who could be God's gift to me. I took a sneakish glance around the room looking for the one whom I had seen several times in my dreams.
Boom, my visual scan system detected two bogies: one at 2.00 clock and another one at 9.00 clock. The one at 9.00 seemed more lethal and demanded immediate attention. The one at 2.00 clock looked ok from the distance and would require closer observation. However, I could not decide which of the two would blow me off to bits. Both looked eligible young women......God, who is it? who is the one that I have waited so long for?
I came back after paying my respects and took my place among the devout. The melodies of keertan were floating in the air and on an ordinary day, would provide balm to my yearning heart. But today was no ordinary day. I kept looking out of the corner of my eye to check out both the ladies. The one on my left was quite pretty and had a facade of gravity which could not hide the naughtiness within. She was wearning a blue punjabi suit. For a moment, our eyes met and then we looked away. Her eyes did not betray anything. Poets would have described that moment as a blissful eternity but to me,it felt nothing special. A fox in a sheep's clothing, I told myself. Interesting. I then turned my eyes to check out the other lady. She gave the girl next door look, was wearing a pink suit and seemed very studious and devoted. She was sitting at an obtuse angle to me and I could not take a direct look at her. As I was making my observations and taking mental notes, I felt some distant eyes groping at me. There in the corner was an auntie doing her own reconnaissance over my person. The Mother, I guessed.
Suddenly, I felt a flutter on my left lateral T5 dermatome. Gosh, that was my heart. Call me shallow but it was brimming with anticipation. I almost wished that the girl to my left was the one I was supposed to meet. Certainly, I would not marry somene for their mere looks (although my rogue friends tell me that it is not a bad idea) but she could be the one I would be interested in knowing more about. More on this thought later..
To cut the ong story short, I later met her brother. He seemed like a nice guy who I could get along with. We exchanged pleasantries and the the usual questions about each other's demographics. And finally,after a few minutes which did indeed stung like eternity, he offered to brng her sister over. As he went away to bring her sister, H1 snuck upto me and whispered into my ears:"Blue or Pink?who do you think it is". I smiled and shrugged my shoulders in ignorance. And then, the moment of truth.........
I hope you would have guessed the outcome from the title of the post. For the naive, "kela ho gaya" is a colloquial Delhi idiom expressing one's anguish over the death of one's expectations. It is usually in much lighter spirit that I have been able to convey but I hope you get it. I would love to stretch this already long post and finish the story but it is getting late and my loneliness is calling me to bed reminding me "Honey, you have to drag your ass to work tomorrow". Well, she is right. Soon, I will wind up this story as well as describe the protracted retrospection that followed. It has taken me days to recover and start my oddysee again. Soon, you shall know why...
posted by harry singh at 6:37 PM
1 Comments:
You seem to be one shallow, funny and some what of in hurry of finding yourself a wife. Its interesting the energy you are using to make amusement out of your own life, that same energy could be used to conquer greater deed!
May you find Guru in your life, rest all the other things will follow:-)
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