Another Cup of Coffee

He was finishing his first coffee as she came in. His eyes had been at the cafe's entrance for sometime now. He stood as she came and settled herself opposite him.
"Thanks for coming", he said
"Well, I had to come. Need to clarify a few things", she went silent as her coffee was served.
Surprised, she looked at him. "How did you know my flavor?"
"Hmm......trade secret", he said and winked at her.
"Are you always like this?"
He smiled, "Nah.....it’s you", and kept on looking at her.
She blushed and as if it to hide herself, started to sip on her coffee. This was not going as per plan. She had to tell him it was not possible. Things had to be set in the right perspective.
"Listen......its not possible", she said. Her hands….. tightly clutching her glass.
"What is not possible? I haven't said a thing."
"See, I am coming out of a bad relationship and getting into another........not possible. And I have just known you for 5 months"
He sighed and gently touched her hands. Her grip loosened on the glass and slowly he held them and brought them in the middle of the table.
She looked the other way. Her lips tightly clutched.
"I told you its not possible", she said softly and tried against her will to leave the gentle grip of his hands.
"I understand everything you say. But please listen to me", he said. Her hands stopped moving as she looked at him, as if prodding him to speak.
"See, we are all like the pieces of an unsolved jigsaw puzzle. We are looking for the right part that completes us, and solves the puzzle. You solve me." He was looking at her. His words were sinking in.
Her hands slowly had a soft grip on his. She looked at him and smiled, "You have a way with words."
He smiled back, "Can I have my coffee now?"
She became conscious and let her hands go. As she withdrew her hands, he smiled and grabbed them back. "I finished my coffee long back."
She blushed, "then, can I finish mine?"
"No.................” he chuckled, "of course you can."
"On one side I understand and like what you say, but my parents are also looking out for someone for me. I don't wanna disappoint them, but their idea of deciding my life partner over a cup of coffee and just one meeting.........not my way."
"Well, we have known each other for 5 months, and this is definitely not our first coffee out together. Give yourself a chance. Give me a chance. I know we can work out."
She smiled and sipped her coffee. "You know I had planned to refuse you and move out fast."
"I know.........I know....” he said, "I have a way with words."
Both of them smiled.
She finished her coffee.
As they moved out, he felt her fingers brushing his hands. He looked at her. And slowly their fingers inter-twined.
"This is good", she said as they walked away.

Spider

He slowly raised his head; his eyes gazing at a distant horizon. Motionless for a few moments, he turned his head, each side once. Slowly, a smile formed on his face.
His hands trembled on the gun kept beside him. He moved his hands roughly over the weapon, as if cajoling it to act. His eyes blinked once.
And then suddenly he raised it, took careful aim and shot. The gun’s plunger hit the vacuum of the barrel and clicked loudly.
"Ah..........” he exclaimed, as a near hysterical laughter emanated from deep inside him.
The could-have been victim slowly wiped the cold sweat off her brows. She slowly ran her fingers through his hair.
He said, "Lemme tell you something interesting today. You must have seen bee's around a fluorescent light. The bee is attracted to the light and keeps on flying near it, inevitably trying to settle on it. But sometimes, a spider comes there and builds a web. The bee unaware of nefarious designs of the spider still gets attracted to the light. It tries to fly to the light but gets tangled in the web. Somehow it manages to get away.
The seduction has begun. The bee keeps on trying, intrigued by the stickiness of the web. The spider keeps on making the web tighter. And slowly the bee gets caught in the web. It writhes to get free but is unable to. And slowly it dies there, life snuffed out of it."
She looked at him quizzically. Her face contorting as a sudden chill ran down. As if to cover up, she rubbed his cheek softly.
He looked at her changing demeanor and asked, "Why did you make me the bee?"
She kept on looking at him. And then when realization dawned, she lowered her eyes. "I am sorry", she said. Her mind was working fast to understand how did he know. He was smart, but she had carefully planned this evening. The cops would be here in minutes. But how did he know?
He saw her puzzled face and picked up a cigarette butt from the dustbin. "You don't smoke non-filtered."
The cops weren't there still. How had she forgotten this small detail? He could never miss this. She had to stop him. But his game face had her speechless. "I love you", was all she could say.
He smiled sarcastically. "I love you too. That's why I am not going to kill you. The cop's you had tipped were ambushed on the last crossing. They now think you double played them."
Her eyes were now full of terror. The police were now after her. They would not rest till they avenge the killing of their friends.
She picked up the gun and aimed at him. "It’s empty." He said and sat back on the chair.
He had tricked her. She had lost and would never be free. Frustrated, she threw the gun at him. Tears were running down her cheeks.
He picked up the gun. Looked at her and smiled. "I am sorry!!" he said and fired. She hit the floor, dead.
He looked at her dead face. They could have been so happy together. Slowly, he walked away.
The cops reached late. There had been no ambush. The spider had tricked them.

