https://notionpress.com/read/tasty-bites
Tasty bites
Tasty bites
Amol
Ambokar
‘Tasty
bites’ is a powerful combination of stories. This book will enthrall its
audience (from all age groups). Reader will relate him/her with the characters
of the story. College going people will relate themselves with the characters
of ‘Big Apple’. People who find their love in office will relate themselves
with the characters of ‘Ticker’. One who is already in love will relate himself
with the character of ‘Surprise’. One who is in love but desires to get
unconditional love will relate himself/herself with character of ‘Sensex’.
Along with the major four stories as mentioned in the above description there
are four small stories.
‘Sa re ga ma’, is a musical
journey of two people, Hridhay and Swarangi. Proximity between them attracts
them to each other but neither the boy or the girl realize it. One day, the boy
learns a fact about the girl and he realizes his love for her and proposes her
but wait there’s more to add. Find it by reading the story.
Sa
Re Ga Ma
Normally, a child by the age
of 15 finds his dream but in my case I realized it at the age of mere 10. Music
was it. God had already given me a good voice, so I wanted to harness this
more. Hi, I am Hridhay Malhar. Since I live in Pune, which is the cultural
capital of Maharashtra, so understanding and appreciating my talent wasn’t
difficult and I was well accepted in this city. There are many options
available here and my parents were equally supportive about my passion so they
enrolled me in a class that thought about playing harmonium. There’s a story
behind my name, my father is a big fan of Pandit Hridhaynath Mangeshkar hence
he kept my name as Hridhay. Hridhay in Marathi stands for heart. As heart has a
rhythmic beating of ‘dhak dhak’ hence my name is meaningful taking my passion
in consideration.
Since I stay in Kothrud area
of Pune and the class was in Kothrud itself near my house so going there alone
wasn’t any problem. I used to go there at 4pm and used to come back by 6pm.
Like every kid, I too liked to play cricket. I used to play it after coming
back from the class. There were two groups that played in our society. One of
big boys and other of small boys like me. We were often played with old boys as
‘kaccha limbu’ or as a weak player. Though I hated it but still I liked to play
with them.
I was now 12 years old and I
graduated from image of small boy to a big boy. I stopped my harmonium tuitions
as I now knew to play harmonium well. ‘Hey Hridhay, have you heard of Salil
Kulkarni? He’s taking classes of classical music’, Ishant asked. Ishant is of
my age, stays in my building and is my best friend. ‘Oh! Are you sure that he
takes classes as he’s a big personality in the field of music’, I replied. ‘Yes
man, a friend of mine goes to his classes’, Ishant replied. Next day, I went to
Salil Kulkarni’s music school in Karve Nagar. Another area that is close to
Kothrud.
Salil sir met me and asked,
‘do you know anything about music?’ ‘Yes’, I replied. ‘I sing well and know to
play harmonium’, I added. I sang a song accompanied by music from the harmonium
which I played. ‘You sing really well, some technical flaws but don’t worry as
I will correct it’, Salil sir said. ‘You can join from tomorrow and you need to
pay very nominal fees every month, by the way where do you stay?’ He added.
‘Kothrud’, I answered. ‘So that’s very near, come every day at 5pm sharp’, he
said.
………
Big
Apple
Prologue
‘Big
Apple’ is a story about two friends Aditya and Ashwin, they both are engineers
and they have a common dream that is going to US. Ashwin want to study there
and Aditya want to work there. Aditya falls in love with a girl named Priya.
Will Aditya and Ashwin would be able to make it?
INTERVIEW
I had a glance at the wall
clock it’s 5.50 am, it’s still 10 minutes to go, I said to myself and closed my
left eye again. Ting – a – Tong the doorbell rung. This must be the milkman; I
will kill this guy some day for coming so early. It was almost every day since
my parents went to Delhi for attending a wedding that I requested the milkman
Vijay to come late. I snatched the packets of milk from Vijay and by then the
10 minutes that I had planned to sleep were gone. The second hand of the clock
was mercilessly moving towards the 12 mark, 5..4..3..2..1 ‘jingle bell jingle
bell jingle on the way ‘ the wall clock bell started ringing. No, this wasn’t
my dream but this time the bell rung for 7.00 am.
Get
ready for the interview, I said to myself. Dressed formally I left the
building. I don’t know but why I gave a glance at my building and I saw Anju
aunty with her beautiful daughter ‘Priya’ staring at me. I am going to be
kicked out of the interview, I said to myself. I remembered my days of
engineering as i screwed my subject whenever I saw this couple before I left
for my examination. ‘Look how clothes change the personality of a person’, Anju
aunty made a remark to her astonishingly beautiful daughter.
To
my surprise I got into the 8.02 Am local to CST with lot of ease and even got a
4th seat to sit. These local timings are such a pain; I mean what
difference it will make if the train starts at 8.05 Am instead of the usual
unusual timing. I put my head down and started reading the newspaper trying to
remember the headlines and the matter on which I can speak in the personal
interview. ‘hehehehehehehe………… you are so funny’, I heard a sweet voice from
the other side of the compartment. I tried to find the source of this voice and
I saw a beautiful ‘chick’ oops girl with a not so good looking guy. Why do good
looking girls go around with guys who can be potentially termed as loosers’? As
it was in my case when I dated Priya. Okay, more about Priya later, now
concentrate on my interview. I reached the interview place MORGAN CONSULTANCY
SERVICES, MCS as it was popularly known in the field of Information Technology.
I saw almost 10 to 15 guys dressed neatly and getting ready for the interview
doing some final checks on their appearance. Someone combing his hair, someone
figuring out whether his tie is in proper place, it was almost a live drama for
me. I controlled my laughter and started looking around.
‘Welcome
to Morgan consultancy services, how can I help you sir?’ I heard a voice that
would melt all the hearts on this tiny planet. I turned around and saw this
remarkably pretty girl dressed neatly in red saree with headphones on her head
and a speaking with a charming smile on the mike. Instinctively, I went towards
her and by then her call was over. I gave a quick glance at her photo id card
to get her name ‘Seema Singh’. ‘Hi Seema, I am Aditya Gavaskar I have been
called for an interview for the position of a software engineer’, I said. She
went through the list of candidates and replied back with a spark in her eyes,
‘Aditya you are next’. ‘What!’ I said with a big question mark and surprise on
my face. ‘Aditi is in and you are next’, Seema said. Why did my parents gave me
a name which will always put me in roll number 1 position wherever I go, why
didn’t they call me Zorro or any damn name starting from Z, I said to myself
with almost disgust. Forgetting Seema, I started gearing up for the interview.
Is my hairstyle correct; is my tie in proper position? I started doing the
cross verification in the mirror next to the reception where Seema was sitting.
Closing her eyes she gave me a very warm smile, for a second I thought that my
heart has skipped a beat. I replied back with a very childish smile and started
looking at the door. As time passed my heart had started beating as loud as
Harley Davidson bike VROD when in full swing.
In
some time a girl came out of the room with expression as if she had captured
the hearts of the interview panel. A guy in his late 20’s called up my name
‘Aditya Gavaskar’ and as soon as he called up my name there were giggles in the
entire lobby as with my name they would have imagined a guy with cricket pads,
helmet and gloves on who’s getting ready for his batting turn.
