Bangalore Trip (Alternate Lyrics)

(Originally posted on Yahoo 360, Sunday May 7, 2006 - 05:26am IST)

A little peek into the past before I proceed with the main story. It was 25th Feb. I am not very good with remembering dates and all, found it out from my gtalk archive. I was gradually developing into a seasoned drunkard, my boss from USA had sent across a bottle of Johnnie Walker, and my teammates and me had a really good time. The whiskey was really smooth, and I took more than a couple pegs neat. I am one of those who don’t believe in mixing coke with my drink, I kinda hate the sweetness invoked. Sometimes I prefer neat, sometimes on the rocks. Anyways, after having more than what I should have, I rushed back to my office. I had a deadline of my deliverables to meet. My sincere gratitude to the people who came up with the idea of Pacific Daylight Saving Time (PDT). That gave me an extra hour’s cushion. It was around 11 in the night when I resumed my work. I had couple of bugs in my queue that should be pushed in for this code freeze, and with all sincerity I started working on them. I was feeling dizzy though, the computer screen was moving, and I could barely type what I wished to. Couple of coffees down, I felt better and resumed my work. An hour or so later, my friend Amish pinged me. Talking about topics in general, the discussion diverted about this female he was talking for a past few days online. Drunk, overworked, fatigued, I asked him to make her talk to me. And this is how it all started. Needless to say, this blog revolves around this girl only.



Fast forward to 24th mar. I had made myself comfortable in the train that was to make me to Bangalore. I had intimated Suchit about my arrival, not the purpose though. When asked I had said it was an unofficially official trip. Dunno what does that mean, or does it even mean something. I slept for around 4 hrs when someone broke my sleep. It was maybe an hour past midnight and the TTE had chosen a really good time to check if the passengers really bothered to carry their tickets with them. Somebody must have interrupted his sleep too. Tried hard but couldn’t sleep after that. Maybe it was my anxiety to reach Bangalore in double quick time, may be it was because I could hardly fit myself in the sleeper berth.

I gave this lady a buzz, her phone was switched off. I gave Ripple a couple of rings. She didn’t pick up. Who cares about cell phones when it is around 2 and you are deep into sleep. I certainly don’t. Tried all the weird tricks that could help me sleep. Finally at around 4 I got lucky.

Got up at around 6. The big day had started. I wanted to manipulate it my way, I had my plans. Suchit was there at the station to receive me when the train finally reached Bangalore City. Luggage on one shoulder, loads of confidence on the other, I stepped off the train. All the best Arnie. May the force be with you.

Reached Suchit’s place, settled there and started calling her. Her phone was still switched off. WTF? I had tried her last day since morn and it was switched off. It still was. Her train was supposed to reach by 8. Had that been the case, she must have reached by now, ‘coz it was well past nine. Tried maybe ten-twenty times more. But will continuous dialing switch the phone on? Stupid me. Did I walk so effortlessly into a well planned trap? Did the girl play a nasty joke on me? If my friends come to know about this, I will be the butt of their jokes for a long long time. I was shit scared, my heart literally in my mouth. Phatt gayee thee meri. Two full days and no purpose. Unable to bear my misery I slept.



Around 11 I tried her phone again. Eureka eureka, it rang. “Hi where are you?” “Ohh, I am stuck in this stupid train.” “Where not you supposed to be in town by now?” “Yeah, but the train is running late. It will take another hour.” “So, when and where are we meeting?” “Place you decide, 1o’clock would be fine with me.” God thanks for being nice on me. Thanks a lot.

The confidence was back, so was the smile on my face. I decided to tell poor old Suchit my real purpose for being here, that I was here to meet this girl whom I had met on the net and been talking to for precisely one month. “Wahi toh, yeh jab tune unofficially official bola tha, tabhi se mujhe laga tha ki baat kuchh aur hai. Good good. Badhiya hain.”

Forum was the place decided for the rendezvous. Suchit and me arrived some 10mins earlier and decided to grab a quick lunch. Steeped into KFC and ordered a bucket of chicken. Bird flu scare and they had slashed the prices from 275/- to 175/-. Good for people like us who never gave a damn about the wicked flu. Of all their offerings, the bucket has to be KFC’s best offering. 4 legs and 5 breast pieces, all nicely baked. Expert exponents of gluttony, we started our ritual. Over those chicken pieces, I had warned Suchit to be prepared for the worst, and run without even looking back if she was not what I had expected and her picture portrayed. Smart-ass that he is, he even figured out the alternate exit door.

The phone rings, it was she. I asked her to walk into the restaurant. Smoke filled place, nice heap of bones (she is a gujju and strict veggie), two freaks trying to clean the last possible flesh in the plate, I could not have chosen a better way to introduce myself to her. She came and she ran away (She asked me to finish and come outside).

She had her bro and bro’s friend as company. She got rid of them and now it was Suchit, her and me. After such a good lunch, I wanted some ice cream. I asked her and she was game for it. We walked into McDonald’s, Suchit ordered some stuff for us, and we chose a nice bench and started talking. Common boring topics though, Suchit was still around. I needed him to be out of the scene, and SMSed him “get lost for sometime”. Good soul that he is, he promptly obliged. The lady was like, no stay for some more. And when I said “yeah Suchit, what’s the hurry. Stay ”, you must have seen the expression on his face. “Double talking jive, bastard”. And the lady still believes that it was he who left. (Sorry fella, a man has got to do what he has got to do).

Anyways, we started doing some window-shopping. I was feeling really good; this girl was beautiful and carried herself quite nicely. We checked few apparels and moved on to the bookstore. Can’t remember the name, rhymes with Hallmark, nice place with good collection of books, CDs and gift items. Flipping a few pages from here and there, we moved on to the design and interiors section. Being an interior designer herself, she started looking into the books. She tried to teach me the nuisances of the trade, I grasping some and some flying tangentially flying across my brain.

Suddenly these two devils appeared from nowhere. Guess, they hadn’t left the mall. Must have been around only, maybe watching my steps from some distance.

We moved towards Brigade road, and while on our way, I started talking to her bro and the rockstar friend of his. I should not give an impression that I am a nervous, bumbling, jittery guy who starts choking when there are more than a couple of people. We talked about racing; cars and he gave me his insight about the street racing in Bangalore. We reached brigade and these kids were hell-bent on watching some movie. I though was not very keen, I could easily have done that back in Hyd and in a better company, I hadn’t come here to watch some fucking movie.