A WALK TO FORGET

July 15 – Friday

Naveen, my roommate a.k.a house mate a.k.a classmate a.k.a my real close friend who moves in when my Mom moves out and vice-versa, calls me in the morning. We had both started for office quite early and I anticipate it to be a routine call, to ensure that I had reached office safe and sound. As if it was my first day to M-City!!!!

I answer the call and reply to him before he asks me the expected question.

“Aa Naveene, I have reached here”.

“Not that, Ajii. There’s something else I want to talk about”.

“Yeah, tell me”.

“I was wondering whether you would be interested in a movie this weekend. That Hrithik movie is releasing today and I was planning to book tickets at some place”.

I ponder about it for a moment. Of late, I had been living on a shoestring budget and though my extravagant side occasionally came to the fore, most expenses of mine were subject to analysis by the financial committee of my mind. I realized it had been a considerably long time since I visited a movie theater and consequently, despite the afore-mentioned tight pockets, I respond affirmatively.

“Yezz, Mr. Naveen. What izz the movie name?”

“Zindagi Naa Milegi Dubara”.

“ZNMD. Hmmm…. Okay. Count me in. Have you asked the others?”

“The others? Who?”

I smile at his query. “What do you mean who? Manji and Aswin.”

“Oh yes”, he replies, slapping himself in the cheek for having forgotten his two roommates a.k.a co-parasites. “Illa. I have not asked them”.

“In that case…”, I respond, “I’ll call them and check. Will let you know by 10 or so..”

“Okay”.

We chat for a couple more minutes on possible movie theaters, convenient timings, the distance factor and the related issues. For some reason, Naveen seemed intent on Mayaajaal. He claimed that there were more vacant seats at that place, than at Satyam, Inox and Escape put together. I did not dispute. I hung up the phone and wondered to myself how I was going to convince Manji and Aswin to drag their behinds for a Hindi movie.

An hour later, I prepared myself for the ordeal. Yes, making a call sounds simple, especially if you are doing it to two people you are sharing your place with, but I was not the least bit comfortable. But then, it had to be done and the sooner, the better. I said a quick, silent prayer and dialed the number.

9176611721. First Stop, Manuel A.J.

The best thing about Manji is that he almost never misses calls. You dial his number and if he does not pick up, you can expect him to be in a critical meeting with Francisco D’Souza or in a more critical position at the restroom. Sadly though, this time, I was hoping he would not pick up the first time round. I had to bring out the right words; I had to get him to agree on the spot. Manji, dont answer, I kept saying to myself.

And hardly had I completed pleading when I heard Manji’s enthusiastic voice holler over the phone. He had picked up on the first ring again. Damn!!

“Hello Ajii?”

“Aa Manji, its me”.

“Yes, what is it Aji?”.

I took a deep breath before I posed the question. “Manji… you interested in a movie this weekend?”

I waited in bated breath for his response. I was assured it would not be positive.

“Which movie, Ajii?”

“Its a Hindi Movie. Not sure of the name. Its that Hrithik movie. Very good one, Manji. I just read a couple of reviews..”

I gave Manji a second to think about it, while I simultaneously Googled ZNMD.

I got the response almost immediately and unsurprisingly, it was along expected lines. “Ajii, I want to rest during the weekends. A movie will drain all my energy. Its going to be really tiring…”

I had already had my counters prepared. “Its okay, Manji. We can go on Saturday. That way, you can rest on Sunday, even if you are not feeling well. Moreover, everyone’s coming too. Including Aswin”.

I was hoping my last statement would turn out to be my trump card. It was. It, kind of, got him into thinking that even the I-am-a-bit-clumsy-at-times Aswin was coming along, just to spend some time with the rest of us. It got him to respond positively. For once, I had some use of Aswin.

“Okay, Ajii. When’s the show?”

“There’s one at 5.. and one at 7.55. I was thinking five is better. We can return early, na…”

“Okay”.

“Okay”.

An okay on either side and the call was done. One up; one more to go. But having talked to Manji, I knew what exactly I had to tell Aswin. And I was sure he would not object. Throw in a couple of kuttas and muthes, and maybe, he would even pay for my ticket.

“Aswine, everyone is coming. Including Manji”.

I was certain Aswin’s eyeballs would have popped out of his sockets. “Manji is coming?”

“Yes. He said he wanted to watch the movie”.

A bewildered Aswin responded, “Do anything. I want to watch Deiva Thirumagan, but I know you guys wont come”.

“I have no probs, Aswine. But Manji and Naveen wont understand a word. You know that they dont know Tamil like us, alle?”

He half-smiled, half-sighed.

“So, its fixed. There’s a show at 7.45, but it’ll be late when we reach home. We can go for the 5 o’clock show”.

“Five? I don’t know whether I can make it. We have a volleyball match tomorrow at three”.

