It was one of the Hollywood films this season, which I was very eager to watch! And at the end, I got a chance to watch “Marley & me” this week. The film is about a family, which owns a Labrador and it depicts the pleasure of bringing it up in a beautiful way. It is that rare kind of films which activates your lachrymal glands without your knowledge and at the end of the film makes you realize that, now you need a handkerchief to wipe of those tears!!! It was easy for me to relate with the protagonist in the film as,even I have my very own experience with my Labrador-My very own Tinku!

I still remember the day when he was b(r)ought home, some 5 years back as a small, cute puppy licking my legs when I came home after my school farewell day! I came late after the celebrations at school (My schoolmates will know what this celebration means ;-)). By then my parents have already baptized him Tinku in memory of my previous dog with the same name. So there is a Tinku again-my cute small brother! Those initial days with him were really difficult, in the sense, at night he never dares to sleep alone and so he used to sleep with me, disturbing most of my sleep. But as a puppy it was wonderful hugging and sleeping with him. Oops! I never knew that would become a habit later on. These days with his gigantic size, I hardly get space in MY bed to sleep. I m getting used to sleep on the ground safeguarding my dog! Good job indeed :-D

Ha..Just kidding! He lives upto the reputation of a guardian to our family! I must say this now. Some days before, late in the night, we were woken up to a loud and continuous barking of Tinku. When we got up to check what the matter is, we saw a man being caught by Tinku. He had entered our house parking area. We are still not sure if he was a robber or a drunkard who came inside our house, thinking if it was his! Pity him anyways. Tinku was really ferocious and wanted to have a go at him! The man went nervous and was pleading to my dad to come and save him. My dad was reluctant initially, then feeling sorry for that man, went and brought Tinku in! The man disappeared the next second. I felt he could give Usain Bolt a run for his money! Haha! He ran away so fast!

It is always a pleasure to have someone like Tinku, who hears to whatever you blabber and barks at you when u go overboard ;-) He smiles so generously at you always waving his tail. He eats a lot and sleeps a lot. Hmmm he is lazy. But I doubt if he was really lazy before or has just turned lazy these days seeing his elder brother ;-) Ha ha..He barks a lot and he intimidates whoever comes to my house. But no complaints, coz that is what he is assigned to do!

Now, let me stop singing praises about him, coz I never intended to write a testimonial for Tinku here, rather I wanted to tell my fellow readers the pleasure of having a faithful and a loyal animal like a dog in your family! Dogs…never want a big home, designer clothes, fancy cars…doesn’t care if you are rich or poor…clever or dull, smart or dumb. They love you a lot no matter what…Give ‘em your heart and he’ll give you his. How many people can make you feel special, pure and rare! How many people can make you feel…extraordinary??

You still not convinced about owning a dog…sorry.. Adopting a child, then you must watch Marley & me now…right now..

Treasure the treasures..Love u dogs!!

Every passing year my conception or my definition about love keeps on changing with some phrase added or removed. But one thing that has remained the same is my notion that “To be in love and to be loved are the two best feelings on Earth”. Love, as many say is a gift, virtue and a blessing, which ought to be kept so close to our hearts. It gives a new definition to our life. Only a person who is not in love will know how luckier, the guy who in love is, because he understands love is not a gift everyone can get so easily.

But what about these lucky ones???Do they really understand the beauty and essence of love??Do they understand that they are really lucky? From the world I have seen and the persons with whom I have acquainted I have just heard love lament, “Please give me a chance”. On one side, I see persons not accepting the true love, they get and they keep on waiting for the perfect match without knowing love is only as perfect as we make it. On the other side I see, lovers break up due to ego clashes and possessiveness. I don’t understand why people can’t give up their pride and ego just to the people whom they love a lot. Be it any relation, the wound created by egocentric problems takes lot of time to heal. The worst case is that u may lose the person for a lifetime. At times misunderstandings may ruin a perfect love. However remember, it is the things in common that makes a relationship enjoyable, but it is the differences that make them interesting ;-)

