An
October night, 2005
He paid Rs. 10 as auto-fare and then he checked his wallet meticulously. As
“green stuff” for the night he has a hundred rupee note, a twenty rupee note
and a ten rupee note left inside his wallet. What else he could see inside his
wallet was pack of useless papers, he know very well that those papers are of
no use, but still he carries the worthless bunch well stacked inside his
wallet, from the receipt of last paid home electricity bill (with dad’s money
and under mom’s pressure) to “hot off the press” fine receipts for public
smoking and for his bike not having a rear view mirror. Another important item
occupying the dark space of his wallet was around ten to fifteen business cards;
most of those business cards were of his family business. He carried those
cards not to generate business leads for his father, but he felt that those
cards, in spite of its “despicable quality” added to his status, and the
leverage was, he could proudly handover one of those cards to anyone whom he
meets inferior to him. According to his theory the same gesture of handing over
business cards, even though it was meant for his small and humble family
business, played an important role in forming, establishing and augmenting his
social status. These so called “status cards” kept inside his wallet as a
synonym of his “pride and ego” was not made up of high end glossy paper, with
luxurious feel and smooth finish, those cards were printed out with just regular
matte paper, which could get easily torn even with a gentle pull out of the
wallet mouth. When stacked one above the other inside the wallet which was
almost like in the shape of 6 or 7 months old pregnant lady's belly and pressed
constantly with half the weight of his upper body, under these “hot and humid
conditions”, the rear side of the card had the mirror image of next card placed
below imprinted on it. As like most of the Cochin middle class or lower
middle class entrepreneur’s business card, his family business card also had
the stereotype-typical images and design, a boat or a ship crossing through the
Cochin Harbor channel, a setting sun in the western horizon kissing the sea, a
pair of crows flying across and also a full grown coconut tree on the left
side, there was a painted and ornamented Kathakali cranium with traditional
lamp glowing in the background to add the flavor of Kerala Culture. Reflecting
the Cochin sky, color theme of the card was light blue, with tints of white
flowing. “Seagull Tours & Travels” name of the firm was printed in thick
flamboyant red fonts. Contact number and address details were given at the
bottom of the card in small “Georgia” black fonts. In addition
to earth's gravity, the weight of his wallet also acted as a prominent factor
in pulling his loose-fit denim down. He carefully went through the stack of
those useless papers and cards to check whether he could find currency of any
denomination hidden in between them. But all his efforts ended up in-vain.
Rs.130 is what he has for the night. He has to manage his transportation, his
beer, his cigarettes, a party, an American girlfriend, her happiness and his
hidden agenda of opening up his love for her, everything with Rs.130 sleeping
inside his dirty and torn wallet. His wallet was presented by his mother months
back after doing their lower middle class family’s jewelry purchase, a once in
an year event.
A Man, A Woman, A Night and Rs. 130....
The reality persists...he has only Rs. 130 left with him for the night. He then
did a rough calculation in his mind, Rs. 100 for a pint beer, Rs. 10 for the
phone call, Rs. 10 for cigarettes and chewing gums, the balance Rs. 10 is for
his conveyance from High Court Junction to M.G Road and back, probably he could
save Rs. 5 on the way back from his transportation budget of Rs.10, as the
availability of buses to his home direction after 11:00 p.m is nearly “nix”,
saddest part was that if so he should walk all the way back to home or
at-least up to high court junction, that too by around 12:30 am or 1: 00
am at night after the party. “If I could manage to get a ride back home, I
could spare Rs. 5 for an other cigarette”. He contemplated.
Many years back Cochin corporation had evacuated most of street shops and
line vendors selling cool drinks, juices, cigarettes, magazines (ranging from
children comics to semi-adult books to opera novel weeklies to gossips ones)
and other related stuffs from both sides on the way to and near to High Court
Jetty, later after a big struggle all these shop owners were given new shops in
an earmarked area near to high court junction, series lines of parallel rows of
buildings were made, one line having 4 or 5 shops on both front and back sides
of the building, there was one long stretch of building on the south side with
shops only at the front side facing the north direction. There were almost all
kind of shops, cool drinks to hair cut saloons, small eateries to mobile phone
shops/recharge centers, snack bars to actual buried bars, because of this peculiar
nature of the area, it had a peculiar name, the area was called as “Bunk” or
“Bunk Jn”. (“Who the heck gave this name ! ! !) Yeah, may be as because the
area has later become an actual “Bunk” for different categories of people, “the
jobless youth”, “small size drug peddlers selling customized weed packets”, “in
the well frog size goondas & thugs”, “floaters from other districts of
Kerala, especially from the north side working in those Bunk shops”, “lottery
ticket sellers”, “drunkards”, “local s***s”, different versions of the species
“Homosapien”.
He strode towards a phone booth inside the bunk; he collected coins
for Rs.10 he exchanged, his reserved telephone budget. There is a coin box
phone fixed on to the steel platform with clamps bolted to the wall. All he has
is 55 seconds for each coin and he should complete his entire agenda of
communication in 10 x 55 = 550 seconds, in 9 minutes and 10 seconds to be
exact. But the senseless telephone operator in her apartment will take at least
take 3 minutes to connect the call to her room, doing all those stupid
verification checks, he will loose some more seconds of his valuable time till
the point she picks up the connected call to her room and even more if her
roommate or someone else is picking up the call....
"I will be so grateful to God if I could get connected to her
with my first coin itself ", He
prayed. He inserted the first coin and pressed the buttons, it's ringing and
someone have picked-up on the 3rd ring, it’s a good sign... “Oh
s**t, there starts the timer to tick”.
"Hello, can I get connected to Room No 304; I need to speak with
Alex".
There was no response for the next 30 seconds, he then yelled
desperately "Hello………."
"Sorry Sir, I was speaking with my boss on the other line", "By
the way which room Sir..”.
