The Breed Apart

They come in all shapes and sizes as most of the living species do. But there are some peculiar characteristics of this specie which distinguish them from their counterparts. To name a few: they are usually seen in a group of 6-8 adults, and can be seldom spotted alone or in a small group of 2-3, they share startling physical similarity with other inhabiting species, but psychologically they are as distinct, they exhibit a very weird behavior towards other inhabiting species, they also show analytical differences vis-à-vis others. But what sets this breed or specie completely apart is the classification of sub-species.

Globally this is the most sought after specie and hence it commands a fair amount premium on attention they get, number of mentions (as the one now and otherwise as well) and mainly on their price which consequentially leads to formation of sub-species. As of now, discoverers like me have broadly identified these into three categories based purely on the price and in no way does it deal with their intellectual capabilities mainly; A, B and C

A, is the king of the specie. Not the creator or the originator, in fact it is the most refined version of this specie, evolved over the years. This type primarily forms the top of the pyramid. These can be spotted in huge numbers in the blue chip corridors of forests in the southern and northern regions of our country. It is being observed now, that they have identified some parts of the western region as well, which is witnessing an unprecedented growth in their numbers.
They represent the new face of their specie, which is rich in power, money and apparently in knowledge as well. They inspire the other two sub species.
However, in recent times, these are being the first rate targets of the unrest in their minting areas, caused by the economic slowdown and many of their friends are now hunting instead of being hunted. We wish them a speedy recovery.

B, forms the middle of the pyramid and hence the main drivers of this specie as a whole. They are spotted in dense patches in southern, northern and western forests of the country and boast the highest percentage of growth in population in the specie. This is the lot who aspires and inspire at the sametime. They aspire to graduate to A and inspire C.

When most of their peers in A faced the heat and were left hunting, B laughed all the way to their homes and banks as they became the second best choice, because of affordability and being efficient, if not more, than A (wahi jhaak, wahi safedi agar kam daamo mein mile toh koi “A” kyun le?... remember Vinitaji??)
My prediction, B will be the biggest beneficiary and will change the rule of the jungle.

C, is right at the bottom of the pyramid, but do not let this misguide you. Do not underestimate their power. They are the underdogs and they love it that way. Majority of them are not there because they cannot graduate to B or A, but by choice. These are found in abundance across the breadth and height of the forests of our country. They have also managed to go unnoticed to a large extent in the recent economic crisis, in areas where they shared the same space with A and B. However, in their own hunting grounds, they were severely affected.

Now then, one may ask why the need of this classification of specie we already know of, have heard a lot of and still do. Well, there is no reason in specific. I have always had many friends, cousins who belong to this specie (mostly A) and I have always been astonished by the fact, that they still exhibit a sense of pride; a) after they cross the road before others, b) when they cut the lane of an auto-rickshaw, c) when they are the first ones who drive-off the traffic signal, d) when someone praises them for wearing a seat belt, e) when they go out with girls (which are by the way their married colleagues) and order for a beer, that’s not because they want to, that’s because they don’t understand the head or tails of cocktails or any other drinks, f) when they make fun of a poor waiter who cannot pronounce name of some Italian dish correctly, which later, these people would refer to by number on the menu-card, because they cannot pronounce the name themselves for nuts, which in turn would be justified to their ‘girls’ and group as a smart way of ordering… well, the list is almost endless. And with me staying in Pune, which has been identified by NASSCOM in top 5 cities of India for IT and ITeS growth, there is no dearth of such experiences.

Signing out.

A Lot Happens Over Coffee

It was a routine after-work-coffee-hour for Aakash and his group, discussing their screwed up lives – mostly, coz of work and partly coz of the girl(s) / guy(s) in their lives.

Settling down on a corner table, usual mocha’s and frappes were ordered with sandwiches and chocolate doughnuts as well and then began the anticipated wait for caffeine and marathon of (kilo)calories. This gave everyone a chance to sneak peek at their digital best buddies – cell phones. Busy replying messages and giving call backs, everyone was distracted with an aroma of Arabica and hot chocolate. Slowly, but surely life started creeping onto them, leading to an obvious appearance of Classic Milds and Wills.

