A Midnight Terror Tale (Part Deux) - The Grand Finale

(Continued...)

A very windy night...Midnight...Time: 12.30 am...Scene of a Celebration...
Location: On the terrace at Becky Ma'am's place.

Bottle opening...Popping sound...Loud cheers all around...

Kohil: "Now this is what one calls...Bliss..."

Everyone (chorus): Yeah...Yes...True...

All of us had a plastic cup in which Kohil had poured some beer...

Kohil: Guys come on...Lets celebrate...Take a sip..Y'all..

All of us took a sip of the divine drink which had been eluding us for a long time...
I took a sip of the bubbly golden drink...Quite excited...My first time...Yuckkkk...Wat a bitter taste...How could one drink this? A big disappointment...I had a tough time to decide whether to spit it out or not...And finally deciding not to...my pride and honour was at stake...Spit it out...and that's it...I would look like a total loser in front of these guys...

I was a bit anxious to know how the others were takin it...I watched with open mouth...Kohil was the only one who was drinking directly from the bottle...experience counts I guess...I saw him swallowing whatever was left in the bottle..in a single gulp...Amazing...While I was having a hard time taking a sip of the drink...

I watched all around...Both Sandeep and Sachith were also having a hard time drinking the elixir...But wonder of wonders...I watched Bobby and Mithun finishing whatever was there in their cups in one huge gulp and waiting for Kohil to open the second bottle...And to think that it was their first time...Guess those guys were born drinkers...

Jayce who started the whole funda of having beer, never even took a sip...wisely opting out of the celebration and finishing watever snacks we had bought...

With great difficulty I had 3-4 sips of the drink in the cup... and slowly i was feeling my head become light...I glanced up...and i swear i cud see the moon grow bigger...I looked around...The whole terrace was spinning around me...

"Pop...Fizzz..." I heard the second bottle being opened...I was feeling dizzy and was already on a high...Someone (dont remember who) poured some beer in my cup...This was the 2nd round i s'pose...anyway who cares...

This was wen Jayce started off wid his horror stories...

Jayce: "Guys, How many of you believe in Ghosts?"

Mithun: "ME...!!!"

Me: "Eh? Why? Why do u believe in Ghosts?"

Mithun: "Kohil...Remember that story I told you?"

Kohil(His voice barely making any sense): "Whash? Whish SShtorry? Hic..."

Mithun: "That day i told u right? When me and Lukman were ridin his motorcycle after midnight...We saw some blurred dark image on the road...and as soon as we passed thru that image, we felt a sensation of cold and we went off balance...We found out later on that a woman had been run down by a truck on the same highway at the same spot...the night before..."

Me and the others: GULP...

Me: No way...that's not real, you can't scare us...(I was looking around, half expecting a ghost to jump out from the dark...while I was saying this...)

Mithun: No dude....This is for real...It was not just me...Even Lukman was there...we both felt the same...

Me:(All the more scared): GULLLPPP..."No I dont believe you"...The effect of the beer taking it's toll on me...

Kohil: (Clearly intoxicated): "No...Don't doubt Mithun...Whatever he shayshh issshhh truee..."

Bobby: :"Yeah even I do believe in Ghosts and Spirits....Do you know...there was a Banyan tree in my dad's village, under which if you would spend the night...you are sure to be possessed by a spirit...It seems that this particular tree has a long history of haunting...and the village exorcist used to exorcise spirits from people who were possessed and the spirits were driven out and made to dwell in this particular tree..."

Moans all around...oohhh...aahhhh...

Me: "Hell...I am scared...I wanna get outta here..."

Bobby: "Any way....I am feeling thirsty...Anyone coming with me?...Let's go downstairs..."

Kohil: "Meee...I will come wid u...And by the way if we are lucky we might see some of the gals downstairs...U guys coming?"(Looking at all of us)

Me: (Too scared to budge) : "Nooo...Not me..."

Kohil: "Ok Bobby...Lets go...Mithun is also coming I guess..."

Mithun: "Yeah...U bet..."

