The thunder roars like they are bowling boulders up in the heavens with sparks of lightning dazzling as it hits the rut.The sky covered with clouds, thick, wide & midage grey .The sepia light spread across, filling the view with mild haze like it has just been wiped with a big moist sponge.The cool breeze blows smoothly through young palm trees ,picking pace every time it swirls around the vacant plots.The birds drifting back  home with a frown on their faces  for the day cut short ,chirping out their frustration as they hung on to the swaying trees.The dry heat stricken land lets out a sweet smell of relief announcing the world that its thirst has just been quenched by the elixir from above.

The rains had arrived.

I shut the rattling bay window, wiping off the wet semi octagonal cabinet formed within it.The rain had ruined all my plans to go out and meet a friend.Now I was stuck here with no power,a dead laptop & a mobile with no balance..all combined lead to one common, very big concern..no facebook.As the drizzle hit the window pane, I sat on the bench cum cupboard cum wardrobe cum dumpster, holding a novel (which I had been intending to complete..ah..well, start for a week) staring at the spattered droplets slowly streaming down as if   the glass was melting away to oblivion. I don’t know if my grandma would approve of me sitting so close to the action.I remember her strictly ordering us chingu-pingus ,who had arrived during vacations, to move into a room in the interiors & close all the windows & sit in the center of the room.She used to sit near the door & recite to us,in her slow grainy voice, story of how lightning had stuck at the veranda of a neighbor (in village a guy staying 5 km away is neighbor) & he had lost his eye sight  sitting by the window.We know it is crazy now but then…then it scared the shit out of us.As I started to read the prelude to the novel I could hear few screams coming from outside.It was from the neighboring children playfully jumping around &  down the stream of muddy water flowing down the road.Totally oblivious of being drenched with their wet shirt sticking on to them in patches and puffs, ruffled short hair standing up in eagerness & strands lying low like a con ,dirty chappals few tangled,few dangled to the ankle &  mud spattered shorts..they were lost in their own joyous town laughing when someones shorts slipped down,giggled when one rolled & tumbled, hooting out loud when the thunder rumbled,some sang as they spattered puddles with their kangaroo hops,sprinkled their face  with the droplets shaken off the tree tops, some running by as if to outrun clouds & some watched in awe floating paper trouts.

Just then the mobile phone rang, it was my colleague who had just undergone his appraisal.After the casual ex change of courtesies he inadvertently ended up cribbing about work,going on & on in detail for me to understand that he was undermined, undervalued & under appreciated.There were no under statements either on his bad situation or his boss’s biased disposition,there was no water going under the bridge.As I listened to the banter my eyes drifted back to the children.Though a grown up spoke,the hooted noise sounded truer, their haphazard moves where saner than our slick  maneuvers.Their battered looks & unkempt attire brought more reverence than any suit could inspire.At that moment it felt like through all disgust,resentment,discontent,heartbreak in our daily proceedings, where is the life that we were actually meant to be leading.

I am sitting in training and it’s not going well…it’s not going anywhere actually. They say that 90% of success lies is just showing up, going through this training I believe it applies even to miseries. I roll my eyes around to see what my partners in whine are up to. There where three of them, my Fuss-ka-tears. One of them as I saw was involved in deep thought with his eyes closed; the fact that his specs were shaded helped his nirvanic cause. The other two were deeply involved in discussion intently staring in to one of their laptop. “Wow these guys are workaholics” I thought as I approached to imbibe some gyan from them.

“Should I accept this or not?” said one of them.

“Hmm I don’t know. Look at the profile”

I knew they were planning to shift jobs; probably one of them had made some headway. I was curious.

“I am not sure…need to consider future too u see”

“Ya, but you will always have options” said the other as I was drawn closer.

“Ok I will accept” said he as I was finally able to see the monitor.

His single click had brought about the change, a change of gamut that created ripples heard across all his friends and family.

He had a new friend on Facebook.