"304" and “I need to speak with Alex..... Yes,
Alex”.
Sir, Miss. Alex or Mr. Alex???
(Connect the call you f*****g prick... His squawk was loud but in his
mind).
Keeping the composure he replied,
“Miss. Alex.... Miss. Alex” (“Alex” also is a female name, you
should at least understand that you bloody idiot, inane receptionist of such an
affluent apartment, that comment was also made and delivered in his mind, it
never came out of his mouth). In fact he was also in the “state of
bewilderment” when she said for the first time that her name is Alex..... In
Cochin (in Kerala or may be in India), if the name is Alex, definitely that
person should be a lawyer or a doctor or at least a college professor with
thick beard and definitely with male organs and features.
“Oh OK. Sir, 304 in the apartment or in the annex??”
"In my brown a*s", he
murmured as he saw the timer ticking fast in the coin booth's small rectangular
LCD console. But he replied in a placid way, "in the apartment my dear
friend".
May I know who is on the line? Receptionist
continued his questions.
"I am, Deepak and she knows me well...... Yes, she knows me very
well"
(Once when teased for having “Alex” as her name, she asked him
back, “What's the meaning of your name?? Deepak !!!” ...With all his narcissist
blood flowing up his head he said, “Deepak means “the light”, I am the one who
brings light to this world”. The moment he completed the sentence, she exploded
into laughter; she was literally unstoppable and boisterous, laughing her heart
out. She plainly fleered at him and he was not even able to utter a word back
as defense. Her gestures and extremity of her joy was like as if she is high on
a good shot of weed (but she hated smoking and smokers, even sight of
cigarettes, all through her life). By the end they both together found out the
real meaning of his name, "Deepak" when analyzed in different
dimension by them, means "the f**k.......” OMG, “the f**k???” Here is how
it is, Deepak when sliced into two from the middle we will get, "Dee"
and "pak". "Dee" when pronounced with strength, with your
tongue kicking back of your front raw teeth sound similar to the word
"the", and at times for certain words the letter "f"
replaces "p", so "pak" will become "fak", and
when the word “fak” is pronounced with more stress on the letters “f” and then
the “a” in a descending tone and stretch, it will turn as “f**k”. Hence Deepak
could be also called as "thefak" and can be meta-morphed to "The
- F**k".......nice and simple. She convinced him that meaning of his name
is “the-f**k” and he agreed to it, he had no other options.
With a naughty grin which may be triggered out of his soiled thoughts
and curiosity, the receptionist said “all right” and he transferred the
call. Then it was Beethoven or some other melody heard while the call was
been transferred. (The same melody you hear when you press the button of water
filter at Medical Trust Hospital or when you switch your car’s gear to the
reverse mode. Those water cooler companies and car makers impaired the melody,
marred the melody's feel and emotions, playing it again and again. Now we all
are “classically conditioned” in a way that, the water will not come out of the
filter or the car will not run in the reverse gear without the music or the
melody. We overused and spoiled it and the irony is when we relate such a
soothing music to our “impatience” and “displeasing”, which you feel when you
press the water filter button, and then wait to get the bottle filled or else
when you have to drive your car in reverse mode when stuck in a traffic
gridlock or in a glutted parking area).
The timer is ticking fast and he needs to convince his girl for the
party tonight.
The idiot receptionist has looted his 3 minutes, now he has only 6 minutes and
10 seconds left.
Hello, this is Natt speaking.... who is on line?
Hey, How's you ? Natt this is Deepak....... Is "Alex" there around?
Hey… Deepak, I am cool, how's you?
I am just fine... He retort.
Deepak....Alex has just left for Darren’s Birthday Party...I am so
sorry, she is not here.
(Oops.....Darren's Birthday Party?? Darren, that 6 feet 6 inch guy,
with noodle hair, board chest and strong shoulders. His Birthday Party !!!!OMG.
Darren appeared always like a wrestler walking into the ring. He has a
Birthday??? If at all he has a birthday, why the heck it is today??? They are
celebrating tonight. It could have been yesterday or else they could celebrate
it tomorrow, or any day. Why today??)
Hey.... Deepak wait a second, I guess she is back in her, I can hear someone
opening the door.
Hey Alex,.... Is that you?? You have a call; Mr. D is asking for you.... (He
could overhear the conversation happening reverberated inside the apartment)
Now all that he has is 3 more coins, which means just 165 seconds...
Hello... You, D-Boy!!!
Hey Alex, Deepak here.
Helloaah.. How are you dear?
I am OK...
“Well its Darren Birthday, we all are in a house party and believe me,
he and his friends are so loony and the whole party is just all hell broke
loose. It started by dusk and drunken jerks they have pushed in everyone into
the pool…” (Oh “Pool Party !!!”, God it should be like
M-Tv Saturday Grind sessions, all those hot ladies and wild dudes in
the pool, all soaked and having fun.... a bullet was shot right across his
brain)
I have come in just to change my dress and I am all drenched…. (Without any
apparent clues for him to understand, she then exploded into laughter and her
laughter again wasted his 20 more seconds)
“So Alex, You are not coming in for the party tonight? I mean to the
Longevity…” He buzzed.
“Mmmm….. I don't know Deepak. Really I don’t have any plans. You going???......
Monica and her friends should be going; you could have a nice time with
them” She ended the statement with a chuckle which all the girls make
when they mention another girl's name to her boyfriend or potential or probable
love.
No.... No... I am asking about you. (All girls want guys to make it
obvious that, they are given so much of importance)
By the time, the coin phone had two of his coins down in its belly.
All he had was one more coin and his plan was still to be approved by her.
(Last Coin)
“You want me to come??” She asked all of a sudden.
“Yes, Yes... 100 times”
“Oh…OK, But I would be late. I will be there around 10:15”.
