Contrasts...

This Saturday was one of its kind.It went something like this..

While I`m in the middle of a surprisingly uninteresting episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S ,sprawled all over my bed, I get a call from Shreya ‘Hey bhoi ,Me n neha are at monica`s place …thought we would give u a surprise by dropping down at ur place but then mridul had already told u abt our visit I guess…come over we are waiting for u near Shoppers stop !!’ The next 15 mins were spent in chiding myself ‘how could I`ve forgotten about their visit , rushing through a bath and running outta home half pulling on my jeans and half explaining –half gasping out the fone call to mom..

What followed was absolute madcap fun !! Yakking away all those juicy bits of Manipal-gossip in the auto,meeting up Neha and Mridul (the former dressed up in typical behenji style ,courtesy mridul`s pleas ‘Aaj tumhe suit mein dekhne ka bohot mann kar raha hai’) at Brigade Road, half-gobbling half choking on our food while laughing away to tears at Pizza Hut (Man! We are supposed to be Manipal`s Unofficial ambassadors, and we give people the idea that it must be some Zoo or at best a Monkey Reserve)…

A stopover at Monica`s place to celebrate Shreya`s birthday which fell on 1st April (no less!!)…Now this ensured some absolutely desperate bitching sessions,which lasted till well over 5 am in the morning.Loads of cosmo-femina crap and oodles of sighs,giggles, and as-wide-as-saucer shaped looks when the topic veered towards the sexcapades of our batchmates (yeah ! call it vicarious pleasure or whatever !!).All 4 of us(Neha,Shreya,Mon n yours truly) had so much to tell,so much to know,so much to share…all pent up since the last 3.5 months. Bangalore became Manipal ….

Contrast this with today …
It went something like this…

I get up all coughy and sneezy , drop the idea of going for running this morning which leaves me feeling miserable, on top of that having Dad shoot me those smirky I-told-you-so looks.Cook something not-so-nice for Dad`s lunch-box (not the least bit intentionally!) which has got im-not-feeling-good all over the taste option in its profile.See Dad off to office knowing that he will be back after a couple of hours to fly away to that one place I dreamt of going to, for the past 1.5 yrs.Yeah, Daddy dearest was going for a Management Development Programme at IIM,Ahmedabad for 1 whole week and would hear nothing of me bunking office to accompany him.

‘Daddy Daddy plsss take me alongwith u , I promise I wont disturb your schedule at all ..I`ll just roam around the campus to my heart`s content and then we will come back to B`lore and u can pack me off to XIMB for the next 2 yrs’

Daddy Dearest replies- ‘Li`l one if you have the determination ,why not try for IIMB instead of settling down half-heartedly for XIMB.Then u can visit IIMA as many times u like on ur own merit..they have those nice inter IIM meets u know,and those hi profile corporate talks and….’

Stop ..Stop .. I knew where this was going….

Off went Papa Bird leaving Baby bird morose and sullen and incredibly sulky in their nest..

As a last ditch effort to salvage my mood,I put in a lil bit of extra effort while dressing up .My mood lightening up at the prospect of meeting, ‘the other’ most-important-man-in-my-life,after office. I reach office , rushing across to my cubicle passing by a few upturned eyebrows.Workload was considerably light today..i cheerily complete it up thinking ‘I can leave early to catch a show of ‘Namesake’…My fone rings –

‘The other’---‘Hey honey , is it okay if we meet up tomorrow instead of today..was really looking forward to meet u but just now this colleague of mine invited me over for his bday treat..if u want ill drop it , no probs at all ..’

Me-(in my mind-Don`t gimme all that nething-for-u-darling crap…u forget ,I invented dat !! ) aloud- ‘Nah its okayyyy…absolutely..i also have truckloads of work today ( can`t u see the exaggeration ..can`t u just come over!!)..yep lets meet up some other day ….
Slam down the receiver…giving that last hint ..to no avail..

Just then Boss pings me .. and i`m actually handed out a whole bulk of work ..only thing it would start tomorrow…Why Why Why can`t I finish up a part of it today so that im partly relieved today ?? Why can`t I go home with the feeling ‘Yippie tomorrow`s work is all done with today’…

No one to talk to..though I ‘can’ talk to lotsa people..
No one to meet up with …though I ‘can’ meet up lotsa people…

I step outta office (no spring in step!! As they say in motivational books...walk with a spring in ur step ..Duh uh
) and head to the bookstore.The one place which provides me with solace when im in a particularly nasty I-Hate-Everything mood..Its time I brushed up a few fundamentals of Management b4 I enter the b-school … I`m robbed off 400 bucks for that uninteresting looking book (recommended by my would-be b-school seniors) full of oh-so-boring graphs,charts calculations…

Sigh..sigh.. ‘somebody is partying…somebody else is floating about in this book-store All Alone !!’

I ask the sales-boy for a copy of the ‘Namesake’ (had been really wanting to have a go at it ..since ages after having to listen to stuff like-‘ U have`nt read the Namesake and u call urself an avid book lover/reader ..huh’ )..

‘Sab copies khatam …stock over Ma`am’ ...

Damn …..

I storm out clutching that godawfully heavy management tome and trudge back home…

I soon discover no one`s home ..Mom`s taken this temporary freedom of hubby`s-not-home-so-i-can-visit-all-my-girlfriends too seriously and isn`t back home yet..

Now im missing my daddy cum after-office-talkathon-buddy terribly… ‘the significant other’ is stashed away to an insignificant corner of my mind (temporarily though!!)

The fridge is also stocked with such uninteresting edibles that I quickly slam it shut …

Dad texts me ‘ Reached the IIMA campus..the girls here look so much like u’…Now this was really too much to take in a span of less than 24 hours..

I settle down with this very dangerous looking concoction of pista-butterscotch-strawberry mish-mash icecream topped with generous helpfuls of Bournvita ( concocted by your truly !!) and sit down and type all of this out in ..lets see 20 mins flat !!

Feeling much better now…