Thursday, January 21, 2010

contd....(Thanks to Mahee)

But try as I might, I couldn’t get myself to do it. “What the heck!”, I thought. Let it be... life would present the right moment for the truth to be known... and so the days flew by...

By now, I’d returned to Bombay to attend to some work that I had... Turns out, Anuj’s sis was getting engaged in Bombay the same Friday. And so we agreed upon a weekend in Bombay together, when I could show him the streets and by-lanes of the city closest to my heart- aapli Mumbai.

Words cannot even begin to describe how excited I was! I wanted to make up all the time lost in summer in these 2 days... I wanted everything to be just right...

I saw him coming from 20 m away and felt a smile cross my face. But yet when we met, I tried to downplay it and act casual. “Hey there, buddy!”, was all I could manage..

I showed him all around the campus: where I ate, where I swam, the place I paused in between jogging...everything. I wanted him to know that I was enjoying myself. That I wasn’t aching for him. That I had a life of my own here; new friends with whom I had a helluva time. But at the same time, I had to take care not to overdo it and remind him of his own worries...

We decided to go to town where we could just roam about and explore Bombay. Anyways, I had some chores in Churchgate... we went by the local train and I watched his face with mild amusement as he tried to battle the crowds, this being his first travel by the local trains so ubiquitous to the Maximum City. We went to Marine Drive and had some ice cream sitting on the promenade. It was December and the sun actually felt good. As we sat there, we had a sudden rush of nostalgia sweep by and started reminiscing the days gone-by. It seemed so long ago and yet so fresh. Walking along the slightly curving seacoast was like a walk down memory lane... the long-lost friends, the days spent mugging, the purely academic conversations we used to have: everything seemed like it never happened to us. We watched those memories from a third person’s eye. Soon we were at Nariman Point, the majestic skyline of the city of so many people’s dreams lying before us in all its glory. Anuj decided that it was just the right location for a couple of photos, which would make for some more nostalgic conversations like the one we were having, in the days to come. Little did I know then, that those I’d never see those days...

As we lay in the sun, sitting on the tetrapods immortalised by Munnabhai, we felt a grumbling in our stomachs, which we’d ignored for so long... Grudgingly, we got up and made our way towards one of my favourite restaurants: New Yorkers. The place has a bistro-like appeal that I just love and the heavenly smell of the decadent sizzling brownie sundae never fails to draw me in. As we sat there, our voices full of mirth and laughter, I caught sight of a beautiful old lady eyeing us both adorably, with a twinkle in her eyes. The look made me so content, so one with myself and with Anuj. Being with him there at that moment felt just so right...

The next stop on the list was Juhu beach. The place has a certain charm to it nothing can diminish: not its filthiness, not the sight of sari-draped aunties bathing in the sea nor the huge crowds. We rolled up our jeans, kicked off our boots and headed for the water. We indulged in all the trappings of Juhu beach: kalakhatta ice-golas, ‘chana jor garam’ and the tacky coin-operated weighing machines that predict your future and look like they’ve come straight from outer space. As the sun set over the horizon and a beautiful day came to an end, I felt some moistness in my eyes...It didn’t go unnoticed by Anuj and he asked me what the matter was. I brushed aside the question in my usual, nonchalant way but he was adamant. I must mention at this point that we have a strange relation where we can switch topics from some cheesy movie to heavy philosophy in the blink of an eyelid. Both of us have always been the serious kinds and we frequently had high-brow philosophical discussions and talks about our deep-seated emotions. This was one of those times. I didn’t know what to tell him. I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times, but couldn’t manage more than a few syllables. I looked away, took a deep breath and finally said, “I’ve told you this many times already that I’ve always been very shy and never had a true friend upto now. You’ve been my first and best friend and I sometimes feel insecure about you, especially when you mention your other friends...That’s it...i was just thinking about that.” All this while I was averting his gaze... He looked at me and assured me that nobody else mattered to him as much as I did and that he wouldn’t be spending so much of time with me if he didn’t truly believe that. That reassured me, but at the same time made me feel a bit vulnerable having exposed to him a bit of the power that he held over me...

3 comments:

  1. OMG..That was so lovely...SO romantic it felt from your perspective you know.. I felt as if i had been to mumbai with my boy friend ;) But its not fair on your part to end it like that. I thought the end was right there.

    Are you ever going to come out to him? Write the next part soon.. I am dying to know and more because its a real story.. Font size has changed..make it smaller, like last time..


    Cheers
    Sid

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  2. Glad you liked it... :D
    Well, I couldn't write more cuz I've been a bit busy lately..Will try to complete it asap..
    btw I increased the no. of paras.. :P
    Ciao,
    Leo

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  3. So I hope to know how the story ends too!

    ReplyDelete