“Not a problem. It’s really OK. I can wait... But I want you to come”, he said
desperately
“OK. I will... See you there by 10:15. Mr. D .... No I mean, my dear “the
f**k".... She giggled again without any reason (wasting few more valuable
seconds)
“Thanks Dear”. His elation was boundless
OK, Catch you there...
OK, Honey Pot.... And convey my Bday wishes to...
Beep... Beep... Beep...the last coin also attained its martyrdom.
He looked at his watch, its 8:40. So it’s one hour and thirty-five minutes
more for Alex to reach the pub.
He went into one of those bunk shops and he brought two cigarettes and a
chewing gum. To relax himself after his race against time while making the
call, he lit one a cigarette. He pulled in a deep gust, felt the thick fumes
passing through his throat, larynx, trachea and into lungs. He kept the whiff
inside for few seconds, placing his eyes onto the sodium vapor lamp right at
the center of junction in front. He exhaled right against the light;
the cigarette fumes spread across the light making vague shapes in the air
and then got dissolved in the soggy atmosphere. The burning tobacco made thick
fumes as he pulled in two-three strong drags fast and breathed out. He was
thinking and spinning his head on the plan for the night, smoke out of his
mouth made a small cloud of fume against his face, before it got dissolved or
pushed away. The slight creepy nicotine kick rushed in, it jolted against walls
of his head. The light night breeze passing through the corridor between the
lines of shops made the curling fumes to get blown into his eyes. He shook his
head off in the feeble pain caused by sensation in his eyes. His head can feel
the tobacco rush and it started to surge. But neither the pain in his eyes nor
the cigarette rush distracted him from brainstorming about his plan for the
night. Will she be coming on time or will she get stuck with the birthday party
at the apartment? What will she be wearing? Will there be anyone with her? Will
she be going back soon......? His head was getting filled with thoughts and
questions, while his lungs were getting filled with cigarette fumes.
He stepped on the cigarette bud to kill it and started walking slowly towards
the bus stop across the road. As it was around 9 at the night, the bus stop was
almost deserted, only three or four were there as human beings (along with a
clan of stray dogs, for the dogs their home was the bus stop itself), all
scattered, waiting for their respective buses and doused in their individual
thoughts. He has to step down at the “South Junction” to go to the pub, he took
the next bus which came into the stop, and its name was "Heaven". He
took the seat reserved for the handicapped; the same seat always attracted him
right from his schooldays. For him there were many benefits with the seat
reserved for disabled, you could sit alone and enjoy the privacy; you could sit
close to the window and feel the air, you could observe the people and the life
out there from the balcony seat, it is the only seat in a private bus wherein
you could get a panoramic view of the bus interior, giving you the opportunity
to watch alluring women, their fluttering fiber and dangling earrings, it was a
decent class privilege which you could enjoy for the money you spend on ticket.
“He loved the seat for physically disabled”. He was trying to relax, keeping
his head off from his thoughts about Alex and what it is going to happen
between him and Alex tonight. The moving bus came to a halt on the top of
Market Canal Bridge before the Menaka Bus Stop; there is a traffic block ahead.
He was not at all worried about the traffic block; he has got all the time in
the world, Alex will be there only by 10:15. From the point of origin (in front
of Sreedhar Theater), the block got extended all the way up to the Market
Canal Bridge. In the yesteryear's, Sreedhar Theater was the only
movie house in Cochin which played Hollywood movies, earlier it was called
Menaka Theater, so did the place earn the name “Menaka”, it was the
preferred Movie House for the old generation Hollywood fans. To the
Sreedhar Theater, he had gone in there many times with his friends and
also alone. And last week, he went in there with Alex and saw the Hollywood
movie "Stealth". When he was studying in the 6th or 7th grade,
his uncle from a distant place took him for a movie there, in the old theater,
his uncle was so excited to see a Hollywood movie as the noon-show. But it
was not a normal Hollywood movie; it was an adult’s movie. His uncle might have
missed out the "A" certification sign in the poster or it might be a
conscious step from his end, established on his wrong prejudicial notion that
his nephew, a 6th or 7th grade student will
never understand difference between a normal movie and an adult movie. The
movie started with a blonde stripping off and tearing a condom pack open with
all the excitement and hunger, with the full sound effects of an adult’s movie.
Young boy managed to survive the situation as he was brought a packet of fresh
fried pop-corn by his uncle. He kept his face down and kept eating the pop-corn
one by one. He stressed his eyes balls as much as he could to roll it upward to
get a glimpse of awesomeness running in the silver screen. After initial 20
minutes, both uncle and the nephew left the theater, uncle without even saying
a single word on the way back dropped him at the ferry from where he could
catch his boat back home. It is still a mystery whether his uncle, rushed back
to see the second half of the movie.
The Penta Menaka Shopping Complex has become a packet size China town,
it’s crammed with duty paid shops selling electronic goods, Mobile Phones &
Accessories shops, CD rental & sale shops, Service Centers, Gift shops,
Recharge Centers, Duplicates of Originals, Originals of Duplicates.... what
not, from Apple to Orange, those shops traded absolutely anything. Opposite to
Penta Menaka it was Greater Cochin Development Authority complex aka GCDA
Complex. GCDA Complex when opened during the 90's was actually the "Pride
of Cochin", a splendid piece of architecture facing the Cochin waters, it
had escalators and elevators too. People considered GCDA complex as a place to
be, place to roam around, and to spend hours with friends and family. But now,
the complex had turned into an old actress who once was a bombshell, with no
calls for movies or even for soap operas, her eyes once shone like a diamond,
lost all of it, even the loads of high end branded mascara didn't
help her. She was pushed to the corner by a line of new actresses, ranging
from “size zero” to those “bulbous ones” causing the fire engines to halt
outside the movie halls to handle the situation if the heat inside caused by
the demonstration and performance of these actresses is converted into fire.
