A Tall Story!

Preetham warned Manya, "Today, I will introduce you to our Clients Manager Somesh. He is that person who always keeps a straight face and hardly laughs...." But as they entered his cabin, they saw him having a hearty laughter to himself looking at the computer screen.
Preetham couldn't digest the scene he was watching, "You are behaving so unlike you, Som... What happened?"
Somesh said with a smile, "Its said that what you always avoid is that which ultimately happens to you"
Preetham answered with a tragic look, "Oh God! Don't tell me that you have lost the job?"
Somesh quickly retorted, "No Re.... I have fallen in love....I knew only the word Love till now... Now I know the definition of Love"

Manya had already taken the seat and slowly hissed into Preetham's ears, "They say in a temple, every statue has a story behind it. In this office, every employee has a tale to tell... "
Somesh had begun thus, "It all began when my mother told me about this girl Shwetha. I being against all these customs of arranged marriage, wanted to speak to the girl myself and without the elders knowing anything about it. So I found that the girl had a common friend in my friend's wife Ashmitha.But Ashmitha said she had lost contact and would try to establish it through a link..."
Somesh had to explain a concept to Manya, "This is how the concept of client acquisitions work. Most of the time we get them through links and leads.... "
Manya got a bit irritated, " Thanks a lot for the General Knowledge!"

Somesh continued, "She found a link and as If luck had it, I got a chance to visit a marriage in the link's city. I told Ashmitha to get her link contact me on my cell phone. But there was something else in store for me at the marriage. I was viewing the marriage customs from the comfort of my seat when suddenly everything in front of me went blank. My view got blocked. A girl six feet tall had occupied the front row. I just tilted my head to a little right to get a clearer view of the stage and that's when the girl turned around and smiled at me. Something happened and I fell for this girl."
Preetham tried to take a guess after taking a one good look at the five feet nine Somesh, " May be the extra 3 inches did you, Som!"
Manya didn't like the way her senior broke the momentum, "Lets leave the worry of inches to her tailor! Please continue the story, Sir"

Somesh looked at the impatience on Manya's face, "And wherever I went in that marriage hall - the reception room or the dining room, she was there. She kept on giving that cute smile of her... cuter than those chat emoticons. When I was about to leave the hall after wishing the couple, she mustered up some courage and stopped me before I could step into my Car, 'Are you Mr Somesh?' I was a bit surprised as I answered, "Yes! And Do I know you?"
She was the link that my friend's wife was talking about. Ashmitha had told her that I would be there at the wedding. She had a nice name too... Lavanya. After chatting for some time she came to the topic, 'Asmitha told me that you wanted to know more about Shwetha....' The way I answered the question was unexpected even by me, 'Hmm... I wanted!...Not anymore! Now I want to know more about you, Lavanya' There was a pause on her face for few seconds and then she smiled. And that's how the romance started"

Manya was overexcited on hearing such a romantic story, "Its always like that... this thing called love. It just pops out of unexpected quarters and at unexpected times. All you need is eyes to recognize the same. Some people fail to notice it...."
Preetham cut short Manya's love philosophy, "... but when the love is so tall!... six feet!... there is no chance of it going unnoticed!..."
The comment had Manya and Somesh in Splits.

The Ladki-Dekho Program

Manya was so lucky. When most of her colleagues spend bucks on conveyance, she was able to save on the same, thanks to her boss Preetham. He picked her up from her home and dropped her back in the evening. And she had nothing to fear as he was a married man. But that day her boss's car was not going in the direction of the office. Manya didn't dare to ask, but she was a bit nervous. A few distance later,a nicely dressed young man in his late twenties joined them. Manya started getting doubts about this young man. Preetham immediately removed the suspense of the journey as he introduced the young man to Manya, "He is Manish, a creative director in an advertising company. He is my Wife's Chacha's Sister Grandson! Let's cut it short! He is my close relative! We are going to see a girl for him! A village girl!"
"A Ladki dekho program!", Manya cried with excitement. She loved to be a part of such adventure.

Preetham expected a short drive. But when Manish started giving the directions, he found how lengthy and difficult the drive was. When all the turns and potholes and curves and climbs and signals were done with, Preetham saw the meter reading and felt as if his dear car was reprimanding him for making it climb a steep hill and that too thirty kilometers.
As they got down, Manya teased the boy, "Usually shrines of goddesses are found on hill tops! And I am sure, we are going to see one such goddess today!" and she turned to her boss and seeing a very tired look on her boss's face comforted him, "We are finally there! We have reached the destination!"

