"One day she will be a big sexy bomb macha".
As I rode my bike, these words of Arun, my schoolmate, mixed with evening breeze of BTM layout and kissed my face. I thought why did I always choose to monitor class 6th when I was in 10th? Would that mean she will be 3 years younger to me? How were I and Arun so sure that she would be sexy when she matured? The initial contours had said it all. Didn't it?
"Man.. what is making you this desperate this time? This won't be your first relationship"
"Far from the first" said the speedometer of my bike which seemed stuck at 12 Km/h. "I want to enjoy the Saturday evening weather, so I am riding slowly" I told myself but I knew it was not true. It was not I riding the bike, but it was the bike mercilessly dragging me towards Jaynagar though I wanted to take Koramanagala's route.
I had a faint hope that she would relent to meet. On the very last night she had denied saying 'it is too soon'.
Like pale orange pre mansoon sun rays were being sucked by my black ray ban glass, Anusha's thoughts again sucked me into fathomless oblivion.
"Unknown people used to send me friend requests on Orkut. So I did not join Facebook" I could never explain that delightful jealousy her SMS reply had ignited in me. I had asked her 'Why linked-in and not Facebook'. Did that inexplicable jealousy meant I was falling in love? "ganta" I had replied to my roommate. "Who wants to marry a babe man. I want a simple homely girl".
"drrrrr" "drrrr" vibrated my mobile in approval. She finally agreed to meet me at Jaynagar 4th Block CCD.
My heart started pounding intensely. Never had it worked so fast. Never. It had only been 4 days since I had accepted her linked in request. Her profile had not carried her picture but had mentioned our school name. Only after I had immediately sent a message "you were my junior right?" had I realized that it would have been difficult for me to recollect all my teachers names.
The place around 4th block CCD was spiritual. 3 huge trees had successfully fought the sun and rendered such a serenity to the place that I only grew more tensed. I had reached the place early.
Only in my work place it could have happened. Using up all 200 free messages in a day was tough, not because I had work in office, but because I had a qwerty keyboard mobile then. But the hope on the other side had promised to be voluptuous enough to take the pain. But it was only after two days of google chatting and texting I had got her upload her picture on gtalk profile. The picture, though too small to be discernible, had said that two days of hard work was worth it.
"Who is the other girl with you in the picture?" I was pondering why she had to put picture of her with a rather unkempt, grotesque girl.
"That's my besssteeest, cuteeee friend :)"
In the next two days messages had became more intimate, intimate to the level of skin. Was she falling in love? "She better not be. Love is like a paste" and I slipped when a sweet voice called out "hey white T shirt and black ray ban!"
I turned back and met with a shock.
That night as I lay on my bed trying desperately to recollect what had happened, I remembered the meeting, or should I say the date, had lasted full 30 minutes, thanks to te waitress who seemed to avenge me by taking ad infinitum to serve two coffees. I was trying my best to be my usual even when I knew it was her fault to put her picture with that "cuteee" friend of hers. But her face, her body and everything had repeatedly needled me that I hadn't noticed that this Anusha had matriculated a year later than the Anusha who had clogged my mind, my brain and moreover my work.
As I was trying to hard to fall asleep, a sweet voice repeatedly kept whispering to my ears "I did not know one had to look like Aishwarya Rai to be someone's friend". It was dark all around, as Dark as my Heart.