I was in for a shock when one of my friends said love is kinda business, where u give and take the same. I’m afraid if this is the mentality of today’s youth. Do they just see love as a kind of business or as an important element for social status or just to boast to people that they too can love without even knowing what love demands??Many feel a perfect love is accomplished just with a bike ride, a movie,a walk in the beach during the sunset,a dinner. Many forget true love requires something more than all this. Care, patience, understanding and all the more trust and loyalty. Well I still feel love is monumental and universal because of the fact love defies all reasons and gives you a blind confidence to add to your strengths! Love is always bestowed as a gift..Freely, willingly and without expectations. We don’t love to be loved; we love to love. Love is sometimes denied, sometimes lost, sometimes unrecognized, but in the end, always found with no regrets, forever valued and treasured .Inside every heart there is a longing to be understood by someone, who really cares, who trusts and loves you. Now it’s time to introspect! U look inside your heart, I ll look into mine! Let’s give Love a chance!

MAKE UR LIFE BEAUTIFUL!!

Being a cricket maniac myself, of late it is heartening to see an Indian team with a plethora of talents and a team, which has already forgotten how to lose matches. It is not very often do you see an Indian cricket team thrash an opposition and win matches so convincingly. This team, with a blend of youth and experience, has already started to make history of their own. The overseas victories, which eluded the Indian team of yesteryears, have been won so convincingly by this team. The VB series win at Australia in ’08, the twin wins in Sri Lanka, the thrashing of New Zealand speaks volumes about this Indian unit, which has come off ages!

So, who is responsible for this transformation of an circumspect Indian team into an aggressive, all-conquering Team India? Some may say it is the presence of a genius, the master-Sachin Tendulkar in the team. He brings wealth of experience into the batting lineup. I m sure, he is a vital member in the team, but of late, we can see Indian team winning without him in the lineup! So who else?? Sehwag? Yuvraj? Hmm…Quite a bit! Yeah, everyone has played a part in the making of a new -Invincible Team India. But the man, who I think has brought this metamorphosis is the guy from Ranchi, our captain cool-Mahendra Singh Dhoni! Initially having hogged the limelight for his long hairdo, which even the Ex-President of Pakistan, Gen.Pervez Musharraf praised, he has gone a long way in making a mark for himself in cricketing history! His story is a fairy tale of fame, glamour and money.

The most striking quality of Dhoni has been his simplicity. No wonder that Dhoni has ascended to the status of being a deity, but the wonder is that he’s a God with his feet firmly planted on the ground. He walks with ease through his new glamoured world because he seems to know who he is. Slowly it is becoming evident that the virtues of a grounded, simple upbringing — humility, pragmatism, self-reliance, philosophic calm, a workman’s ethic, a clear sense of responsibility, and the ability to grab the slimmest opportunity — may actually be the key factors in his spectacular success.

A man who’s risen to the top on the strength of sheer, raw talent. No special background, no fabulous training, no godfather. He was risen to the post of captaincy when Dravid’s men were thrashed out of the ’07 world cup. Not the best of times, to be given that post, but the administrators found Dhoni as the good boy to be send to the guillotine! A poor sacrificial lamb! But Dhoni brought the much needed fresh air of optimism in the Indian team with his cool headed approach coupled with pragmatism and maturity. I doubt if any other captain has tasted success so early in his career than Dhoni has? May be it is because of the core value he brings to the job by his level-headedness — the clear sense of reality that helps a small town boy prioritize life. This means he has the ability to treat cricket as a game, not as religion. He is unafraid to take his chances, to run the impossible risk and win the unthinkable. Whoever thought Dhoni would throw the ball to Jogindher Sharma, when Harbhajan Singh had an over in his kitty to bowl the last over of a world cup. His risk paid off and you know what happened!

I remember an ex-Indian captain who celebrated a win by taking off his T-shirt and waving it like a victory banner; Dhoni celebrated his world cup win by giving his T-shirt away to a child. In that moment of immaculate gesture resides Dhoni’s trump card, his belief in himself. Having followed this million dollar baby throughout the IPL,I got the feeling he was worth that 6 crore! Not just because of his audacious batting display, but the way he carried his team.. leading them into the finals of the inaugural IPL! The final huddle of the Chennai Super kings, even after they lost the last ball thriller, speaks about the team spirit Dhoni infused into the team! He’s a youth icon, an aggressive captain, a perfect team man and a triumph of simplicity!

India is in a pair of safe hands! Keep rocking Dhoni!

Are Real friends real, virtual friends virtual?

