Don Juan of Montreal

This is an old one..Never posted it. Its kinda funny. so here goes...

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I am not sure I should be writing about him. After all I am still in touch with him. And I am sure I am going to read this to him. The 'him' I refer to here is a dear friend of mine . A friend, period. Incase anyone i wondering, if I am getting defensive, the answer is - No. Controversies are messy beings...

Now that we have that out of the way , lets get down to the crux of the tale. I have known him for a very long time, close to a decade perhaps. Younger than me by a few years. He used to live in the same time zone as me till a few years ago before he moved to Montreal, still on the right side of 25 and mirror cracking material. Of course the title of the blog would demand that from him. However, that is not the only reason for the tag, there was always something else...

Since the time I have known him, he has always got more than his share of female attention more than his share by a few miles. It is true, leaving loads of disgruntled uncles and bfs in his wake. I am sure their collective sigh of relief when he left India was the sole reason for good rains in the heart of our country that year.

But then as I have always said there was something else about him. He was not just a common eye candy. That would be insulting him. He had a knack of talking to wounded damsels and making them pour their hearts out.He had a gift of making them talk, just talk.Oh Boy! but those talks sometimes did bring out some stinky skeletons... :)

However, In the years that I have known him, I have never seen him getting shocked. No matter what comes out during these associations that he has. I am anyone else in his shoes would have had their jaws kissing the ground after hearing some of those confessions. Perhaps that was his biggest weapon or his biggest charm?

Accommodating to a fault. If I had to name one person totally devoid of expectaions it would be him..I am yet to understand how someone could be that accommodating. Heights of enlightenment or emotions running thin? Perhaps its an act. Who can say?

Then there was this genuine need to please everyone, a desire to bring a smile on the faces which has seen tissues and handkerchiefs far too many times, the willingness to spend time with the women who wanted some one to just listen. May be it always started like that but that was not how it ended every time, i am sure.

Almost every time the lady in question found that the don juan has charmed his way into her heart. Intentionally ? I am not sure. May be, it gives him a high to be able to do it consistently... May be not. May be its just misguided affection.

Everytime I hear from him, there is a new pet project which soon has him as a pet....:) Everytime I hear from him, I hear him donning the role of an agony aunt and the next time ofcourse I would have him wonder aloud as to why she has a fixation on him instead. I somehow feel its the story of the patient getting hooked to the shrink. Of course , I cant tell him that. My neck would then be in danger of being wringed. But the point here is he does spread a lot of joy around.

Hmm, I know a lot of em would look back and smile when they think about him an adorable lil puppy is what he is... but then careful dear friend. Didn't somebody tell me the other day that Cassanova was lynched to death.

So long Don Huan of Montreal...

It's a .. GOAL!!

Goals - chronologically

At 5 - to GROW UP!

at 10 - Marry Salman Khan

at 12 - Become a teacher ( I get to wear a sari )

at 13 - become an astronaut (those body suits look sexy)

at 14 - become a vet - (Villy aunty needs to be put down - humanely)

at 15 - Get 90% in the board exams ( folks need to have something to talk about at the annual family reunions)

At 16 - Get 90% & Become an engineer ! ( bang on imaginary keyboards)

at 18 - Finish education

at 19, 20 , 21, 22 - Finish education(Sigh!)

at 22 yrs 6 months - get a job

at 22yrs 7 mnths - Get a JOB!!!

at 22 yrs 8 months - GET A "!£"!$£ JOB!!!

at 23 - play .. how soon can you blow up your sal!

AT 24 - go onsite (foren pics look good on Orkut!)

at 25 - play ..how soon can you blow up your sal! .. this time at onsite...

at 27 - dream of buying a house...( couz has bought one in the US)

at 28 - get another ' challenging' job (another appraisal is round the corner)

at 29 - continue dreaming of the house

30 - eternity - Find a goal...

Singing 'Dil to bachcha hain ji'

Fire and Forget

A friend of mine once said that there is no such thing as fire and forget. There is a reaction to every act that we perform. Good, bad, evil, divine - there is always a reaction. And the action reaction may not necessarily follow a rule. Good may not necessarily spawn good , or bad reaction to a bad action. The only rule that it does follow is that there is a reaction. The comment was not made in the heat of a philosophical discussion. It was made when he was bidding goodbye to his girlfriend the last time he met her before she got married. Yes it was sad and all that but that was one heck of a line.

Now, the reason I brought it up - life these days seems to be a series of full circles. I am not sure that line makes much sense . But a lot of things that were set in motion a decade ago seems to be coming back to me now, limping towards a conclusion. It wouldn't have mattered either ways . But there it is - on your face, demanding a 'period'. I do not want to sound like Ayn Rand or Virginia Woolfe . I would explain. Expressions of gratitude from people I have supposedly helped long ago, demands for explanation for ignoring people I have not seen in ages, almost like stumbling into places just so that stories left hanging so far reach their logical end.