Like this line of new actresses, new high rises of different design, style and
stories upraised into the Cochin sky at different parts of the city.
The bus was still paused above the Market Bridge, below the bridge Market
Channel connects itself to the Cochin Vembanad Lake flowing towards the west.
The channel was used in the bygone days for the “to and fro” movement of goods
and items between the “Ernakulam Market” and the other parts, especially to the
abutting islands. Small, medium and big sized traditional boats were used for
the transportation of goods through the market channel connecting to the main
water way of Vembanad lake in the west. As like in the case of every other
place where we, the humans use and occupy, gradually the Ernakulam Market
Channel also got contaminated and severely putrid. Now the Channel water is
totally black in color; in its west opening under the famous “Rainbow Bridge”
of Marine Drive Walkway we could see the difference when the “black and
tainted” market channel water meets the “greenish-blue water” of Vembanad Lake.
The market waste, drainage from the city apartments & flats, hotel
waste, animal waste, human waste and human lethargy, stupidity, greediness, selfishness
and "who the f**k cares" demeanor gave the market channel the black
color. The crossing wind presented an awkward and fetid odor of Market Channel
water.
In the right hand side, it is the Cochin Marine Drive with the Rainbow
Bridge across the west end of Market Channel. Marine Drive and the stretch of
shade trees adjacent to the Vembanad lake, grown inside the square space
attached to the parapet made of black-stone has many stories of love and
romance to tell. We could say that, the sweep of Marine Drive is from State
Water Transport Department Jetty in the South side extended to the Kerala
Inland Navigation Corporation Jetty in the North Side (now
the stretch of Marine Drive has been extended all the way up-to the
Goshree Bridge and then to Chathiath Church in the North direction). There is a
long stretch of walk between both these points connected by two bridges
in-between, The Rainbow Bridge across the market channel and the Chinese
Fishing Net Bridge across a small channel at the south side which is again
polluted and black in color. Marine Drive has Vembanad Lake (Kochi Lake for us,
the Kochi people) on the West side, which extends and joins with the Arabian
sea some distance away passing through the Cochin Harbor, on the way to the
sea, the lake kisses Bolgatty Island, Vallapardam Island, Gundu Island and
Vypin Island on the right hand side and Willington Island, Mattanchery,
Fort-Cochin areas on the left hand side, the east side of the Marine Drive has
the Taj Gateway Hotel (earlier it was called the Taj Residency), The Poineer
Tower, Abad Bay Pride Mall, GCDA Complex, Federal Bank Building, Joy Alukkas
Trading Center and the Marine Drive Ground. The so called first phase of Marine
Drive is a happening place. In the dawn, it is the ground for all those health
conscious people from the city doing the morning walk, jogging and exercises,
in the evening (usually after 4 pm) again the Marine Drive converts to a very
busy place, people in different groups of family and friends, talks and walks through
the Marine Drive enjoying the evening zephyr and the Cochin water traffic
composed of boats of all sizes, tugs, vessels, ships, and the beautiful sunset.
People after shopping in the nearby malls or shops makes it a point to take a
walk through the Marine Drive, a packet of ground nuts or a hot tea and
delicious bhajji sold in those street shops or may be pickle items sold by the
street vendors, it all added to the pleasure offered by the Marine Drive
walkway. The walkway will be also filled-in by the North Indian toy sellers,
bangle & necklace sellers, traditional mold temporary tattoo printers,
the streets are also occupied by the tourist boat workers, who are fighting and
struggling to convince tourists and time killers for an hour round of
boating for Rs.50. Coming back to the romance part of Marine Drive, there is a
particular group of people irrespective of different seasons and time, stuck
and so found with Marine Drive, even the thunderstorm and twisters can’t turn
these people back. I am saying about the "Couples of Marine Drive".
Couples from distance places, may be from other districts or Ernakulam
interiors, who wants to get out of their local native circle where they could
easily be recognized and caught if they spend some time sharing their love,
takes the first train or the first bus and makes it to the Marine Drive, they
do not simply occupy the green rest benches which Cochin Corporation had
provided, these couples “own” these green benches and also shades of those
trees in Marine Drive stretch, they simply sit and chat for hours or may be for
a day or days. Looking at the ships and boats crossing the western horizon,
these partners celebrate their love, holding their hands. One keeps his or her
head over the partner's shoulder and the other one does a slow head massage
after kissing the head, sometimes one even sleeps on the lap of the partner
where the bench is most probably one inch less than what you see in regular
compartments of Indian trains. The worst part is when these couple, let their
horse of emotions go for a wild ride, they goes completely blind by the
intensity of their passion and thirst, they build a imaginary bed room in
square shape around the green bench, with a 15 inch thick feather bed. Some of
them don’t even mind if pedestrians stare or throw a comment. These people are
the eternal owners of those “green benches and tree shades”, they are
"love makers" and they always make love. After their morning shift of
love making when the sun starts to blaze, they will go for food or a movie and
will be present back either under the tree shades or on the green benches again
in the late afternoon, they will continue to make love till it is their
scheduled time to leave for catching the last train or bus back home. “Awesome
dedicated love makers”.
The traffic jam had loosened up a bit, the bus has started moving forward in a
snail pace, passing the Menaka Junction, St. Teresa’s College, Govt Law
College, Proposed Revenue Tower Building, Cochin Corporation Office,
General Hospital, Maharaja's College Ground, KPCC Junction, SRV School,
Woodlands Junction and the bus finally reached the South Junction. He got up
from his seat for handicapped and stepped down from the bus; he slowly started
walking towards the hotel, seeing the sight of “Avenue Regent” hotel in pure
white color, shining with all lights smiling on the building, right beside the
M.G Road main artery made him joyous. He reached in front of the Hotel, he fell
in love with Avenue Regent Hotel simultaneously when he started to date Alex
and when started to attend the parties there on Wednesday Nights and Saturday
Nights with her. In other words, he fell in love with the hotel as well with
Alex. To him before it was just another place where the rich comes to hangout,
but after she coming into his life all the way from “Nebraska " USA”, the hotel
and it's pub “Longevity”, were given special place in his heart.
