Late into the night... hanging around in the office... time for dinner... "Operation coaxing" begins...
"Hey, why don't we go to pizza corner and munch a piece of their veg kolhapuri?", I ask to two of my friends, who were looking and probably cursing the fact that the official day hadn't still ended for them.
"Pizza corner?? That's quite far... my office day is still NOT over :-( We should go somewhere nearer" - that was the response from Aravind - our "cab guy", as we love to call him, who neatly flaunts his i10, with its well polished interiors and getting the crowning as our "official tour vehicle"
"Veliya saapida mudiyaade.." This was Saravanan - and oh yeah, he has very many a sobriquets that I would prefer sticking to his original name.
"Pizza? No way - I need to get home... I would have some chamba rava upma getting ready for me.." - that was our Nagu (a) Nages.
It was definitely evident that "Operation Coaxing" was losing its sheen... but I cannot give up that easily too - and they would know it as well... After the confabulation amongst us coming to an end, we set out to decide on raiding the Dominos outlet nearby...
We didn't have a need to switch on the air conditioner in the car. The weather was actually pretty cool outside. There were symptoms of a thunderstorm - but we always chose to ignore them if it is good old Chennai.
Next mission - place orders. Grab seats for four of us. Our orders were on predicted lines -some lip smacking garlic bread, some pizzas, a few cups of coke. What wasn't predictable however was our implementation of the S/S/V queuing model at this outlet too (If you are wondering what is it, it is - it is Stare / Stare / vacate). We were within the pizzeria looking for seats - nay, looking at others, as if requesting them to give us seats :-)
It was a full 20 minutes before the orders settled in. So what? We had everything under the sun to talk about - including the sun itself. Another five minutes - everything was almost gone. Time to quit eh? True - so, lets walk out...
The engrossing conversation and merry making amidst all the eating never let us realize that the brewing thunderstorm had broken out for the real in Chennai... Wow... we come out and decide to stand in the front of the shop - under a collapsible sunshade of sorts... (Dum dam dim dum dam.... ) Everyone got rattled and huddled together - each having feared the thunder but making me the obvious scapegoat and fixing an excuse on me - that I am the most scared of lightning and thunder, to move back into the secure premises of the shop.
Discussions continue - oh yeah, didn't I tell you that the next voting for the decision on the world economic crisis is supposed to be based on the discussion we had there? Never mind..!
Rain stopped - or so we thought and stepped out. Dum Dim Dama dum... Aravind and I rush to the car... Saravanan and Nages started out in their motorbike despite the downpour that began once more. Ensconcing myself into the car seat and picking up the copy of The Hindu, which I had put out in the dashboard, I begin my conversation with Aravind.
"Ravi - romba mazha illa?", said Aravind.
"Amam da... naan intha news paper ah en shirt kulla pottuka poraen... innum rendu article padikala.."
"konjam over ah illa ungalukku?", said Aravind
"Irukalaam... but inikki thoonganumae... paper parkalena mudiyaadthu"
"Seri Ravi... parkalaam... you can get down here and walk quickly home?"
"Yes, I will do that... driving the vehicle in the heavy rain in all the interior roads is something I wouldn't prefer you doing as well..."
"Tata Ravi.."
"Tata.. thank you.."
Normally, I wouldn't mind myself getting drenched in the rain... matter of fact, I would LOVE it. But today was different... my only sole companion for the rest of the night - The Hindu shouldn't be getting drenched. I walk trying to challenge the speed of the lightning that struck the place before a few seconds. And lo behold - the drama unfolded - right in front of my house gate.
The gates to my apartment were neatly locked up from the inside... With a heavy rain on the outside, a wall of steel about a 8 feet high staring in front of me and a switched off mobile from other dwellers in the unit - I had to make some quick choice... and I had to be real quick since some more time, my companion for the night would be wet and drenched, requiring to lie under the fan for drying - probably hours on end, before the printed letters become sharper and clearer like before.
So, what do I do now? Brave the rain with my companion neatly tucked into my shirt and challenge the roughly eight feet wall of steel to find my way to the portico of my apartment. That is, definitely, jumping into your own house like a thief, to make long things short :-)
Oh yeah, never mind... end of the day - (w)all is well that ends well, I thought to myself, quickly pulling out the newspaper from shirt and heading inside my house. Rest, as they say, is history..!
