A Morning in the life of a Newly Engaged Man

The following account is based on an eye-witness account. Since the chief protagonist is a close friend, I have changed the names of the personalities to protect their identity :)

7:00 AM

Tring Tring… The mobile phone breaks the stillness of a winter morning in the hotel room in the capital of a Well Known State in West India.

Surprise surprise.. the phone is picked up on the second ring by Lord. Call centre agents should take a lesson in response times from this.

A melodious voice, sweeter (to the ears of Lord) than any chirping of a Mynah ever has been, on the other side - “Good morning sweetheart. Its time to wake up sleepy bones.”

“Good morning darling”

“Did you sleep well, baby.”

“Yes darling. I had the most wonderful dream about us.”

“Hmmmm.. so what did you see in your dreams?”

Lord, with the hotel blanket over his head, and the mobile phone held close to the ear, like an ostrich, oblivious to the world around him – “Well, it was a sunny winter morning. The park was full of the morning mist and the fragrance of the dew made the morning ever so romantic. The birds were chirping and the rose plants were in full bloom. You and I were walking hand-in-hand and I was admiring the gentle beauty of your face.”

“My my.. I did not know that my beau could be so poetic.”

“Anything for you my darling. What are you doing up so early?”

“Arre.. you forgot. I am at the airport. I am coming back to Mumbai. You are only interested in your dreams. Don’t even remember anything I tell you.”

“No no dear.. I remember. I just did not realise it was already 7 o’clock.” (Men are such smooth liars!!)

“What a liaaaaar.. Anyways, why don’t you get up now. Don’t you have a meeting? That motu colleague of yours has landed or not?”

“What yaar.. subah subah why do you have to think of other men!! Ya.. he is here. Came in a few mins ago and woke me up. Think he is washing up or something.”

“Chalo.. I think my flight is being announced. Will talk to you once I land.”

“Nooo..not so soon. Atleast talk for one more minute. Tell me you love me.. pleeeeaaase..”

“I love you baby.”

By this time the motu colleague has emerged out of the bathroom and plonked himself on the other end of the bed. Lord suddenly realises that he is not alone in the room.

“Hmmm… Me too..”

“What?? You cannot even tell me that you love me too.”

“I do baby.. samhja karo.. please understand..”

“Ohhh.. looks like that motu is back in the room. Achha.. I am going now.. Byeeeee”

“Byeeeee….”

7:10 AM

Lord has gone back to sleep, snoring lightly, with a half smile on his face. Obviously, he is thinking of the lovely conversation and the sweet voice is still ringing in his ears. Perhaps, he is now dreaming of a walk by the lake on a moonlit night.

8:30 AM

Tring Tring.. The phone rings again. By the time the Lord had put the phone for charging on the table. He gets up with a start and jumps across to the table and picks up the phone.

“Hiiiiii…. You have reached??”

“Ofcourse my teddy-bear. I cant be talking from the plane no.. You know they don’t allow phones up in the air.”

“I am glad you have reached. The last hour or so seemed like a few years without hearing your voice..”

“Liaaaaarrrr…. I am sure you were sleeping every moment that I was on the plane.”

Lord is unable to think of another reply now that his lie is caught. So he is grinning from ear-to-ear while trying to mumble a reply.

“Why aren’t you saying something? Are you alone in the room or your colleague is still around?”

“Wait yaar..” Saying this, Lord steps into the washroom holding the precious phone in his dear hands. Obviously he doesn’t want anyone overhearing his sweet nothings to his Mynah.

A few minutes of muffled voices and then Lord is back in the room. The love is showing in the glow on his face as he skips across the room and announces… “I think its going to be a beautiful day.”

The Solitary Reaper

Whether one believes in the Bhagwat Gita or listens to Tagore's "Akela Chalo Re", the message is the same everywhere. We all come alone into this world and will all go alone. In our journey through life we shall meet a lot of people, some of whom will become an inseparable part of our journey, and others who will fade away into oblivion in some time. We will do a lot of deeds, many of which we will think redefines us and our lives. Yet, at the end of the day each of us is alone. That is the fundamental truth and there is no more.

One of the best expressions of this view is William Wordsworth's "The Solitary Reaper". I read it in Class 9 in school in the collection of poems called Panorama. Still tanks as one of my favorite pieces. You may have other interpretations of the same, but I am sure will agree with me that this is indeed a most beautiful piece.

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THE SOLITARY REAPER

Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so shrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;--
I listen'd, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

My Budday party

My book of life turned another leaf a few weeks ago on my birthday. I had thought of writing about the day but then got lost in the daily rigours of life. I got reminded of it today and thought I will live up to my resolve of boring everyone a bit.

I am, by nature, an attention-seeking person. Hence the birthday is an important day for me as i get lots of attention that day from family and friends. While i seem most unpretentious about it, i wait for the day with a reasonable amount of excitement (Was going to say lot of excitement but then realised that i am going to be a father of a kid soon and hence will need to stop behaving like a kid).

This birthday was a good mix of surprise, pampering, routine, and some physical labour thrown in for good measure.

The birthday itself started a bit early as we went to Mahesh's place (for the uninitiated he is a friend from work) the previous evening, where I had a nice birthday cake awaiting me. My Scheming Sweet Surabhi had connived with them to plan the same. My dear friends had also, very thoughtfully, taken the trouble of getting my favorite snack i.e. samosa as well. All in all, it was a good prelude to the actual day.

The actual start to the day (or say night.. midnight) itself was rather simple and subdued. Surabhi tried very hard to stay awake to wish me at midnight, which she just about managed to do successfully. The next minute she promptly dozed off and her soporific, melodious snore was all i had for company.