He was right at the front of hotel entrance, from the reception side
till north west end of the building it was glass panels running to make the
front wall, right after the entrance door on the right hand side it was a
typical star hotel reception with all the executives in top branded suites,
behind these executives the reception wall had clocks showing timings of
different cities around of the world, even though it had no relevance for
him, every time he walked into the hotel lobby he placed his eyes on
clock showing New-York timing and simultaneously he checked his watch and
ensured the time difference between the two cities. The floor of reception area
and lobby on left hand side was paved with black shiny marble slates, the black
couches placed in the lobby was so soft that, it could literally give you the
feeling of your a*s almost hitting the floor, he had sat with Alex on the same
last week. Outside the entrance, on the south west corner of the hotel there is
"Cocoa Tree", the cake and confectionery shop. The "Banoffee
Pie" which she ordered last time so luscious, he never had a cake like
that before. (Was it really so delicious ? or was it delicious as because he
was having it with Alex? )
It was 9:25 p.m when he stepped inside the hotel, after the
entrance, passing through the reception and through the lobby, there is an
elevator right at the front of you and beside the elevator, there is an
other entrance at the back side opening to the parking area (you
don't have to take the escalator or climb the stairways to reach the heaven, to
be in the heaven on earth you just have to turn right and there you could see
the name "Longevity") The name “Longevity” was written in a special
conspicuous fonts on white glass board in blue running letters, there was a
strip of narrow white light-tube running around the letters to give a different
feel and brunt for the word . Right at the entrance there is a macho man
standing behind a wooden-plinth, his appearance and the gestures said, he
should be the one who handles the pub crew and the bouncers. He verifies the
entry passes, keeping a tight watch on people flowing in. (By the virtue of the
umpteen visits Deepak had made it to the Longevity along with Alex, soon he
became known to the pub staff and also for some officials).
“Hey, where is your girl man? that American….” The Macho man asked him while
placing the seal on top of his palm.
“She should be on her way”… He
replied
“OK. You going in now?” He
asked him again.
“Yes, I guess it would be better”… He
replied.
The Macho Man pushed the door right open for him, green, blue, yellow,
orange and red lights coming unswervingly and reflected from those turning
sliver globes and from the different light emitting devices made him blind for
few seconds. Right after the door, on either side there are big wooden shelves,
these shelves have rows and columns made of wood stripes crossing and making
symmetrical square slots. Wine bottles of different brands, different flavors,
different origins, different histories, different color and different shapes
were placed on those two shelves inside the square slots. On the left side,
immediately after the wine shelves, there is a bar counter, long till touching
the wall on other south side. Behind the bar counter, affixed on the wall, had
series of parallel rows of wooden panels running. Alcohol of different
varieties, of different brands in different bottles of different labels was
delightfully arranged on those panels; yellowish-white light was directed to
the wooden panel and to the bottles from the roof added a special effect. Those
bottles always appeared tempting. But the alcohol the drinks available were off
from medium to high end category, and for him all those brands were really
expensive, untouchable and unthinkable. He always found his happiness, or
forced to find his happiness with a pint bottle beer. But for girls, the drinks
were free on Wednesdays and at times also on Saturday nights. That was
different technique to pull in the crowd. People were enjoying their drinks,
standing and sitting in front of the bar counter. Straight opposite to the
entrance door, adjacent to the bar counter is the Dj kiosk, and the in-house Dj
did it all to make awesome music. People in the pub, who had the sense of
music, who actually knew about the essence of Dj-ing, who actually had the
capability to understand the real and actual stuff, appreciated and always
enjoyed his music a lot. Deepak and Alex loved the same stuff too.
Now at present, our small city Cochin is turning to be a breeding booth or
factory for Djs, we have more number of Djs in the city than the total number
of “electric posts or private buses”. Youngsters become Djs by the virtue of
different inspirations, right from the videos and pictures of “Goan psychedelic
nights” or “parties of tomorrow-land” or “by the myth stories about hippie
life a Dj is living” or “may be because of a party at college or club or a
marriage function where there was a local Dj playing”, actually there is no
specific reason needed as of now for the birth of a Dj. A regular guy you see
today, moving forward with his normal life, could be a Dj tomorrow without any
intimation or potential reason. The worst ones of them are those who christine
themselves as Djs one fine day morning looking into the mirror, giving
themselves a strange name, they either grow their beard or hair, they speak a
lot of Dj stuff on the basis of information collected from here and there, they
wear the Dj t-shirts, stuffs and accessories and they want people to call
themselves by their Dj names, they infect their facebook page with their
pictures and quotes and does all the crap. There is an other way to be a busy
Dj, but mind you “busy Dj” is far different from a “skilled Dj”. In order to be
a busy DJ, you should have the back up of a "light & sound production
unit". By sound production I mean, if you can to arrange for the sound production
facilities, like the speakers, mixers, amplifiers, generator set and all sorts
of lights, three or four technicians to work along with and added to these
facilities if you have the back up of network and connections, then you are a
busy Dj in terms of numbers of shows you could steel. All you got to do is,
download hell lot of tracks from the internet and play it to the people. You
can add your loops and modify if you want.... but it is your choice; “optional
not mandatory”. Another requirement is that, you should be always updated and
you should have the mixed tracks of all those favorite pumping songs running.
