At the bus-stop!

“I dint say that!“
I  heard a male voice say that.
“I am sure I dint say that!“
I did,I did hear a male voice say that.
For the past 15 years, there are just 2-3 voices for which I instantly fell. I like the diction generally but sometimes it is just the sound. Deep and perfectly masculine. This voice was
actually both. So count++.
I was looking away from that male to look disinterested but I could hear all that he spoke.
“Did I ask you?“
“Then do not tell me all this“
I knew I was eavesdropping but couldn’t stop myself.
“Sudha..please..”
Should be his girlfriend/ wife.
“Ok..if you want to..“
Certainly it must be his girlfriend. If it were his wife, he would have just asked her to chuck it. Men (married/engaged to someone), in general, are mean to girls who talk a lot. Guys aren’t. Why because it is hard to get  to a girl. Specially with today’s male-female ratio, it is equivalent to securing a seat in top B-schools. Cut-throat competition, aftermath of securing one is costly, living with one is again a struggle but in the end, his life is settled.  Having known all this, who would risk to let his girl go just for his ego?
“Tell me in detail then.“
This is how a perfect guy should be. If his girl wants to speak, he should let her speak till her mouth hurts. Not being interested in random talks or cutting her short saying he has work or faking another call- all this is not good.
“Ok?”
“Aah..ok.“
He was also acknowledging each sentence of hers.
“That’s nice“
“Relax. Keep your cool when such things happen.”
“Cool. Right thing!”
He was showering all good words when she was complaining about something. What a gentleman! I was incidentally looking at MB’s Businessman poster then. Suddenly, I felt may be he too looked as awesome as MB. I casually turned to look at his face, unfortunately he turned away from me right at that moment. I dint care and started looking at the old hoarding again.
“Did they really mean it?“
“What shall we do then?“
May be the girl told her parents about their relationship and they were not happy about it.
“I know but what shall we do?“
“Ok fine. Let us meet and talk. You’re anyways coming to the bus-stop, right?“
“Yeah..bye“ he cut the call.
It is unethical to listen to others’ phone conservations without their notice, I know that. But I was not bothered at all. If the irresistible voice was one reason, the topic of the talk was the main one. The anxiety in me started slowly rising till that one moment he asked her to come and meet him.After that, it instantly shot up. Mr.Super-voice was silent. May be he was thinking about how to convince her parents. Or may be he wants to cool her down first by treating her or buying her a chocolate.

I suddenly felt the place was as silent as a grave. Not because there were no vehicles around and not because they weren’t honking (which is impossible to happen in Hyderabad). If Sudha’s parents agree, she can spend rest of her life just listening to him, I thought to myself. Again, merely listening to all that men say isn’t a trait of today’s women. May be she can have him read newspaper or novels for her.

Suddenly I heard his phone ring.
“Hello Sudha“
“Yeah at the bus-stop.“
She must have come. I dint want to see how they both look together because I was happy with just the audio.
“Where are you?“
“Ok, I see you.”
I heard his voice fade away and turned back to see Sudha come. Sudha or sudhakar came to meet him. Both of them talked for sometime and happily boarded Gitam’s engineering college bus. The bus sped away from the place leaving me behind with a wide smile and a tale to tell!

Yappie budday!

“Akka” I heard a loud shout when I was swiftly walking  towards home. I dint bother to reply because I was thinking who would call me akka when the world is used to an other word to address any girl who is past teenage. No points for guessing the word. “Akkaaaaaa”  this time the shout was much louder. I turned in that direction and saw a little girl who looked as if some doll had come to life. She was standing in her verandah and was dressed in a pattu skirt and pattu blouse. “ivvala naa happy birthday” she shyly said. I was amused. Not at the cliché “happy birthday”. Birthday is supposed to be preceded by happy for all telugu kids. If you say just birthday, the whole meaning is lost for them. I wanted to shout back “happy birthday” but I simply gestured my best wishes. Then, in a filmy way, my master mind slipped into memories of my birthdays. Someone  promptly started rotating a mosquito coil in this scene.

An ideal birthday has to be like this:

• If you ask me, both the birthday and the day before are anticipated. The day before birthday is special because the festive mood starts slowly setting in. Friends would repeatedly ask about the birthday dress, chocolates and party details.
• Father would come home early and take his little girl for shopping. Mother, like a waiter in Shankar Vilas/Gayatri Bhavan, would take down the list for next day’s party. The heroine would be equally busy.  Packing chocolates in a big round bottomed box, cajoling mummy for Rs.50-100 so that she can buy something in the school canteen and thus making her sibling jealous of her.
• Next day is real fun.  The birthday girl puts on the dress and will admire herself for such a pretty one.  This is one day she wishes was not a school holiday or some exam day.
• She stands in the morning prayer proud and confident as numerous eyes check her out. The class would sing “happy birthday to you ,many boyfriends to you” and she would coyly smile at the song.  She distributes the chocolates and invites her dear ones for the evening party.