Changing seats according to smoking preferences, Aakash (a non-smoker) now found himself staring at the person, of whom he could only hear the laugh till now. That laugh kind of soothed him and now realized its not just the laugh which was soothing. A tall, fair figure sat in front of him, face camouflaged with dense black carpet of straightened hair. Just about perfect. Occasionally with one of those laughs, he could see what lied beneath that camouflage; she had a pronounced dimple on the right complemented by warm white glowing soft tender skin. Awestruck Aakash went into a trance, which was wildly disturbed by her cell-phone’s ring. His eyes following her.

On her way back to seat, there was an iota of exchange between the two. Wishing that moment to freeze in time, he continued to be bewildered with the beauty. The more he saw her, the more she got onto him. Black almond eyes, pink soft lips, which created an aura of themselves whenever they gave way to that million dollar smile, giving birth to dimple which crowned this beauty, dense deep black hair flocking their way onto that baby skin every single moment she moved, it was just perfect and he wouldn’t have complained if the time stopped there and his friends not notice him and break this moment.

Something drew her sudden attention to him and for the first time there was this deliberate eye contact among the two. It was one of the most wonderful pair of eyes he had ever seen and he wouldn’t have mind getting drowned in them. A slight smile made its way on those lips consequently displaying the most pronounced dimple he had ever seen. This 2 minute old eye-lock was suddenly and sadly broken, again by her cell-phone. This time disappointment was mutual. She was gone for 10 long minutes and had not come back. In the meantime, Aakash and his group were through eating and had asked for the bill, ready to move on. This threatened a rather abrupt end to this beautifully evolving silent conversation. Few anxious moments went by, bill paid, things wrapped, last smoke done, but still no signs of her.


To Aakash’s disappointment he saw her at the gate with another guy. It re-affirmed his belief that good-looking girls are never single and if you come across any, beware! Bidding byes and hugs with his friends, Aakash made his way towards his bike, which was parked right behind her. Waiting for her to move aside, he put on his bag and waited for few seconds. Eventually in a very somber voice he said, “Excuse me”, to which she moved aside involuntarily, without even looking at him, this questioned their ‘silent conversation’ inside the café. Sighing, as he got onto his bike, he heard her saying, “you know I come here everyday around same time.” This sparked off an excitement in Aakash, for one sure reason that, this info was not meant for the guy she was talking to. He could say that, coz’ whatever little eavesdropping he did, this was surely out of context of their conversation. Nodding to himself, he set the sparks in his bike’s sparks-plug. Back home that night he scored 28 in his dart game. His highest till date.

Anniversary

Anniversaries are special to everyone; people usually celebrate this day in their own subjective ways. Some celebrate it as the day they got married, some sit in despair in alimony cases-divorced; teenagers find it as a reason to celebrate with that special one; a businessman may give out bonuses or pay hikes on occasion of his company’s anniversary; a father may feel emotionally overwhelmed at his son’s marriage anniversary and treat his grandchildren with his son’s childhood stories; an old man would wish that his children remember his marriage / birth anniversary, but he may be sitting isolated in his room at Second Innings House grieving his 3^rd Anniversary there; a son may throw a surprise party for his parent’s silver anniversary, celebrating every single moment they have shared together; a mother who has gone through all the pain bringing her child to life celebrates everyday as an anniversary from that day onwards seeing her child grow; so on and so forth.

Every individual has his / her own way of manifesting their happiness, grief, jubilation, tribulation in their own unique and individual way, so do I. Not many people might have noticed or remembered including me that it’s been a year since I posted my first official blog. I wish myself Happy (Belated)Blogging Anniversary!

Footnote (I regard this as more of a confession):

I do not know, if I have achieved much in this one year as a blogger or as a writer (if I may dare to call myself one!), as this is just the fourth posting in an entire year. But then, if I come to think of all those thoughts and ideas which sprung in my mind on and after that day till date, I feel happy about it. What this has done to me is that I have taken into a habit of thinking every incident as piece in itself, helping me focusing more on the situation. There are many unfinished pieces in My Documents, either because of me falling short of words or missing the link or just procrastination which foiled the relevance of it. But still, the effort itself gives me an immense joy!