Soon the 3 of them left downstairs....

Jayce: (Continuing wid his obvious fake horror stories): "You know what? When I was in Kuwait...I was put up in the boys hostel...And one night when we guys were chatting on the terrace...we saw a white figure floating on the terrace of the old laboratory block...where supposedly a student committed suicide years back for failing in an exam...by jumping from the building..."

Me: 'Brrrr...'

Sandeep: (All of a sudden...Quite scared...Pointing out) Look...There...Oooohhh....

We followed his pointed finger...To have the greatest shock in our lives....There indeed was something...moving across the terrace of the deserted house opposite to Becky ma'am's house...we could make out a white figure...Floating in air...
We all were rooted to the ground... spell bound...scared to move...not even an inch...The situation was really scary...

Sandeep: "Remember what Becky ma'am had told us?...The owner in that house had committed suicide long back...by hanging from the ceiling fan due to financial problems...And now no one lives there now..."

Jayce: "Eeeks...Then no doubt...Tats him..."

I thought i was about to faint...

At the same time...Cut scene...Downstairs...

Kohil: (Whispering) "Dont make noise...You might wake up Becky ma'am...I guess the girls shud be around... watchin TV...Lets go and have a chat with them..."

Mithun: "I dont see anyone...Theres no one here and besides...it's pitch dark...i can't see a thing...and they all shud be sleepin now..."

Bobby: "Hey...I was always fancying takng 'pull-ups' on this bar...I shall do it right now..."

There was a steel bar, on the stairs leading downstairs...Once upon a time it was used by Becky ma'ams son, a tall guy, for doin his exercises...There was no way this drunk moron could reach that bar...let alone do pull-ups on it...
Up jumps Bobby, missing the bar by a few inches, falling right on a flower vase which was kept just beneath the bar on the landing...

PLINNNGGG...TUMMM...PLINGGGGG....Falls the vase downstairs with a loud noise...

Becky Ma'am: (shouting loudly from her room): "Who's there?"

Mithun: "Ohh God..."

Kohil: (Loudly): "Its a CAT...Bow wow...Woof woof..."

Yes...He really was drunk...

Becky ma'am: (In an even more louder voice): "What?? Kohil is that you?"

Up scampers the trio...Kohil, Mithun and Bobby...

Scene....Cut back to Terrace...

Jayce: "AAHHHH...Nooo...Let's run for it guys..."

Yeah..Right...There's no need for a second opinion...Off we dashed...All of us from the terrace....into our room....

And diving straight into the bed...All of us...on top of the other....

At the same the trio from downstairs too...arrived at full speed, unluckily diving into the same bed...A combined weight of about 600-700 kgs on the poor bed...

KERRRPPPLLLOOOONKKKK...BOOM...THUD...

That was it...The last straw...The bed came crashing down...broke in the middle...in two...with a loud thud...

Huge confusion all around..."Ehh? What happened? What was it?"

Loud voice from downstairs...

Becky Maam (Shouting): "What is that? What happened? Sachith...What is it?"

Sachith: "Nothin ma'am...Jayce just fell off the bed in his sleep"

And Jayce hit Sachith for having said that...

All kept quiet for sometime...No one dared to even breathe....

Kohil:(after a few seconds) "What happened?"

Me, Sachith, Sandeep and Jayce still scared...

All of us in unison: "Ghost!!!"

Bobby: "What?"

Sandeep: "Yeah its true... we all saw a ghost..."

Mithun: "Crap...What nonsense...U guys r just drunk"

Me: "No we all saw the ghost at the same time...It was not just a single guy...We all saw the ghost at the same time...No...we r not imagining things..."

Kohil: "Crap...Lets have a look"

Kohil and Bobby goes out to the terrace... all of us following behind at a safe distance...

Bobby: "See...There is nothing here..."

True...We couldnt find anything across on the opposite building terrace.

Jayce: Now turning towards Kohil, Mithun and Bobby: "By the way, why did you guys jump on top of us on the bed, yelling?"