As it turned out, i did not need that company for too long as I myself dozed off the next minute much to the chagrin of friends like Dhakkan who had made it an effort to remember my birthday and call me at night (twice in a row). Others were kinder and sent me smses and made it a point to underline their kindness.. "decided not to call you and disturb a....." Nevertheless, I was glad that they remembered and all wished me.

Papa was extraordinarily kind to me in waiting till 7 am or so before wishing me. I had half expected him to call at 4:45 am when he woke up. Thank you Papa. The series of phone calls, smses and emails (and orkut-ting) continued through the day and I got most of the expected greetings.

Surabhi did the most extra-ordinary thing thereafter by taking off from work post lunch (TATA-AIG stock would have most certainly hit the bottom circuit if it was a listed stock and the markets knew about this). She came to my office to pick me up and then she took me shopping. All the while she kept insisting that I buy this and that and the other. Got to buy some clothes and some books. Even had the offer of a new mobile being impressed upon me, but given my view of "uska paisa = mera paisa", I refrained from the offer. Anyways, it was the thought which was more important. Basically, I got majorly pampered.

In the evening we went for dinner to Dakshin at ITC Maratha Sheraton with my office junta - Mahesh, Ramya and Manish. Why Dakshin, I do not know really. It is usually good food but not my favorite. Actually, initially the idea was to go to Konkan Cafe at Taj President. Both Surabhi and I really like the place and the food. But then it was felt that it would be too far. Hence we settled at the suburbian cousin in terms of choice of cuisine.

We had two cars and since I am the official guide to Mumbai roads, I was leading the way. Traffic turned out to be much worse than what we had anticipated and soon all of us were plagued by the "mice jumping in the tummy" phenomena.

As if the traffic was not bad enough a problem, at one of the intersections the other car refused to start. And it was a heavy intersection and like the thing in Mumbai, the traffic here refused to give us a moment of respite as we tried pushing the car to a side. Anyways, after a bit of heave-ho and traffic management, we got the car onto the petrol station n the side. We contemplated leaving the car there for the night and getting it fixed next morning. But a brief interaction with the tout convinced us that it was a bad idea.

Result - Some more pushing and as God helps those who help themselves, the car started and we again proceeded on our way to the hotel.

Dinner was a nice, quiet affair which ended off with two cakes - one that Surabhi got and the other which the hotel felt obliged to offer us. The slight damperner was that the food turned out to be a bit disappointing and resulted in a bit of badgering of the hotel staff. Anyways, it was too small an issue to spoil what had been a good birthdya overall.

And on this special occasion, I would like to thank God Almighty for sending me to this world, thank my parents for giving me birth and raising me, thank my wife for making it a special day for me, thank all my family and friends for remembering me and wishing me, thank the mobile and email networks for bringing all the good wishes to me, and thank the car for making me push it and completing my day!!!

PS: the pic is of the lovely plates that Surabhi got for the cake :)

The final lap

Imagine hanging in a bag of fluids for 39 weeks!!! And then the bag being turned from left to right, right to left, upside down!!! How would you feel?

These are questions that have been in my mind for quite a few weeks. Ofcourse I am referring to a child in a mother's womb. And i keep telling Surabhi the same everytime she wants to twist and turn, and ofcourse she does not like it :)

Relax!! Before someone gets on my case, I dont tell her not to twist and turn or anything like that. I just sometimes tell her about my feelings for someone hanging in a bag of fluid.

Anyways, this period of agony for the baby is supposed to end soon. And is about to be replaced by another period of suppression!!

The baby's movements are much more obvious than before. Every now and then Surabhi and even I can feel and even see the baby's movements. These movements are only going to get more pronounced as time goes by. Its not like the baby was not moving as much before. Its more because as the baby is growing within the womb, the womb does not grow as rapidly. Infact, the womb even stops growing beyond a point. The growing baby faces increasing space constraint. Earlier, a lot of its movements might not have been felt on the surface. Now, every movement is felt on the stomach.

Anyways, all these will soon be a thing of the past. The same nine months that seemed insurmountable at a point in time are now almost a thing of the past. The move from 2006 to 2007 has made a huge difference to the psychology of things. What was then "next year" is now "this year".

Surabhi has already entered her third and final trimester. Its just another three months to go and then we shall be proud parents of a wonderful kid. I still often find it difficult to believe that MY baby is about to be born.

We took another step towards the final act today by going and booking one of the potential venues for Pu's arrival. Went and checked out the maternity section at Nanavati Hospital and made bookings for Surabhi. Fortunately she liked the look and feel of the place. We have to now check out one other place and register there as well. Then, if the baby is going to be born in Mumbai, then we are set.

Its just a matter of the wait....

The low-pressure situation continues...

.. and the rains continue to pour excitement into our lives..

Since my last post on the rains, have discovered three more of my friends caught in the storm of babies:

• One of my IIMA batchmate's wife has had a kid a couple of weeks ago in NJ;
• A friend from Bangalore has reported that his wife delivered a baby girl 3 months ago, and was full of advice when he found out that we were also expecting;
• Another couple, this time both being friends from SRCC and now living in the US, are expecting their kid in June.

Keep the good times pouring...

Shifting complete..

All old blogs have been shifted from the previous location to this location.

Thanks for all the help and support.

Changing homes

'No Sorry' is shifting to the following new location -

http://surnik.blogspot.com

See you there

Welcome

Have moved my blog to this new location due to several constraints on the earlier site..

Wish you a Very Happy & Prosperous 2007.