I
followed the guy who called out my name, he took me to the room where the
interview panel was sitting ‘best of luck’, he wished me and went back. It was
really a nice gesture of that guy to wish me; the interview panel consisted of
three people. One by one they introduced themselves. ‘Hi, I am Ram Sharma
senior consultant at MCS’, Ram said. ‘Hi, I am Madhuri Iyer from human
resources at MCS’, Madhuri said. ‘Hi, I am Piyush Purohit senior technical lead
at MCS’, Piyush said. Piyush was a typical IIT guy with thick framed spectacles
and glasses in it were so thick that they resembled magnifying glass or glass
bottle of an aerated drink. His head had exactly couple of tablespoons of
coconut oil and his face had a look which said that any non-IITian is a waste.
‘Pleasure meeting all of you’, I replied. ‘Let me introduce myself to you, I am
Aditya Gavaskar and I have completed my BE electronics from Mumbai university’,
I said. ‘Which college?’ Asked an IIT return Piyush. ‘G.C.Deshmukh College of
engineering in Navi Mumbai, I replied’. I don’t why but Piyush suddenly lost
interest in me. May be my college name didn’t attract him. Technical questions
that I answered pretty well really impressed Ram.
Then
came the big test, that is the HR interview. I don’t know why but I was pretty
scared of HR guys because in my earlier interviews I was kicked out in HR
interviews. ‘Aditya, why software engineering when you come from an electronics
background?’ Madhuri asked me. ‘Wow! Jackpot of a question’, I said to myself,
a question for which I had a ready-made answer. Practically speaking there was
recession in the electronics industry when it came to jobs, even Madhuri knew
about it but being politically correct is a major thumb rule in HR interviews.
‘I always had interest in coding so I took electronics engineering with a
perspective in assembly language programming but I found that assembly language
had a limited spectrum as compared to software development languages’, I said.
‘That’s right’, Ram replied back as he came from an electronics background too.
Few
more questions and the interview came to its final stages. ‘Do you want to ask
us anything?’ Piyush asked with a very tiring voice as if he wanted me to leave
that place as early as possible. ‘Yes!’ I said. ‘Shoot!’ Piyush replied back as
if the IIT return guy was ready for any question which a non-IIT guy would
throw at him. ‘What is the company’s expansion plan abroad?’ I asked. ‘What has
made you ask this question?’ Piyush asked as if I have stamped on his big IIT
tail. ‘MCS is almost the number 1 company in India when it comes to information
technology so is the company planning to spread its wings abroad’, I replied
back to Piyush (IIT Delhi). ‘Good question’, Ram replied back. I somehow felt
that Ram had soft corner for me. Ram gave me a very satisfactory answer for the
question.
‘We
will get back to you in about a week’s time’, Madhuri said with a smile on her
face. I shook hands with all of them and left out of the interview room. It was
almost an hour of interview and I was feeling bit relieved so I headed towards
the office canteen to have a cup of coffee. ‘How was the interview?’ A familiar
voice asked me from my back. Trying to figure out the voice, I looked back and
to my surprise I saw Seema with a cup of coffee in her hand. ‘Cool’, I replied
back inviting her to sit with me. ‘Hi, I am Aditya Gavaskar’, I said.
Controlling her laughter she replied back, ‘I know you as we were in the same
school’. ‘Oh! I didn’t figure you out’, I said with a big surprise on my face
as if I remembered each and every face. ‘I expected it out of you as I never
saw you speaking with anyone in the school’, Seema said. ‘That’s true’, I
replied, ‘I was among the gang which used to play pranks with you’, she said.
‘What!’ I said with the same question mark as Piyush had it on his face. ‘Who
do you think would take the air out of your bicycle tyre, put dead cockroaches
in your bag; it was me who had painted your shirt with blue ink when I
pretended it to have accidentally fallen on you’, Seema replied back with a very
mischievous smile on her face.
‘Oh!
It was you’, I said remembering how much I hated her set of friends in school.
I never thought a lizard like looking girl in school would turn out to be
bombshell at MCS, she took my contact number and I left MCS. ‘Bye and by the
way you still stay at Sai Villa nah?’ She asked ‘Yes’, I said. ‘That’s great, I
would see you in sometime around in your building’, she said. I somehow got
feeling that I would make it this time around but I don’t want to dream
anything as whatever I dreamt of it remained as a dream. It was about 3 pm when
I reached back to my house, now if you are thinking how did I take so long to
reach home, then my answer would be ‘none of your business’. Relax! I just
hanged around with my friend at a smokers joint.
HOME
Oops! In this entire
interview mess I forgot that my parents along with my younger sister Pinky
A.K.A Pico were supposed to reach today at 2.30 pm train from Delhi. They were
out to attend a wedding of one my cousin in a plush area of Delhi. God has
never been kind with me as the train that is normally late by minimum two or
three hours had reached before time that day. As soon as I entered the building
lobby I saw a giant figure looping towards me, relax its Pico.
‘Dada’,
we are back, you know we had so much fun over there and I really missed you a
lot’, she said. I hugged her and carrying her on my back and I climbed the
building stairs listening to her silliest things. ‘Here you are?’ My mom said
in a very cheerful voice. ‘So how was your interview?’ ‘Will you make this
time?’ ‘How much they will pay you?’ ‘Will you be placed in the same city?’ And
the series of questions that were thrown at me continued for next 5 minutes.
‘Chill!’ I said with a very deep voice as I threw away my bag in my normal
style and I relaxed on the sofa.
There
was stunned silence in the entire room. ‘Yes! The interview was good and they
will let me know in few days about my selection’, I said. It was very pleasing
to see the kind of excitement on everybody’s face. By this time you must have
got what kind of person I am, if not let me introduce myself to you. I am
Aditya Gavaskar, BE electronics from Mumbai University, a distinction holder in
final year, surprised with the last statement. Yes, I was a topper in the final
year from my college and this wasn’t at all acceptable to the neatly dressed
good boys with well oiled hair that stinked, who were always found with or
around professors discussing their silliest doubts. ‘What? Aditya topped this
time’, said a surprised Sumit to Rakesh. Sumit and Rakesh were the toppers in
our college for last three years. ‘How can this happen?’ Rakesh replied back.
My result wasn’t at all acceptable to Rakesh and Sumit as it was for almost the
rest of the class to see a guy with rock star like image, with the smell of
cigarettes around him and torn jeans to top the college. This was the main
topic of debate that day but only person who was happy was my one time buddy
Ashwin A.K.A Ash.
It
was about 6 Pm and mom was in no mood to cook some snacks for hungry dad, Pico
and of course me. So I decided to buy some hot samosa’s, just when I was about
to leave the house bell rung. No it wasn’t the milkman Vijay this time. I
opened the door and to my surprise, I saw Priya with a bowl of some snacks. She
was looking as beautiful as she ever did and she was wearing pink top with blue
jeans, I remember this was the same top that I had gifted her. ‘Are you done
with the snacks?’ she asked. ‘Mom had prepared some dhoklas and she wants you
to taste it’, Priya added. ‘Pri, tuzhe toh bhagwan ne bheja hai mere liye’,
Pico said almost pouncing on the bowl full of dhoklas. ‘Come in’, I reluctantly
said. ‘No, I have to go on the terrace Pooja is waiting for me’, she said with
a spark in her eyes. I remembered that this was her punch line indicating me to
reach at Pooja’s in 15 minutes. By the way, Pooja’s is a restaurant at Park
Street, around 15 minutes away from Sai Villa.
I
was in two minds whether to go or not as I had already broken our relationship
and heart of a very sweet girl, as Priya was my only friend apart from Ashwin
with whom I shared everything. Within 20 minutes I reached Pooja’s and there I
saw Priya anxiously waiting for me. Turning the chair by 180 degrees I sat on
it in my normal style. ‘Stop this and sit properly’, Priya said almost biting
her tongue as she knew that she had no business to scold me anymore. She smiled
as I responded back with the same smile.