Mithun: "All thanks to Bobby dear...Becky ma'am almost caught us on the way downstairs..."

None of us were allowed to go downstairs after lights out...

Sandeep: "Ok guys...Now we have got an even more bigger problem in our hands...Forget the Ghosts...We have got a bed to repair...Becky ma'am is sure to kill us if she finds out that the bed is broken...And tat means an end to our stay here...Any ideas?What shall we do?"

All were deep in thought...

Kohil: "Hmmm...probably i could fix the bed...Lemme hav a look"

Kohil really had a knack for repairing things...He had one look and said..."Yeah i think i can fix this...There are a couple of nails that has come out...But since we dont have a hammer...i don't know how far we could fix this properly..."

Sacith: "You could use my geometry set box as a hammer..."

Kohil: "Ya..That should be fine...Atleast for now we could fix it up temporarily...and maybe tomorrow morning wen Becky ma'am goes to the market, we could ask Ramesh Chettan to come and fix this bed. That way we should be safe"

Ramesh chettan was the local carpenter who used to take care of all carpentry work in the locality...

Soft Hammering sounds..in the middle of the night...Kohil at work...

After about half an hour, with all of us watching, Kohil announced that he was done...He warned us not to use the bed until we got the carpenter...cos this was just a temporary fix...

With that done, all of us heaved a sigh of relief...
Half of us had to spent the night on the hard floor...and i was one among them...and mind you...its not tat easy to sleep on the floor, especially wen one was drunk...It was just 2 small cups...but the effects were huge...especially since this was the first time...And i started cursing myself...This was going to be the first and the last time that i was ever gonna get drunk...

Morning...6 am...I was the first to wake up...I didnt get a proper sleep...and i was having a terrible head ache...And we all had to leave by 7.30, back to our homes...The others were still asleep...I got up...Oooh...my back was aching like hell...I started brushing my teeth...I was lost in thought...Thinking about the events of the previous night...Was there really a ghost? Was it for real?What was it?

Now I used to have this very bad habit of brushing my teeth sitting on the bed...And coupled with my back ache, head ache and my deep thoughts...
I sat on the bed which Kohil had just repaired the last night...

KERRRAASHHH....THUD...

Down I fell...toothbrush and all...straight on top of Sachith, who in his sleep, had rolled underneath the bed...

Needless to say...that woke up the entire house...Loud shouting from Becky ma'am, asking what that was and girls chattering downstairs...All the guys were wide awake now...shouting at me and poor Sachith...still wondering what fell on him...

Becky Ma'am: "Come down...All of you...Right now...or else I will come up there"

We all went down the stairs in a single line...no one wanting to take the lead... hiding behind one other...Me coming down last...And unluckily for Kohil, he was pushed by someone and had to take the lead coming down, followed by Sachith...

Becky Ma'am: (Arms folded...Clearly angry): "What's going on?"

Sachith: (whispering to Kohil): "I will handle this..."

I was still hiding behind Jayce...Out of view from Becky ma'am...

Sachith: "Ma'am...Did Ramesh Chettan finish his carpentry work here? Will he be coming today?"

Good...Now that's a nice start...

Becky Ma'am: "He finished his work here last week...Heard he got a job in Dubai...And if I am right...he must have left by the early morning flight today...That's what his wife told me when i met her yesterday...Why, what happened? and this is not the answer to my question..."

Sachith (With a sheepish grin): "Ma'am, one of the beds upstairs in our room...It's...It's broken..."

Becky Ma'am: "What??? Ohhh...My bed...How did it break?...What were you guys doing up there?"

Sachith: "Nithin was showing us some wrestling moves by jumping on the bed...That's how it got broken..."

Waah Sachith...Waah...Well done...He had his sweet revenge, for me falling on top of him...just great...

All others: "Yeah...He was the one..."

Now i became the scapegoat for everyone...very convenient...how nice...
And did i mention? All the girls were watching the entire fun...Laughing...

Becky Ma'am: "Daaaa....Nithin...Where are you?"