“Don't worry, no one will ever ask for your genuine stuff”, most of those so
called “party freaks” are still infants when it comes to the Djing knowledge, only
minimal number have got the real idea. And if you have a branded and imported
Dj table, believe me you are a king and you could make much much more than your
investment on the table . Moreover if you have the backup of a light and
sound production unit, you could seal more deals by the virtue of undercutting
the rates while quoting for shows and events.
But in the longevity, it was a real DJ, the man who really knew the
stuff he was playing, with an awesome sense and style of music, with the
competence to understand the crowd's emotions and needs, he always made his
mark, the degree of distinction between him and those “So Called Djs” was so
huge and easily recognizable by the virtue of his skills, creativity,
music sense and knowledge, genuineness and signature style of
his performance.
The longevity….such an awesome place, in white Mediterranean theme. The
couches, the tables, other furniture and most of
the visible objects there inside were white in color. There were 6 to
8 different open sections or compartments made with couches and tables
arranged in the area available. 4 of those sections were in a square bracket
shape, made with the arrangement of 3 couches, one being adjacent to two
parallel and opposite couches. Silver colored curtains with some gleaming
embroidery ran through the groove channels attached to the ceiling, the
curtains covered the white walls, most of the times curtains were tied to both
ends. In front of the wall and the curtain, special steel-wares molded almost
in the form of a hook attached to narrow rods running down from the ceiling was
beautifully assembled, it was stretching across length of south side wall.
Adjacent to the wall candles of different wax color were kept lit on these
steel structures, and it added to the exquisiteness element of the
whole ambiance inside the pub. There was a five feet wide aisle
running through the center of the entire area, and the aisle was made up of thick
and strong transparent glass, medium sized marble pebble stones were arranged
below this glass corridor and brilliant lighting also complemented to the
splendid piece of interior designing. Dancing was not allowed on this corridor,
but people break the laws when the entire pub gets excited. There was small but
decent dancing space in front of the DJ table and the bar counter, which people
always made use of to burn out their calories fueled by alcohol.
He was a pathetic dancer, but she was so awesome in dancing. Once she
made his friends get awestruck with her moves and body rhythm, especially the
booty one imitating JLo. He was always hesitant when she called him to the
floor to dance, she later told him that he don’t have to do any big moves or
break the bones, all he has to do is just slightly tilt and swing his upper
body the way in the direction she make her moves like the long banana leaf the
in wind, shake and node his head like how you does when your Physics or Maths
teacher asks you the question…. "did you understand???” But a little more
vigorously. And if you could move your feet following the same rhythm and the
beat, then you are almost like an amateur Micheal Jackson. Slow and
steady, your other natural moves and steps will come in depending upon the amount
of beer you take and also according to the factor “how much time you get to
dance with her keeping the body close each other”.
It was almost 10:00 pm then. He met few of his friends there and spend time
talking to them. Then he saw Monica and four of her friends there, they are all
with the same troop which Alex belongs to. He greeted them with hugs, kiss on
cheeks were exchanged and they started the conversation.
Monica asked him, "Where is Alex?"
"I dont know" he replied, "she is supposed to be
here by 10:15". They had to speak in high volume as the Dj
was slowly picking up his pace.
"Even though Alex is my friend and I know her for quite a long period of
time, now I guess I should be checking up her plans with you. You people spend
hell lot of time together. So cute you guys..." She chuckled.
"Yes, we are...." he said with a loud laugh.
"Last day you guys made it to some beach or what?? She was so excited
while explaining about the long bike ride, the crazy traffic, Cochin sites and
obviously about time you guys spend together by the beach. To tell you
something, she had sand all over her body, her clothes and also inside
her inner-wear too while back in the apartment. What you guys did by
the beach....” then she exploded into a loud laughter.
"Come On Monzz.... Nothing..... Nothing, we did. We just threw ourselves
into the sea with cloths on. Honestly That’s all. It was a public
beach...." He answered.
"I don't believe you guys... she said the same story too"
"Hey there she is, your princess has come dear. Night is still young my
friend"... She made the comment.
"Hey you Monzz....” She came-in running.
Oh Yes, there she is right in front of him. And she is so damn beautiful. Her
flaxen mane was tied in a different style to the back of her head, a small piece
of stick was keeping the hair bundle in place, but few strings were pulled out
from the front part just above her forehead, it was hanging before her face.
Her green iris made him always get coagulate and get sucked to the depth of her
eye's green ocean. Her face was all lit and the radiance made him blind
sometimes. She was always graceful and for him, there was nothing as beautiful
as “she” from day he met her.
She hugged Monica and her friends, they were talking something with one having
her mouth inside the other one's ear and they were laughing banging their
heads. (Girls are always the same, India or America.... It doesn't matter).
"Hey, why you guys are pretending like you people don’t know each other.
You made the beach shore your bed yesterday and now behaving as strangers. OK,
we are giving you guys some space here. Let us move out. Have fun you guys and
enjoy the night…. And Alex I believe you will not bring sand to the apartment
tonight inside your underwear". Monica and her crew made out a loud
howl as she made the statement.
Then it was just him and her, even though there were people around, music
played blowing ear out, people singing and chatting loud and
all the mayhem inside the four walls, irrespective of all these
happenings, for both of them... it was just him and her.
She came forward and gave him a tight hug, she kissed him in the cheek and
he kissed her back. He felt a different kind of pleasureful sensation with each
of her kiss on his cheek, the ardor was becoming more severe after each time
and yesterday it was so different and so intense when she kissed him
at the back of his neck many times, on their way to the beach and back. She hugged
him so close and tight, with her arms crossing his stomach and her upper body
sticked to his back. She kissed him at the back of his neck umpteen times with
great feel and passion, she did the same even when they rode through the city
roads. He never had such a great bike ride before.