Let it out!!

This time I am going to talk about the unspoken. Words, that emanates from deep within us but die out before they pass through our vocal chords. There can be many reasons, viz. emotional, societal strictures, and political concerns. It is true. How many times have u sworn under your breath and still shown a beaming and concerning smile to everyone else? So let’s not get into denial and read ahead.
Well sarcasm is one sure provocative reason which gets our creative imaginations running. Sarcasm generally results from societal and political strictures, though seldom it might have emotional roots too. But when sarcasm is used for its own in a funny way, it surely exemplifies one's wit. Its all about talking and knowing how to talk.
The other day I was with a few friends, one of whom is a little frisky. On being pointed, in a joke, he said may be he was a cop in his earlier avatar. Well, I thank god, he was not a dog earlier.
Then another friend informed all of us that he was getting married. That's good. Now you would say what funny about this? Well he then said his room partner had got married last month. Oh boy!! Was he taking revenge? Well, he should understand in our society Elton John and his partner are still not regarded as a couple.
Sometimes societal strictures bind us from taking everything in a funny stride. I got a SMS from a friend which read like this:
By the Grace of God we have been blessed with a baby boy
But mate if it was all gods’s doing then what about you??
I just couldn't tell him this and messaged back a congratulatory text.
Emotionally speaking, it happens all so often, that we are unable to say how much someone means to us. We go around in circles by going out in a group even though the only person visible, is her. Why can't one just go out and tell her, "You rock my world!!"
Have you ever seen how women meet at parties and societal do's? Well, they would first ignore, and then pass fleeting glances judging each others clothes, jewellery etc. And when they come face to face, they would burst out praying ignorance, and appreciating each others clothes, jobs etc. But as they move away, they would elbow their respective partners and say, "What a b****!!"
This is what I am talking about. We need someone or some medium to say it.
But saying all this, I still do maintain that talking is important. If we don't talk, people will pass off problems as assumptions and try and solve their own problems rather than the real ones. These are tricky situations as the Boss ain't like anyone else's voice. So stay quiet, if you must, but look for a forum to voice your mood. Talk, don't let it stay inside. If you can't write and force others to read it, as I do, talk to your partner or friends. Let the free spirit soar and you would start understanding whatever I have rambled above. All the Best!!

Sweet Nothings

They sat there silently on the opposite sides of the table. Earlier, when they used to meet, holding hands was as good as a norm. But now it was different.
"Why didn't you write something about me? I always wanted you to surprise me someday."
He smiled a knowing smile. "Ok.....let me try."
He scratched his chin. A thin, wiry smile was beginning to form, as thoughts started to come together. "Listen to this....”

I was living a curse,
Until I met you!
It was going to be worse,
Until I met you!
.............
.............
I could have fallen for the nurse
Until I met you!

He laughed and she smiled, softly punching his shoulder, "Very funny!!"
They silently stared at other tables. It was an ironic situation.
"Tell me something sweet", she said, as if cutting through his thoughts.
He looked away and said.....