Me: (coming out from behind Jayce): "Ma'am it was not mee...It was...aaahh..."

Jayce had stamped on my foot, whispering in my ears...Rather more like a threat...

Jayce (Whispering): "We wud hav easily gotten away with this...But you spoiled the entire thing...and now u will quietly accept the responsibility...Or the rest of us will definitely bash you up..."

And that was more than enuf...There was no need for any more persuading...I accepted defeat...I became the scapegoat...And now it was official...

Becky ma'am: "YOU...I never expected this from you...You will bring a carpenter the first thing today...and get it repaired...Understand?...Wait till your mother hears of this.."

Now I heard a loud giggle...I turned to see who it was...And there she was...The girl of my dreams...giggling like hell...And I couldn't bear this...no...not at all...What would she be thinkin of me?...Total disgrace...

And moreover, I was facing 2 threats...One from my so called buddies...and the other from Becky ma'am...If Mom comes to know about this...I am finished...

Becky Ma'am: "Now out you all go...I have had enough for the day...Go...All of you..."

Hearing this we all ran...at top speed...straight outside the house...got our cycles...and off we went...

Last I heard was a huge roar of laughter from inside the house...
Paahh...Gals...I hate 'em...I really do...

Epilogue: As a favour, for me accepting the blame, Kohil had himself volunteered to fix the bed...He went there in the afternoon with a huge hammer, a small plank and some nails. By the time we came back in the afternoon...it was all fixed up...And he did a really good job of it...

On our way back, we did stop our cycles in front of the old deserted house...Eventhough scared, we went up slowly to the old rusted gate and looked inside...And there...in front of the house...was a huge white bedsheet!!!
Still floating around...caught in the wind...

A Midnight Terror Tale (Part-1)

Foreword: Many had asked whether my first post was a true story. And after reading this, people would definitely ask me the same again. The answer being YES. All posts in this blog are real hilarious recounts of what i had gone thru/experienced. All posts are 100% true. And also sorry for the delay between the first post and this one. I was undergoing a transformation on a personal front. Had been thru some adventures during this phase. Hope to recount all of them thru this blog. As for now...Here's my new post. Recounted in 2 parts. 10 years back, a flashback...from those nostalgic days...One among the most hilarious stories in my life.

One of my happiest days were during the study holidays for the 10th boards. But also those were times of high apprehensions as to whether or not i wud do well in the exams.

Parents, relatives, neighbors, uncles and aunties...in fact even shopkeepers in the area used to ask me..."Son, So this time we can expect a rank from our area. Dont let us down"...

To which i would reply, "Ya, why not?Definitely..."

I really didnt have any confidence in myself...But what else can i say? And as if these guys were rank holders in their school days...

Needless to say...the pressure on me was way too high...CBSE 10th boards is no cakewalk...

Luckily it so turned out that i scored excellent grades in the exams...Primarily not becos of me...

I had a real gud tuition class and a really excellent tutor, Becky Ma'am.

She was a retired teacher, quite strict, and really brilliant in math...She was responsible for creating an interest for math in me, and eventually led to my gud marks in 10th.

And i am really grateful to her for tat.

But the real interest in going for her tuitions, during those days, were my gang of no-good friends. Kohil, Mithun, Sachith, Sandeep, Bobby, Jayce...etc...etc...Quite a large gang...The thought of hangin out wid them on every alternate day of the week, made me feel so happy. And in fact i always looked forward eagerly for the tuition.

The tuitions were at 4, till 6 in the evening. And i used to reach home back from school, at 2, have a quick lunch, grab my tuition bag, take my old bicycle, and rush towards our common meeting place, sharp at 3. We all used to gather up at a ground near to Becky ma'ams home.

Anyone coming late for the meeting would miss on the latest updates from the others. The various topics of discussion used to include the events of the day at school, Computer games, bikes, crushes, girlfriends, gossip news etc..etc...

After about an hour of exciting, but meaningless chatter, we would all go for the class, for no one dared to enter the class late...All of us were scared of Becky ma'am.