‘So
how was your interview?’ she asked. ‘It was good; they were impressed’, I
replied back with a very firm voice. ‘Usual?’ The waiter at Pooja’s interrupted
us. ‘Yes’, I said closing down my eyes as if this guy had interrupted a big
business deal. ‘Remember Adi, this was one of our hangout places’, Priya said.
‘Not bad you remember everything’, I said. ‘Look, we are coming back to the
same argument’, she said as if she really meant business. We both started
laughing as once I bit her finger when she was pointing it at me. It was one of
the most beautiful evenings that I had spent for a long time. I didn’t have a
clue that it was 9.00 pm as we were so much into our flashback. ‘So how is
Ash?’ She asked. She didn’t know that Ash and I weren’t exactly in talking
terms with each other. ‘Good’, I replied back pointing towards the waiter to
get the bill. We paid the bill and went to the building in our own different
ways. ‘Bye, when can we meet again?’ Priya asked with innocence in her eyes. ‘I
will give u a call’, I said. Boss! I still love her, I used to love her
innocent eyes and her naïve voice, no doubt she was beautiful. I wondered that
how come she fell in love with me as I was a big time loser.
We
shook hands and I almost fell on her as a big figure lunged on my back and it
was no other than Pico. ‘Hey darling, what are you doing here?’ She asked Priya
with a very naughty smile. I grabbed Pico and put my hand on her tunnel like
mouth. ‘Dada, she is really sweet, even mom likes her, she cooks well, she
dresses up neatly and she is very stylish’, Pico said and her ‘vote for Priya’
continued until we reached our door. ‘Dada, trust me I won’t tell anything to
mom’, she said. ‘Tell what?’ I asked. ‘You want to test me out then watch the
fun’, Pico said in a warning tone. ‘Relax Pico’, I said with my right hand in
air as if I was swearing before a judge. Mom opened the door and saw me
swearing in front of Pico. ‘No chocolates for Pico’, mom alarmed me.
It
was a Tuesday afternoon and mom was busy gossiping with Anju aunty. Pico was
watching as usual cartoon network and giggling on the silliest jokes of Dexter
and his idiot little sister Didi. I thought that if the picture of my house was
filmed as cartoon but relax I am not as genius as that kid. ‘We will we will
rock you’ my cell phone started ringing and I picked up the phone. ‘Am I
speaking with Aditya Gavaskar?’ A soft-spoken voice said from the other end.
‘Yes!’ I said. ‘I am Shalini from Morgan consultancy service, how are doing
Aditya?’ Is this the right time to speak?’ she asked. For a moment I couldn’t
believe my ears and lost my concentration. For a moment Pico stopped relishing
on her favorite potato chips. ‘Yes’, I replied back. ‘Congratulations Aditya
you have made it through your interview and we offer you the position of
trainee software engineer and we will be sending you the offer letter by post,
it has all the details in it’, she said. ‘Can I please confirm your mailing
address? She asked. Upon conforming the address I hung up the phone. The world
in front of me started getting a bit misty and I couldn’t see anything in front
of me as drops of tears ran down from my eyes. I couldn’t believe myself that
finally I had made it through, a career which was under lot of threats and
doubt was finally on track.
I
rubbed my eyes and went towards mom, ‘mom, I have made it through MCS’, I said.
‘Anju, pinch me’, my mom said to Anju aunty, who would have asked the same
question to herself. No one could believe that I have made it through
‘congratulations Adi’, mom said with her eyes moistened. Mom is a very
emotional when it comes to me and my life. ‘Congratulations Adi, so how much
are they offering you?’ Anju aunty asked, she was still surprised that I had
made it through. They will post me the offer letter which has all the details.
Now till then it was real suspense as the offer letter had every answer to
everyone’s question.
By
Friday the offer letter arrived at my doorstep it straight away went in the
hands of Pico who bargained a chocolate in favor of the letter. I was in no
mood to bargain that’s why I straight away gave her my favorite menthol candy
and hushed her around. I carefully read the offer letter
Salary:
2,30,000 per anum (not bad)
Location:
Mumbai (icing on the cake)
Joining
date: 1st April 2006…(was this an April fool’s joke).
Dad
came late in the evening and I showed him the offer letter. With delight he put
his hand in his briefcase and pulled out a brand new pen, ‘sign on the offer
letter with this pen’, he said.
…………………..
‘Kinder garden’ is a story
or a fairy tale that every girl dreams of. Nisha, the protagonist of the story
falls in love with her childhood (Luv) friend since they were kids. Today, Luv
is a budding and a very famous crickter. When and how will Nisha tell Luv about
her feelings?
Kinder
Garden
Normally, a boy feels sad
over his lost childhood love but in my case it’s completely opposite. Hi, I am
Nisha, I live in Mumbai. Mumbai, is often called city of dreams, in my case it
gave rise to one of my wildest and crazy dream. A dream, in which I fell in
love with a budding cricketer. My first love, only when we were children. Luv
is his name. Today, I often see ‘love you Luv’ placards in the crowd, when he’s
playing cricket in IPL for Kings XI Punjab and I feel jealous. Watching him
playing always take me past in time when Luv was a kid and I was a kid too.
Luv stayed in my building
before he moved to Punjab. Luv was in same school, same division as I was in.
He was very cute and very fun loving. He used to often play pranks with me
while coming back from school, then be it teasing me by any name or pulling my
choti while fighting. A film named ‘Hum apke hai kaun’ was playing in my house
and in it the song ‘pehla pehla pyar hai’ was playing. What a coincidence, Luv
was my first crush, my name Nisha and he was my Prem. By the way, Luv is indeed
lord Rama’s son’s name but Luv A.K.A love in Hindi means Prem. What a
coincidence. In some films, it exist that there’s a big family feud between the
people who are in love but in my case Luv’s mother was best friend of my
mother, so we were often together.
One day, as usual we were
returning back from school and in the mid way, I saw a dog’s puppy and
instinctively I called him, ‘yew yew’ and I clapped to call him. Luv hid behind
me as I was playing with that puppy. ‘Stupid girl, why did you call that
monster’, Luv said after the puppy had gone away and he pulled my choti. ‘Luv,
he was just a puppy and not a monster, very docile animal’, I replied with pain
as he kept pulling my chotu, ‘Docile, my foot, he was a black coloured dog and
I bet that his mom would be black too’, he said. ‘Hey, do you fear dogs?’ I asked
laughing. ‘Not all of them but black coloured, as a black coloured dog had
bitten me before’, he said. ‘I can’t control my laughter Luv’, I said. ‘He he,
laugh more, you stupid girl’, he said angrily. Luv had a liking for pepsi cola
ice cream and he often used to buy it for us as it costed just 50 paise.
‘Bhaiya, two pepsi cola’, Luv said to shop vendor and went towards his freezer
and he slipped ice cubes that were placed near it. He gave the ice cream to me
and while we were walking, he slipped it under my school t-shirt. I felt very
cold and danced wildly to remove it. ‘Gadhe, why did you do it?’ I asked
angrily. ‘It’s a punishment for you as you called that monster’, he replied
with a mischievous smile.
………………………….
Ticker
Prologue
‘Ticker’, is a story about
two people Siddharth and Avni. They work in the same office and fall in love
with each other. When they decide to marry they face many hurdles. The biggest
of them is his mother. Would they will be able to make it and how?