I remembered him telling me about it. About the smashing, the receiving and the uh… fingering!!!

“But thats okay”, he continued. “It should take only an hour”.

“Good. So its fixed, okay? I shall ask Naveen to book the tickets”.

“Okay”, he responded, more disappointed than satisfied.

Five minutes later, I called up Rahul, got his confirmation and dialed Naveen’s number. He answered almost immediately, as if his life depended on the news I had to give him.

“So? You called?”

“Yes”, I replied, giving him the green signal. “Book for five people”.

“Who’s the fifth?”

“Rahul”.

“Oh, Rahul. Aa mandanum varunnundo?”

“Yes. He will be coming home tonight”.

“Okay. So 5 people, Maayaajal, 5 pm. Right?”

“Yezzz”.

“Okay”.

“OKay”.

The line went dead.

So, the calendars were blocked. Saturday evening was busy for each of us. Ten minutes later, Naveen gave me the confirmation that the booking was done. Cool, I muttered to myself. Cant wait for tomorrow evening.

July 16 – Saturday

Now I should tell you I wasn’t particularly excited about ZNMD, but when I woke up next morning, there seemed to be an unusual, different feeling in the air. (And an extremely horrible feeling in my tummy, presumably thanks to the 14-rupee idly from the previous night; more on that later though). It was like I could almost sense that this would be a landmark day; a day that would live on in my mind for quite some time. I anticipated the movie to be supercool, some of the songs to be absolutely romantic or nostalgic or some other pleasing ingredient thrown into the movie in ridiculously high volumes. That was probably, when the anticipation kicked in and from then on, I was counting the minutes to five o’clock.

By seven-thirty, Rahul made his exit, claiming to have class till four o’clock. and assuring us that he would reach Mayaajaal by five. I have my doubts though, on whether college was his destination. I wont be surprised if I find him outside Lovely Bakery, sipping lime juice with a hottie classmate. Though I assume, she would ditch Rahul and come running behind me, heart in sleeve.

Aah! That’ll be some day

Okay. Everyone else woke up early, thanks to the power cut. Aswin debated for an hour on what jersey he wanted to put for that tournament of his – Yes, that cranky, loony soul wanted a track pant and a tee to don during that absolutely crappy game - and after he was subject to some verbal jousting from me and Naveen, the three of us went off to have lunch. Lunch was wonderful, considering that we expected to lose more money, be served late and the food to be below average. None of the above happened, but seriously, I have a suggestion to the guys at Kuttanadu. Get a generator, you idiots.

Forty minutes later, I-have-been-perspiring-all-my-life Naveen and Jesus-Tell-Me-What-Should-I-Do Aswin walked out with full tummies. Followed by me, my tummy better, free from the horrible morning feeling. Together, we walked to Adyar Depot and simultaneously discussed why it would be better for Aswin to boycott the match. He disagreed. We closed a few issues on where to meet and when to meet and he set off on a share auto to Thors. Thoraipakkam, for those who are not used to the Infy lingo.

I and Naveen decided not to walk back home under the scorching sun and instead, took shelter in Cotton House. We went there to have a look at tees, but thirty minutes later, Naveen walked out empty-handed, while I was the proud owner of a peacock blue short kurta and a Manchester United cap. And yes, not to forget my day’s big buy – a spectacularly awful-looking trouser, the likes of which would have made The Zohan proud. (I am considering putting a pic of that; to vote Yes, send ‘Y’ to 9176446746; others please don’t vote. Fifteen votes and my pic will be in the blog).

Three-fifteen. Deciding that we will not be going home, we call up Manji, ask him to take the ticket and come to Thiruvanmiyur Depot by 3.45. He agrees, albeit reluctantly, considering that he was watching Indiana Jones and was not pleased at having to get up from the bed. We roam around in Connexions, looking for nothing in particular, when my cell rings. I see a missed call from the international volleyball champion.

“Ajithe, Aswin has missed me”.

“Athe, he has missed me too. Lemme try”.

I dial. He picks up instantly.

“Ajithe..”

“”Yes, what is it? Is your match done?”

I could hear him chuckling. And he gives me the breaking news of the day.

“The match was over ten minutes back. I am all fresh and ready to go”.

“Eh? Over so quick?”

“Yes. They started before I reached. I played as a second-set substitute. All I got were two balls to my side”.

“And?”

“Both returns went out. Nammal thotu…”

It was quite silent inside the Connexions showroom and even a pin-drop would have echoed in the hall, but after that statement, there was no way I was going to control myself. I broke into splits of laughter, Naveen joining in the fun and scoffing at Aswin. He had taken all the pains and debated endlessly, just to go to Thors and be part of a losing side. Splendid, Ponton!!

“So when will you be back? We are waiting at Thiruvanmiyur Signal”.

“I will wait here. I need to use the restroom”.

“Pee on the street. You Indians do that anyway”.

