The year long relationship - Part 3 of 3

Important: this is part 3 of a trilogy, it is highly recommended that you start with Part 1

More than half a year had passed, it was mid March and we were now practically living together. Luckily my landlord never saw her. Anyway, I was planning to make a trip to Bangalore to meet up with IIT junta, and asked her to join me.

            Me: Hey Lon, my friends are having a get together in B’lore. Do you want to join me?

            Lon: No. I think you’ll have more fun with your friends without me.

That’s another thing that irked me a lot. It’s as if she not only had no place for friends (neither hers nor mine) in her life, but also in some way she was allergic to them. Let alone meeting some friends, even if I received a call from a friend, she would just disappear suddenly. I tried to poke her on that a couple of times, and all I could get was a cold reply – “You’ll be having fun with them, what do you need me there for?”. If not allergy then maybe  jealousy of some sort. Anyhow, it was a battle front and I was loosing badly. Social life was coming to a screeching halt. Sometimes these sorts of things make you consider the pros and cons of an entire relationship. I knew I was in a corny corner, I guess it was an addiction and if so, I needed a rehab.

Fate, it seems had a plan for me - I had to travel for work to US for a couple of weeks soon. It’s not that I was dying to get away from Lon, or that I have a craze for US; but I like travelling. Even if you hate travelling, you have to admit that it’s fun to be at a new place, see new people, and learn new culture. For me it was all the more exciting because it was my first time outside the country.

If I remember correctly, I got my visa on a Wednesday evening, and it was decided on the next evening that I should travel on the same Saturday, so that I get some time to settle in before joining the US office. With just two days to pack up, practically one day as I still had office on Friday, I had to hurry. I started to pack on Friday evening and I was doing it frantically and that annoyed Lon –

            Lon: Oh, somebody’s excited.

            Me: Well yea, but more tense than excited. I still haven’t yet got confirmation of the hotel reservation, and I leave tomorrow. Moreover I am travelling alone.

It is not a big deal – travelling alone. I am used to it, I do that often from Chennai to Bangalore or Delhi. But going to a new country, alone, seems to be a big deal for everyone.

            Lon: Alone? So you won’t have any company for next two weeks?

            Me: Yes and No. I will be staying alone, but I have a couple of college friends who stay in the Bay Area. I hope to catch up with them in the weekends. It’s been a long time.

            Lon: Ah! Super. I suppose you wouldn’t miss me then.

And hence started the whole ugly argument again, and ended up in a communication breakdown - that too right before I had to leave. It’s the last thing you need on your mind when you are packing. I decided I’d let her break the silence this time.

As soon as I landed at SFO and got the immigration stuff done. I called up Ankit, who said he would come pick me up and show around SF. It was awfully nice of him and Aditi, his gf, to do so. We also called up Vibhu who had just come back from his convo @ MIT the same morning, and despite his long journey, he got up and travelled another 45 miles by public transport to meet us! We roamed around in SF for a while, had brunch, and then went to the famous Golden gate bridge. It was the smoothest possible transition for me to a new place - in familiar company. The very next day Harsh landed in Bay Area for his internship, and there was another addition to the gang. We guys spent almost every weekend together – Movie/ Pub/ Club/ Hookah/ Beer back at Hotel/ Football World Cup matches/ Sailing/ Beach trip/ Road trip. It was very much a jam packed trip.

Work was keeping me busy in the weekdays and I was keeping the gang busy on weekends. As the work demanded, I extended the trip by another 3 weeks, and I didn’t even have to think twice about it. Why would I? I was having a good time, great accommodation, pick up and drop for office, non-vegetarian food every day and a gala time with old friends. I guess Lon was right, I wasn’t missing her at all, I was successfully rehabilitated. Meanwhile, a couple of my school juniors - Ronak and Mayank, who were graduating this year, and placed in Chennai, asked me if I wanted to share an apartment with them, after getting back. I agreed almost instantly and later on I realized it was probably the best decision I had made. I hadn’t officially broken up with Lon yet, in case we were to patch things up, this was the easiest way out to improve on our social life. She just could not not-meet flat mates. I just got excited, I had the perfect solution. I had already given her my new number over e-mail, but hadn’t yet heard from her. But what the hell, I had the perfect solution, so I called her up. A relapse.

            Me: Hey Lon, What’s up??

            Lon: Hey Sarb! Nothing much, just back to the old business of haunting lonely single men. How are you?

She killed me each time with this one. She really has some memory.

            Me: *a laugh. I’m good.

Blah-blah-blah and I updated her with the stuff going on there. 20 minutes and we were chuddy-buddy; it turned out to be easier than I thought - to patch things up. So, I decided to tell Lon about me moving with Ronak and Mayank. The reply was completely unexpected.

            Lon: So this is your way of breaking up?

            Me: What? Break up? Who said that?