OFFICE
I got up early that day as
it was my first day in office. I finished my breakfast early that day. I had
decided to take local train instead of car so that I would make friends while
travelling such that travelling time passes by. At 9.30 Am I reached office.
The girl at the reception counter was surprised to see a visitor that early.
‘Whom do you want to meet?’ She asked me. ‘I am a new joinee, my name is
Siddharth Deshpande’ I replied. ‘Oh! You are that new guy; Ravi told me
yesterday that you would be joining today’, she said. ‘Sit inside’, she said as
she opened an electronically controlled door. I was given tea and biscuits by
the office boy as that office didn’t have tea vending machine.
Few minutes later, a man and
few people came in the office. The man called me at his desk, he shook hands
with me. ‘Hi, I am Ravi Narayan. project manager of all insurance related
projects’, he said. ‘Hi, I am Siddharth Deshpane’, I said. ‘Feel comfortable
here, if you have any problem then feel free to come to me. I have around 10
years of experience at Softcell, you won’t get such kind of work atmosphere
anywhere’, he said. ‘You would be joining Sanjay’s team’, he added. ‘Wait, I
will call him’, he said. In few minutes a man in his late 20’s came at Ravi’s
desk. ‘Sanjay, this is Siddharth, he will be joining your team’, Sanjay shook
hands with me. ‘Best of luck Siddharth’, Ravi wished me.
Sanjay took me at his desk
and introduced me with rest of the team members. ‘Guys, this is Siddharth and
he would be joining our team’, he said. One by one they introduced themselves
to me. My team consisted of Sanjay, Mahesh, Sahil, Sakina and Sonia. Sonia was
like a baby elephant; if she sat on a see saw it would take two people of my
size to balance the weight. Sakina was beautiful. ‘So Siddharth, which place
you belong to?’ Sonia asked. ‘Mumbai’, I replied. ‘Where in Mumbai?’ Sonia
asked. ‘Prabhadevi’, I replied. ‘Where is that?’ Sonia asked. I immediately
figured out that she was not from Mumbai. ‘Do you know Siddhivinayak temple,
just opposite to that’, I replied. ‘Oh great, so you must be going there
everyday?’ Sonia asked. ‘Yes! Every day after taking bath, except on Tuesday as
there is too much crowd’, I said. ‘One more thing everyone, please call me
‘Sid’ as everybody calls me by that name’, I added. ‘So Sid, where were you
working before?’ Sakina asked. ‘I was working with Citibank computer services
and I have 4 years of experience’, I answered. ‘That means Sonia is youngest
among us’, Sahil said. Sonia by no means looked youngest among us. Sanjay
showed me my workplace and gave me some project related documents to read.
At 1 Pm we had our lunch,
Sonia opened her tiffin. Her food was full of oil, now I got from where she had
gained weight. I wondered that if she had ever tried to reduce her weight. Ravi
joined for lunch, ‘so Siddharth, he said. ‘Call him Sid’, Sakina said. ‘How
have you found them?’ Ravi continued his question. ‘They all are good guys’ I
replied. At 4 pm our tea came, thank god, they didn’t have tea vending machine
otherwise tea looked like tea powder and milk powder had accidently fallen in
boiling water. Sakina sat in the corner next to me. At 6.30 Pm she received a
call on her cell phone, ‘it must be Wasim, my husband, he daily comes to pick
me, his office is near to our office’, she said. ‘Wasim likes to drive’, she
added. ‘Even I like to drive’, I said. ‘Which car do you have?’ She asked.
‘Honda City’, I replied. It’s a nice car, so do you come to office by car?’
Sakina asked.. ‘No Sakina, I hate to travel alone while going to office’, I
replied. ‘So, everyone leaves at this time?’ I asked. ‘Yes, we finish our work
by 6.30 pm’, Sakina replied. Sakina, Sahil and Sonia were talkative, Sanay and
Mahesh weren’t talkative. I liked people who talked more as I was talkative
too. In a week I got to know various insurance products that the insurance
company had coded and their premium calculation methods. I got to know
different enhancements that Softcell had coded for them. I got small
enhancements that I coded with the team. Softcell got a project to charge the
insurance holder, if he decides to change his insurance plan and it should be
changeable. Ravi assigned it to our team. Ravi and Sanjay liked my idea so they
asked me to start coding. It was the first time that I was coding
independently. The project went fine in all stages.
We got a new project to code
a program for printing a report with the payment behavior history of a
customer. Sakina and I started coding. ‘Sakina, don’t you think this data
should be aligned a bit left’, I said. ‘Yes Sid, you are right’, she said.
‘Sakina, customer file would give us information of the required data’, I said.
I gave her few coding tips. ‘Sid, you make me feel that you have more than 4
years of experience’, she said. ‘Thanks, even in my previous company they also
said it’, I said. Sakina was at my desk and she said ‘Sid, look at Sanjay, this
emotionless mosquito has a girlfriend, you are smarter than him; you could have
a girlfriend too’, she said. ‘I agree but my girlfriend should be smart like
me’, I said.
AVNI
‘Sid, there would be new
person joining your team today, her name is Avni’, Ravi said. ‘She would be
joining in place of Sonia as Sonia would be joining other team’, he added. ‘You
have additional work to train her as she is a fresher’, he further said. That
day Avni joined, Ravi introduced her to us and left. Avni was tall and very
fair; she had worn a black salwar kameez which made her look fairer. Her hairs
were straight and black, little longer than her shoulder, she kept them tied
but I felt that they would look nice if she kept them open. I felt that if I
was watching a daily soap actress, Avni sported a light lipstick and smartness
reflected on her face and I liked it. Her eyes were black and prominent and
gave expression that I want to tell something.
‘Hi everyone, I am Avni
Sharma, I have done my BE from Sardar Patel college of engineering’, Avni said.
Avni was equally good in vocabulary; her vocabulary was polished and sweet,
being from Mumbai helped her to become bold. We one by one introduced
ourselves, ‘Sid would be giving you basic training’, Sanjay said pointing
towards me. Sanjay showed her desk to her, happiness could be clearly seen on
Avni’s face. I know what must be going through her mind at that moment as I had
same feeling when my project leader showed my desk. Avni sat next to me and I
showed her how to use our coding software and gave her basic information on
insurance and few basic terms. As Avni listened to me she simultaneously took
notes. I gave her few documents to read and asked her go back to her desk and
study them. ‘Thank you Sir’, she said. ‘Avni, remember don’t call anyone sir or
madam, first name culture holds true in IT industry’, I said ‘We all leave at
6.30 pm; you can stay back if you like’, I added. Soon Avni was workable; we
always used to give her small work. Our insurance company gave us new task,
they wanted us modify the code in such way that premium would be calculated and
letters would be generated for the new product. Ravi asked me to come at his
desk for discussion, ‘so Sid, what should we do about this project?’ Ravi
asked. ‘Ravi, I think we should write a new program for it’, I said. ‘Sid, I
think we should modify existing program’, Ravi said. ‘Ravi, that would be risky
and it can screw existing functionality’, I said. ‘Our processing bureau would
object new program’, he said. I changed the existing program as Ravi had
instructed.