But Manish was quick to correct her, "No! Not Yet! We need to walk further two kilometers. There is no further road connection to her house."
So they began their walk. And what a walk it was. It was very steep and down the hill and looked like they were walking directly into the Earth's crust. Manya tried to lighten up the environment, "Looks like this is the place where Mother Sita entered planet Earth!" But It failed to invoke any smile on her boss's face

Then much to the relief of Preetham and Manya, the house appeared. Manish introduced them to the man of the house, "This is Madhav, a retired bank employee. It is he who had set the match. He will take us to the girl's house." The question spontaneously sprouted out of Preetham's mouth, "What! This is not the girl's house!." Madhav smiled, "Its just another five minutes walk through the garden..." As Madhav guided them, Manya slowly hissed into her boss's ear, "These villagers! They call the forest - a garden!"

The tall trees didn't allow any sunlight to scatter through them and the path to the girl's house was a rough one filled with strange bugs and reptiles. Pretham struggled a bit, "Shit! I should have got the trekking guide" , Manya who was enjoying the scene tic beauty replied " And I should have bought my camera!"
Suddenly a small house appeared from nowhere. Manya who was so lost in the scene tic beauty looked at the house and asked Madhav, "Which Saint's Ashram is this!" Madhav corrected her, "No! This is not any Sanyas's(saint) Ashram. It is Kanya's (girl) house"

The girl's parents were at the door step for their welcome. When Preetham and Manya entered the house, they felt as if they were entering a dark cave. The girl's father said, a bit hesitantly, "No powers today!" Manya thought, 'Bechara Manish.. Now how will he see the girl? " But then the girl came, not with the tray in her hands, but with a candle! And in that candlelight, the boy saw the girl's radiant smile. And that one look did the magic. The girl demanded that she wanted to have a private conversation with the boy. Manya thought, 'Such a small house, and with so many people in here, where will the girl get privacy to talk with the boy!'. Next minute all of them were made to walk out of the house except the boy and girl.

The chit chat continued for half an hour and when the boy and the girl finally came out, Preetham was able to read acceptance written all over their faces. It was time to take leave. Preetham was about to depart in the same route by which they had arrived, when the owner of the house remarked , "There is a nearer route. You take this route and within a minute you will reach the main road." Preetham thanked the girl's father and bidded goodbye to them.

After they dropped the boy at his place, Manya asked her boss, "Sir! He made you drive for thirty kilometers and then he took youall the way down into that pataal (nether world) and made us sit in that dark room.... When there was a simpler route! Aren't you angry, boss!..."
Preetham smiled, "Yups! I was angry when my dear car was made to climb that steep hills. I was angry when we stepped down the hills to reach the house. But my anger vanished when I saw the acceptance on both their faces. Tiredness and all negative emotions disappeared when I saw two hearts coming together."
Manya was all praise for her boss, "Hmm! That's Great!..." Before she could bestow the praise upon him, his cell phone rang. Her boss had quite a mixed reaction on his face
Preetham explained the reason with a straight face, "Its my wife! She says the proposal has been finalized and she wants me to take the boys parents to the girls place this weekend!"

The Morning Blues

"If you would like to save on some conveyance tomorrow morning, just walk half a kilometer towards my in-law's home.. I would be there tomorrow... I will pick you up", said Preetham to the newly joined Manya.

So next day, Manya was at Preetham's in-law's place. But Preetham was busy talking over the cell phone to his seniors in America. So Manya took this opportunity to exchange some words with her boss's wife Seema. And she didn't fail to mention the first night story that Preetham had shared with her. Seema bursted out, "If that night was not forgettable for him, the next day morning experience is an unforgettable one for me."
Manya looked at Preetham and thought that she had some time to listen to a nice story

Seema started, "Next day morning... I woke up from my sleep and found his side of the bed empty... I got a little worried... Has my earlier night action discouraged him!... Has he decided to quit family life and become a sanyas!... I looked under the pillow for a farewell note... Luckily, I didn't find any..... Then I searched the entire house... There was a no sign of him... a short time later I heard a small sound as if an engine was vibrating and It was coming from the room which I rarely entered...."
Manya decided to take a guess, "Hmm... Is it the attic or Is it the kitchen?"
Seema smiled, "Neither... It was the Pooja room... I was an atheist. I was always under the impression that he was just another God Fearing human being. But when I saw him that day in that meditative state, it seemed he was only one step away from nirvana..."

Manya was really thinking to herself, 'This pair seems to be as different as chalk from cheese' But her mind was interrupted by Seema's furtherance of her plight, "Worse than that was, he woke up very early at four thirty am. I am a night owl and he a early bird. But there was a time when I used to wake up that early..."
Manya again decided to take a guess, "During examinations?"
Seema corrected her one more time, "No re.... It was during that time when India went over to Australia and won that test series... Otherwise... Its not earlier than eight AM.. It would have been still late had it not been for my younger brother who wouldn't have left any breakfast for me if I was not at the breakfast table by eight thiry... that chotta bakasur..."