After the class we would all go out to the main street, and have our favourite Porotta and Chicken from Rappai's, an eatery near to our tuitions.

And this used to be our routine...

Apart from all this there was one other motivation (The real one) for me to go for the tuition without fail. Yes, no points for guessing...A new girl...Really pretty...And i was absolutely smitten by her....She was the first girl on whom i had a real crush...But as in all first cases, I never really had the courage to speak to her, let alone tell her my feelings...

And not to mention, the rowdy pack (my friends) were also quite fascinated by her. And she also used to figure in most of our discussions.

Things came to such heights that soon after the tuitions, we would all pick up our cycles...give her a headstart and then follow her, till she reached her home safely...Needless to say...The Goondas (including me) did a fantastic work of being her bodyguard, free of charge!!!

And i could swear that the girl was pretty haughty , maybe because she was getting the undivided attention of a gang of useless guys...Nonetheless, she never used to speak to any of us, enjoying all the attention she was getting from us.

Months flew by, and soon it was high time we start preparing for the boards. There was only a month to go...and a lot to study...Our study holidays had begun...

And it was at this time, that Becky ma'am announced that we all could stay at her home during the month long study holidays, she would help us not only with math, but also with the other subjects.

The schedule was as follows: We could study till late night 10.30 and then its lights out. In between we could have our lunch and dinner. We could get up early morning and go to our home...and come back by 11 in the morning.

The boys could stay in the room upstairs, and the girls could stay with Becky Ma'am, in her room downstairs.

Dhan Te Nan.....This was it...All the boys were excited...We all came up with lots of plans...First and foremost was to taste beer...The one drink which no one except Kohil had tried before.

This was also a god sent opportunity to chat and be close with the girls. Especially the one gal whom all were eyeing...

But all things had its own set of problems. How would we get the beer in? And who would go and buy it? No shopkeeper would give beer to highschoolers...And after 10.30, its lights out...How would we even think of chatting with the girls? Girls used to bring their food from home...Cant go out with them to have lunch/dinner...We would hardly get a chance to speak with the girls...

But dont worry. Trust Kohil....He has ideas and solutions for everything...

Soon we started our study classes. Was good in one way. Could learn a lot of things which were helpful for the boards. Apart from the usual chitchatting among us boys, we never got a chance to speak much with the girls.

The stay upstairs was pretty good. A huge room with two nice cosy bed. Large posters of sports stars . 2 had to sleep on the floor. But that was Ok. And night times were pretty much fun. We all used to play cards, chat for a long time, fight amongst ourselves. After a long day of gruelling studies, this was wat we really looked forward to...

So this was pretty much the routine.

Suddenly one night Jayce declared.

Jayce: Guys, all this is fun, but we are lacking something.
All of us: (Chorus): What is it?
Jayce: The 'B' thing...
All of us: Eh?

Jayce: BEEERRRR.....Guys...Tommorow we would buy some and get it in...What say?

Hmmm...Jayce had a point. We should have some beer...That was one of the big plans we had right from the start.But we all were at the same time rather frightened. Kohil is the only one who claims to have had some beer.

Kohil: Getting Beer is not a big deal. I will get it. But i need 2 guys who is big enough and looks mature...

All of them stared at me and Mithun.

Me: Huh? Guys...Why me? (I was already feeling butterflies in my stomach)
Mithun: No problem. I will come.

I gaped at Mithun. Only if i had half his confidence

Me(To Mithun): You?
Kohil(To me) : You want beer or not?

All eyes at me now...I hate this kind of a situation. If i say no...I turn out to be a sissy. All blame on for spoiling the event...

Me: I will take a very small sip, maybe the very last....
Kohil: (Quite sternly): Coming or not coming?
Me(Giving up): Ok...I will come.

A round of cheers went thru the gang...The Bastards...Baah...Why always me? Why not Sachith, Sandeep , Bobby or why not Jayce, he was the one who brought up this topic? But no...It had to be me.