The changes went fine in SIT
and UAT, i.e. the preliminary stages in software development cycle. During it
went to real environment it failed, the program had miscalculated the premium
thus generating wrong letter file. Next day, when I came in office Ravi was in
pensive mood, tension was written all over his face. I went to my desk and
checked my e-mails; there was a call invite from James Johnson, our processing
bureau head. Ravi came at my desk and called me in the discussion room. Ravi
closed the door of the room and spoke in a soft voice such that he can’t be
heard outside. ‘Sid, I want you to do me a favor’, he said. ‘What favor?’ I
asked. ‘Sid in the call please take the blame on yourself’, he said. ‘Why
Ravi?’ I asked. ‘As you are new, so James won’t say anything to you but if he finds
me in this the issue might get escalated’, he replied. I joined the call on
time, ‘as you know there was a
production issue last night. Ravi, I understand that it was coded by your
team’, James said. ‘Siddharth coded it, he in this call’, Ravi said. ‘Siddharth
have you coded it?’ James asked. ‘Yes’, I said. ‘Do you know the impact of
this?’ James asked. ‘Wrong letters were printed because of this’, James said.
‘James, I am sorry for this, I said. ‘Since you are new so I can’t say anything
to you’, he said and ended the call. Ravi came to me after the call and he
said, ‘I owe a lot to you’.
I finished my work early and
left early and I was waiting downstairs for rickshaw. I saw Avni coming out and
she also waited for rickshaw, ‘Avni, where are going? Can I drop you somewhere?
I am going to station’ I said. ‘I am going too to station’, she said. ‘Which
station?’ I asked. Dadar’, she said. ‘Where in Dadar?’ I asked. ‘Shivaji park’,
she replied. ‘I stay at Prabhadevi’, I said. ‘So you can give me company till
shivaji park’, she said. ‘Where did you work before?’ She asked, ‘In Malad’, I
replied. ‘So you are not new to this place, Sid, from which college you have
done your engineering?’ She asked. ‘Sardar Patel college of engineering’, I
replied. ‘Oh! You too. That’s why I thought that I had read your name
somewhere’ she said. ‘Were you topper in final year?’ She asked. ‘Your name was
put on the notice board. I thought of meeting you but then I came to know that
you have already passed out’, Avni said. ‘It means that you are just 3 years
younger than me, what did you do in 1 year?’ I asked. ‘I was preparing for GRE
but I got less score’, she said. ‘So, have you planned to do your MS later?’ I
asked. ‘No Sid’ Avni replied.
That day I dropped Avni till
her house, who knew that I would regularly do that. I started to go and come
with her, time easily passed with her as she was very chirpy. ‘What are your
hobbies?’ I asked. ‘I have taken training in singing’, she said. ‘Wow! I have
singer with me’, I said. What is your hobby Sid?’ she asked. ‘Reading and
listening to music but I can’t sing’, I said. ‘Don’t worry, I will teach you’,
she said. ‘Thanks Avni, but I have bad voice’, I said. For few months we went
together and I got used to her company.
One day, I called my friend
Sameer to a café. Sam came, he had kept a moustache and beard which made him
look more than 35. ‘Hi Sam, nice to see you’, I said. We ordered coffee and
took seats. ‘Sam, I want to talk something important with you and I am 100%
sure that you will help me’, I said. ‘Sam, I am daily coming and going to
office with a girl and I think that I am in love with her’, I added. ‘Sid, you
are with her most of time, so you call this as love, this is nothing but
attraction’, Sam said. When you are confused you tend to take wrong decisions
and similarly it happened with me, I took out my mobile and sent an SMS to Avni
,‘how are you’. Few minutes later Avni replied, ‘what’. I think Sam is right,
maybe I was overreacting. After spending an hour at the café we moved out. As
we were walking a car stopped near us. A boy in the car asked Sam, ‘uncle,
where is Siddhivinayak temple?’ ‘Do I look like uncle? Now I won’t tell you the
way’, Sam said to the boy. I told him the way and they left. ‘Look at that Sid,
that tiny little creature called me an uncle’, Sam said. ‘Sam, you have to
blame your beard for that’, I replied.
One day we left office
early, the door area in the train was empty so we went there, in case Avni
shouted at me o one would come to know. ‘Avni, for last few months I have
realized that how much I love you, if these are my feelings are just mine then
say it, this won’t affect our friendship’, I said. ‘Sid, I have heard that you
are scared of everything; you are proposing a girl not committing any crime’,
Avni said. ‘Even I love you’, she said. I thought of hugging Avni but train
won’t be a nice place, so we held hands and talked. While going I held Avni’s
hand, I felt that it was very soft.
……………………………………….
“International love’, is a
story of one falling in love with a girl from another country. Sagar, the
protagonist of this story interacts a lot with a girl who is on his client’s
side. Their interaction transpires in love and the story unfolds. Read it, to
find out, what’s more in their life.
International
love
There are few things that
are strictly beyond your control and this is one of them. If someone’s going to
tell you that you will fall in love with a person who’s living abroad, then you
will say, ‘ are you nuts,. As I did it earlier but I later realized that it can
be true. Hi, I am Sagar Patil, I am a software engineer, I work in Pune and
stay there with my parents. Since, we all are a bunch of young people in my
working team so we often crack jokes on each other. Best of the lot was back in
late 2009 when a film named ‘Kaminey’ was released. ‘Hey, Amit, have you seen
‘Kaminey’?’ Rucha, one of my colleague in office asked Amit, another colleague.
‘Yes and they are sitting in my cube’, he answered. He meant that I and another
boy named Vikram were those special guys whom he gave special adjective. ‘Shut
up man!’ I revolted. ‘What wrong did I do up to now?’ I asked. ‘bhikari ko
bhik, jitni mili theek’, is both’s attitude when it comes to girls’, Amit
replied. ‘Yaar, tu bhi nah’, I said disappointedly.
I used to drive back from
office to home with Amit and in the morning I used to come with a girl (babe)
named Kanchana. It was raining heavily while coming back that day. Our car
stopped at a signal, ‘hey Amit, watch the fun’ and I stopped the wiper of my
car and after it stopped completely I turned it on again at full speed. Water
splashed from the windshield to the right as soon as I started the wiper at
full speed. ‘Beta, now you agree that it was a perfect adjective for you and by
the way what’s the progress with Kanchana?’ Amit asked. ‘Tight halath hai’, I
replied. ‘Amit, I did a stupidity one day’, I said. ‘With Kanchana?’ He asked
jokingly. ‘No man, in general, one day, mom asked me to bring packet of milk, I
bought it from the shop and while coming back a street dog came behind me so to
scare him I actually threw milk packet at him’, I said. ‘He must have felt as
today was his Diwali’, Amit said laughing loudly.
Our company got a new
project from ‘Emirates Bank’ and it was allocated to our team. Since the bank
had outsourced our company the entire processing of its credit card’s data, so
we were in picture for the enhancement in most of cases. The bank had ‘Etihad
Airways’ as its partners, so any credit card transactions would fetch loyalty
points to customer as “Eithad miles’ so that the customer can redeem his
loyalty point to book that airline’s tickets. A file containing the points
details should be sent daily to the bank with the help of ‘Connect direct’ jobs
and I was an expert in those jobs (programs). ‘Sagar, can you take the entire
responsibility of the connect direct program?’ Pralahad, our project manager
asked me. ‘Sure mate but I need continuous support from the client side as you
know those programs need lot of server access related stuff’, I replied. ‘No
worries, I will speak it with bank’, he said. I got busy with the programs and
one day I got a message on our internal messanger, it was from a girl named
Noor Ahmed, I reluctantly opened it as I didn’t knew anybody with that name.
Noor Ahmed: hi
Sagar Patil; hi
Noor Ahmed: I am from
‘Emirates Bank. Are you working on the connect direct programs for the ‘Eithad
Miles’ files?