            Lon: Yea, I said that. You know that I don’t like to meet your friends. I know you’d ignore me when with your friends. Now you’ll have flat mates!

            Me: What do you mean you don’t like to? You don’t want to!

            Lon: Does that make a difference?

            Me: Hell it does! You haven’t even tried to!

            *awkward 30 seconds silence

            Me: So it means that if we are together you will never go out with me to meet anyone?

            Lon: You are SLOW. It took you a year to get to that conclusion?
            *painful 30 seconds silence of introspection.

            Me: Hmm.. Yeah. Thanks a lot and GOODBYE Miss Ness.

As Oracle once said “Everything that has a beginning has an end”. This was the end of it. What did I learn from it? I don’t know, maybe not to drag it for so long 'cause people start to think that you are SLOW. Anyway, Life has taken a new turn and I am back in Chennai and have moved to Thiruvanmiyur with Ronak and Hrishi. Mayank got an offer in Bangalore and obviously chose Bangalore. This marks the end of Lon era. Good riddance Ms. Ness. May you find some painful guy to drive mad and wish I never have to meet you again. Cheers to Ronaxx and CHB and to the good times ahead!

Important Message again: Thank you for your patience to go through the extra long blog, split over three parts. Unfortunately, this is not a plain text. This is my first attempt at writing a breakable "code". Hopefully it will not be the last. I request you to try to break the "code". I’ll be glad to answer any questions after that. You can always ping me for any hints. Answer/Solution is updated in the comments section now!

The year long relationship - Part 2 of 3

Important: this is part 2 of a trilogy, it is highly recommended that you start with Part 1.


One of the reasons why I got along with her so well, at first place, was the eye contact. Well, I am sort of a guy who doesn’t really make much of an eye contact. I don’t know why, for some reason, I really have to concentrate hard to keep eye contact; but in her case, it would just turn to a staring contest. Maybe it was the pseudo romance, or maybe puppy love, but in the beginning I thought that I get lost in her dark brown eyes. Later on, though, I felt the creeps because every time I got lost, I felt like I was staring in the dark at emptiness. Before you pass a quick judgment on this, I request you to hold on a little longer and listen to what I have to say.

Lon is almost perfect; I’d say she is perfect in all departments but one, the one that kills me. As I said she is uncomfortably hot; and she doesn’t even need any make up to be that way. You would know what I am talking about if you’d met her. Yes, that probably is the first requirement for any guy, and she more than fits the bill. But, I was fond of her more because of the enlightening sessions I had with her.

For a guy like me, who doesn’t really know why he is doing what he is doing, half the time. She had shown me my own true nature. It’s weird but, she introduced/reintroduced me to myself, and I’d also come to see her like my guru. It was she who inspired me to pick up guitar, sketching, and blogging again. Lon is the most mature girl, for her age, I have ever met. Guys’ ego usually get in the way when the girl they date are more intelligent/mature/earns more money. Not in my case though, I don’t mind her being the superior-being as long as I get to learn and improve on myself. She is, if not more, then at least as mature/intelligent/brainy as me. She usually knew what I was talking about, and she corrected me too when I was wrong or well, when I wasn’t sure about what I was talking about. Yes, it’s a fault that my friends would associate with me; I have the constant need to correct anyone/everyone for any mistake or fault of theirs, be it factual/grammatical/pronunciation/any damn ignorable mistake, it is likely to get the corrected by me. I know it’s annoying, and it was good to get my own medicine, for a change.

Looking back, I remember she also got all of my jokes and did not get annoyed at the PJs that I keep cracking every now and then, except for maybe once. During one of the movie marathons, we were watching “Enter the Dragon” and I started dishing out Bruce Lee PJ’s - Bruce Lee's favorite festival? Diwa lee, his sister-in-law's name? Saa lee.  I guess I should have been wary of her Chinese roots before cracking Lee jokes because she really got pissed, and yelled at me “Don’t ever joke about Lee, it’s my middle name, you ass!” and I was thing WTF? Okay! Okay! Anyways, by now I am sure you are wondering what the hell is wrong with me. Why is this, the last relationship and not the current one? The thing is, she's like a convex-one-way-mirror. She can see everything, but you are stuck looking at yourself - enlarged with all the faults magnified! 

Usually you can get a good idea of a person by the company they keep. But, I couldn't even use that approach, as I have not met a single friend of hers, now I suspect that she never had any. You know those hard-level puzzles in the magazines which attract you to solve them, but are too hard to crack and you give up after getting annoyed? She is like one. The problem is, in her case, you do not even have the next edition available to check out what the solution was.

It is not like I haven't tried enough to get her to open up. But every time I ask her about her past/future/friends any god damn personal thing, I get shot down by her brahmastra - silence. You just can not beat that. What are you going to pull out, silence? Good luck with that. I tried that once. It leads to what is popularly known as communication breakdown. If you think I could have been more patient with her - Well, I ran out of it, and, I AM a patient guy, I really am. A lot of my friends can vouch for that. But, she just wouldn't budge. Lon can sometimes be so irksome that she can literally drive you mad. At least with my patience I had come to know how to handle that aspect.