“This is not just peeing. This is one level higher”.

I smile. “Okay. In that case, we will be at Thors in twenty minutes. Manji should be hear anytime now”.

“Okay”.

What followed in the next twenty minutes ranks right up there among the most frustrating twenty minutes of my life. The thing is, I hate being late for movies. Being late for anything, for that matter. Manji still had not started from home, while updates poured from Aswin that he was travelling all the way to Velachery to you-know-what. Shit!, both I and Naveen exclaimed at that news. For once, that word made the right sense.

By four-ten, both Manji and Aswin were with us at Thiruvanmiyur Depot. Two minutes later, we were on an auto to Mayaajaal , chatting with each other and rejoicing in the fact that Aswin had contributed to his team’s cause. The losing cause, that is. Meanwhile, Rahul reported that his day with the chicks was done, he had kissed them goodbye and was waiting at Shols. Okay. He would be there by four-forty-five. Good.

The ECR Drive was good. You could spot the area becoming more scenic and the roads becoming far neater than the ones in the city. By four-fifty, we were at the complex. Loads of good-looking, scantily-clad ladies dominated our line of vision while Aswin seemed content to daze in the direction of not-so-good-looking-but-I-think-they-are-cute Tamilian girls. We hurriedly made our way to the Internet Booking Counter after Rahul informed us that the queue was huge.The queue was tiny, hardly comparable to any of those Infy Lunch queues. Naveen joined in the end, ticket in hand. Two minutes later, he had reached the other end of the queue.

Now, take a minute and get yourself composed. What you are going to hear next will not be pleasing, unless you are a cold-blooded sadist.

The rest of us were chatting merrily with each other while Naveen stood in the queue. He emerged later, ticket in hand, with a confused expression on his face. I walked towards him.

“You got the ticket, right?Paam?”

“Wait a minute. Is today not the 15th?”

Oops, Shit, Crap, Damn, F***… all those four-letter words popped up in my mind as Naveen asked those words. I looked at Rahul and raised my eyebrows. Rahul looked at me and raised his. Naveen, confused and bewildered, looked at us and raised his. It was one of those eyebrow-raising sessions, which got Manji and Aswin raising their eyebrows in wonder at what was happening.

“Today is the 16th, Naveene”, I replied, half-laughing, half-disappointed. “How on earth could you go wrong?”

Naveen shook his head. He was struggling to find words. “No, no.. I remember clicking on Saturday and proceeding….”

Rahul smiled at me. “Today is 16th”, he confirmed. As if I needed any confirmation. I was always sure. More or less….

The news filtered to Manji and Aswin and the five of us stood in the midst of that madding crowd, with no clue on what to do next. We had options perhaps, but the brutality and the enormity of that reality would take time to sink in. If it would sink in at all, that is. It was not easy knowing that your seven-hundred bucks had gone down the drain with no use whatsoever. It was a sad thing.

“How could you click on 15?”

“You did not check Saturday?”

“Why did you book on Friday?”

“I… remember clicking Saturday..”

“You must have refreshed the page…”

“Enthokke aayirunnu.. Machine Gun-u…” “Bomb-u…”

“Forget it….”

“No.. I did not refresh..”

“Bomb-u…”

“The click did not click…”

“Olakkade moodu…”

“You sure it is 15?”

“Angane Pavanaai Shavamaayi…”

End result. No movie. Ticket Nahi Milegi Dubara.

We thought about enquiring about refunds or ticket transfers but we knew it was pointless. We pondered about getting in for another movie but unavailability of tickets prompted us to return to Chennai. in fact, Manji and Aswin appeared doubly pleased that it had not worked out; the former, because he was real tired, and the latter because, that Vikram movie was now in the reckoning again. Phew!!

We started on our way back. And I can bet, with Naveen’s mindset at that point of time, the auto guy was fortunate not to get a piece of Naveen’s mind. Like the others, my thoughts stayed at Mayaajaal. Frankly, I was less upset about not being able to see the movie. I was more worried about Naveen. I could gauge what thoughts were going through his mind. I had been in similar situations and could fully comprehend his situation. I tried to convince him that the movie was worthless and that we could always download it, but my reputation hardly did me a favor. It was a lost cause. No amount of convincing would improve that situation.

Thankfully though, the day ended in laughs and nobody talked about the forgettable outing. We took a sojourn to the Fruit Shop, had dinner at one of those thattukadas and ended up watching CockTail while I typed out the day’s adventures in this post. Funnily, at the end of it all, it seems like a day well spent. Just hope though that such well-spent days will be few and far in between.

P.S. And at the end of it all, Naveen remarked, “So now, thanks to me, all of us have learnt a lesson. When you book online, book for less amounts”.

He surely had not learnt the lesson, my absent-minded roommate, who is going to walk away today coz my Mom comes tomorrow. Am expecting more of the same from him in the coming weeks…