Awful = Awesome

Boy(27 years but declares to be 28) : Excuse me!
Girl (27 years): Yes ! (What is it now?)
Boy : Weren’t you in so and so school?
Girl : Yes (But who is this? I never knew any of my schoolmate looks like this! Is he trying to take a chance? God only knows! I have never seen this face! )
Boy : Aren’t You Tanaya Maiden?
Girl : (Dumbstruck!! Then regaining…..) Yes.
Boy : Don’t you recognize me!
Girl : (Who can this be?)
Boy : I am Adamya Ardent.
Girl : (Traveling in time down the memory lane….) You are ADAMYA!!! I couldn’t have recognized you had I met you somewhere. Gosh! You have changed so much! (Gosh! You have changed so much! But yes, you ARE Adamya!).
Boy : Good that you recognized me. I thought if you don’t recognize me then I would be in a fix.
Boy and Girl : (Laugh heartily).

Prelude

Guy (13 years and not bothered about age) – A REAL BRAT
Gal (13 years too and proud to be a teenager) – RESERVE and OBSERVANT

1 year later(prelude continues…)

Man(14 years and not bothered a scintilla about age) – STILL A REAL BRAT
Lady(14 years too) – Adolescence knocking
Man : …….
Lady : (Turning back at Adamya who sits right behind her!) What is it?
Man : ADIDAS (That’s your nickname! Stupid! Of course there is a meaning, which is not for your ears)
Lady : What!!? (Funny! That’s the name of a sports apparel manufacturer company! How can you make that my nickname!)

The same year(prelude still continuing...)

Man hits the lady hard from behind.
Lady : (Fuming, her skin beneath his hand still burning with pain… turns back and sees the naughtiest face on earth smiling)
Man : I am measuring your fat!
Lady : (Aghast! Shocked! Perplexed! Bewildered!....)……. **@@##%#^@@**………

14 years later

Adamya and Tanaya continue their new found friendship with ‘Hi’ and ‘How are you?’ when they meet accidentally. Tanaya longs for more. She craves to see a careless, shabby, rugged face among her docile friends. For some unknown reason, she desires spending a few more moments with the most unsophisticated person ever known. She searches this unshaved face on the staircase, elevator, lobby, road, Shopping Mall…. Oh just anywhere. Meetings become more and more scanty.

Months pass

Girl (31 years young but blushes like a 13 years old)
Boy (31 too but more inclined to think 32)

Girl : Hi (Trying to sound casual )
Boy : Hello! How are you?
Girl : Good. It’s weekend. I am calling all my friends. So, I wanted to keep up with you too. (Damn, I am only calling you with 1000 butterflies inside my stomach!)
Boy : Get hold of a nice guy for yourself. (Smile)
Girl : You do that for me. (Smile)
Boy : Lets get married. (Laughs heartily!)
Girl : (Fighting hard to sound amused at the funniest joke). Well said. (How did this foreigner get inside my voice!)
Boy : Lets not keep in touch. I know I am just one of your friends but I am attracted to you. Lets part.
Girl : (DUMBSTRUCK!)

The Right Right

I started writing this topic long time back. Considering the seriousness and controversiality of it, I did not feel like posting it for a long time. I just decided to make full use of my "freedom of expression".

These days we discuss a lot about human rights. I am not here to discuss the meaning of the term, I leave that to wiki. I just want to narrate a small incident which took place quite a few years back:

I was traveling in a local train. Being a Sunday the train was free from its regular rush. Suddenly I heard a woman yelling and crying, though all in rural Bengali, I could understand no word of it. Generally I am not a very inquisitive person, and like keep out of personal affairs of anyone. Somehow, this time I could not hold myself back. The train had stopped at a station and a man was desperately trying to pull a girl in late teens out of the train. Both of them were dressed shabbily and looked typically the way rural India, Below Poverty Line depicts. They were surrounded by curious people all trying not to miss a single moment of the show. Lewd remarks came about bringing family issues in public and creating a scene from a sober semi-urban gentleman. Without any thought, I held the hand which was dragging the teenager and said : "Chharun. Ok chharun bolchhi. (Leave her, Just leave her I said)". The man, hardly in early twenties looked at me and got very puzzled. This was perhaps the first time someone came in between him and his wife creating menace in public. I heard the some rural women, passengers in the same train coming up with the excuse that the man is the girl’s husband! I told the man that he has got no right to beat his wife, even if he is her husband. Whether it was the steel in my voice or the abruptness of the situation I don't know, the man left his wife. By this time the train started and the man got out to the station. The poor girl was narrating her life, how she is beaten each and every day. Today she found a chance to escape and just ran to the station and caught this train. She even gave birth to a child(probably a girl), who was mercilessly killed by her husband and in-laws. I could not catch her entire story since by this time many rural "well-wishers" were already comforting her and her tongue was also different from the urban Bengali that we speak. She got down at a station from where she could reach her parents place.

