Christmas 1987 - My dream came true !!

It was in 1987. I was 7 years old. Christmas was there. All I knew about holidays was that there would be lots of people around! New clothes!! Gifts n goodies, sweets and dry fruits! Cricket! Some party! I was looking forward to all the fun.

I woke up in the morning and yet lay in bed. I had had a dream. A dream of dad bringing a Christmas cake in the evening. Now, cakes were a rare concept in my house. Even on birthday’s we never brought any cakes. And so a full blown cake…a huge chocolaty one…fluffy to the max….being brought home couldn’t be easily brushed off. Moreover, a type of cake, which I had never laid eyes on before. If u have seen the original Christmas cakes u would realize how adorable they are. No cream, no fancy stuff. Just a huge fluffy cake with lots of nuts. Even searching for those nuts is like a treasure hunt!!

So, I pulled myself out of bed, went to the drawing room. Grandpa was telling all plans for the Christmas to mom. Dad had gone to handle some business related work. I told them that dad would be bringing a chocolate Christmas cake in the evening. I had seen it in my dream and I described the cake.

Evening came and so did dad. He was carrying a huge box. Grandpa said what I had told. We took the cake out of the box and lo!! Behold!! There it was. My dream had come true.

Stalking

October 2004. A serene evening in Tatanagar (Jamshedpur). I love these small towns. Slow pace. Greenery all around. Helps me to think up really whacky ideas.

I was playing in a chess tournament at J.R.D. Tata Sports Complex. And Staying at my cousin’s place in a society near the heavenly Dimna Lake. Anu (cousin) goes totally berserk whenever I stay. Just 1 hour in their house. And they start feeling as if they are the guests J. Also my total pampering of her school going daughter Meenu. All her control on her is diluted in few minutes. I took out Meenu once and we had a competition of eating maximum no of ice-creams. The best that was available. Thunder, lightning in the house that day. Dark clouds on Anu pinni’s face. And my innocuous suggestion that since we had a lot of sweet that evening we should go out and eat theeka paani puri didn’t go well with her. Wonder why?

But this write-up is about one specific evening. Let’s get back to that.

Tournment was mid-way. After 2 strenuous games brain was fatigued. The only thing I could think straight after that was about chess. Mechanically I started for home.

I was waiting for a 6-seater outside sports complex. A young beautiful lady (around 21 years) was waiting there too. After 5 minutes a 6-seater came and we got in. We got to the city centre. From there I took a bus to some place. Don’t remember the name. The lady was also in the bus. She started looking at me furtively. Since I consider myself as handsome, I didn’t mind some young lady checking me out. Plus I was totally engrossed in thoughts about the games that I had played. I have great visualization ability, so I didn’t need a chess board in front of me to analyze a game.

She got down at a stop. I got down too. She walked to the end of the road. I followed. She crossed the road to go over to the other side to the rickshaw stand. I did the same. She got into one headed for Dimna. Did I have any other choice? I got in too.

By this time I could feel the tension in the air. Something was amiss with her. We reached Dimna auto stand. We got down. Now 4 lanes. She took the one I had to. I paused for a few seconds. Then started moving. 3 minutes walk to the society for me. She was totally hyper by now. She entered the society. I entered too. Now 9 buildings in the society. Each named after a river. She got to the entrance of one. Poor me. That was where I too had to go. She was glaring at me with blazing eyes. I wanted to appreciate the beauty of her eyes. Sanely, I didn’t. She allowed me to enter the apartments first. I got up to the first floor…trudging as slowly as I could (I found this totally amusing and so started playing along) . Rang the bell. Anu opened the door .The dear lady came up by that time. And rang the neighbouring flat’s bell.

Didn’t try to get to know her. As u all know, i am a saint :)