Someday I may complete these incomplete pieces and would be able to share with Whole Wide World.

Till then chow!

The Pink Balloon

The clock was ticking faster than usual. The RJ had just mentioned the time check, it was 10.14. He was already running 14 minutes late for his office. Not that he was answerable to someone back in office, but it was this habit he had worked on real hard to improve. But there was nothing much one could do with this city traffic and the traffickers. Even after an year here, he was still getting used to this kind of barbaric behaviour on the roads, which was very unlike what he had seen ever since childhood.

It was a regular left turn from the signal, when suddenly he came to a screeching halt. The moment was seized. There were tons of mean machines behind him who just about managed to avoid a hit. But that didn’t seem to bother him.
All he could see at that moment, was a pink balloon flying to the middle of the street. The balloon was half deflated and had a string attached to it… probably a used one. But it was not that balloon which froze him and his already over heated machine. It was a kid, a roadside kid as we all like to call them. The kid was sun burnt, half naked, with only a torn nikkar to cover his body. He had some cuts n wounds on his right leg and arm. He could see the kind of pain which had inflicted his tender soul, making an optimum use his existence. But still, he could see a smile on that kid’s face- A smile which eludes most of us – A smile of contentment, a smile of satisfaction, a smile of happiness, a smile of being free.

The kid had nothing to loose and hence indulged in whatever he thought belonged to him, this balloon being one of those. The balloon had slipped from his hands and he chased it till it flew to the middle of the busy street. There was this abrupt transformation of emotions. The face beaming with an almost infectious smile was overshadowed by the fear of loosing something… something, which meant the world to him at that moment. The kid’s body came to a momentary pause, but his thoughts and his emotions were far from freezing. Hearing the screeching of the tyres, he hesitantly walked towards the balloon and that captivating smile returned. With a very prompt about-turn, he returned to his abode, with a priceless pink balloon.

The rest of the journey to the office seemed pleasurable and smooth.

In Case, No Case . . . ! !

“Hello Sir! Excuse Me Sir! (extending his hand) Hello Sir, I work for Qrst bank, and we have some really good schemes for people like you.” (a little pause, not long enough for me to say anything though) “We have this scheme for Credit Cards. Sir do u have any credit cards?” a little head movement, which even I am not very sure whether it was for yes I do or no, I do not. But never mind he figured that out by himself. Continues. “OK sir. Our bank gives you credit card for free sir. And you do not have pay anything extra also sir. And for the yearly fees of three thoujand rupejj you will also get an free health insurance of rupejj two lakh for free sir. It covers your complete cost of medical, health and accident sir. You can also nominate someone for the policy sir in case you die in an road accident.” Sharing a leaflet, he continues, “Sir. You can go through all this what is written here now sir and if you think you are interested in this, then I will get the more details for you and we can complete the formalities. And sir, we take only 24 to 36 hours of processing time sir. We verify your past banking record to check whether you do not have any bad records. And once it is all done sir, you can use your new credit card for free sir.” Looking at me intently, anticipating some reply, it did not matter whether it would be a yes or a no, just any answer, he did not want to waste his time on single person. After all the queue outside the ATM counter was not that long today and unfortunately for this person, there is no problem with the ATM machine either which would hold the queue for longer.

Seeing a blank look on my face, I guess he got the answer. Very decently and politely he took the leaflet from me and put it back in his file.

Regaining his self confidence all over again, he approached the last person in the queue. And everything started all over again.

Rendezvous with the stranger

The class was abuzz with several voices, some nervous, some excited, some anxious, some serious and some… well didn’t bother much about what was going around. Harman was one of them. He didn’t bother about who the guest lecturer was or what exercise would he undertake. It was the personality development session at one of the most popular MBA coaching classes in the Country. He was busy drawing a cartoon of his English faculty, though she was a nice person, Harman always thought of her as a devil in a saree. The reason is still unknown to many as is to him. It was just one of those pre-conceived notions one has. I guess.