Sagar Patil: yes J
Noor Ahmed: my project manager has asked me to help you
……………………
Surprise
Prologue
‘Surprise’ is a story of a
boy with undoubting spirit. Abhishek is an engineer by education and a software
engineer by profession. He had fallen in love with a girl from his college days
named Richa. Everything was going on fine until one day when tragedy struck
him. This book is about his fighting and his undying spirit; his never say die
attitude and Richa’s love that made him stand on his feet again. It is about
Richa and Abhi, their undying love for each other. This book would give its
reader a new ray of hope and strong will power.
LIFE
IN THE HOSPITAL AND IN ENGINEERING COLLEGE
I had opened my eyes for the
first time in a month. I tried to guess where I was, the room looked quite
clumsy, it was dull and had hospital like appearance. I was indeed in hospital;
last thing I could remember was the world was moving around me and I had
collapsed on the floor. Later, I came to know that I was in comma and had
narrowly escaped death. I was shocked to hear that the doctors had given all
hopes on survival. The trachstromy tube that was inserted in my throat for my
breathing didn’t allwowed me to speak, as the part of the brain that controlled
breathing was damaged and the doctors thought that I could die of
breathlessness. The trachstromy tube didn’t allow me to speak but still I
didn’t feel like speaking or seeing anyone. I slept on the bed shell shocked
and remembered my good old days. My thought took me several years back to my
first day of engineering college. I was so happy to get admission without a
fuss as getting admission in an engineering college was my dream. My seniors
ragged me and asked me to sing. My unmelodious voice left them shocked but it
was a part of fun and nobody felt humiliated
Our orientation was taken by
a charming lady named Anna. ‘I would teach you communication skills as they are
important for an engineer’, she said. She asked each one of us few ice breaking
questions, we took our timetable and she dismissed the class. I was waiting
alone at the bus stop and at that moment two guys came along. ‘Are you in first
year electronics engineering branch?’ Asked one of them. ‘Yes’, I replied. ‘We
are from your class’, they said and they shook hands with me and introduced
themselves, one was Ajay other was Nitin. They both lived in the same suburb as
mine, so travelling alone didn’t exist.
Next day, I was waiting for
both of them at bus stop, Nitin came with a girl. ‘Abhi, she is Richa and
Richa, he is Abhishek but we call him Abhi’, Nitin said. We shook hands and
greeted each other. Richa was from Mumbai itself, which made her bold. Richa
was medium heighted, she had wheatish skin texture, she had black straight
hair, little longer than her shoulder and she kept them open. She had wonderful
dressing sense, she had worn jeans and T-shirt with matching sandals, look of
her made me feel that I was watching an actress. ‘Abhi, Richa is also from our
class so we would have nice company’, Nitin said. As we reached our first
lecture was communication skills also called CS. If someone can change overnight,
it was Anna. She turned into a villain, complete opposite of what she was
before. I hated her for an unfriendly attitude. Maybe she is like that quickly
changing sort of personality, I started to hate her. However there were some
idiots in our class who liked her. Richa too hated her. All the professors
behaved as if they were genius and they taught fools. I hated the college and
felt like passing it as early as possible but I had four more years to pass
out. Silver lightning in this dark cloud was our Mechanics professor, Prof
Pravin. He was friendly and always pushed us for innovation, I liked his
approach towards a very tough subject.
Our first semester results
were out, I had topped the college. Ajay, Nitin and Richa were very happy; they
too had passed with a first class. I had crossed my first hurdle. In even
semester our cultural festival used to take place every year. Our class took
part in a cricket competition. Our first match was with third year electrical
branch, however we ended in loosing side but I was the performer with bat and
in the field. I took such a brilliant catch that I received applause even from
the opposition. When I got out, everybody from our class applauded, Richa was
the happiest out of them. As time passed I became even more aggressive towards
studies. Topping university was now my aim. We called Nitin palindrome, as any
way we spelt his name it would remain the same.
RICHA’S
LOVE
I began studying more
aggressively and I didn’t meet my friends on weekends. On one weekend, Richa
called me and said ‘Abhi, what’s wrong with you? Why don’t you meet us on
weekends?’ Her voice felt concerning. ‘No Richa, I am studying’, I replied.
‘Abhi, enough of studying’, Richa said with an authorative voice. I went to
meet everyone but during they discussed, my mind was in studies. I felt ease
when everyone left. Once, I went to Richa’s home to get an assignment from her.
Richa introduced me to her mom. ‘Oh! He is Abhi’, she said. ‘Beta, you always
come first, your parents must be so proud of you’, she said. ‘Aunty, I don’t
study for the sake of studying, I learn and study’. ‘I always dreamt to be an
engineer’, I added. ‘Abhi, don’t go without eating’, aunty said, I resisted to
eat but aunty was in no mood to listen. ‘Richa, just tie him and don’t let him
go’, aunty said. Aunty was so engrossed in my words that she forgot to drink
her Orange drink.
It was my second year in
college, it was the day of the college fest, Ajay and Nitin had work at home so
they hadn’t come, so I went to college on my bike. I had debate finals that
day. I won the competition, when I came off the stage, Richa said, ‘Abhi, do
you have any other super skill that you are hiding?’ I laughed. Richa danced
wildly with me in the DJ hall. I danced with her and she kept my hand around
her waist and danced. It was dark when we were about to leave. ‘Abhi, I don’t
feel it’s safe to go alone’, Richa said. ‘Okay Richa, you come with me on my
bike’, I said. ‘TINA’, she said. It means’ there is no alternative’. Richa
always came up such short forms. As we sat on the bike, Richa sat with a leg
around each side. She held my waist; I had thought that it was to make balance.
Since it was a new moon day so the sky was eluded of moon and the dark sky
looked amazing with the twinkling stars. We stopped at a hotel to have tea and
snacks. As we were on the bike, I slowly drove on left, the road was eluded of
vehicles; there was just an odd vehicle. I felt my back a bit moist because of
kiss. I stooped the bike on side of the road and stood the bike on the stand. I
looked at Richa with surprise. She said in a deep voice, ‘Abhi, I love you’ and
hugged me. We kissed each other. ‘Abhi, I love because you are intelligent,
charming and top of that you are a nice person’, Richa said. ‘I love too
Richa’, I confessed. Richa sat on the bike leaning her head on my back. When
her place arrived she felt reluctant to get down.
………………….
‘Love you unconditionally’,
is a love story in which a boy named Rohan has unconditional love for a girl
named Ritu. Rohan and Ritu studied together in IIM Bengaluru and their
friendship transpires in love but like all fairy tales don’t come true, Ritu
breaks up her relationship with Rohan. Read the story to know why and what’s
the reason for their break uo.
LOVE
YOU UNCONDITONALLY
20th June 2008,
it was my first day in the college. Getting admission in IIM was my dream but
that meant that I had to stay out of Delhi for 2 years. I was happy to get an
admission in IIM-Bengaluru for the course of MBA in finance. It was a
completely new town which meant that I had to make new set of friends. My
staying arrangement for 2 years was done in the college hostel. I was searching
my name in the hostel list. I was given accommodation in room number C-32. One
name in that list stood out distinguished, name was ‘TITU’.
Next day we had our orientation in college. We gave our
introduction i.e. our name, education, where we came from etc. I was anxiously
waiting for someone to say Delhi. Five people among us belonged to Delhi, three
boys and two girls. Among them I remember that I had seen a boy and a girl
before. So after our orientation I went to meet them. ‘I think that I had seen
you before in Vasant Vihar in Delhi’. I said. ‘Oh! I stay in Vasant Vihar’,
that girl said. ‘Hi, I am Rohan’, I said and brought my hand forward to shake.