I have been active in Facebook for sometime now. It’s weird to call oneself ‘active’ cause you indulge in it basically when you are too lazy to work or absolutely jobless. Anyway, I would like to confess though initially hesitant, that this craze has caught up to me. Looking back at my social networking history, I would like to believe that I have grown with time. Orkut, as many guys would agree, was the ice breaker to the. Many of us found the comfort in its undisclosed scraps, unnoticed profiles and unexplored friends. Facebook was a shocker. Everything out there was open to all & almost on your face. From migraine to marriage, jobs to jalebis, tics to politics…everything was posted out for everyone to see. I was left wondering why in the world would people open up like that. But then I realized this was a natural progression caused by raising the crucial question,” How far are you willing to go with it?” or in this case of social network “How socialistic are you?”. This was a challenge thrown on to the world and many accepted it. Being a challenge, it does have many concerns; firstly whom do you accept as friends. Now the key hurdle here is to strike a balance between the fake prestige you have in increasing your friend count with actually giving these guys a peek into your social life, well not just a peek but by allowing them to post you are giving them a say on your life & thoughts too. Can you deal with that?
Second concern, what you post. Most of us live compartmentalized lives. Keeping different set of friends away from each other, keeping friends away from your colleagues, colleagues away from your relatives, and relatives away from…well… everyone. Each compartment is filled different view of you and a different take on what you do or say. A wall post because of its accessibility and its nature to announce its presence to all carries the risk of torpedoing down these compartments to a greasy unsalvageable mess. The comments which follow the posts wont help much either. Say if you are a shy sober conservative & intelligent guy living in one compartment and imagine there is a wild below the belt post coming out of the rebellious side of yours…do you hear that…KABOOOM. Add to that you receive a comment digging up a few graves…can you see the mushroom cloud now. Third and final concerns are the games you play & societies you join. Rajesh life partner is…Ramesh’s kissing score is… Richa likes “Wild Rave Parties Club”…should I say anything more. I have just listed a few concerns but of course I am a beginner and I am sure the ardent users may suggest many more. But with just these many concerns I find myself treading carefully as if tip toeing through a mine field. It’s an exhaustive process…fun…but exhaustive. This however doesn’t mean I am going to stop facebooking (if there is such a word), neither should any person part of this forum. It’s our chartered duty to do so for our constitution has said that India is a socialistic democratic country and we have to uphold that.
Jai hind

It was a warm  Saturday evening , me  and my buddy were sitting on the  bonnet of my car eating sweet corn burnt on his coal stove by the street vendor .We sat there staring at the kids playing in the park near by.It had rained all day and the little ones were having a joyous time jumping around the puddles formed in the brick pavement ( the word bad construction didn’t mean anything to them), as the old men and fat..oops.. very healthy woman walked briskly around.We had been gabbing on for half an hour on how bad cricket is, how bad the job is, how bad the traffic is ,how bad the weather is, after a while, well…we had run out of bad things to say to each other.A mild chill breeze blew as we sat there in silence chewing at the corn.A mo bike whiffed passed  us ,seated on it  were a couple, with the guy holding on to the girl driving the bike..for a moment I thought may be the corn had gotten on to my head or something.. but thats that.

” huh, now there is something you don’t see everyday…” i said as my eyes kept following the bike as it headed towards the other end of the colony.

“I am going out next week to see a girl for marriage” he said

” they don’t seem married to me ” I observed based on how young the guy behind the bike was, the gal had a helmet on so couldn’t take a call.May be I should have taken a look at her neck  for mangal sutra , it wasnt there I guess .Well but the bike was too fast to take a call.

” The family is close friends to my uncle,am leaving to Mysore”

“times sure have changed ,haven’t they ”  i continued, thinking how the hell did that phrase of my uncle caught up to me.

We continued eating the corn as we watched a crowd gather around a wailing kid who had tripped and had got himself injured on the park pavement.The  old men in the crowd were busy scolding the municipality, while the women were busy pouring in the their expertise on first aid, the kid soon got quite and sat on a bench near by may be found it safer to bear the pain .as i lingered by,

” So , would you like to come “

” Where ?”

“Mysore”

“Why ?, on a trip”

” No , the marriage thing I just said”

” You getting married ??? , when”

“Na, Next weekend…”

“You getting married next weekend??”

“No you idiot, I am going to see the girl,next weekend.I said it just now. Didn’t you listen”

“Oh sorry.. guess not.You know with the girl, and the bike and the mangalsutra and all”

“What mangalsutra?”

“The one she wasn’t wearing, wait,may be she was christen…should have searched for a ring then”

“What ??”

“Ya you are right, the bike was too fast for getting that too”

“Huh !!! “

“Oh ya your marriage, sorry.So when are you going?”

“Saturday morning, me and few family members.Would you like to come?”

“Ah Saturday, have office you see.anyway will let you know”

“Hmm”

“Ya…have you seen the girl”

“You mean in person, no… no just a snap of her.She is pretty.”

“Pretty what ?”

“No pretty, as in beautiful. She is beautiful. See” he picked up the cell placed on the car bonnet and shuffling through its file.Then he handed over the mobile to me .

“that s her” he said.

He had taken a snap of a snap, so was kind of blur but not enough to hide the fact that  she was a nice looking girl.

“Ya , she is good looking” i said, careful not to use any of those other words which guys normally use at such circumstances, I mean I wouldn’t want to offend m friends future wife would I?.

“So , what will you do or ask there, I mean when you see her, the girl that is”

“I don’t know, haven’t really thought about it really.May be will go with the moment I guess”.He was lying, he must have gone over it a million times I guess.I mean here was a guy who used to plan his move in the loo if you leave him, he wouldn’t go in without a game plan.Or may be… just may be he actually didn’t, may be this time it was different.Marriage changes a lot of things they say, what if it changed him too that too just the mere thought of it that is.