She pulled out the beer which he was having and had two-three quaffs from the bottle, then she
moved to the corner to place the order. She was wearing a violet sleeveless
fork. It made a "V" shape in the front over her chest, two strips
from front-top crossing across the shoulder was tied in a different style to
the back of the fork, the fork she wearing was long enough to cover
up to top of her knee. A narrow white belt ran through her waist, she was
wearing a simple white bead necklace and a pair of ear-rings which he selected
for her from Convent Junction yesterday. In order to match her look for the
night, she was wearing a pair of white heels. She opted for a different type of
hair style tonight different from the way she keeps it for the college, formal
but gave her a awesome pretty look. That was the most amazing aspect about her,
“she always keep it simple but has a specific and superb sense of style”. She
came back and gave him a kiss again on cheek, she handed over him the beer
bottle back and signed the waiter for the drink she ordered.
"I don't want to have more than a peg tonight from here, I already had 3
shots at the apartment for the birthday party", Alex said.
"I very much knew that you are drunk a bit, because you are smiling too
much tonight"....he said in reply.
"Ahhh... You already knew that I am drunk. Sorry, I was not able to skip
away from the celebration there.. it was crazy"
"No... It's OK. I always wanted to see your smiling. It's makes me elevated
always". He said
"Ahhhh....You are so romantic". She chuckled and asked,
"How am I looking tonight?"
"Oh Yes... You look prettier than ever tonight. You look beautiful and
awesome. I am swiped off my feet".
"Oh, Thanks dear. You should have said this the moment you saw me tonight;
I thought you didn't like the way I am tonight". She complained.
"Yes, I should have. But I reserved it for our private occasion"
"Private Occasion, here in this club, in the middle of this mess, you are
looking for a private occasions for both of us"..... She was again
laughing, but he never knew what she was laughing for.
She started to move her feet when the Dj played “Hey Mama of Black Eyed
Peas" and as always, he was never prepared for that, he was never
comfortable with dancing. He knew that his dance was awkward and stupid. He
moved one or two feet when she insisted. She was getting into the grooves and
starting make her signature steps, the alcohol she had must be boiling inside
and making her dance. He gave her a strong kiss on her cheek again, and pulled
her towards the sofa by the side and made her sit. By the time her other
friends from the apartment had joined the pub, with the Birthday boy,
Darren. All drunk and out. Her other friends were sitting in the opposite
side and adjacent side sofas. He and she were sitting so tight and close to
each other. She hugged him tight to her body as how she does when she is on the
back seat of his bike, she looked at his face and the soft white light from the
roof spread over her head, made her look even more beautiful and blinding to
his eyes. He placed his right hand across her shoulder, untied her locked hair
by pulling the small stick out, to which her blonde mane was tied and started
to gently move his finger through and between her locks. She liked it a lot,
all the time he did it, she blushed and blushed and blushed....her red cheeks
became even more red, like a dancing piece of strawberry gel. Iris of her eyes
with green tint, attracted him and started to suck him in again, made
him forget the time and the situation. He hasn't seen anything tantalizing like
those eyes before.
Hey, which one you had ? I mean which brandy you had at
the apartment?... He asked.
"The same one we had while on the boat trip......the Indian Brandy you
introduced to me, the original Indian Drink, "Bonaparte". It's hard
and bitter, but after you, now I have also become a fan, not only me but all my
friends have become a fan of it and that's why they brought it tonight for the
birthday party.... such an a*s kicking drink, so economical also...."She
said.
"Yes.... the Indian Absinthe", He replied.
“Oh.... Yes, I wonder now how we made it from Aleppy to Cochin in bike after
having such a boat party, killing the Indian Absinthe”. She said with
an animated face supporting her statement.
"I don't have any idea about it.........why we were not hit by a
vehicle or caught by the cops ! ! ! Oh Dear... Oh Dear...”
"Hey look, see what the Birthday boy is doing?" She pointed
her finger towards Darren, who had himself squeezed into the sofa between two
of her friends. The drinks and the dance made him look tired and forlorn. The
funniest part was, after finding a place in between those girls, he was asking
for a kiss or to be kissed. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work out
with any of them. He was pleading like a child for candy, turning his head
left and right as fast as he could, delivering his dialogues as emotional as he
could make it. But the girls have kept their mercy content locked inside their
heart and teased him as much as they could. Out of all the frustration and
sadness, he was yelling out something, simultaneously trying to be on his feet.
He slipped off, right to the back, hit his a*s on the floor, he closed and
opened his eyes few times in agonizing pain and then leaned his back to the
sofa slowly. Mighty girls, making use of the situation pulled his t-shirt out
and threw it to the middle of dance floor. With no options left, he remained in
the same position with his eyes closed. .....
"Oh it's so funny....." he said.
"What is so funny, is it funny that he didn't get the much needed birthday
kiss or is it funny that he made his a*s kiss the floor...?" She
asked the question back.
"Oh.... not a bad question, for me the total episode was funny" He
fired an answer.
"Oh Yes, it was. But do you feel like he deserved a much needed kisses
after all the hard work of pleading which he did". She threw the
puzzle back again.
"Yes, he should have got kissed. So sad that he didn't get kissed. Look at
him now, down and devastated".
She paused for a while and said looking at him...
"It seems like, you would love to get a kiss now"
"Yes, I would dear. But its not my birthday"
"It don't have to be your birthday to get kissed....You
idiot"
"Why I am an idiot? Who is gonna kiss me now?.... its not my birthday and
I am not drunk"
"If you need something, you need to ask for it. And you need to ask the
right person.... don't tell me you don't know the right person, you prick"
She made a special smile and she got her eyes with green iris placed right
back on his face. She did a deep exhale and she pulled him close to her
body. He could feel her breath on his face even in that kind of an
ambiance.
She knew that he was frozen, she kept her two arms crossed around his
neck.
She said mildly leaning towards his face... "Ask for it?"....