Manya thought herself 'whoever has done the match must have had it all wrong' But next sentence from Seema came as a consolation, " Then there are some advantages of having a early bird as your husband...."
Manya knew those and every girl would know those, "Hot cup of coffee from your husband and hot water ready for bath.... Am I right?"
Seema congratulated Manya this time, "You are right... But I was not lucky even there... My husband always takes a cold shower, says 'its good for meditation' and I say 'its not at all good for me'.... And coffee... his theory is that, 'Before sun shows up on the horizon, one shouldn't have anything for his stomach' , but when Sun does show up, my husband would have closed his eyes and gone into a meditative trance.... So there goes hot water for bath and also bed coffee...."
Manya felt very bad that a girl's dream had shattered..

But when Preetham was ready, Seema concluded, "He is everything that I never wanted him to be. But somehow he manages to drive me crazy. I love him like Nuts. And he is definitely very far away from attainining nirvana. And I have reset my body clock to suit him a long time back."

And then Manya bid her bye and on the way Preetham commented, "My Wife! She is everything I never wanted her to be. But somehow she manages to drive me crazy. I love her like Nuts..."
Manya gave a stupified look. When Preetham asked the reason for the same, she smiled, "A deja vu feeling...."
But she had a serious doubt, 'Whats this mystical force that binded these young couple together'
Can anyone tell her the answer.

The Argument Continues....

The characters appearing in the blog are all fictitious and any resemblance to characters already appeared in the blog is pure coincidental

"Preetham! Nice Name... But why did you change your name?" asked Manya to Preetham. Manya had joined Preetham's organization a day earlier and Preetham was trying to explain to her the reponsibilities of her position. But Manya knew Preetham from his early days and It was after two years that she was meeting him. So she had many questions to ask Preetham. Preetham smiled as he answered her question, "Hmm.... My girlfriend was told by the astrologer to change her small stylish name to a more unconventional Seema Rani, she forced the astrologer to give me a new name too. But the good astrologer found me a glamorous name Preetham...."

Manya smiled at the name game played by the astrologer and continued the chat, "You changed your name, your place, your job etc... But you haven't changed much... And Its two years since you got married. Hows that?"
Preetham just smiled to himself, "Its all because of the arguments we have.... don't misunderstand me.... Its healthy arguments.... now that she has gone to her mother's place for delivery and wouldn't be back for another three months, I miss those arguments very dearly.... Even during the sacred first night we had a heated argument..."
Now Manya definitely loved to hear that story. The job role description can wait for some time.

So Preetham started his story, "On that night, I just casually remarked to her, 'Is our meeting, just another random event in this bizarre universe or is there a definite order in the way nature operates?
Seema didn't think twice before commenting,'Oh! Don't try to find order in everything! Don't be fooled by those theories. Its for people like Deepak Chopra'
But I supported the theory of order in nature and explained her, 'Even a single grass will not move without the nature's permission"
Manya couldn't control the laughter, "Did you believe you were sitting in the metaphysics class?"

Preetham continued, "I wanted to prove my point and questioned my wife, 'Can you tell me one good reason why you fell in love with me and don't lie to me!'
Seema came very near me as if to grasp my neck, but stopped halfway, probably taking pity on the Mangalsutra I had tied over her neck, and answered, 'I really don't remember!. Let's appoint a committee with my in-laws as its members to find out the answers!'
I felt that I had won a small victory, 'See! Answer is not with you. Its with the nature. Only nature knows who should meet whom and when'"
Manya was really enjoying the story, "Hmm.... And thanks to the nature, I meet you and listening to this delightful story..."

Preetham came to the concluding part of his story, " I was not willing to be written off so easily and so questioned Seema one last time, ‘Hmm… so you think that all things that happen in the nature are coincidences…’
Seema somewhat wanted to end the conversation, ‘Hmm… Lets finish it with something I read somewhere, ‘When we pray, coincidences happen. When we don’t, coincidences don’t'. Now don’t ask me what it means’
But I started pondering of the deep meaning the quote had and the suddenly found the room immersed in darkness. I thought I was getting lost in my thoughts, but actually, tired of my questions, my wife had switched off the lights and gone to sleep"

Manya couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “Hmm…. Boss! You were sitting inside a bedroom…. Not under a bodhi vraksh (tree) to be enlightened!”
But Preetham put the same question to Manya, “What do you think of the chapter? Is theory of randomness right or is there some order in nature…. ?”
Manya laughed a lot, “Both mean nothing at all.. But what I think is, you really wasted a very sacred night…"