So tommorow it was going to be the night when we all would have our first taste of beer. 10 guys. But not more than 3 bottles of beer could be bought becos we all had our tiny tuition bags and we planned to smuggle in the bottles using our bags.

And we had a detailed operation plan, as if we were some real inernational smugglers planning to smuggle in diamonds into a high security facility.

The very next day at 9 in the night, the time we all go out for dinner, 3 idiots took thier cycles and off we went to the nearby Beverage shop. I was all tensed up. Mithun and Kohil were quite cool.

We soon reached the shop.

Kohil went up to the shopkeeper.

Kohil: "Chetta, 3 beer."

The shopkeeper eyed us suspiciously. Maybe he was thinking we were underage.
Suddenly Mithun had a brainwave. Mithun to Kohil.

Mithun: Kohil, is 3 beers enough for our uncle?
Kohil(Loudly) : Actually for uncle 1 would be enough, the rest 2 is for this greedy guy. (Pointing at me).

Saying so, they both started laughing loudly.

The Shopkeepers eyes bulged on seeing me.

And as for me. I just wanted to kill Kohil straight away. Why always me???

Shopkeeper(While packing the beer mumbling to himself): Nowadays even small kids are having beer...Such bad times we are in.

And we started back. Reached the class. Kohil quietly slipped upstairs with the bags, while me and Mithun sat with the others. A problem was being discussed in class, and the girl of my dreams was explaining the solution...Aah...Meanwhile, the others grew restless. All guys glancing at me and Mithun...Mithun slowly showing a Thumbs up and an acknowledging nod...

Aal izz Well...Aal izz Well...All set for the night...The others being super delighted, while i was in my own world, A valley of flowers...somewer in the Alps, Switzerland...just me and her...

A loud thunder rumbling...Which was not exactly thunder...Tat was Becky ma'am yelling my name...I got snapped out of my lovely dream...

Becky Ma'am: Now Nithin would explain the solution.

Me: M-Me?

Becky Ma'am: Yes you...

Drat...Me again...Bad day for me...Real bad day...All others were laughing uncontrollably...while i got up to explain...

Me: "Err...Ma'am...What's the question?"

Another round of laughter...Laugh idiots laugh...

Anyway tonight is the BIG night....Wooowwwiee...Cant wait....For the first taste of BEER...

(To be continued...)

Jab We Met...Ek 'very' Chhoti si horror story

One fine rainy day. I woke up late...As usual...Not wanting to go to office...The roads were all wet and muddy...and the thought of the cosy bed...made me very reluctant to go to office...Anyway who would want to, on a cold rainy day....Well...Heck...No power at home...So as well shall go to office...Got ready and glanced at my watch. Hell...Another goddamn 30 minutes for the company bus to arrive. Reluctantly started my long and boring walk to the bus stop.

After a squishy squashy walk...I reached the bus stop...Another 20 minutes to wait...Wat shall i do?...Might as well go to Suresh annan's tea shop near the bus stop and have a nice hot cuppa tea to beat the chill. Dinesh wont be coming today.He was down with fever.So had no company. Had to wait there all alone. And the thought of the long boring day at office....Lavanya had called me earlier to inform that there was some issue with the application we tested...Wat a bore...And anyway as if i cared...

Me: "Suresh Anna oru strong tea..."(Suresh anna...One strong tea)

Then suddenly...I saw her...Man..A real angel...I had seen her many times waiting at the bus stop. If there was somethin like love at first sight, this had to be it...Man... she was charming...perfect...White Salwar...

At this precise moment...A romantic number popped up in my head(Minnale...RHTDM in Hindi)...out of nowhere...A kind of la-Main hoon na(Remember the scene where SRK is surrounded by many imaginary violionists and singers...wenever he sees Sush...Sumthin of tat sort). Readers at this point of time wud be thinking tat since i am comparing my situation with that of SRKs...there shud be some similarities between us...Well...not at all...Just the opposite...The typical 'No-girl-wud-ever-care-to-give-a-2nd-glance' kinda guy...