The title itself would have made sense to the quandary I m in. Yeah of late, I m acquainted with many virtual friends .Now what does virtual friendship mean? With the increase in number of social networking sites and chat messengers, it has become easy to acquaint with people who you feel are in the same wavelength as you are. You are connected with them 24*7 online. I don’t know if it is the best or the worst thing about virtual friendships, that you hardly get any chance to meet them in your life time as you make friends all over the globe! From my experience, I honestly say that some virtual friends are really trust worthy. You get a chance to share even your silliest of the ideas with them and u feel there is someone who can hear that and even help you out! You always feel you tend to be yourself with them, there is no need for faking or reeling some stories to make them believe you. There comes a time, when u wonder why virtual friends cannot be real ones with whom you can go out for a coffee or a movie? So virtual friends are only virtual??

Let it be there on one side. Coming back to my real friends. So what do I mean by real friends? A one word reply would be “Those people whom I see when I m offline”! Yeah I mean people whom I see in my daily life and acquaint! So what makes real friends a notch higher than your virtual friends? Or is there any reason why they are really worth a notch higher? The very fact that we go out for a movie, hang out with them, can we say real friends are true friends? I doubt. I seriously doubt! Let me throw this question to everyone who is reading this. How many out here are really yourself to your friends? How many of your friends really know the true colour of you? I know almost everyone out here fake, trying to be good for Heavens sake! Does it make sense you are true in your relationship? I have heard this said umpteen time:”We start loving people seeing the best side of them and problems start queuing up when you learn the other side of them too”. This strengthens my statement “Are we true in our relationships”? I feel the main problem in not being open in our real friendship is our old-aged conception about what he will think about me if I tell this and we wear a beautiful mask around an ugly personality. So now, u say real friends are true?? May be a very few!

The best part about virtual friendship is that we start liking someone for the person he really is, without even, having seen him before in his life, without knowing his social status or anything like that. They are innocuous in the sense that their existence hardly affects us! Virtual friends seldom try to harm you. You start feeling good about yourself when you don’t fake and be true to your friend. You feel a sense of relief having shared your grief or shared your happiness. Having heard the term Global village one may still relish the dream of meeting our virtual friends one day, though they are virtual and oceans apart.

The best part of a having a real friend is they help and care for us unconditionally. They celebrate our success, share our sorrows and they love us a lot! Virtual friends can only send a sweet smiley when I say about my success! ;-( It is very easy to meet a real friend at will, speak with him through mobile for hours, but when it comes to virtual friends it is not the same. They have different time zones and when you sleep, they work. It is tough to call and speak for hours, unless your dad pays your mobile bills ;-) I would be harsh on virtual friends who promise a life-long friendship but the harsh reality is that only real friends are here for a lifetime to share, care and love us!!!

Having spoken about the pros and cons of virtual and real friends, I wanna define the main theme of mine here: true friendship..What does it means to me? I feel true friendship is one when you are able to be yourself with the other person, no matter u meet him daily offline or online. Moreover, I don’t think real friends are completely real and virtual friends completely virtual. I have done 12 years of schooling and 4 years of awesome college life. Given the number of people who have studied with me, I must have had a thousand real, true friends by now. But?? ? Yeah..I know I have made many true friends though virtual or real. And if anyone felt guilty or skeptical about yourself while reading this, I wish you change yourself for the good, to be a true friend soon, not just being real or virtual..,! Be yourself! And feel the change!!

Cheers to True Friendship!

Well,this blog is about and for my grandma,who was called for the eternal life the last year.It is about my feelings when I lost her.I thank you beforehand for empathizing and sharing the grief with me.

If my memory is sharp ,I still remember ,some 22 years ago on a sunny April day my Amama (grandma ) was there standing anxiously in front of the operation theatre to hear the cry of my voice and to see her first grandson .It was she who brought me out of the hospital to show me how realistic the world looks like. Hmmm.. after 22 years, as people would call it fate ,it was me, who took her inside the hospital for one final time and sadly showed her the path to eternal life. As the Holy Bible says death comes as a silent thief. I do oblige with that, but that thief takes away the person forever from us, but forgets to take away the memories of them, which we love to cherish forever and ever!