Suddenly the class went into a mute mode and Harman surprised by this sudden & uneasy silence around him, for the first time raised his head, to find a huge dark figure standing in the middle of the classroom. The Guest faculty for the day for PD session.

His accent was British and his task even more so. He divided the entire class into several small groups and there started the exercise. Each group, one by one would send their candidate to talk on the decided topic which had to be prefixed with the student’s introduction. Then the person would be questioned by the other groups. So much for anyone developing his / her personality in a single day!

Still busy with his work on the cartoon, Harman kept himself away from the discussion happening in his group, comforted with the fact that he would not be asked to go first from the group. While giving the brushing effect to the cartoon, his Cello Gripper slipped off his hand and the cartoon he was half way through, suddenly seemed imprecise to him. He could feel a heaviness mounting on him, all eyes fixed on him. It was only after the faculty called out his name twice that he could come to the senses and to the realm of reality. Coping up with this sudden development, he looked up. With 5 minutes to prepare himself to speak on the said topic, he was left with less time to blast his group mates, he hurriedly made some points on the back side of the paper which till now served as the canvas for him.

Unfolding his sleeves and buttoning the cuffs, centre aligning the shirt & trouser, he made his way through the congested class. Adjusting his glasses, he started off with his name and other mandatory details, which qualify to make any introduction complete and the talk on the said topic followed. It all went pretty smooth, much to his surprise and many others, which included his group mates, his faculties - who had already given up on him. Though, deep within Harman knew that this was far from over, with the questioning round yet to commence. He found some comfort and confidence after a few initial questions which he answered. A sense of confidence started to fill him from inside and he was ready for more. And he had more. And more.

As he was readying to make a move towards his seat, he heard a thick yet sweet voice. “Excuse me, I would like to say something!”. Harman could feel the sudden jerk in his knee, compelling him to stop. Talking to himself, “I knew it! I cannot be left so easily!!” he slowly raised his head, his eyes searching for the voice which stopped him. A thought running through his mind, whosoever the person be, she said, she wanted to say something and not ask…this thought somehow comforted him and he could feel his confident self regaining. He found the person, sitting on the 5^th bench from where he was standing. A girl clad in a pink salwaar kameez, whom he had never seen before. As if reading his thoughts, the girl introduced herself, “Hi! Am Neha”! pausing in that moment, Harman felt a disconnect with his surroundings and went in to the state of trance. His eyes were busy observing this new stranger, who had triggered this sudden gush of anxiety and excitement in him. He could see her round face, which he thought was blessed with the most wonderfully carved out eyes, almond shaped, aptly covered by curving eyelashes, the combination which he had always liked. Picasso work, he thought!. He could see her smiling face bolstered by white sparkling diamonds on her neck and pierced ears. Diamonds are girls best friends after all, they are known to bolster confidence in this adorable species. Thick black hair, long enough to cover better part of her back. All these observations made him want more. He hurriedly tried to explore her, as much as he could, from that distance, wanting to fill his eyes to the fullest. He suddenly felt the gush of adrenaline through his spine. He saw her lips which were moving, but little did anyone know that what she was saying fell on deaf ears. But a loud noise of clapping and cheering disturbed him and he was unwontedly pushed back to the reality. Trying to make sense of what just happened, which eluded him completely despite the fact that he was there, very much there in the centre of everything. He still couldn’t take himself away from the awe of this sweet stranger.

Little did he know that what he was experiencing now, was just a reciprocation of what she had felt when he was standing there in the middle of the class, trying to make sense of all what he was saying. Everything started to make sense now, everything started to fall in place, those mute movements of her lips, the clapping and cheer which followed after that. It was the bravest public confession he had ever experienced or seen, to say the least. With just about managing to smile back, he hurriedly rushed back to his seat.

That was for the first time when both came face to face after the class, and what followed after that was another beautiful journey which both of them enjoyed for the time to come.

Until recently.