“hmmm,so marriage huh”

“yaa, … I guess its time” he said.His words sounded as if  he was about to catch a train bound to the unknown.

He was in bit of a hurry to go home , so we bid each other good bye and left.The thought of  his transition lingered around for a while before it was taken over by hunger.The next day was a pain, not just because it was a Sunday on which I had to wake up early but also a  Sunday were in I had to attend a  function.It was my a naming ceremony for a niece of mine.Mom and dad had to go, so I became the designated driver.Its not like I hate going to family functions, I enjoy the company of my cousins there actually as we always have a great time, its just I hate the entire process before and after the function of deciding how to dressing up ,the route there, the time one has to be there,waiting up for others to dress up, waiting for everyone to dress up, everyone to have lunch,leave etc etc.Such a bane.I guess my cribbing on functions has become repeatative.Anyway the ordeal of getting ready ended at 10 and 1 hour and two wrong turns later we made it to the temple were a small crowd had already gathered, of just the family.As i settled down with my cousins, my parents went on to the older lot.We  are quite a few of us within the same age bracket , so its always great company to have.The ceremony was reaching its final phases.The day was hot  and humid as we sat below the cool shade of a coconut tree and waited for lunch to be served.

My mother who till now was lost in the group of aunts suddenly emerged and started vehemently waving her hand calling me near.I approached her  I was suddenly surrounded by this entourage of middle aged ladies.One of my aunt took the centre and started off.

“So I was telling your mother that its a very nice household, actually they are related to us, and they have a daughter and they were searching for a boy and I said to them we had a boy and suitable one too.. so I told your mother and she said its all upto you.. so what do you say?? “

“What ???, what are you talking about”

“What do you say, should I take it forward?”

“What , ?? marriage…No no no,..you cant..I mean  I am just 26 …I  don’t..”

“27″ mom interrupted

“26 mom, born in 84, do the math” I fumed

” ya it means 27 running, so its  practically 27″ she argued

“Whatever I am not marrying for 2 years at least”

“Look you are 26 now but the wedding is a long process of a year, by the time you get married you will be 28″ one of the entourage members proposed

“Ya and trust me you better get married now because  after 29 you don’t get girls you see, I have this relative of mine ,  they searched for a girl after 30, two years and still searching” another one pitched in

“Ya and you get married now the age difference with kids will be less, no generation gap you see.. less trouble understanding them”

As I was bombarded with facts on mortality and matrimony my mind just couldn’t stop swirling, i mean just moments ago I was sitting with guys discussing football scores and a minute latter i am already married with kids worrying if i can bloody  understand them.Just then a guy came inviting everyone for lunch and the  lot of women vanished in a jiffy.I brought myself back to my senses and headed off for lunch.I avoided the entire row of tables which had my aunts seated on them.My idea was to eat the lunch as soon as possible and sneak out of the place into the comfort and safety of my car.So I choose the seat nearest to the exit, skipped a few items and zipped out of there.As I briskly walked towards my car I realized a dreadful fact, I had left my mobile behind.God, was the dread of facing the firing aunt squad worth loosing my mobile.Hmmm, it was a tough call to make, well and i had a call to make, I mean literally , to an office colleague.So I had to go back.I sneaked into check out if the pack was still there.It seemed it had scattered.I could see my mobile lying down near the chair below the tree.I ran to get it and as i turned back she was here again.The person who fired the first bullet.

“So ” she said  ”What do you say, should I take it forward?”

“Aunty, not for a yer and half, sorry”

“What year, it will take a year.The girl is out of college, she is a very nice girl, very calm and quite,  and from a good family…”

Boy she sounded like a car salesman selling a car ” no dent, very smooth, you know the company its great you know…”

“Dont you dare say that” my mom shouted from behind me

Oh my god I must have thought out loud, and for the feminist that my mom is was fuming.

“Don’t you dare speak about a girl like that, what the hell do you mean selling car.Do you think this is business. this is a human being you talking about so mind your tongue son”

I apologized, on second thought I was out of line.

“What do you say?” my aunt pitched in.

“Before I could pitch in any more lame excuse, mom came to my rescue.

“Dont force him, he said a year later.Lets see then ok”

“Ok ” my aunt agreed.”but she was a good girl”

I joined my mother as we headed towards the car.

“don’t put me in such situations mom, you know “

“Look, now you better accept this where ever you go you will face this.After all, you are  in the market now” she said with a mild smile .I still couldn’t get what was the smile about, was it on seeing her sons ignorance or the commotion or was it a smile with a sense of achievement to know what had started with two years of no marriage has been without my own knowledge been brought down to a year by her.

Just then my mobile beeped.it was a message from my friend, ” R u comin 2 mysore dude?”. I smiled

PS: Its still 2 years