Ya memories are really cherishable when it is of those whom we have loved without bounds. My Amama was no exception. Umpteen fond memories to treasure for a life time. It was then, when I would come to visit Amama only during my exam holidays as I was there at Pondicherry. I still remember, days when I helped Amama to make a crib when I come for X’mas hols. Those were the days when we go to night mass at Holy Family Convent .As a child ,I was reluctant to actually get up during those wee hours and go to church. But Amama somehow, managed to wake me up. She keeps saying she will show me a grandpa who ll give me chocolates and gifts. And without fail that grandpa too, gave me many more than I expected. And today I know his name is Santa Clauz! Hmm I m just reminded about one Easter night mass when I did not get up even after they tried to wake me up. Guess wat they did? They locked the door and they all went to Church, thinking that I would not get up in the mean time and they could come soon. To my nightmare, quite literally, I got up during that time, only to see neither my parents nor Amama there at home. Oops! I don’t remember any other occasion when I cried so much and felt bad about them. Later fed up of crying I went to my own business..to sleep again!

Life moved on..Fast,never as before and we landed here in Chennai to stay with my grandparents. Appapan(Grandpa) was very keen on my academics, and obviously there was pressure for me to perform. I was not spared any bit of scolding and advice. Whenever I was tired of hearing lots of those there was a soul which was always there to encourage me and tell me that I can do it!! A soul which was there to embrace, love, and care for me-My Amama

After my successful 10^th and 12^th,whenever my results came..I just cant describe it with words, the amount of joy I could see in her eyes .After I got placed in a MNC, she whole heartedly wished me great success in my field. Hmm..I had that burning desire to get her atleast something with my first salary. But she did not wait for it or rather I could say it sadly.. I was late!

A soft spoken, a person with a sunshine smile 24*7,a human who dint know the limits of affection, who was always ready to shower it pricelessly, an embodiment of true love, a person to be adored. I can proudly say I have inherited some of those innate characters into me, which I m sure will lead me in the right direction ,in the life ahead! Whenever I leave to college and whenever I returned, there was Amama who welcomed me with her warm smile. Ha.. Anyone who can feel the value of that smile ,even forgets the troubles he faced during that day and most importantly the troubles he faced riding in our roads! I m sure that smile can’t be replaced..So genuine and loving!

I’m going to face a void .I don’t know with whom I can sit and watch a Malayalam film again, where she keeps on teaching me that “toughest” language time and again .I don’t know who is going to give me a company to tease my sister. I don’t know whose hands I can hold so happily as I did for Amama, walking through the terrible roads of ours .I don’t know who is going to love me so much, after my parents! I don’t know with whom can I find solace during difficult times!

A famous saying goes like this “Familiarity breeds contempt” .But this was never the case with our relation .It grew stronger day by day and I was at the receiving end..Receiving loads of care and affection! Not to forget my siblings. They too enjoyed their own share!! Ya it is true she was too emotional at times just because she was not able to accept certain things from certain people, just because she loved them so much!

I feel Amama’s life was scripted perfectly. Born at the God’s own land as the eldest among her 7 siblings, having lead a peaceful married life, being the mother of four children, she was too good! As a priest pointed out she has lead an exemplary life which ought to be looked upon with pride and inspiration. In the last couple of years where her tribulations and the fight to fill the generation gap was inevitable, she accepted responsibilities and my honest confession is that I was just a silent admirer of her dedication and her devotion. Hats off!!

Well, I m just reminded of a great old man who quite accidentally asked me, when I was jus about 10 yrs “who do u think loves U so much after ur parents?” I was not so matured then, but somewhere deep inside the heart I had the feeling it was my Amama and I replied so. And after so many years I feel I was not wrong and I have done all that should be done for a perfect reciprocation. Infact the final walk in which I took her into the ICU cannot be erased so easily from my memories. The final hug and the smile, even in that situation personifies the character she was. I never imagined that I would be the last person to speak to her. The last few words in the dying moments of our relation “Don’t be afraid Amama” still echoes to me loud and hard. It is quite ironic that it is time for us to pray to our Amama that “We are afraid of our future.. Plz pray for us”.

MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE!

At the outset I would like to introduce myself as a normal guy whom u see in Chennai…Simple, rusty, with a happy-go-lucky guy attitude and one with a heart which cares and loves a lot for people, but don’t know how to express it. A pass out during the worst financial year 2008, having no other option, I was left to join a call center and it was such a beautiful, short span I spend there. I found it would be really nice if I could share some beautiful moments of my experience over there with you!

