She loved him, he loved her & they lived happily ever after – Part 1

  

We were having a get together at Sujan Chandy’s house. Chandy and his wife Mini Mathew were the perfect hosts.

Susan, Pramod’s wife got up and went to the table where Mini was busy arranging the snacks to be distributed. They both became busy talking to one another in their mother tongue Tulu.

“Please stop talking in a language we cannot comprehend. If continued I shall start off in my pure Malayalam” Chandy said.

We all broke into laughter. The ladies settled down in their respective seats.

Mini said “We  have very good bonding as family friends. I would like to know how many of us had love marriages.”

Immediately Chandy, Ranjan and Pramod lifted their hands. Rest of the males kept quiet.

 Ranjan commented looking at me “Strange isn’t it? A character like you not falling in love and having an arranged marriage”

I smiled and looking at my wife said “Who says it is not a love marriage. The only difference is that we staring loving one another after we got married”.

“So sweet” Susan commented.

Mini added “I agree that ours was a love marriage. But we both belonged to the same community. The real thrill was in the love and marriage of Pramod and Susan. One is a Hindu and other is a Christian. How did it start in the first place?”

Chandy continued “Pramod you are very good speaker on stage. Why don’t you tell us about your love and marriage?”

Before Pramod could open his mouth, Susan got up and came towards me and keeping her hand on my arm said “Pramod will not tell you our story”

She looked at me and continued “He will narrate the story. He is a good Narrator any way. He was with us all through the journey in our Engineering College”

I looked at my wife. She smiled and said “Please carry on and let us know”

I started my Narration.

Almost two decades earlier

Room number 226 was filled with students. It was the chosen hall for all competitions. It had a nice podium and good acoustics fit for those times.

Pramod was standing outside the room and was peeping through the window searching for someone. I was conducting the event and had a list of speakers. Pramod was the next speaker. The topic for the debate was “Will computers replace humans and result in unemployment?”

Susan came to me and said “Already three speakers have finished and after Pramod four more will remain. We should be able to wind up in the next forty five minutes. I looked at Pramod. He was searching for her in the audience. I understood my friend’s anxiety.

 I patted on his shoulder and said “She is sitting in the third row to the left”

I walked up to the podium and announced “The next speaker is Pramod Kulkarni”

Pramod started speaking. It was fantastic speech and most of the time he was looking at Vandana Joshi. Pramod had a huge crush on her.

I came out of the side door and saw Susan standing near the window. She was looking at Pramod with all admiration. I looked at Pramod. He was speaking looking at Vandana. I realized that there was a triangular admiration story going on.

The next Sunday afternoon lunch at the hostel mess was good for a change. After having food I was feeling bored. I locked my room and walked to Pramod’s room. He was lying on the bed reading a sports magazine. His room wall had about 50 photos of Steffi Graf pasted. I shook him up and asked he if would join me for the evening show of the new movie “Pushpaka Vimanam”, a silent movie starring Kamal Hassan.

Pramod said “No am not interested. I heard that the hero will not be able to convey about his love to his lady in time and at the end he loses her”

I replied “It is only a story man. By the way why are becoming so sentimental about it. Are you in love with any girl?”

He blushed and said “You know her”

I realized that our man had gone many steps ahead and said “have you told Vandana about it?’

He replied “No I have not. I tried many times but could not. Something prevents me from doing so”

I patted him and said “Pramod listen to me. Loving a girl is fine. Think of your family also. Your father is a high school teacher and your mother is a tireless house wife. You have a sister who will very soon be ready for getting married. If I am not wrong the future of your family depends on you and your future job. Please bear this in mind”. I got up from his cot and walked away.

One month passed and it was raining that evening. I looked out of the window of my hostel room. Not many vehicles were plying on the road. There was a knock on the door.

“Come in” I said.

Pramod pushed the door and barged into the room and fell flat on my cot. He looked very upset. I realized that he was drunk. I walked up to him and told “Hey friend how come you are drunk so early?”

He looked at me. He eyes were very red in color. I could see tears in his eyes. I was concerned. He immediately hugged me tight and started crying “It is all over”

“What is over?”

“I have missed her”

“Vandana did not accept you?”

“I went to her hostel today in the evening and asked her to join me for a cup of tea. We both went to the restaurant. I got all the courage and told her I was in love with her ”

 He continued “She looked at me and said that she had no such intention towards me and she had come to the engineering college to study and not fall in love. Saying so she got up and went away”

I did not understand what to do. This guy was fully depressed. Pramod turned out to be a real nut. He did not propose to her in the right way. Who will take a girl to an Udupi hotel order for two teas and tell about his love for her?