This happens perhaps in every corner of the world. How many of us give it a proper thought! We only start talking about it when we see someone very near, suffering. I would have loved to take this as a one off case, but unfortunately its not. What bothered me more were the remarks of the crowd present inside the compartment. They were telling me that the guy is her husband, subtly implying that I have not understood the situation fully and that is why I have come to rescue and since a man is executing his birth right of beating his wife, I should not intrude. I still cannot forgive myself for not accompanying her to the police station. God knows what happened to her after that. Maybe after a few days she was sent back to her in-laws to get the remaining quota of abuse and merciless beating!

I am not saying that the entire society is moron. The above were only the remarks passed by some rural uneducated people. What depresses me more is the way we educated people think. Most of the guys I have spoken to do not want to give this a thought! My friends take it personally and often come up with excuses as if it is him who has done the crime, or better they avoid it altogether. My colleagues argue that IPC section 498A is absurd and utter rubbish. It is just a weapon to put poor guys in trouble. Yes, I am aware of the fact that like others, this section of the law has also been misused. But more than 90% of the cases filed are true events.

63 years of independence! Do all of us have the right to live freely? Do all of us execute our rights properly? I have so many things in my mind. Putting all those would be too much for one topic. I leave it to my friends to interpret and let me know what you feel.

Reunion

Like most teenagers my adolescence was spent with friends, friends and friends. Among many I had one best friend with whom sharing anything and everything was natural and routine. We spent hours between classes and most of the daytime together. Our parents had a very hard time keeping us off the phone during holidays.

We were growing up. Life had not started taking a roller coaster ride yet. Suddenly the things that we talked and giggled about started taking shape. Her life saw the entrance of a teenaged boy. I was very happy and concerned at the same time whether he would turn out to be Mr. Right for her.

Days turned to weeks. Our meetings became scanty. I don't remember having a proper fight between us, but irritability increased as she skipped appointments with me only to spend more time with him. Our calls became short and less frequent. I was surely missing my best friend. The end of teenage and the threshold of adulthood were marked by another event. I met a handsome face. The most important position in my life was taken by this person. I could now understand her feelings and her desire to be with her boyfriend and spend time with him.

Time flew. We were now struggling with our careers, somewhat still trying to get acquainted with the topsy turvy corporate world. It has been a few years that we have seen each other. I met her again. This time we were at a restaurant with her husband by her side. I was trying to get acquainted with this man whom I knew as a teenager. I was aghast with what he revealed. He said that he was very jealous of me, how he fought with her for spending more time with me, sharing everything with me, how he stopped her from meeting me, how very systematically he broke our bond. He could realize the depth of our friendship only when my friend stopped him from meeting his best friend. (childish!!) He was apologizing. Being a matured person, I had no grievance. I was happy to get back my friend. Somehow the years of separation had built a huge gap between us. We could never be like we were before.

Time passed. Life took a nasty turn for me. My long and strong relationship was crushing. I could do nothing to prevent it. Suddenly it felt like a portion of my heart being painfully scooped out. I could no longer turn to the handsome face which I knew for all these years so well for solace. Painful days were followed by even painful nights. Staying normal became a challenge. I had to work hard to keep my regular voice while I spoke and fight tears when alone. I declined all sympathies coming from well wishers and friends, started going out to movies, restaurants, parties, social gatherings....

This time I met her again. We embraced each other. Silent tears came out from the confident, arrogant, determined, strong eyes. No console. No gesture of reassurance. I don't know how many minutes passed when we finally drew apart. I looked up at her face and knew that she had been silently crying with me. I knew that finally my best friend is back.

Update: She hardly gets any time from her busy household to talk to me. At times we are half the globe away from each other. Still, deep inside I know that there is no gap. We have been reunited.