She was working in some other company and her bus used to come 5 minutes before my rickety old company bus. Wished she was working in my company...Atleast that would gimme a chance to chat wid her...Well no luck...

While drinking the hot tea, i was busy thinking of a way to strike a conversation with her...Wat shall i ask her? I shud speak to her today...Shud i start off informally, a casual talk? Or shud i be formal...Wich i never can....Saala...nothin was comin to my mind...

Then it happened.

An old woman, went up to the girl...Asked her sumthin...Next i saw was she( the girl) helped the old lady cross the road. Wow...Such a kind gesture...definitely yes...This is my kinda girl...(Romantic song tempo builds up)

And i got my much awaited chance...With a glimmer of glee in my eyes...I went up to her.

Me: Hey hi...Saw you helping that old lady...That was really thoughtful of you...

Girl: Thanks...

(Wow..Wat a smile...Behka, main Behka...Another song comin up...Gosh...This is my lucky day)

Me: So...Which company you working for?

Girl: CTS

Me: Aah...Thats a very nice company...I always wanted to work there.

Girl: Why so? What's so special with CTS?

God...Now I have to come up with a lie

Me: I heard the work culture there is very nice...

Girl: Very well...

Silence...More Silence...

Me: Hi..I am Nithin. And you are?

Girl: Priya(Name changed...for obvious reasons)

Me: Ahh...Nice...And you are from?

Girl: Palakkad, Kerala.

Me: (My joy knew no bounds) Hey...even i am from Kerala..I am from Cochin.

Girl: (A bit bored) Ohh ok...

Me: (Baah...Shud keep the conversation lively.Guess she is gettin a hint...uh oh...) I was thinkin that you were a northie, you look like a Punjabi...(Desperate attempts)

Girl: Ya... i Know...Many people tell me that...

Somehow...was feeling that the girl didnt wanna chat with me...Maybe wrong timing...Better luck next time Beta...

Me: Where do you stay?

Girl: Its near to your place...

Me: (Quite Surprised) : Hey..how do u know where i stay?

Girl: I have seen you a few times outside your apartment, roamin around, busy on the phone...

Me: Ooohh....Is it? Then it should be aftr 10 in the night. Thats a pretty odd time to see me...Wat do u happen to do there at that time?

Girl: I usually go on a late night walk with my boyfriend...

Eh?Whats that she said? Did i hear right? Boyfriend?

Me: B-Boyfriend?

Girl: Ya...My boyfriend...Now my fiance...I am engaged...

There goes beta...All hopes lost...Coming down like a house made of a pack of cards...A 1000 curses going on in my mind...Boyfriend eh? Saala, where did he come from, in this perfect love story?

Ok...watever be it...shud continue the conversation...

Me: Ohh..Ok...(Shattered)...I have never seen you before in that area...Which building?

Then She started...All hell broke loose...(Read as: To add fuel to fire)

Girl: (Voice a bit raised) Do you think its necessary for you to know? Hey...Are you trying to flirt wid me?

Quite a mind reader, huh?

Me: (Feeling quite uneasy...Things are not turning out to be as i wanted...First sign of an alarm) Uh...huh...me...err...ummm....Well no....

Girl: I see you often at the bus stop...Just outside the tea shop...Always commenting on this and that, other girls...with your Joker friend (Didnt i mention about Dinesh? Yup, he is the one). I have heard you guys many times...And God, you guys chatter and comment in such a loud voice....You create such a ruckus.

Point noted.Grrr...Dinesh Dinesh Dinesh....I have told that bugger Dinesh many times, 'Machaa, Dont shout.Dont u think u (we) r a bit too loud'...and he wud say..."Machi...Nee bhayapedaatha...Ithu ennuda area...Ethum prachnam Kedayathu"...(Hey dude...No problem... this is my area...We will do as we please).

Girl:(Continuing)What exactly is your problem? No other work to do? No girls in life?Pretending to be local heros? What is it?