I patted on his back and told him to take some rest and went out of the room.

Two days later I was walking towards the canteen in the college.

 Susan came to me and said “Where is Pramod? Not to be seen for two days.”

I told her about his talk with Vandana and how she had rejected his love.

Susan looked disturbed “Why should he propose to her? He is one in a thousand. He will get a suitable girl”

I always had a doubt about Susan’s soft corner towards Pramod. I thought I should speak to her.

I told her that I would be coming to her hostel in the evening.

It was evening and I reached the gate of the ladies hostel.

“Hi” Susan waved at me. She was ready and eagerly waiting for me. We started walking together.

“Tell me” She said.

“I would like to talk frankly with you” I said.

“OK” She replied.

“I have been observing you. You like Pramod?”

She was taken aback .She immediately got her composure back and said “I trust you fully as I look at you as a very true friend of mine. The answer is yes.”

“You love him?”

“Yes”

“Do you know his back ground?”

“I am not bothered about the back ground”

At this stage I stopped walking and looking at her said “I am very happy that you are in love with my dear friend Pramod. You are one of the most beautiful girls around and are very good at heart. He is also a gem of a person. But you should know that he comes from an Orthodox Hindu family. He has many domestic problems which are typical of lower middle class people.

You hail from a very rich catholic family and most of your relatives are abroad”

She did not agree with me. I promised her that I would speak to Pramod.

The next day I walked to Pramod’s room and said “Hey Pramod recovered?”

He looked fresh as he had taken bath after three days. He told me “I realized that my family is important for me. I will never ever fall in love with any girl.

My life will be fine if I realize that it is better to be alone than chase people who do not really care about me”

“Dude, take back your words. I have something in store for you”

“What is it?”

 I explained him about Susan. Pramod looked awestruck. Susan was the most beautiful girl in the campus. He had huge respect for her as she was very well mannered and he knew about her background also.

He held my hands and said “Please do not tell me that it is a joke. I will not be able to recover again”.

I patted him and said “We should look at those who love us, rather than those whom we love”

Pramod nodded.

I told him that Susan wanted to meet him the next day evening and wanted to go for a walk with him. Pramod could not hide his feelings. He blushed and ran into his room.

To be continued …

CRICKET INSPIRES

Pramod was dusting the chairs and the center table in the front hall of his house. It was an unwritten agreement between Pramod and Sussie that he would take care of house hold chores on weekends.

After dusting the chairs, he climbed on the stool and started cleaning the photo frames they had fixed on the wall. Sussie came out from the kitchen and said “Pramu dear, hot coffee for you”

Pramod looked at her. He was holding one photo frame in his hand and said “Remember this one?”

“How can I forget it? Mr. Lillee at his excellent best. It was this picture that changed our lives” she replied.

“Very true and I still keep admiring this person each and every time I see this photo. Look at his confidence. Nine slips and no fielder anywhere else in the field.” Pramod added.

He came down and sat on the chair. Sipping the hot coffee, he started recollecting the events that were related to the photo.

About two decades earlier…

“Pramod get ready. Your bus to Bangalore is at 8 pm and it is already 5 pm” Pramod’s mother said.

“OK Amma I am ready. I am packing my luggage and keeping the certificates and marks cards in the suitcase” he replied. 

His mother came into the room with a cup of tea and said “Pramod please do well in the interview. You know our situation very well. Your father is retiring as a teacher next month. It would be very difficult for us to make the ends meet with his meager pension. Added to that your sister Anusuya has completed her B com studies and we need to find a suitable man for her. We have all the hopes on you”

Pramod looked at his mother and said “Amma you know the situation. Not many jobs are around. I went to Pune as it is closer to Dharwad and tried for jobs for six months. I could not get a job. Now am going to Bangalore. Few of my friends already have jobs there. I will take their help”.

He mother started weeping “My worry is not about your job. It is about your love story. If your father Mr. Kulkarni comes to know about your love affair with Susan, it would result in a big drama.

That’s why I am keen about marrying off Anusuya faster. It would be difficult for us to get a suitable match for her after your marriage to a Christian girl.”

Pramod did not utter a single word. He was not ready to leave his  Susan for some silly reason. He touched the feet of his mother and went out towards the bus stand in Dharwad.

