Tuesday 27 April 2010

SURVIVAL INSTINCT?


It was 4 in the noon...or early evening if you like. The bus wasn’t crowded, exactly as I’d expected – most offices in Mumbai leave at 6pm (on paper). I hopped onto the step-board casually, and strode in, fully-expecting a seat waiting for me. As fate would have it, there was one. Only, it was a ladies’ seat.

The day had been stressful so far – that morning, it had taken me almost 15 minutes to find directions to the office for my interview, and 10 more minutes to walk there. The wait at the bus-stop after the interview was a 20-minute ‘balance-shift-from-one-leg-to-another-and-back”, since there wasn’t any place to sit. So, when I saw the lone seat in the bus, and no standing female in sight, I instantly got seduced and made an athlete’s dash to it.

Three stops later, five people got into the bus, 4 men, and 1 slightly-plump, middle-aged woman. I immediately rose to my feet to award the seat to its rightful beneficiary, but I hadn’t even remotely foreseen what was to happen next.

As soon as I stood up, one of the men, a middle-aged portly man, with unkempt hair, a thick black-grey-white stubble, and unbuttoned shirt, pounced like a bloodhound towards the seat, like as if his life depended on it. He sat himself down with a sudden plonk, and immediately closed his eyes as if he had been stung by a sedating-syringe.

The woman reached the spot more than a hundred seconds later, the frown on her forehead and the scowl on her face clearly showing. She called out to the man, but he pretended like he didn’t hear her, only responding with a brushing of his nose, and a loud-and-clear yawn that would put Kumbhakaran to shame. She tapped on his shoulders for effect, but he only opened his eyes for a while to look at her, and then looked away with shut eyes and another yawn.

Before any self-proclaimed Good Samaritan could react and put the jerk in place, the woman took matters in her own hands and gave us all a demonstration of Woman-Power.

She tapped him harder on his shoulders, yanked him up by his arm, pointed to the “Ladies” sign, and sat herself down, to the utter horror and dismay of the jerk.

It was nice to see a woman who knew how to take care of herself, and assert herself.

Today’s women are absolutely independent, know their rights, and are willing to fight for them. They don’ take nonsense anymore. I looked the jerk in his face and scoffed at him, and congratulated the lady in my mind for her act of assertion.

Three stops later, a few more people entered the bus, which was now beginning to get crowded. One of them was a young, pregnant lady. People made way for her and she walked slowly and carefully towards the seats meant for ladies.

The middle-aged superwoman had noticed the lady board the bus. She looked up at the roof-panel above her head.

The sign placed there, which a few minutes ago only meant “reserved for ladies” for her, now read “reserved for carrying/pregnant women”.

In a split-second, she closed her eyes and pretended to be in deep slumber.

Cheers
CRD

P.S. - The pic has been taken from a blog written by a lady who absolutely hates teh fact that males plonk their asses on Ladies' seats :P. Stumbled upon this blog while searching for an apt photograph. Here's the URL - http://theladiesseat.blogspot.com/

Sunday 4 April 2010

HER BEST FRIEND...


Sana and Reggie were classmates.

And they were best of friends.

Their friendship blossomed only in the middle of the academic year, when the two loners began sharing lunch and eventually benches. They were similar in almost all respects. Both hated speaking a lot, both were dreamers, both loved the simple things in life and didn't want too much from it.

And both loved to be with each other...

...until people started talking about them, and Reggie started getting conscious.

But Sana didn't mind the talking. She really liked Reggie a lot.

Reggie though, began to take Sana for granted.

In the month gone by, this was how days went and made her feel extremely upset.

•On day one, she saw him look upset, and asked him what was wrong, but he shrugged it off with a smile saying everything was okay.

•Being the last few days before they graduated and departed, she attended college only coz she didn't want to miss a day so that she could spend more time with him. But on day five, he told her how much he hated having to come to college every day. This made her upset.

•In week 2, she won an inter-collegiate contest, and the world called and messaged to wish her. Even people who weren't really her friends, and who hardly ever talked to her otherwise congratulated her. But he didn't. It was almost like he didn't have a clue at all. She felt hurt and unimportant.

•The next day, she had some good news that she didn't want to share with anyone else except him. She imagined how happy he would be to hear it from her mouth. But he didn't turn up that day. Her enthusiasm fizzled out

•Two days later, he finally came to college. She was seeing him after what seemed like ages. He was looking kinda cute that day. She wanted to tell him how handsome he looked, but chose not to, coz she was scared about how he'd react. It can be quite painful to keep things to yourself sometimes.

•As they left to go home, she saw him walk dejectedly out of the campus gates. She called out to him, more than a dozen times. She even ran out behind him and walked a few steps beside him, but he didn't notice her at all. She felt hurt and walked away

•The whole of next week, he didn’t attend college, simply coz ‘he was feeling lazy'. She called him up after a week, just to hear his voice, but his voice on the phone didn't sound the least happy

•On the seventh evening, he promised her that he would be coming the next day. She shooed off others who came to sit beside her, only to reserve a seat for him, and waited eagerly. 30 minutes into the lecture he messaged saying that he wasn't gonna come, and so she had to sit all alone for the rest of the day

•She gets terribly upset every time she thinks about him. Coz while she thinks of him as her best friend, and perhaps even more than that, she has no clue about what she means to him. Sometimes she 'knows' she means nothing to him at all...

It's very upsetting when someone is the world to you, but you don't feel as important to that person.