‘Hi, I am Ritu’, she said. ‘Do you stay in the hostel’? I asked. ‘Yes, B-14’,
she replied. ‘But I didn’t see your name in the hostel list’? I asked. She
laughed and said, ‘they have misprinted my name as Titu, can’t blame them as
alphabets ‘T’ and ‘R’ are next to each other on the keyboard and I am used to
it as it gets mistyped often’. Ritu had long curly hairs, she was of medium
height, she was fair and had a round face, she had worn a peach coloured salwar
kameez and had put a light lipstick. ‘Boss’, I shouted at a boy. ‘I had seen
you before in Vasant Vihar’, I said. ‘That’s because I stay there’, he said.
‘Hi, I am Hitesh’, he said and brought his hand forward. ‘Hi, I am Rohan and
she’s Ritu, she’s too from our area’, I replied with a handshake. Ritu and
Hitesh also exchanged handshakes. Hitesh was a hunk, tall, dark, handsome, had
worn a t-shirt and jeans. He looked a typical delhiite. As we were going back
some seniors stopped us. ‘Three stooges, what’s your name’? One boy asked. ‘I
am Rohan, she is Ritu and he is Hitesh’, I replied. ‘Are you their manager?
Then why the hell did you reply’? He shouted at me. ‘Sorry sir’, I said. ‘Where
are you from’? He asked. ‘Delhi’, we replied in unison. ‘Where in Delhi as I am
from Pitampura’, he said. ‘Vasant Vihar’, we said again in unison. ‘You pretty
girl, take this comb and comb your hairs till they become straight and you say
A,B,C.D starting from Z’, he said but Hitesh got a real jaffer, he was asked to
wear a ghagra and propose the college watchman. ’Look at my balls’? A girl
among them asked me. ‘What!’ I replied. ‘My balls, you stupid’, she shouted at
me. The moment my eyes went down she slapped me. ‘You idiot, my eye balls and
not those’, she shouted. ‘I feel sorry for you’, Ritu said to Hitesh on our way
back to hostel. ‘Chill! I was a bully in school too, I used to push ‘ma ke
ladle’ type of boys in girls toilet and used to lock them’, Hitesh said with
spark in his eyes. ‘Which room you all stay’? Hitesh asked us. ‘Me in C32 and
Ritu in B14’, I replied. ‘So you and me are neighbors cause I got C31’, Hitesh
said.
…………………………………………
Sensex
Prologue
If you think that this story
is all about stocks and shares, then you are wrong. Like there up’s and down’s
in a stock market, there are similar fluctuations in Vaibhav’s life. ‘Sensex’,
is a story of a normal boy, the ups and downs of his life. Vaibhav Shah is an
engineer and works in a software firm. You would be surprised with the amounts
of twists in his life when it came to love, his career and his life in general.
H.S.C
It was the last examination
of my 12th standard. Since I was a PCM (Physics. Chemistry and
Mathematics) student so Biology paper was of less importance. The paper went
quite well and my friends had decided to have a treat, after the exam so we
went to McDonalds to have burger. Mohit my friend was pure vegetarian so we
ordered veg maharaja. My burger was quite spicy and I couldn’t eat it anymore
so I ordered French fries for me. ‘Vaibhav, you chicken you couldn’t handle the
burger’, Mohit teased me. We then we to eat paani puri, ‘bhaiyaji, sweet paani
puri and one spicy’, Mohit said to the vendor teasing me.
Next day, I went to the
swimming pool as usual in the afternoon. I had chosen afternoon batch for
swimming as afternoon classes had less rush. I was good at swimming so I went
in deep section for swimming. As I was swimming, my legs froze and I couldn’t
paddle my legs anymore and I began to drown. My head dipped in water and water
went in my nose. I was struggling for breath; the lifeguard at pool saw me
drowning and safely took me out. After few minutes, ‘Vaibhav, what’s the matter?’
Suresh sir asked. ‘Suresh sir, my legs froze and I couldn’t paddle legs
anymore’, I said. ‘It happens’, a boy said from behind. I looked at him. And he
introduced himself to me, ‘Hi, I am Nikhil’, he said. I shook my hand with him.
‘Vaibhav here’, I said.
‘Where do you stay Nikhil?’
I asked. ‘Paanch rasta in Mulund west’, he said. ‘Wow! Even I stay in Mulund
but in east’, I said. ‘Vaibhav, I go Thane every evening, would you like to
like to join me?’ He asked. ‘Sure Nikhil’, I said. We used to daily go on his
bike to neighboring Thane as Mulund didn’t had many places to roam. Once while
roaming, I heard a girl calling out my name quite loudly. I looked back and
found my old school friend Chaitrali calling out my name. ‘Hi Vaibhav, how are
you?’ Chaitrali asked. ‘Fine, how are you?’ I replied. ‘Fine’, she replied. ‘I
didn’t see you after our 10th?’ she added, ‘Chaitrali, after my 10th
we had shifted to Mulund’. ‘Lots of hariyali (good looking girls) in his area’,
Nikhil said. ‘Chaitrali, he’s my friend Nikhil’, I said. ‘No fayda Nikhil, he
doesn’t have any interest in girls, many girls used to like him in school but
he used to ignore them’, she added. ‘Lucky bastard’, Nikhil said to me and I
just gave him a smile. ‘Hey Chaitrali, you are in which college?’ I asked.
‘Somaiya’, she replied. ‘I am not a genius like you so I took commerce’, she
added.
My results were out and I
scored whopping 95% in PCM, so getting admission in an engineering college was
a certainty. I got admission in a good engineering college in Andheri. My first
day in college was full of fun and I was ragged by my seniors. I was good at
the game of cricket and was a member of our school cricket team. My college
team was practicing and I was watching them practice, couple of times ball came
towards me and I picked it up cleanly and threw it towards the wicket keeper
and it went in his hands straight over the stumps. ‘Nice throw’, a man said and
he called me. ‘Your throw was nice every time the ball came towards you, were
you playing professional cricket before? I am Sunil, this college’s cricket
coach’, he said. ‘Hello sir, I am Vaibhav’, I said. ‘I am an all-rounder,
number 3 batsman and a fast bowler’, I said. ‘Hey Vaibhav, why don’t you join
us’, he said. ‘Sure sir’, I replied. Next day, I joined the team in practicing,
sir asked me to bat. The first ball that I faced was an over pitched ball and I
hit a glorious straight drive, most of deliveries that I faced were neatly
defended without letting my stumps getting disturbed. A bowler bowled a short
pitched delivery at me, I neatly ducked it but he came near me and gave me a
stare. Next delivery from him and I smashed it very close to him and I said to
him, ‘never come so close to me’. Now it was time for me to shine with the ball
and I bowled quite well, even disturbed the wood work couple of times. With my
splendid performance my place in the playing 11 was certain.
Rohit and Nupur were my best
pals in college, Rohit was a flirtatious guy and Nupur was a sensible guy. Our
class once had a cricket match with third year Computer branch class. Our team
was pretty ordinary, I think selection was done on the basis of one’s closeness
with our captain rather than cricketing talent. I was made to field at third
man, a position where you normally hide your worst fielder but that didn’t
matter me at all but I was pissed off when I wasn’t asked to ball. Our team got
a stiff target of 84 in 10 overs, practically we had lost the match and our
batting didn’t start well with 1 wicket down in very 1st over and I
came to crease. During our innings, I stood at the crease like a rock while
wickets kept tumbling around me.