Next day at about 11 AM he was sitting in the front office of a construction machinery company. He had come there for a sales engineer job. His mind was troubled by the events that had occurred during the past few months.

During his engineering days he was very popular amongst his batch mates and was very good in extracurricular activities. He had become closer to Susan Dsouza from Mangalore and this had developed into true love.

Susan’s elder brother Samuel was very supportive of their love and had taken the responsibility of convincing the elder Dsouza.

Pramod did not qualify for the two placement offers that came to his college as he has failed in few subjects during his fifth and sixth semesters.

The six months of knocking the doors of industries in Pune, handing over the resumes, attending few interviews and being rejected for lack of any prior experience, had demoralised him.

He was sitting amongst few other aspirants for the sales engineer job. He saw a sports magazine on the table. He took it and started turning the pages. As he was doing so one particular photo caught his attention. It was a photo of Dennis Lillee bowling with nine slips. He was surprised. He looked at the guy sitting next to him and said “This is called guts. He is so very confident that he has asked all the fielders to stand in the slips”

The person sitting next said “This also reflects the trust his team has in him. One should admire his technique and brilliance also”.

Suddenly Pramod felt a jolt in his body. He felt inspired and started feeling that anything is possible as long as one is confident and has the right technique and talent.

He had lot of problems in his life. Hunting for a job, retiring father, unmarried sister and above all love affair with a girl from other religion.

The photo and the small discussion he had with the person sitting next, motivated him.

“Pramod Kulkarni” the lady at the reception called.

Pramod walked confidently into the interview hall.

The Managing Director Mr. Harish was sitting on a big chair and he gestured Pramod to sit on the chair across the table.

He went through the marks cards and other certificates.

“Young man it looks like you were very active in extracurricular activities during your engineering days” he said.

“Yes sir but I did decently well in studies also” Pramod added.

“Decently well? You have been failing regularly from third semester to sixth semester. I think you joined your engineering course to pursue your extracurricular activities ” Harish said.

“I agree that I did fail in few subjects in between but I have completed final year with first class and missed distinction narrowly”

“Do you follow cricket? If so who is your favorite player and why?”Harish questioned.

With a big smile Pramod said “My all time favorite player is Dennis Lillee. He is technically the best bowler amongst his peers. I rate him the best as he is the only bowler who bowled with nine slips”.

“Oh really” Harish said and continued “Pramod, we are looking for sales engineers and not cricket fans”

Pramod confidently replied “Give me a chance sir and I will prove it. Sales job needs a person who is capable of talking and convincing his customers. Regular follow-ups and in depth knowledge of the products is needed for excelling. I am sure I can do it well”.

One hour later, Pramod was walking to the telephone booth in MG road in Bangalore. He was excited as Mr. Harish had promised him a job as a sales trainee.

Pramod called his neighbor in Dharwad, Mr. Joshi and requested him to call his mother. Within two minutes his mother came on the line.

Pramod shouted “Amma I have got the job”.

He did not hear any word from his mother. He continued “Amma, Amma are you there?”

He could hear his mother crying. She said “Pramu may God bless you my child. Let us complete Anusuya’s marriage and then you can get my daughter- in-law, Susan to our house”.

Pramod did not stop there. He said “Amma do you know that I got the job not because of my talent. It was one Australian who helped me”

“Who is he?” she said.

Pramod continued “He is my idol in cricket but God for me today. He is Dennis Lillee”.

“Pramod wake up” Sussie shook him.

“I am not sleeping” he replied and continued "I was remembering my job interview and the photo which inspired me"

He cleaned the Dennis Lillee photo and fixed it back to the wall.

He climbed down from the stool and kept staring at the photo.

Sussie leaned over his shoulder and said “Strange isn’t it? Two decades ago our life was entangled in so many knots of problems and at one stage I thought that we would never make it. Life has strange incidents in store for us. The chanced viewing of this photo by you during the interview changed the direction of our life”

Pramod smiled and said “Dennis Lillee is no God. He is just an ordinary mortal. He could inspire an otherwise demotivated me to such a large extent that I came out of my shell and boldly faced the world and succeeded.

HAPPINESS IS IN THE JOURNEY AND NOT AT THE DESTINATION

“Please do not disturb me. I am on a call” Rohit told.

Amulya had come to talk to Rohit but after hearing what Rohit said , she went back. She was upset. She looked at the clock on the wall. It was 10.30 PM. Rohit was busy discussing about the project with his US client. Little pranav came running and sat on Rohit's lap. Rohit looked at Amulya and gestured her to take him away.

