Fragile

"So much is riding on the next few minutes"

"Is it? Even if I don't get through, it doesn't change anything"

"Everything"

"Pooh. I'll still be smart, funny, loved.."

"Yeah. People love you for your shiny self. Hah"

"They like me cos I have potential - my mum said so"

"That's my girl, the eternally self-assured woman."

"I - its not like I'm never insecure you know. And sometimes that's a good thing - it keeps you from getting complacent. For instance, I care enough to dress well whenever I step out"

"Of course you do. You have nightmares about what would happen if you stopped wearing high-heeled shoes."

"How do you know that?"

"Think about it. Do you remember how we got here?"

"Mmmmaybe you're a Nolan fan who drugged me with Roofies and brought me here"

"Moving on - you need to ace this interview to prove you have potential"


"Why o why?? I HAVE proven some things, haven't I? Some concrete achievements, they add weight to my resume. How many times must I go on proving myself?"

"Change is the order of the world, which is why your class VI poetry 1st prize isn't worth much anymore"

"I haven't even mentioned the poetry prize in my resume. There's MUCH more I've done with my life beyond that"

"And none of it matters. Except this one. The present matters unceasingly, and the risks of present failure increase with every previous success - every present failure makes past successes pale under the onslaught of suffixed 'but's"

"I have gone from being a failure to being a success too. I can do it all over again, if need be"

"Ah yes, those post-B.Tech days, looking for jobs, being overwhelmed by tidal waves of engineers - all identically focussed, identically dressed, identically prepared - wondering what was there in you to differentiate you from that sea of humanity - having nightmares about being one of 5 lakh identical couples married in the same hall living in the same houses..
You haven't forgotten how horrible it was?"

"I haven't, I haven't! I don't want to go back there! Please tell me what to do - I'll do anything"

TRING TRING

"Hi Sangeetha, this is Jatin, we had an interview scheduled for around now?"

Thank you, Twitter!!

Me (on phone to the boyfriend): So from all the screaming in the corridor I deduce India won?
The boyfriend: !! It was a tie!
(Silence)
The boyfriend: Strauss! Sachin! Munaf!
Me (simultaneously): I finished The Finkler Question.
(even more awkward silence)
Me: Hey, I'll call ya back in 2 min
(promptly logs in to twitter and checks timeline)
Me: Hello again! So, did you hear Shane Warne predicted a tie?
The boyfriend: No kidding? Wow!
Me: And Munaf's last over, huh?
The boyfriend: I know! It was gut-wrenching!
(smiles at both ends)

Thank you, Twitter!!

Wedding Bells!

“The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories that it has come to be disbelieved. Few people daresay nowadays that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet that is the way love begins, and only that way.”
- Victor Hugo

"A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love. "
- Friedrich Nietzsche

It's true, everyone, I'm getting married! Woohoo! Hugs all around!


Who's the lucky guy, you ask? (Well, I don't care if that isn't what you asked. That's the adjective I heard, so sit down and listen)
The lucky guy, Atul, is a childhood friend of mine from Calcutta. I guess it was difficult for him to ignore my awesomeness for 22 long years and he finally proposed to me some 2 years ago. Immediately I climbed off his toe and returned his glasses, wallet and watch to him. Ha ha. I'm joking, of course. I kept the credit cards.

Right from the moment he said I gave him a funny feeling I knew that my sense of humour had felled him; and since then this relationship has been a journey of happiness, discovery, fun, and fulfillment - and inspite of the distance that separated & separates us, (not to mention the alarming frequency with which the network breaks up whenever I speak about grammar or Hugh Laurie), our belief that we were made for each other has continued to hold.

And so a few months ago we decided it was time to tell at home, and to our great relief and my slight disappointment, neither family rebelled against our decision, and were more than overjoyed to join us together in holy matrimony.

So it is, that the above sentence will be read out in Sanskrit in the presence of assorted elders and holy people, and in a ceremony full of smoke and fruits, it will formally be declared that I can officially gouge his eyes out if he ever looks at any other woman.

We have also been summarily informed that all this new-fangled nonsense about choosing your own life-partner is quite a departure from the ancient and time-honoured Hindu tradition where strangers exchange first names along with wedding vows.

And, of course, the wedding. It is scheduled to take place on March 24th 2011, in Chennai, so please do come!