THIS IS CHENNAI AFTER ALL !!

[chevy]

one doubt ... "achi"s lan non veg a ?? no not like that .. i call my grandmoms .. achi and we are a pure veg family ?? puriyala ???

Sorry, sorry, I was under that impression. But the way you were referring to your Patti and the general scenario made it look like an orthodox brahmin family Just continue

thanks a helluva lot ... for the correction ...

[bis_mala]

Well done chevy,
Like to read more from your penmanship.

[chevy]

12


I recalled the day I met Gautham as I walked along Usman road. Gautham would take a good long fifteen minutes to reach JavaGreen. I walked as slowly as I could yet fast enough , not making it obvious to the pedestrians that I had too much time to spare.

I remembered seeing his slightly creased pair of trousers through tears. I couldn’t decide whether to call it ironed or creased. In Kinshasa, at my old school, most of the teachers were English or American. . There were other nationalities as well. Nevertheless majority of them were the archetypal , traditional type. They had taught us to judge a man by how polished his shoes were or how neatly ironed his clothes were. There were other things that they taught us as well. My mother would often ridicule them, “As if they are training princesses to become queens someday. How does it matter if a guy opens the door of a car or not ? That’s chivalry. Not manners.”
With time, I too, began watching men’s shoes and how polished they were or looking out for the creases in their pants and jumping into conclusions about them.
Funny, I had to see Gautham’s hind limbs before seeing his face!

First impressions? Well it happened too fast. When I first saw those trousers, it looked as if it was owned by a real gentleman. All the creases were perfect. I concluded that the very few wrinkles were because of travel. Probably the voice sent a chill through my spine, so I couldn’t judge further.

“Hey............ who’s this in my old room.”

A very warm, young, manly voice rang through my ears. The voice itself had prejudiced my thinking. I didn’t want to see from where the voice came with my weepy face. Yuck!

It was so spontaneous and open and unexpected when he said,

h, this mirror is too short isn’t it? Need to bend so much to look into it................”



Just as he was talking, he bent down to peep into the mirror or look at me, which I still can’t guess, but I nearly jumped as a fresh, striking face reflected behind me in the mirror. I probably made a very ugly first impression on him. Maybe he was too polite to say that, and remarked , "err.... are you crying?”

With a hundred thoughts running in my mind, I couldn’t move my lips. But really wanted to turn around and say, “Yeah. I am crying. I’ll look better otherwise.”

Sheesh. How stupid to say that.
I simply turned around and responded with a “Hi. Vanga"
I think I even tried smiling and stopped ‘cause he didn’t smile back. Maybe I shouldn’t smile when my face is so awful.

Lallitaaaaaa! Such a handsome guy. Each action of yours is a thumbs-down!!!!!!! Act fast, girl!! Think!!!!

I wiped my face with my hand and put up a slight smile again hoping he’d respond this time. I tried to think of something intelligent to say but he had already taken his turn.

“Hi. Are you the, er.. African?”
“What??????”, I almost screamed. Of course, I’d love to be an African though I am not one, but the way he had asked sounded like, “ Are you a vagabond? Beggar?”


“My mom was telling that …….”
“Shut up. Who are you? How did you get in here? ”, I yelled.
Of course, who would get into my house without Patti knowing. It is definitely Patti’s guests and I know who her guests were this time. I knew he was my Athai’s son, about whom Patti had already glorified with praises.


“Hey, this is my house. I am not some street dog . Wait. Stop it. I thought you were my African cousin … That’s why I asked. Chill !!”
I grimaced at him. He went on, “ Yeah. Sorry, I couldn’t see your face first so I thought it was her. You don’t look like a Pygmy. Hehehe.”

“ Pattiiiiii……. Thatha… PATTTTIIIII”

I got up and walked towards the door just when he ran up in front of me and said, “ Wait a minute, whom are you calling Patti? This is my Patti’s house.”

I wanted to scream back but he was already moving out. “Okay girl. I’ll get out. Bye. Chill.”.

I shut the door and just I was about to swear aloud, he was back again, “ Hey forget that i came in okay? Sorry… ”

Before I could retort he disappeared.

I sat fuming with ire. I usually don’t judge people by the way they look. But too much of classic English novels had bigoted my outlook. I admit that “tall and handsome” does make my head turn but I make it a point not to jump into opinions about a person before I have conversed with them for quite sometime. But sometimes, looks do prejudice my thoughts. I can’t help it at that instant. Later, I reason it out and try to think of what the person had said and then opinionate about the person. Sometimes, even before I try to judge a person, he or she would have said something that would make me seethe with anger.

I brushed my hair and made myself a little more presentable. I wanted to open the door and run into the living room to check out my relatives. I recalled Patti’s words and decided against it. I sat back feeling like a magical Harry Potter whom my Muggle Patti was trying to hide from the Muggle world.
I envisaged the scence. Patti would say, “Ohhhhh What will happen if everyone comes to know that we have a witch in our family. What will happen to our Manam? Our Mariyathai?.....”