After the fun-filled soft skill training in the morning shift, it was time I moved to the night shift for the first time. I was really thrilled the whole day thinking how working at night would be .I must say that the day moved very slowly for me, increasing my anxiety about the graveyard shift. Somehow, by 10 P.M I reached my call center. The shift would start anytime from now. Also, it was the first time I gave my attendance using my fingerprint. Somehow, with the help of my colleague I gave the attendance. Then I moved to my call center training floor.

I must say everyone in the batch were excited like me as they too were working in this shift for the first time except for a few. This made the place very lively. Also my friends have told me before, that all the beauty queens on earth would come to work only during night shifts and so we were exited in the anticipation of seeing them. But no so-called-beauty queens turned up, though many girls came! Anyways the thrill about attending the training class during the wee hours, the time when I even didn’t study for my semester exams, kept me excited.

Since the trainer had not come until that time, I went to the cafeteria where we get hot coffee, which was so nice and it was free of cost too! And yes, it was one of the two reasons I continued with this call center. U must be wondering what the other reason is. Come on…No prizes for guessing and yes u guessed it right too..If it was not for Neha-a traditional Chennai girl with an impeccable dressing sense and one with gorgeous looks, I would not have continued with that call center, I swear! She was really charismatic and likeable. But you would not trust me , I have not spoken to her yet. It was already 10 days of ogling! But I don’t think it was lust.

By the time I finished the last sip in my cup, I realized it is high time the trainers must have come. I rushed in to the room to see them, having started with the session. As always u see in a call center, the trainers don’t waste a chance to make fun of you when they find u have done something worth teasing. They justify it by saying they want to keep the training session alive. Whatever it may be, today I was the scapegoat. And I don’t want to damage myself here by writing what he asked me when I entered! Come on It’s all in the game ;-) His words were so hilarious, fitting that moment, he made everyone laugh for a while. But what I could see was a graceful face of Neha with her hairs spread, twinkling eyes, pink cheeks and clad with a black top … smiling too.

It seems the trainer was trying to bring life to the session by asking some interesting questions and the question for the night was “Tell about the happiest thing that happened to u in this week”…Everyone was telling something or the other. I was just wondering what really made me happy this week .Nothing else struck me than the day I saw Neha first. I was thinking about the pink tops she wore and the really killing looks of her, before which one of the trainees disturbed my thoughts with his funny reply to that question. He said his happiest moment was when he proposed to a girl and she said a straight “No” to that. Everyone was puzzled with his reply. Before the trainer could ask “Waaa…”..He said “Escaaapppu”, which literally imitated Vadivelu’s tone .Laughing for that, I just forgot the next person to answer was me. Before I could recollect what I could say I just started “Well….” I felt it would be very embarrassing for me and for her to tell what I actually felt…So I continued saying…”Well..It would be very unfair to pick one happy moment from a week, in which I was really happy all time. Everyday is a blessing…very special to me”.. Other trainees who commented “Enough licking our hearts” sarcastically relished my diplomatic reply! But I was not finished...I continued saying “Everyday I came to the call center, I got new friends to acquaint with, who were really nice, who shared their experience with me. I still relish all those moments I spend with my batch mates. Thank you guys”. I clearly intended Neha but the trainer didn’t know that and acknowledged me saying “We too are happy having met you”. I felt good.

Soon the training session began. It was about the process we are getting into. It was interesting in the beginning as the trainer was lively with his presentation. My watched showed 12’o clock midnight. I don’t think I have seen the beauty of Chennai at this hour. I just peeped out of the window to see and felt I m living in a beautiful city. Atleast at night ;-) Silent beauty u can term. But before I can admire that beauty I was struck by another...Hmm..She was killing me with her looks. I understood that she didn’t like that session or she was feeling sleepy. She was trying to control herself from falling asleep. Even I started to feel that the presentation was getting bored. I turned back to look at my colleagues. They too were trying hard to stay awake keeping their eyes wide open. It was getting tough for all of us as the clock stuck 1 A.M.

Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so. But I didn’t want to let Neha go in the same way I let other girls go in my life. But the harsh reality is that I haven’t spoken to her yet. Whenever I went near her with the intention of speaking, I failed very badly falling a poor victim to her gorgeous looks. Honestly I haven’t felt so nervous for speaking first time to a girl, but to Neha…Oh Yeah...I’m..! Just thinking about this I missed the lecture. I cared zilch about it! All my thoughts were about how to take the first move! By now, the trainer almost took us to the verge of sleeping. We needed a break badly! Very badly!

Yippee! We got one! Everyone rushed out of the room, the next moment our trainer left us for the break. I would say I was the last to come out of the room, though I wasted no time in coming out, after the permission was given. All my colleagues went straight to the cafeteria, except for Neha. I envisaged she was waiting for someone else to come. But I saw no one in the training room. I could see only Neha and me in the floor. I felt this was the right time for me to take the first move. I went near her, and to my surprise she said “Hi” to me .I just acknowledged by nodding my head. I know it is the worst thing I could have done, but given the excitement at that moment I felt that was ok! She asked me “coffee?”... I said sure and I don’t even remember what happened in between, as I sat in front of her for a coffee in our cafeteria.

I felt some cool breeze blowing, I can feel my body freezing in the winter snow, and I felt excited sitting opposite to the girl to whom I have lost my heart. I looked up to the Heavens thankfully and I felt the moon accepted my thanks gleefully and the other stars laughing at me sarcastically. I convinced myself thinking those stars were envying me and I got back to my business without wasting much time. I actually did not know how to begin the conversation. It was almost 30 seconds after we sat in the table. But not a single word yet.

I thought of breaking the ice now. I started asking, “So…what is your name?”After seeing her reaction to this question, I felt I would have better kept my mouth shut! She replied “I m Neha” with a very sarcastic, strange look which I feel these modern age girls have mastered! I reciprocated it with a genuine smile saying, “I’m Benny...Nice meeting you!”Having no idea what to ask next, I felt it was better I could get coffee for both of us. And I went to get it, after asking her to wait for a few minutes.

As we were the last to come to the cafeteria, there was no big queue to get the coffee as all have already having it. So it was easy for me to have a couple of cups soon. I just had the feeling that I should not waste any moment with her but I really felt dumb sitting opposite to her. Oh My God!!! Just thinking how to start a conversation, again, I sat opposite to her in the chair, which I felt was tailor made for the situation! And before I could taste the coffee, I asked Neha “How is the training going on?”, as if I m from another planet. Her raised eyebrows and her dull looks implied she was not interested with my question again. I felt really bad as I suddenly felt “Oh! Is she such a dull creature all the time...My life may be ruined”. At that moment little did I realize how boring I was!

My feelings about her as a dull woman was growing thick and fast as we hardly spoke for the next few minutes before which she erased that feeling in a matter of seconds. She started saying “Well Benny… I have seen you before we actually became colleagues here”. At that moment of involuntary reflex, my brows raised and mouth opened with an expression “How.. what??” She continued saying, “I was there with my friend at Satyam the last week to watch a movie when I saw you first. You were there with a girl, who I guess must be your girl friend rite?” Her tone finally sounded girlish and likeable when she uttered those words. I quickly clarified her saying “No..She is not. She is one of my cousins”. Anticipating what the next question would be I said “I m still single” with my voice clearly trembling and sending vibes that I liked her! To my surprise, I saw her eyes were wide open, a small smile and the expression of the face completely changed and it was painted pink. She was at her best and it made me confirm that God must have been in his best mood when He created Neha.

Really that expression on her face made me doubt if she too had a liking for me. It was quite strange for me as I have never felt all these feelings before with a girl. I did not want to spoil the situation by asking something, as I was quite sure I would be asking something idiotic again! But u see, I was not able to resist asking that idiotic question of mine and asked Neha “But how do u still remember me, having seen me only once in the theatre?” She did shy for a while, before revealing that I was very impressive that day. She said that her friend noted me first as my dark blue shirt was striking enough to make heads turn! She also said the way I carried myself with a girl around made her friend fall for me! I seriously didn’t know how to react, as I was bemused thinking if only that act of mine made her fall for me?? I was not convinced with the reply but I did not want to make her feel uncomfortable asking more about that day. Anyways I felt good, though that was not what I expected. I mean not her friend fall for me. Nevertheless, in that next moment of honest confession she said, “Yeah true …Even I felt you were really good that day”. Hmmm.. Now I realized that she was really interested in me and from somewhere I got some confidence to move further. It seemed everything was happening so fast.

