Skip to main content

Staphylococcus v/s Streptococcus

 Di, but I am only 25. Apparently, this line of logic had limited appeal.

"But, you had a girlfriend when you were twenty. Twenty five is a good ripe age to get married." retorted my sister. 

She was right, at eighteen I did have a girlfriend. And I had committed to getting married to her when I was able to support a household on my own. I had promised her this I would achieve before I turned 28. Her existence still had a role to play in my life, and her name would return to haunt every now and then. But this was not a time to fight or argue or bring up failed relationships.

"Will Manika be able to really understand me? Will she understand that I am deeply unhappy with my career? I don't know what I want to become? I want to be an author, a pilot, a teacher, an entrepreneur, a restauranteur, a computer wiz, a website designer, blah, blah, blah, I don't know what yet. Will she understand that I am lost. Is this at all the time to get married?" Thoughts like these ran wild in my head. 

The girl who I committed to get married to dumped me the first moment she got a whiff of my 'irrational' plans in life. Why will anyone want to get married to a man who is lost and is not interested in what normal people do. 

I was getting lost in my own dreamy world and my Di sensed that.

She broke my trance by saying, "Oh Hello, Mungerilal (for the uninitiated a TV character from doordarshan who would frequently dream and live in his own world), WAKE UP! Should we set up a meeting this weekend?"

"Hmm!" I muttered.

And quickly it was done. Here I was in a splendid restaurant I had never been to in Maurya Lok, the only thing closest to a shopping mall Patna had in 2006.

Manika's Mum and my Mum had come along with their kids (yes, I felt like a kid that day outside a kindergarten) and we were asked to sit on opposite sides of a table.

Manika: Hello

I: Hi

(I was blushing, I am sure!)

My Mum's asked us what we would like to eat and ordered. When the food arrived, both mums agreed they should leave the kids to talk and moved to some other corner of the restaurant.

Manika: So, what's your plan in life?

I: Umm.. Hmm.. I don't know. I am unable to figure out.

Manika: But you are a doctor. You should have it all figured out. Isn't it?

I: Well, I have finished publishing a few books, have cleared a few PG exams, have stuff sorted for an international degree in medicine, but honestly I am super-confused. I don't particularly love what I am doing. Anyway, What did you study? What are you plans?

Manika: I am studying master's in microbiology. And have a bunch of options and offers. But aaj-kal shady ki baat chat nahi hai. (But these days I am in the middle of plans to get married).

I: Wow, microbiology!! Did you read Paniker for microbiology? I am very bad at memorising stuff. I find all memory intensive subjects too difficult to remember and deal with.

Manika: Microbiology was nice and easy?

I: Hmm. Really! What do you think is the most important difference between staphylococcus and streptococcus?

Popular posts from this blog

No

T his was a wild accusation - both bizarre and preposterous. How can a sleeping man locked in his house be present at another location at the same time?  Everyone was visibly upset. When I told this to my only bestie of that time, he asked me "Beta, baba too nahi ban gaya - bahut meditation karta hai?" (Dude. I hope you haven't become a mystic with magical powers. You meditate too much.) And then came the decision. No, we shouldn't get into this .  Even before we have had any relationship we are being accused of bizarre things. The decision was taken. There was anguish all around. My Mum called Manika's mum and informed her, "We have decided to postpone our boy's marriage. We don't have a problem if you want to marry Manika with someone else." After the call she was very unnerved. I felt sad for my Mum.  I know that when she says things that she knows would trouble someone she would be deeply hurt inside. I told her, "Mum, its okay, after a...
Read more

Do anjane ajnabi

 Do anjane ajnabi (Two strangers) This was the year when the Bollywood film Vivah was released. In our good old days we had the ritual of going to watch family movies. And how could we miss Vivah from the Barjatya's. I grew up in a household where Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (HAHK) was a reflection of the relationships between family members and Vivah was a part of the franchise from the house of Barjatyas, the iconic production house in Bollywood. My mum was crying all along the second half of the movie and I too shed a few tears. When we were driving home, my Mum asked me, "would it not be great to have someone who became family?" I said, "Yes Ma, we can adopt someone. Ha, Ha, Ha" Clearly, she was not amused. She said, "I understand that you are averse to the idea of getting married. But all girls are not like the one who dumped you. There are some girls who would build a family and go to any length to protect the family. You have to look beyond your bad experie...
Read more

The secret diary

--------- <email one> To: Me From: Neha Subject: Your diary Hey! I found a diary that has a lot of your personal information and notes. It is very interesting. I found your email id on the first page. I would want to return it to you. Take care ---------- I was not sure if I had lost a diary. Or I even had one. I was way too cool (in my opinion, of course) to have a diary. I had a Casio Digital Diary :) ---------- I was a bit worried though after receiving an email from a complete stranger. This was the first time a stranger had written a fictional email to me. And this definitely was not the last. I shared this with my Mum. And while didn't yet have an email of her own, she told me, "don't fret on it, someone is trying to pull a prank." ----------- <email two> To: Me From: Neha Subject: You didn't reply? Hey Doc. You didn't reply? I was waiting for your response. How have you been? Please let me know when and where should we meet to give your priz...
Read more