"What???" he said in exclamation.
"Your #@*%^... you idiot. Ask for the kiss"
"Are you really sure about it.... you know, you are drunk"
"Yes, I am drunk. But after all these days, I believe that you deserve a
deep and passionate kiss. I will be gone in few days. I really want to miss you
when I am back to my crazy and boring world. …....Ask for it"
"Ok..... Ok... What should I say?"
"Just say, kiss me......say it you jerk"
And he said, "would you allow me to taste a tint of ecstasy.....
Alex, I badly need a kiss."
"And that could be the most amateurish dramatic dialogue someone
must have said before a kiss", she teased him
She pulled back her left hand from the back of his shoulder. She placed her
hand on his chin, crossed it across and way back for one time. She placed thumb
of her left hand on his dark-brown lips. She made her thumb swipe across his
lips gently, to and fro few times and she kept looking on his eyes. He could
see her green iris getting animated by the thrive of her emotions. He stopped
brushing her locks but pulled her more close in.
She said... "You smell cigarette"
He said...."And you are drunk too...... I need a kiss"
She locked in her lips with his in split of a second. He was numb and
frozen, he couldn't feel what he was doing for initial few
seconds. He then felt it, he was enjoying the real rapture. He never made
a french kiss before, but he knew that it was moment which he should be
standing up-to. He placed both his hand behind her head and pulled in her
close and tight. She was traveling through a different world, she placed
her right leg across his thighs, her fork got rolled up a bit. Her eyes were
closed, she was giving in completely to him. And his eyes was open, if he
closed his eyes, he thought he would dreaming. But it was a real. She paused
for a moment, pulled her lips back and gave him a smile again.
"It is my first time..." he said.
She was about to say something, the same strands of her hair fell back
to her face again. He placed it back with his left hand and pulled her close-in
one more time. This time, it was so deep. The thirst was so severe to quench.
They pulled themselves in even more close and got squeezed, not even allowing a
qualm of air to pass through between them. They took their time, he locked in
her lower lip in between his lips, she then slowly took the turn and returned
the same gesture back. She placed her right hand back across his
shoulder and placed the left hand on his right chest, she pressed
her palm against his chest in the pressure of emotions. By then he
had his left arm around her waist and right one handing holding her chin and
tilting it up. Lips gave way to the tongues, her tongue went-in
his mouth, she ran her tongue over his, back and fro; that
was a whole new sense of pleasure for him, he never felt anything like that
before, it lasted for many minutes. Taking a few second break.. he asked
her the question.
“What was that?”
She replied, “How did you like it?”
“Awesome, I have never felt anything like that”.
She leaned forward again to his face and slightly opened her mouth,
giving a sign for him to try. It was then his turn and he did it exactly the
same way she taught him. He then took the risk of an initiative, he made
his tongue swipe through the inner end of her lower
lip. He did it few times as gently and as ardent as he could, from
one end to the other. Taking his face back, he looked at her eyes to know her
response.
She said, “You are awesome. I should say you are so “damn
awesome in kissing”. This shouldn't be your first time”.
They communicated in a different way, their passion, their emotions,
their love and their thirst for each other said rest of the story. They were
blind, they were deaf, they were numb. People around, chaos around, anything
around... didn't distracted him. They made the night their own. Each time when
they locked in their lips the warmth of their eupnea became more and more fierce,
blown mildly to each other's face. They kissed and kept kissing.
A big flash splashed all of a sudden, it made them pull back from the status
of awesome love making. When the silvery blaze of camera flash faded, it was
Monica's laughing face. With her camera in her hand after taking the “love
making couple's” picture.
"Ah... So naughty. Get a room guys, never let the fire go off. Go to the
apartment or to the beach. The night is still young". She said,
chuckled and turned around.
They placed their eyes back at each other, they beamed once again at each
other.
"It was my first time, it's like Diwali and July 4th happening
together", he said
"I don't believe you... It was not my first time. But I have never felt
this way before. It was awesome, it was pure and it was so raw with you. I wish
I could do it for everyday for the rest of my life"
They finished their respective drinks, holding hand in hand they moved out of
the pub, they kissed again in the corridor, they kissed again near the vacant
lobby, they kissed in the parking slot in-between a Honda City and a Hyundai
Santro, it lasted for more than 10 minutes, till the security found them in
love making.
They crossed the hotel lobby again and got out of the hotel through
the front entrance, they decided to go to her apartment. He called in
a rickshaw
How much for Thevara now? He asked the Rickshaw driver.
100...
“Hey, its too much” he debated.
“It is 11:50 at night, 100 you have to give. Get in if you want to
hire..”
Rickshaw driver should be around his fifties, his eyes seemed like he
was half-sleepy while driving. He should be in a hurry to get back home after
the mid-night ride, his speed signed the same fact. Rickshaw must have crossed
the Atlantis Junction, Alex hugged him tight and kissed on side of his neck. He
turned towards his right to face her and kissed again the french way, the did
it all the way through. Rickshaw driver was not interested to check what was
happening at the back seat, he had his own plans running and spinning inside
his head. Waiting for the security to open the apartment gate, they kissed
again, the road to Thevara Ferry was empty that time. They walked down the road
leading to the apartment, holding their hand in hand. After making the turn
to her apartment building, she pulled him to bike parking area and
resumed their love making.
All of sudden, she pushed herself back and said. “Let's go
to the pool side...”
They sat beside the swimming pool of the apartment, got their
eyes stuck at each other one more time, kissed again right below the stars of
October sky.
She said.... "you stinks cigarette"
"And you smell drunk tonight...." he replied...
He was thinking about the "Green Benches" in Marine Drive
then, He with Alex sitting on one of them, with the cool night whiff following
in from the Cochin Lake. And obviously, they "should be kissing and
love making....."
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