She lifted Pranav from Rohit’s lap. Pranav started crying. She pulled him out of the bedroom and pushed him on to the sofa set in the front hall and said “How many times I have told you to keep quiet when your papa is on call”.

“But mama I am going to sleep in few minutes time and I wanted to tell him about the prize I got in English Elocution” Pranav said.

Amulya felt very bad. She realized that her son had won a prize and he wanted to share few happy moments with his father and he could not. She walked up to Pranav and kissed him on the forehead and said “My cute boy. Papa loves you very much and he is working overtime to see that we all are happy”.

“I do not understand. You say he works overtime for us to be happy but are we happy?” Pranav sobbed.

She sat on the sofa and made Pranav sleep on her lap. In about five minutes time Pranav fell asleep. She lifted Pranav and gently placed him on the bed in the bedroom.  She looked at Rohit. He was fully involved in his discussions. After about half an hour, Rohit finished his call and closed his laptop.

He looked at Amulya. She was asleep with her hand on Pranav. He smiled and gently shook her. She got up and went to the kitchen and came out with his food.

Rohit asked Amulya “Why did Pranav sit on my lap?”

She replied “He won a prize in the school and wanted to tell you. But you were very busy with your call”

Rohit said “What to do it was important.”

“Why do you always work late in the house? You finish off your work at office and spend some time with us at home”

“Why do you think I do all this? I do it for you and Pranav. If I work hard I will earn more and you both will be happier”

“Are we happy now?” she questioned.

Rohit was taken aback. He replied “Why are we not happy? I am earning very well and I have given you full freedom to use the money. Show me one person among your relatives who is earning as much as I do. We have a very big house”.

Amulya was not amused. She said “Why do you compare? We do not know the journey each one of them is taking. For that matter look at the journey we are taking. Not really worth it”.

Rohit continued “Look Amulya be happy for all that I am giving you. I am earning so that we can have lot of money with us and Pranav can have a good future. Do not look at small day to day issues. Look at the bigger picture. Look at the destination. Ultimately people recognize your achievement”.

The discussion went on for another half an hour and each of them were sticking to their respective positions.

That night Rohit did not sleep properly. Something was troubling him. He had tried to explain Amulya that he was doing all the hard work to achieve milestones in life and he was making provision for milestone expenses. She was interested in him spending more time at home and appreciating Pranav for winning the prize.

Next day at around 2 PM Rohit was sitting in the restaurant. He looked at his watch and anxiously looked at the door. I rushed in and said “Sorry friend. Am late by about 15 minutes”

“No issues” he said and ordered the food.

“Tell me what I can do for you” I said.

Rohit explained what had happened the previous night and said “I strongly believe in the end result and am of the opinion that happiness will come only after we achieve our goal”.

I looked at him and said “Rohit you are right in your place but not to the fullest extent. Remember when we were in final year engineering we used to dream of good job. Both of us got good jobs. We were not happy.

 Then we started feeling that we would be happy once we own a house . Both of us have it. Are we happy?

 You told me that you would be very happy on becoming a father. Pranav is there with you  and  you are still not happy”.

 

“Sounds very logical please continue” he said.

I continued “what does the pattern say? We should not look for happiness at a destination. Instead we should consider happiness as part of the journey and enjoy every small and big event that we come across”.

Rohit smiled and said “I got your point. This is what Amulya has been telling me”.

I said “Today while going to your house take some flowers for Amulya”.

“I will buy a huge bouquet” he said with pride.

“Look you are doing the same mistake again. You take only one rose and give it to Amulya” I replied.

After thanking me, Rohit went to his house.

It was about 6 PM and Amulya opened the door.

Rohit smiled at her and gave the rose saying “To the prettiest woman in the world”.

Amulya was surprised and loved the gesture. She laughed heartily and said “What a change my dear hubby”.

They went inside the house. Pranav was sitting on the sofa. Rohit said “Hey young man, come and kiss your papa”.

Pranav came running and jumped on his father. Rohit took out one big milky bar chocolate and gave it to Pranav. The kid was very happy and kissed his father and thanked him.

Amulya asked Rohit if he wanted any special dish to be prepared for the night.

Rohit said “Today the queen of the house will not be doing any work. We are going out to a five star hotel and having a candle lit dinner”.

Amulya had tears in her eyes. She could not believe the change in her husband. She hugged him tightly. Pranav hugged both of them.