That made me smile. I was still dreaming and smiling at my reflection in the mirror when he appeared again and I went on smiling at the mirror. He smiled thinking I was smiling at him and stopped smiling when he had figured out that I was actually dreaming, when I went on smiling without any other reaction still holding the brush in my hand. Sheesh! Again I make a fool of myself. I quickly gathered myself and turned around just when a few more faces appeared at the door.
“Hiiiii. Are you our cousin? How nice. We’ve never met before naaa?”
It came from a tall pretty girl with a face and voice that carried the same charm.
Patti stood looking at me with no expression. The two other adults behind her stood like body guards.
“Yeah. I haven’t been introduced to you ”, I said looking at Patti, “Or not allowed to be introduced rather”
Patti quickly responded.(Smart Lady, I’m proud to have such a quick-witted grandmother.)

“Hey Lalli, this is your Athai and Mama and they are your cousins. Raja, this is our Pappa’s daughter. See…”
(Yeah, see me. But please do not touch. Fragile! Huh! Am I a show piece?)


The man behind Patti growled, “ Oh this is Pappa’s pappa ? Your name is Lalita? Only Lalita or some Lalita Jennifer Something ? He he he… No ma, these foreigners have such funny ways of naming right?” ( Foreigners? Say strangers, no problem. It’s okay you don’t have to acknowledge me as your neice.)
Patti laughed as if he had said something really hilarious.
“What are you studying Lalli?”, the lady beside him shrieked in a high pitched voice.
“B.Com”
“Oh B.Com only? Okay.”
“Yeah, but these days B.Com is pretty good. It’s got quite a lot of demand. They keep the students very busy. Today business demands very well qualified people no? And she’s doing CA also...”, Patti said. It was the first time in the day that she had said something in favor of me. The conversation went on for a few minutes and I stood like sculpture that was being scrutinized before purchase.

When Patti, her son and his wife left, the cheery girl as well as the handsome guy, stayed back in my room. They introduced themselves as Parvathi and Gautham. We sat on my bed and settled into a friendly conversation. I talked with a tone that sounded a little hurt. They spoke as if they were trying to amend the statements made by their parents. I decided I would e-mail Mom as soon as they left me to find solace within the walls of my room but it seemed as if they would never leave. I hoped they’d feel tired and leave but they didn’t.

Sometime during the chat, Parvathi went out to get water and I sat quite uncomfortably. I looked around the room as if I’d never seen it before. I had thought it would be rude to ask. Somehow, the anger within me hadn’t subsided yet, and I didn’t care how it sounded to Gautham. I was almost going to say, “Aren’t you going to leave my room” , but I simply asked, “ Aren’t you tired with travel. Why don’t you take a nap?”

“Yeah. Very tired.” He coolly stretched himself and fell back on the bed. Again his open forthright approach and carefree attitude turned me off. I quickly got up from the bed and began pretending as if I was cleaning my room. I removed the books from the bed and as I did it, it seemed to me that I was trying to make it more comfortable for the hero. Sheesh. I arranged the contents of the dressing table and ……
Whatever. Time passed in silence.
Parvathi was back with a bottle of water. She jumped back on the bed and remarked, “Gautham , go sleep elsewhere if you want to. We are going to chat.”
“No go on. I am just lying down.”

We chatted endlessly. Chembarathi brought our meals to my room. I don’t remember when we had fallen asleep. We woke up the next morning to find all the lights on.

The next few days went on well till Perima arrived and voila! More cousins. They all stayed in my room all day and night. Initially I found it ill-mannered to stay without my invitation. Later, I chided myself having thought like that. Jay anna, Jo and Vaishu akka , Paro and of course, our mesmerizing and available-at-anytime Gautham. I could wake up Gautham and sometimes even, Jay anna even at the dead of the night to chat with me. Jo and Vaishu akka pampered me as if I were their doll and Paro, smiley and adorable always. Wow! I really had big, adoring family. I ignored my aunts’ and uncles’ attitudes towards me. Patti was totally unapproachable. She was too excited to have her children and grandchildren around. I felt like I had been in Chennai for years.

I recalled all this as I walked to JavaGreen and sat in a corner table waiting for Gautham.

There was much more to recall and feel happy about. Again, I had been dreaming and smiling at no one, not realizing the same old charming Flirt King walking in.


“Hey Dreamy! The beach would have been a more idealistic choice. Anyhow, what are we going to do now?”



[ to be continued]

[crazy]

:P

[ksen]

Ada, ada, ada.. enna flashback SP solra maadiri tortoise surul.........

[chevy]

Ada, ada, ada.. enna flashback SP solra maadiri tortoise surul.........

meaning ? apadina ?

[crazy]

Ada, ada, ada.. enna flashback SP solra maadiri tortoise surul.........

mosquito coil .................flashback

[chevy]

Ada, ada, ada.. enna flashback SP solra maadiri tortoise surul.........

mosquito coil .................flashback

oh . .when did SP say that ?

[malsi]

nice chevy !

[ksen]

Ada, ada, ada.. enna flashback SP solra maadiri tortoise surul.........

mosquito coil .................flashback

oh . .when did SP say that ?

SP always says that
In old movies they use a spiral to denote flashback