Friday, October 21, 2005

Reverse Swing - 1

Was reading Ammani's blog and have been inspired to post some stuff (off and on, possibly more on than off) on the lines of her "A Quick Tale" series. Thanks for the inspiration!

They had walked the streets of South Bombay more often than they had cared to count, when they were in high school. Like he would say (later), every lamp-post had it's story to tell! They walked from Churchgate towards Marine Drive to watch the sun set - it was the last sunset they would watch together. A few months later they went their separate ways, a lot of things left unsaid!
A little more than four years down the line, at an office party she struck up an animated conversation with him. The people around them, blissfully ignorant of the fact that they had known each other since they were in kindergarten, were amused to actually see her go ga-ga over him. They were opposite poles, he the quiet unassuming types, while she was the loud, life of the office type...and anyway they hardly spoke to each other at work!
And so over dessert, overlooking the lush greenery that is Powai, they spoke about the paths they had taken. They had a rough idea about each others' doings and undoings via common friends, but the four year silence between them post-2/13 had not been broken.
She was not sure if he was seeing someone, but was unsure about how to broach the topic. Diplomacy was not her style, but today she figured she was treading on thin ice.
In the background, the DJ was playing "Kaliyon ka chaman" and the party was getting all groovy. Within a matter of moments, a girl appeared out of nowhere and whisked him back into the main party.
As her eyes fell on their intertwined hands, she knew she had her answer. Four years of hopes and six months of patience were reduced to dust! For all the times he had played "Against all odds" over the phone during the turbulent times, and she had scorned him....he finally had the last laugh!

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