I was kinda taken aback. I mean, the very first meeting with this gal...Who wud think tat she wud explode like an atom bomb? There goes everything...All my lovely dreams...All in vain...And most of all, wat shall i tell her?...She had thrown me all these options...Maybe go for 'All the above'??? Like in an entrance exam, wen u r not sure of the answer?

Me: Uh...huh...me...err...ummm....Well..no...I...we...

I was wishing that i was someplace else...I was melting in front of her...The angel had turned into a demon...Not quite wat i wished for....Big mistake...My mind was telling me..."Get outta here u loser, before u r crushed like a handful of peanuts"...And wats the point any way?She has a boyfriend too...But my legs didnt budge...As usual, in times of danger, the ungrateful fellas, were firmly rooted to the ground...

And the situation was not helping either...Very embarassing...Thank God, Dinesh was not here today...Definitely he wud have got a piece of her mind. And it's only me and her...No one was around...Or is it? Oops...Thanked almighty a bit too soon...Here comes tat lazy bugger(I believe he told me that he wud not be coming today.Now wat made this moron to change his mind)...Not very far now...Will be here anytime soon...Aaah..God...Help....Wat shall i do?

Girl: (Continuing) See Nithin, Nithin right?

Me: (Tensed, and wanting no more of this): Uh..huh...Ya...Right...

The girl kept on shouting some more, which atleast felt like gibberish to me...Cant take her anymore...Devil woman...And above all...My pride was hurt...Big time...And thinking what would happen once this She-Devil sees Dinesh...

Now to tell something about Dinesh. Eventhough he seems very innocent and dumb at first sight...Well you got it wrong. He is shrewd...ohh ya, very, and a loud mouth, who doesnt know wat to tell and wat not to under certain circumstances...Anyway...He is my project mate and a guy who knows his job...very brilliant...So kinda got to stick with him to clear doubts at work...

And being buddies (Well...not exactly, atleast that's wat he thinks), we sometimes talk about girls, booze, work,complaining about the whole system, making fun of fellow colleagues...the lot.

And as things would be, even he had noticed the girl before on many occasions and we have talked about her too(Rather commented)...And now it is turning out to be that she had heard us...Or else...She would not be shouting now...Would she?

Dinesh had seen me...That too with this girl...I swear i cud see his eyes shining...and tat too with a wide stupid grin on his face...He was fast approaching from behind the girl...I tried my level best to give him a sign, by blinking my eyes, shaking my head vigorously...

Aah the dumb oaf...If only he cud understand...

Enter Dinesh...

Dinesh: (In his typical loud madrasi voice) Machaa...Intha nerathukkulla intha figurea correct pannitiya da...???Super... (Within this small time frame u were able to 'correct' this 'figure'?)

Damn you, Dinesh...My Eternal tormentor...

Now this is what one calls Madras Bashai, mixing of certain English words with Tamil, the original English words wud not have the real english equivalent meaning.

Correct - Make fall in love.

Figure: A beautiful girl.(Though this particular word meaning can change in different contexts)

To Hell with Dinesh...I tried everything, to make that idiot understand...

Anyway under the circumstance...Self protection is of prime concern...

I ran...and I ran...Leaving the astonished Dinesh and the girl behind...Straight into Suresh Annan's Tea Shop...

Suresh Annan: "Enna Thambi?, Innum Tea vennuma?" (Do you want more tea?)

Me: Uhhh...No thank u...

I could see now from a small distance...The girl was shouting animatedly at poor Dinesh...God knows what, her hands shaking violently...

Now that i knew i am safe...I was actually enjoying the fun...hehe...Dinesh...He deserves this...The bloody bugger...Let him bear the devil incarnate for sometime...Yeah....Devil indeed she seemed to be...

Drat what is this, that i am seeing? The CTS bus has arrived a bit early today.

The last i saw of the girl on that eventful day...She was boarding the CTS bus huffing and puffing, still in a fit of rage and poor Dinesh was standing there in the rain, with his umbrella...A dumb look on his face and having no clue of what had actually happened. A real classic scene...