She was not done yet. Her confession continued. She said that she expected that I would speak to her on the very first day. But as I accepted before I was really afraid to speak to such a beautiful girl, that day, though I intended to.Neha, in her words of praise appreciated me for keeping my dignity intact and having being manly. Oh My God..I never knew if girls would think like this toooo!!Anyways I did not want to spoil my image now, by saying the truth. I just said “I wished to…But…” truncating my statement by taking the coffee in my hand. I have had coffee with many girls before, but honestly that night I felt I was really dumb-struck just because I was not emotionally attached to any girl before or because no one ever accepted how impressive I was..Ha-ha!!

By now, all my colleagues have started leaving the cafeteria, as it was time, our break ended. I did not want her to leave now. I felt bad asking her to stay also. So I just kept looking my other colleagues who were leaving the cafeteria for a while. She too saw them, but showed no signs of returning to the training room. I felt convinced that she wanted to stay with me for some more time in the cafeteria. The feeling was immense, my heartbeats started to pound fast, in that snowy night, I felt I was sweating, my eyes seeing everything else on earth except her eyes. I exactly don’t know how to describe that once-in-a –lifetime moment!!To add to the thrill of the night, there was not a single person left in the cafeteria except for we two and the cafeteria owner, who was half-asleep!

Everything fell in place for us. The night would not have been so romantic except for this beautiful girl sitting next just opposite to me, just few minutes from becoming my own…my very own. But that needed a moment of bravery from me. I needed to tell her how much I love her. I was pretty assured that she would not reject my proposal now, because our eyes have already done most of the talking! We both finished our cup of coffee and we were left with no other option than to speak…speak honestly! I regrouped myself for the brave act I needed to do tonight. I started “Neha..The night is so beautiful rite” in my trademark idiotic way! She smiled to herself and nodded her head. Then I continued adding some sense to what I said “ Yeah. I mean it .Without you sitting opposite to me, my night would not have been so beautiful. Thank you!” She said in a girlish way “Come on Benny”! and stretched her hands, relaxing. I did not know what I was doing, but I clung her right hand… so tightly with my both hands and in the next second, trying to be romantic I opined, “Do u love me and can we marry each other”?

I did not feel I did a mistake, after seeing her expression not so harsh. She was bewildered though! May be she did not expect my proposal so soon. I can feel she was not comfortable! But I was wrong! She thought for a while and she placed her left hand upon mine and said “I feel I m lucky”! Now this confirmed that she has accepted my proposal. I was on cloud nine! We were speechless for a while and I saw her shying at me for the first time. Just an hour ago, I was sitting in the training room and wondering if I could ever speak to Neha. But now!! I was feeling what real love is! She was looking damn beautiful for me in that snowy backdrop with her black clad tops, and pink cheeks. I felt she expected something now, atleast her sore lips ;-) Though I was not sure, watching these romantic Hollywood movies made me think that I needed to kiss her right now! The place was serene, picturesque, and empty and the stage can’t be set so romantic than this to kiss your lady love for the first time. Now, we were standing really close and facing each other, almost ready to get back to our training room. I really didn’t know if she expected me to kiss or not. I used my psychology knowledge here to some extent. I was reading some psychology books after my college got over and it said “When u want to know if a girl needs a kiss from you, you place your right hand on her cheek(close to the ear) and if she doesn’t push your hands off, she needs it”. And I tried to do the same. It clicked. U know what a moment it is in a guy’s life, for that matter, even girl’s to have a first kiss! I was thrilled and I did not waste a moment!

At the moment of agony, I heard a sound from a distance saying, “Your session for today is over. You can get back home and come tonight again” and my friend nearby woke me up saying “Machi come fast. We are already late. We may miss the cab”. I woke up to realize what was actually going on! And to my diagonal seat was sitting Neha, giggling for some sick joke of her friends, without knowing she was mine…very much mine in my sweet dreams!!

I came out of the training room, to a foggy Wednesday morning inviting me and I looked up to the skies and I could see a cloud passing…Yeah…a passing cloud again which failed to shower on me!