The other wise stone faced Rohit could not hold back. His eyes became moist. He realized that in pursuit of bigger things he had neglected smaller joys and that he should live everyday with joy and not postpone it to the next day.

He looked at Amulya and said “It is not important to know how many days we have lived but it is important to understand how much lively each day of ours should be. Happiness is in the journey and not at the destination”.

THE TWEETNAGERS

Ranjan looked at the clock in his house. It was 4 PM. He was going to the birthday party of Sujit, son of his friend Sameer. He looked at the room in the first floor. The door was closed. Ragini was getting ready. It was more than 20 minutes since she was in the room getting ready for the party.

Ranjan was becoming restless. He took his smart phone and sent a message to her on Whats-app “How many more minutes?”

Reply came back “Five more”

“Ten men can get ready by the time a lady gets ready”

“What is there for a man to get ready? Short hair and no good dressing sense”

The exchange of message went on for few more minutes.

At last the door of the first floor room opened and Ragini came out dressed in a pink saree. She looked very beautiful in her attire. Immediately Ranjan sent one more message “Looking beautiful, my lady”

Ragini laughed and said “Enough of it. Let us speak to one another when we are in the same room”

Immediately Ranjan came closer to her and took a selfie on his mobile and posted on Facebook with the comments “The Deshpande's are ready to go to the party and are rocking”

Ranjan started his car and waited for Ragini to lock the door of the house and step in. A cluster of alerts came on his mobile. About 25 likes and some 12 comments came. Ranjan looked very pleased and showed the same to Ragini as she entered the car and sat next to him.

Ranjan said “Look Ragini this  message is good. Samvit says Deshpandes are made for each other and the photo is to be framed”

Ragini smiled and said “Hey look at this message from Savitha. She says she is jealous of me”

Ranjan laughed and said “Obviously, she would have said looking at me”

They were delighted looking at the messages and Ranjan started driving the car.

Sameer had invited his close friends on the eve of the 10th birthday of his son Sujit. The couple drove for another half an hour and arrived at Sameer’s house. Sameer came out of his house and with a warm hug welcomed Ranjan. Sameer’s wife smiled and escorted Ragini.

I arrived about 10 minutes later. I was greeted by Sameer and after some exchange of pleasantries, I settled down on a chair comfortably.

I looked around. About 12-15 people were sitting. I could see the kids were busy in the adjoining room. I was not surprised to see that not many were talking to one another. They were busy with their smart phones. Ranjan and Ragini were sitting next to one another. They were busy texting messages on their phones.

I got up from the seat and went to the room where the kids were playing. The kids were not playing in the true sense. Two boys were busy playing tennis on Wii, three girls were glued to the computer monitor watching Taylor Swift song on you tube. The rest of the kids were looking at the tablet Sujit was having. He was playing a video game in it.

I was not happy the way the party was going on. Sameer entered the room. He saw me and could understand my feelings. He came closer and patted my back and said “come, let us start the party”.

The kids came out and Sameer announced “Friends I am very happy today. My boy Sujit is completing 10 years today. He is becoming a Tweenager. We all have gone through the process. The tween-age phase is very typical since they have the traits of a kid as well as that of a teenager. We as parents have extra responsibility to guide the boy in this confusing phase of his life.”

Sameer completed his small speech. I looked around. Almost half of the guys were busy with their smart phones. Sameer looked at me and said “This is the reality brother. Things have changed.”

I could not take it anymore.

I started off “Friends please lend me your ears. We are very happy that we are meeting here today to celebrate the birthday of Sujit. I have a complaint. Sameer could have created a page on Facebook instead of calling us here. We could have sent him wishes over the social media page.

But that is not life worth living. Unknowingly our lives have been bulldozed by social media and all of us are busy with Facebook, Whats-App, twitter and other virtual tools. There is no true connect as we are always connected virtually.

Sujit has become a Tweenager but we all have become Tweetnagers. Always active on the social media.

Gone are those days when we used to ignore each other by books. These days we are doing the same by smart phones.

Remember the days when we used to get annoyed if any one looked into our dairy? These days the activities are posted on social media and we get annoyed if no one notices it.”

I looked around. There was silence in the room. Everyone looked convinced. Ranjan got up and asked Sameer to switch off the WiFi. He turned towards the gathering and said “Let us switch off our cell phones for the next two hours and celebrate the birthday of the new Tweenager.”

The crowd erupted in joy and the kids started running all around in the house. The women started gossiping and Sameer happily opened the scotch bottle and started pouring in the glasses and shouted “let the festivities begin.”