And in a way, the time between the action and reaction is good, a matured view on things is helping me sort it out in a way that would not have been possible a decade ago.. Hmm, that philosophy also has an impact on any future action. Always driven by the thoughts of possible reactions. Gone are the carefree , devil may care way of doing things .. :)

New perspective for this decade of ma life!

Listening to 'Robert D Niro's waiting.. talking Italian'

Cruel Summer

Some random thoughts...

A new old friend on FB says that he remembers my name and my face but nothing else.Well, not sure if my ego should feel bruised or bloated. The face and the name is everything for an average person, right? Since I haven't done anything remotely Mother Theresa like , nothing else is really worth remembering! Then why am I miffed, a wee bit?

Reconnected with many people on FB. With my life split into 5 year slices, the friends also fall into different groups. The Pune colony and school group, the Kolkatta primary school group, the secondary school group, the UG group in Madras, the PG group in Madras, the first company group , again split into people from different projects and then there is the second company and so on so forth. Not complaining. Just happy to meet all those people again. And surprised too . I have a new found love for humanity these days!

And grooving to the strains of 'its a cruel, cruel summer'. Yes, am into retro too now. Bananarama time. Just the music though. Thanks but no thanks to the buffy hairstyle and high waist jeans, It would only confirm that I am running towards the past than trying to crawl towards the future!

Oh, something that I forgot to mention in my previous post. The American mentioned that she found my English to be best among all the Indians that she had met. She had already spent a few months in India. Am still floating. I know I am not going to write a 'God of small things' but hey its a compliment, which I accept with no hint of modesty what so ever!!!!! (ET, don't burst my bubble yet! you can correct my grammar in a while :)))

Someone was talking about women having to work doubly hard (when compared to the men) to succeed at work, any kind of work at that. While I agree with the comment up to a certain extend, I have to admit that I have observed that it has always been a man who has sorted out problems of that sort. Never a woman. Wonder if feminism has gone too far in our times and we have started using men as an excuse for any or all of our problems. I mean no offense to the victims of genuine discrimination. Just wondering if there is more to the problem than, well men! An example would be this recent show on TV where a few city breed women celebrities are sent to a village to live with the villagers (not sure if the villagers are genuine. I didn't last long enough through the program to find out). The show thrives on showing the silly problems these women face like waking up early in the morning and making tea and more such crap. I fail to understand why any strong independent woman would want to project herself as a helpless babe in the woods( literally in this case). C'mon, one of them has even survived jail. But no, off they go creating this aura of helplessness and then you go and blame men for not giving you your share. Shame! Shame!

And its past midnight... singing ..

He was really saying something

Hey yeah yeah

I was walking down the street

Do-wah do-wah)

When this boy started following me

Oh yeah

Now I ignored all the things he said

Do-wah do-wah)

He moved me in every way

With his collar unbuttononed

On my side he was struttin'

He was really saying something

Saying something)

Really saying something

Saying something

Bop bop shoo be do-wah

Bop bop shoo be do-wah

Sigh.. Nite....

(P.S : Found the the Bananarama cover on the web during a search. Drop a line if it involves any violation and it shall be removed)

Yeh Bhi Hain India

Back from a trip back home and its been a happening weekend!

As usual amma had news about everyone I knew and this time news was zara hatke... Turns out

that my lady driving tutor ( out of the several tutors that I have had... That would form a different blog all together and now back to my lady tutor) she has eloped to Mumbai. Now you would ask whats great about that... The twist in this tale is that she has eloped with another girl.. and a small town in Kerala is abuzz with the news.. Now I kinda knew her inclination towards girls... Not what you think.. Just that she had too many questions about UK's gay culture. Now, surprises do not stop there . After telling me the news , amma wanted to talk about homosexuality. Well, dad staged a walk out, immediately. And I followed him, promptly . I am all for gay rights, but talking about homosexuality or sexuality in general with parents is not a very gay thought...Yeah go right ahead and call me a prude!

And while I am still on the Kerala trip, on the way back, an American sat beside me in the bus. A girl from California who is in India to learn about ayurveda! And her specialization - natural childbirth, at home. I was surprised, I mentioned that in India , atleast among the educated lot, the trend of giving birth at home has gone. Personally its unthinkable, unless I am marooned on some island. Her reply was that, while you guys chase 'technology' we are going back to the olden ways. You are teaching kids to eat cornflakes , while we are learning to eat idli! Yes , idli! The crazy one has a totally unplanned trip, visiting one guru after another as and when she hears about them and all this alone! When I said Americans are adventurous, her reply was ... 'or Stupid!' .. :) I have to say she is my inspiration to plan a trip to the north.. Lets see about that one...

And a pic from my trip..This one is Athirapilly...