Every dog has its day

At last after 22 years of pleading,begging GOD heeded to my prayers….

I had to travel Chennai to get my RECOs and managed to get only Side Upper berth in Chennai Mail because of TATKAL. It is the sickest way to travel since you have to bend your body to fit in the length of the berth and sleep, not to mention the can’t-you-go-up look from the Side Lower Berth guy with whom you share the seating for the first few hours of the journey. I reached the station 5mins after the scheduled departure of the train time, thanks to the traffic. Thank god the train was still there... For once Murphy ’s Law dint work in my life... When I reached my seat I was stuck by a thunder bolt to see a gorgeous… sitting in the opposite seat.

She was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, wearing a black T-shirt and a black jean which contrasted her yellow skin very well. She wore a small black bindi and big ear rings. She wore no bangles and wore only a fast track wrist watch. She was constantly pushing her hair back which was falling on her face because of the wind. Thanks to my idea of having a shave and a shower before I started, I at least felt confident despite the fact that I looked no better than before.

The biggest problem was how to start the conversation now. I saw her drinking water from a bottle; shall I cough and ask for water? Damn she would think u are sick.. How about saying a hi and ask where she was going? This train goes to Chennai dumbo.. oh yeah she would say that… and I can make fun like Aamir in DCH and say “Kamal hein hum theeno Chennai ja rahen hein, mein thum aur is train”. Buddy you are an Amjad khan not Aamir. How about doing a Surya from varanam aayiram as though I became mad after just seeing her and jump up and down? Machi namma rangeku vadiveluve better. After contemplating a couple of more cheap ideas I settled down to read Ayn Rand’s FOUNTAIN HEAD, cursing my fate that I dint look that handsome.

“Excuse me”… where did that sound come from? Mixing Celine Dion’s melody with Rihanna’s pitch and shakira’s tone and singing “mar jaawa…” in Asha Bhonsle’s voice… effect. Who sang that...? Sorry who spoke that...? After searching all 359 degrees around me I atlast turned to the 360^th degree to have a glance at the beautiful lady.

“Yes” I replied in I don’t care much voice.

“Can I take the Upper Berth, if you don’t have any problem?” Ohh we can both take the same berth I thought. Most of the girls don’t want to sleep in lower berth for safety concerns.

“Ohh Upper Berth… it won’t be much airy… well ok” I replied in only-for-you tone.

“Thanks a lot… Ayn Rand…, you always read some serious stuff huh?”

Ahh this the chance Manivanna use the Brahmastra you have

“Not generally I am just reading it for my GD|PI sake. I usually read Crichton”

“GD|PI? Any higher studies huh?”

Ahh I have to handle this very carefully here… Just give her only the info she wants and don’t blurt everything as you do. Try to be humble machi..

“Yeah” I said with a smiling face.

“MBA?”

“Yes” again with a glowing face.

“IIMs?”

“Well Yeah IIMs too...” I said carefully showing that I got calls from others too J

“Voww that’s great. What all calls you have”

Bull’s Eye maga. Should I say B L I K, that is good yeah.. but machi you have to build up the image.. A few lies aren’t gonna harm anyone.

“All IIMs and XLRI” I said.

“Great... Congrats” she said extending her hands for a shake. Machiiii un kaatla mazhai po. I extended mine and shook gently as though they were petals of a flower.

“Did you also write CAT?” I asked.

“Yeah but couldn’t cross 96 percentile. How much did you get?”

“99.76” I said.

“I should fall in your feet only...” Oh sure you can do that after marriage.

“Well I am writing it for the third time... So it is not that big a deal”. I said trying to be modest.

“You are trying to be modest here. How much in XAT?” she asked

“99.9” I said blushing. Well that’s true.

“I guessed so…” “By the way I am Suchitra, you can call me Suchi” she said extending her hand once more. Damn why dint I think about this before.

“Ohh yeah I am Manivannan you can call me... aa..Hmm... Well... You can call me Mannu” I said.

“So Mannu…” Can you say it once more?? It is sweeter than Khaju Burfi… “Which company are you working with?”… The conversation went on for more than two hours… diving into Anna University, Sub Prime Crisis, Satyam Crisis, ClearCase, WIPRO (she works for WIPRO), my BRAVO awards, PATENT, my blog, on and on and on…

Morning she left wishing “All the Best” with yet another hand shake, this time initiated by yours truly J promising that she would keep in touch.

I gave her my business card… hope she calls…