.... continued at Part3

Full Time Job

Yea, Life's a full time job.
No vacation, no time-off.
It's like He has given us a job a piece.
No one knows the purpose,
neither of one's own job, nor of anyone else's.
What would our contribution amount to?
What we lack is the big picture.
I have to say the average job satisfaction is very low.
If only He hadn't given us the intelligence to question,
we'd be like machines in a factory.
Maybe we already are like them.
The ones that question, breakdown in protest;
Some get replaced sooner than thought.
So, work! work! 'cause no one knows when the payday is, or what the pay-check is.

The year long relationship - Part 1 of 3

The last year was a good one, but the last relationship? Not so sure. I had just moved out of IIT campus to Nungambakkam and was really bored. Bored because, almost all of my friends were placed outside Chennai or had gone for further study outside Chennai, to add to that, my job wasn't hectic either. Occasionally it demanded weekends/ more hours, but on an average I wasn't working more than 45 hrs a week. I had all the time in the world at my hands, with nothing much to do. Moreover, the procrastinator in me destroyed the plans of utilizing the free time, and it was in this “free time” that I met her.

I had gone out to check out Minus1 - the closest pub to my place, and I found her sitting at the opposite table staring at me. Well, being a Surd in Chennai, I do get a lot of stares; fortunately this wasn’t one of those - “OMG, Is that an alien?” look. So, I took the cue, and stood up, but before I could walk up to her, my rusted guts started to panic and threw up junk and random questions - What is an asian babe like this doing sitting alone in a pub in Chennai? What if she is a pro? What if she's just jerking me around? What if she is with someone or waiting for someone? Luckily, the brain processed some parameters and ordered me to turn straight to bar and to order another beer, buying me time to think and to weight the pros n cons.

After half a pint and 5 mins, the pros and cons were irrelevant, as gods curse for men had taken its full effect and I wasn’t thinking with my brain, but my penis. Again, I stood up, and the panicky rusted guts, which again tried to throw me off the target – What should I say? What should be my pickup line? But this time I ignored it and decided to be.....  Spontaneous!

Me: Hi, Do you mind if I join you?

Babe: Sure.

*awkward 30 seconds of silence…

Me: So, what’s a babe doing, sitting alone in a pub in Chennai?

*facepalm. So much for spontaneity! At least, I could have asked her name first!

Babe: Well, I come here and haunt the single men, sitting alone at the bar. And what are you doing sitting alone at the bar?

Me: (huh? A babe with a sense of humor! ) I come here to get haunted by the pretty babes who sit alone in the pub. Damn, that’s not funny! tchch.. I just moved in here, and just came down to check out the pub. I am Sarbjot, BTW.

Babe: Hi, I am Lon.

Half an hour had passed and I was barely managing to keep up with the philosophical topics that she was so happy to discuss, the pub was closing, and there was a growing desperation for a way to ask her number. Bad at multitasking I started to nod at almost everything that Lon said.

            Lon: Okay. So, let’s go.

            *another nod. Damn it! I don’t have a way to her number yet!

            Me: Where to?

            Lon: I am thinking of going to Marina beach and pain some more single men.

            Me: (What the hell? She’s brave too?) Do you need company?

            Lon: I don’t. But you do. Why don’t you join me? *grins

            Me: (Yessss!!) Sure.

Moving to the end of the day, (as rest of the part is out of the scope of this blog) as we part our ways –

            Me: This was fun. Should do it again.

            Lon: Yeah, Give me a call next time you are going to a pub. Alone.

            Me: *a laugh. You are funny!

And there I had it with me, her number. 

So it started, with a run in @Minus1, continued with hangouts at cafes/pubs, moved on to frequent dinners @Shansi, and got strengthened by movie marathons, back at my place.

I was easily hooked on to her company, not only because she’s uncomfortably hot, but also because she has an addictive personality. She was just so damn unpredictable. One day she is all preachy – “God helps us all”, another day she is all ears even when I’m in the ’deth fan mode - “Megadeth is far better than Metallica because, blah blah blah”. She could be anything from angry, calm, argumentative, agreeable, funny, violent, caring, abusive, and eloquent. Lon had all the weapons in her artillery too have things her way; silent treatment being her favorite choice of weapon.

 As summer gave way to autumn, we were spending more time together and things were going smooth until…. Well, they say if you observe the moon closely, you will start to notice the imperfections.

.... continued at Part 2

Train of thought

would like to be proven wrong more often.

would like to be more open minded.

would like to be, for a while

would love to be more than just be.

needs to know.

needs to understand.

ah, needs that don't ever end.

understands the importance.

ignores the same.

needs to drive.

first get a license!