The moments we shared
The way we cared
You gave me lot of smiles
That would last us all the miles

She looked away. Her hand moved across the table to hold his hand tightly. A small tear drop forming at the corner of her eye.
"I am sorry", she said softly.
"Don't be......it was all its worth."
They were silent for a while.
"Why did you let me go then? Couldn't you have stopped me?” she asked.
"I don't know, have thought of it many times. I couldn't have refused your dad. And, then, I was nothing."
"That’s so stupid. You could have just asked me what I wanted. But you and dad didn't. So let us not discuss this further, it makes me mad."
They stayed silent for some more time. Their hands were so comfortable with each other.
Then she said, "I read something longtime back, it struck a chord somewhere in me. Listen to this......."

Ranjha dhoondan main gayi
Ranjha milaya na moye
Rabb milaya, Ranjha na milaya
Rabb Ranjhe jaisa koye!!

Her eyes were now brimming with tears. A surging pain from the past was coming to the fore. He saw it and stayed quiet for a few moments. Their tightly clasped hands were now providing solace to each other.

"So where is God today?" he asked after another long silence.

Quiet for a while….. She smiled, taking her hands back, "He went to drop the kids with his mom. Should be here any moment.....ah here he is."

They stood and he shook hands with her husband.
"My God", he said winking at her, "we finally meet."
She was fighting hard not to look flushed.
It was going to be a long and difficult, but necessary, evening for all of them. She introduced them and went head on to make peace between her past and present.

Being Romantic

I have long believed that romance is not just a factor of being in love with a person. It is about being in awe of somebody or something that you can't imagine anything else.
Some would compare this to optimism. But being romantic is more than just being optimistic. Optimism still has an amount of sanity attached to it. It is about weighing your options and trying to get to something by a little stretch. Romantic nature throws all caution to wind. It’s about going head on to a problem which most feel is impossible.
It is about ridiculous solutions. Solutions, that do not conform to the universal goings on. Solutions that 99% of the times would go wrong. But the 1% of success would make people sit up and acknowledge in disbelief.
Romanticizing a task is not like a toggle switch. It requires a thorough belief that you can do it. It’s about finding the child inside you and looking at the problem through his eyes. The enormous nature of the problem will never deter you then. You will look for various ways of conquering the problem. It is like looking for the mystical eye of the fish.
All of us believe in something’s which others might think is stupidity. That is the beginning of this romance. It’s about being so stupid in your belief that others' comments don't matter. It’s about reaching the higher state of mind.
Wright Brothers couldn’t have flown the world’s first airplane. Graham Bell couldn’t have invented the telephone; Gandhi couldn’t have raised the hopes of millions; India couldn’t have beaten the World Champion West Indies in the 1983 Cricket World Cup, if they had not been so much in love with their dreams.
To me Tiger Woods is an apt example of a romantic. In a rich white man's game, who would have thought that a demure looking, not-so rich, black man would make a cut so big that the game would be popular for the coming years because Tiger Woods played it.
And on a more recent turn of events, when Tiger was at his peak, that someone came from behind and defeated him in the US PGA, was unexpected.
These upset's to the norm, and the sweet, tempting, taste of success is what inspires romanticism. And once you succeed, it slowly becomes your life blood.
The adrenaline levels peak on seeing a difficult situation. Mind starts looking for ways to tackle it. And the voices of naysayer become blurred as you take the plunge.
The world stands still as your face hits the surface of water and you go deep inside.
As soon as you start the ascent back that you realize that everyone was rooting for you to do it, deep down inside their hearts.
The applause has no meaning now.
You have won over your demons and gotten ahead of the pack.
So next time just don’t worry when they tell you it is impossible and you are mad to even think about it. Just ignore them. Because, getting back with the pack is the easiest then. They will show you a lot of carrots to leave your dreams. But if you leave it then, you will live your life with a broken belief and a permanent tag of “Could Have Been.”
Just don’t stop. Go ahead. Hit it with all you have till the time either the problem gives in or you do.
But believe me there is no problem which can stand the force of a romantic, of a dreamer.
So get up and hit it again!!
We are all romantics at some level. As I said earlier, It’s about finding the child.
Have you found the child inside you?