PS: Remember to say something good about her and her dress, the birthday girl is really fishing for a compliment when she is talking to you.

• In the evening party, the drawing-room in her house would be decorated with balloons and party papers. Cake is ready and luring. Numbered candles are lit and the routine follows. Remember to take a gift wrapped in colored paper for the birthday girl. Your Rs.500 in an envelope wouldn’t count as much as the Rs.50 pencil box wrapped in teddy’s gift paper would do.
• People disperse and the birthday girl will sit unwrapping the gifts till late night. Ask her the next morning, she’d  say she got X pencil boxes, X-1 pen sets and X-2 board games as gifts.
•  Next day, she is no longer ‘the birthday girl’ and hence no longer special. Her boring school uniform is back and so is she singing “happy birthday to you” for some one else. She sadly looks at the calender wishing every year had just two days.

Here I am wishing every year had just two days and I wouldn’t age every year. The terrible fact that I was born before this millennium began is making me feel I belong to stone age. Jokes apart, I have decided the little girl in me wouldn’t grow at all. Let her tummy grow, I will pamper her with golgappas and pastas. Let her like zaree saris and not kurti-jeans like she used to. I will buy her whatever she wants.  In short, the princess in me shall remain royal like ever despite of changing seasons.

PS: All ARR fans will like changing seasons. So do I

Next post would be Two-to-Tango. Nothing related to IIIT. I promise

At cinemas

Being an ardent lover of films, I am often seen standing in the ticket queue outside cinemas , waiting for the balance due at the popcorn counter inside the hall or rushing to the screen not to miss the title credits. Be whatever theatre, 70MM screen in our locality or some multiplex , these sets of people have never missed my attention inside the hall.

I don’t care when your film starts:  Such people solicit their gracious presence only after if it is at least half-n-hour past the start of  film. I understand not everybody is so particular about the reel on family planning or INC like me and moreover it is not a weekly status meeting in a software office for everybody to be on time. But dear audience, because you’re already late, it is your courtesy  to quietly settle down in your allotted seats and not disturb the poor chaps who are deeply engrossed in the movie by stamping their foot and spilling your popcorn/ sweetcorn/ whatever on them. To err is human , I understand. But then to apologize is divine these days.

Booo, I missed it:  Thanks to the wonderful accent and impeccable acting skills of our actors, sometimes  we cannot understand what is happening onscreen. People in this set nudge their neighbors and ask them to explain the script/humor from the point they missed. Nothing wrong in being curious, but not at the cost of someone’s comfort. Imagine how bad it would be when you’re enjoying your favorite song on screen you hear some loud caws from behind.

Look at my new smartphone:  Smart phone is something which we can surely show off. But not inside the theatre after the film has begun. The person sitting in your front holds his iphone in the air killing apps or dismissing reminders. Thu! Imagine a romantic scene in progress and you hear a crackling ringtone that nearly makes you jump off your seat. I had such experience one day. There was a scene in which one of the supporting characters died and a ringtone which meant “this was due for long” started playing promptly.  The owner dint silence the call. Instead, after letting it ring for sometime he answered the call and started talking to someone staying overseas. Yeah, I could easily make that out from the volume in which he was speaking.  He talked about the CBI raids on Jagan, chances of Telangana over united AP and how his little daughter kicked his mother-in-law which he wanted to do.

‘Home theatre’:   A cinema is not a home theatre. It is meant for use by 200-300people. People who are presumably tall might have a problem resting their legs on ground. Hence as soon as the slide “Do not put your legs on the front seat” is shown, they’re reminded of their duty. You want to sip your Pepsi but instead you see a dirty boot on your arm-rest which has already kicked your glass off it. Some people rest their heads on their hands objecting the screen from view. All you get to see is the swanky watch, trendy bracelet and a small sneak-peek for you in between the hands. You can do your favorite neck exercise to peek.

Baby don’t cry: Everybody loves babies. So do I. But not cry babies and touch-me-nots. Also, I also have lost respect for parents who ignore their babies’ cries and shouts.  Is not their duty to at least go out with the baby and come back after he/she stops crying? Tackling babies is difficult sometimes (ask my parents), so dismissing this. Some kids(not babies) are real menace. They repeat dialogues and sing songs while their parents proudly keep watching and others give them nasty looks. I have turned a monster for such kids these days. I made it a point not to calmly bear the noise but to at least politely ask the kids to be silent.

That’s it for now. If you want to say “as if you never did this earlier” to the above-  I can only say this: I almost barge into the hall when the cleaning staff come out,  I never talk when the film is on run because I do this work(only this) with utmost concentration, my smartphone was outsmarted long time ago, I’m not that tall ( sad no, I know ) and I don’t have babies/kids.