Hemant, a fast bowler from
other side, thought me as a monkey with bat. In his previous over, he had a
verbal banter with me. The first ball of his next over, I hit a six straight
over his head, so he bowled outside the off stump and I again hit a six. He
tried bowling at my legs and I flicked it for four. Hemant bowled a length
which I had guessed. He again bowled a half volley outside the off stump and I
creamed it towards the cover boundary. In his four balls, I had scored twenty
runs. Next two balls he bowled short at my body and I ducked it. ‘Now I got how
to bowl to you’, Hemant said. As he said, he bowled short and angled at my body
which I had pre empted earlier and I hooked it to the square leg boundary. Poor
Hemant was bowling to my liking and was getting smashed all over the park. We
lost the match by a small margin of ten runs as I fell short of partners.
HEMA
When the match ended Nupur
and Rohit bowed down in appreciation. ‘Hey, well played’, I heard a girl saying
from behind. I looked behind and found a girl. She was cute, fair with long
black hairs that ran up to her waist. I shook my hand with her, ‘Vaibhav here’,
I said, ‘Hema here’, she said. ‘Hey Vaibhav, why don’t we have a soft drink in
the canteen’, she said. ‘Bye guys’, I said to Nupur and Rohit. We ordered Pepsi
in the canteen and Hema started to talk. ‘Vaibhav, even if I am from Comps,
still I applauded every shot that you played, do you play cricket quite often?’
she asked. ‘Yes and I am even part of college team’, I replied. ‘Poor Hemant,
you smashed him all over the park’, she said. ‘Do you know what he had said the
previous over to me?’ ‘What?’ She asked. ‘Why don’t you show us some shots but
he didn’t knew that he was talking to a professional cricketer’, I said and she
laughed. ‘Can I tell you one thing?’ I asked. ‘What’, she said. ‘When I saw you
for the first time I felt that as if I was speaking to a Tamil movie actress’,
I said. She laughed and said, ‘do you mean that I don’t belong in an
engineering college’. ‘Hey, certainly not’, I said. ‘Vaibhav, I didn’t see you
in the field?’ she asked. ‘My captain had dumped me at third man and he didn’t
ask me to bowl but he asked any tom, dick and harry to bowl’, I replied. ‘Were
you upset?’ She asked. ‘Of course Hema’, I replied. ‘Hema, where do you stay?’
I asked, ‘Mulund’, she replied. ‘Oh! You too because I stay in Mulund east’, I
said. ‘Great, I stay near Vaze College’, she said. That day we went together,
while travelling back we spoke a lot.
We had our first semester
exams, all the papers went nice me, Rohit and Nupur. Today, we had our results
and all of us were nervous but most nervous was Hema. I relaxed her by talking non
sense stuff with her and like all nightmares come true, she didn’t clear three
papers. Going to home with Hema was the right option as I wanted Hema not to be
alone at that time. We got a nice seat in the bus and as expected Hema didn’t
speak at all. Later, she was overfilled with emotions and cried on my shoulder.
‘Don’t cry Hema, see the bright side of it that you will get another
opportunity to score well’, I said. ‘Do you want to join studying with me? I
added. ‘That’s so sweet of you Vaibhav, I am going to study with you for sure’,
she replied. Hema began to study with me; she was very good in Maths and solved
the problems with ease. Computer programming(CP) or ’C’ programming was her
grey area and I was equally good in it. ‘Vaibhav, Computer Programming sucks,
how come you are so good in it?’ She asked. ‘Hema, I just apply my logical
skills in it and I am pretty certain that you can solve them too’, I said. I
gave her few logical reasoning questions to solve and it helped Hema. In few
weeks, CP became easy for her and as a token of appreciation she gave me a
treat of an ice-cream.
We had Physics lecture in
college straight after lunch break, full stomach plus a boring teacher made
that lecture pretty uninteresting, so I and Rohit decided to complete our Maths
assignment. Rohit decided to do it on assignment paper while I opted to do it
in notebook. We began copying sums from a guide, the teacher noted that
something else was going on the last bench. She came near us and tapped me
signaling, what’s going on. I shrugged my shoulders signaling nothing but Rohit
was busy completing the assignment, hence he was caught. The teacher was
teaching spontaneous emission in radioactive elements. The teacher asked him to
explain it but he can’t as he didn’t have any clue of it. The teacher asked him
to go out the class and she even complained to our maths Prof. Rohit was in lot
of trouble, as he already had an issue with our maths Prof and it reflected in
his term-work marks which were at the helm of Profs. Rohit had something with
Profs as they always caught him. Nupur teased him, ‘spontaneous emission’ after
the physics lecture fiasco so Rohit stated beating him in fun and I joined him.
Our next class was communication skills AKA CS, the teacher saw us beating Rohit.
‘Vaibhav and Nupur, stand up and why were you beating Rohit?’ she asked. ‘Maam,
we had an argument with Rohit but he kept on arguing’, I replied. ‘So you
started beating him, nice way to convince’, the teacher smiled. Nupur in low
voice teased Rohit, ‘spontaneous emission’.
One day, Hema came to my
house to study with me. We studied for an hour at stretch so Hema went to my
bed to take some rest and she saw guitar in the showcase. ‘Vaibhav, do you play
guitar? She asked. ‘Yep’, I replied. ‘How exciting’, she said almost jumping. I
played guitar and she started to sing, her voice was really melodious and on
hearing her sing even my mom came to hear her song. After she finished singing,
I and mom clapped, Hema felt shy. It was the last exam of our second sem exams,
I and Hema had decided to take the bus instead of local train, so that we’ll
have a comfortable journey back home. Hema took out banana chips from her bag
and shared with me. After some time, I took an apple from my bag and started
eating it alone. On seeing this, Hema grabbed my hand and took a bite of the
apple. This was first time when Hema held my hand and our eyes met, she didn’t
take her hand out of my hand. ‘Do I need to say the magical words’, I said in a
deep voice. ‘No need’, Hema replied. We travelled entire journey by holding
hands.
‘Hey guys, I am going out
with a girl’, I said to Nupur and Rohit, ‘guys, she is from our college’, I
added. ‘Hema right?’ Rohit said as if he had made some discovery. ‘Yep guys’, I
said. ‘We knew it before’, Nupur said. Sometimes I think that Nupur is more
sensible among us. During the college festival in our second year, Hema did a
fantastic dance and was way ahead of the other performers. She looked very
beautiful that day and resembled like Sri Devi. ‘Whichever guy marries her will
be the most luckiest one’, a boy made a remark to his friend. I and Nupur
overheard two guys saying to each other. On hearing them, Nupur patted my back.
I went to Thane to roam with
Hema and Chaitrali saw us, she immediately came towards me and we all went to
have coffee in a coffee shop. ‘Chaitu, she’s my friend Hema and Hema, she’s
Chaitrali, my best friend from school life’, I said. They hugged each other
like long lost friends. ‘Hema, you are very lucky as he rarely speaks with
girls’, Chaitu said. ‘Yeah Chaitrali’, Hema replied. ‘Call me Chaitu’,
Chaitrali said to Hema. After few days, we went for boating at talao paali in
Thane. Hema and I rowed the boat. ‘Hema, do you know that, Chaitu proposed me
in school but when I told her that we can remain friends, she agreed and we
became best friends’, I said. ‘Chaitu is sweet’, Hema said.
………………………………….
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