Sometimes it is fun to listen when you are a talkative person. No I am not hinting at anyone but myself. So one fine day, I yet again dedicated myself to hear a friend’s ‘tragic’ (according to him) and a ‘bestseller’ (according to me) story, of life and love. My friend, who for the record I haven’t met for ages and didn’t really ask much about his personal life, stays in the business capital of India… Mumbai. So the other day on chat we decided to be candid about the number of relationships we had been in. Me, who actually could have had a more rocking reply to that if I had not spent half my life living like a tomboy, said one disaster and one fling. “You got to be kidding me… that’s all. Well then you must hear me out!”
The problem with me is that when someone says hear me out, I am ok with that considering I am allowed to make excuses in the middle saying that I am going for a meeting, have a dinner to attend at the neighbour’s house, have an early morning work to attend to and even the fact that my cat needs to be fed. I don’t have a cat; in fact I am not very fond of the species. But when someone uses the word ‘must’, I feel trapped… I get inquisitive and worried about the hours it is going to take to come to the end of it all. It is seen in most cases that the use of the word ‘must’ is done in situations that definitely need to be underlined as ‘must dos’ and ‘must don’ts’. This one I tagged as must read!
So keeping my friend’s identity in tact and naming him Jerry, my most favourite and smartest toon character, I proceed.
Jerry is from London, born and brought up my Non-resident Indians. Now London is not just the center of culture in terms of art, music, festivals, museum and 300 nationalities. Love is an inherent part of the culture, just like tea with a hint of lemon. So my friend Jerry fell in the love the first time when he was 16-years-old and she (the first girlfriend) was about 15-years-old. Jerry loved her truly and she loved him too. The cute teen love that is of the most predictable sort. The only twist in this tale was that she moved to Paris to saying that she has breast cancer and didn’t want to ruin Jerry’s like. Poor Jerry took a pledge that he will love her for the rest of his life and only wait for her to come back to his life after she recuperates. “What I didn’t know was that she actually had another boyfriend in Paris, who was rich and also got her an admission in Collège de Montaigu, the University of Paris. I mean I always knew she was quite creative, but later I realised that she was also a very creative liar,” said my friend. So while the first girlfriend wondered off to be a part of a college from where the likes of John Knox, the Scottish reformer and John Mair, who later taught theology there.
Jerry again made a pledge to not fall in love, at least with a girl who loves art and can be quite creative. So the next time he fell in love was when he was 18-years-old and she was 17-years-old. She was an aspiring model, and he was planning to come to India to connect with his roots and study. But she was too beautiful and too dumb to let go off. So plans to discover the roots were shelved for a bit. The affair went on for about six-months and Jerry went to church every Sunday just to thank god for this one. But I guess even god didn’t want to stop right there. On Jerry’s birthday he kept waiting for soon-to-be model girlfriend to call and wish him before the world did. After not receiving a call till noon, he thought that she must have fallen ill or something. But when he reached her home, he saw the board of for sale at the house. After probing the neighbours for a bit he discovered that the girlfriend’s father owed a lot of money to some people and because he didn’t have any, he ran away from London with his entire family. “Did she leave a letter or a note or something for me? I am her boyfriend and I know she loves me quite a bit,” Jerry asked the neighbour. The neighbour said, “She left this!” and gave him a bill of 13 pounds for the cake she had ordered for him. “At least she left a cake for me, so what if I had to pay the bill as well?” And that is my dear friend Jerry and his optimism. But his plans to come back to his roots fell in place.
He came to India, looking for good colleges and work. “And then I fell for a Gujju girl!” till I had heard all this, I had thought that cupid has counted arrows for everyone. But I guess not for Jerry. She was yet again dumb, but very sweet. So from being a vagabond non-vegetarian, Jerry transformed in the Sagar Ratna and Sukh Sarag regular. Left the flesh to enjoy the leaves. But how long could have Jerry lived away from first love. No not his first love the girl who faked her cancer, I am talking about meat… chicken. And people from PETA, please don’t get offended. Love is love. So Jerry bid farewell to the Gujju babe. Cool che, isn’t it!
So Jerry, my dear friend Jerry decided to give up on all this love-shuv funda and settle for the best option of life. The most famously tried and tested and does not need a handle with care tag – the best friend. Thankfully, Jerry throughout all this journey of ‘love and lost’ has had one best friend who has heard him, put logic in place and been a great support in life for many years now. And she is also the one with home he has been with since the past six years, and I won’t call it an affair or just been in love with… it is too small a word for a relationship like that. So no matter how much entertaining his life has been to me in the past and how I would have loved to see him have some more of such escapades, but I am happy that he has found a partner in a friend. And trust you me that is a better combination that rum-and-coke or Vodka on the rocks. So till Jerry says, “happily ever after!” I am happy sharing this life’s story with all who have the patience to read these 1,153 words now… 1,154 now… 1, 155 now…
The problem with me is that when someone says hear me out, I am ok with that considering I am allowed to make excuses in the middle saying that I am going for a meeting, have a dinner to attend at the neighbour’s house, have an early morning work to attend to and even the fact that my cat needs to be fed. I don’t have a cat; in fact I am not very fond of the species. But when someone uses the word ‘must’, I feel trapped… I get inquisitive and worried about the hours it is going to take to come to the end of it all. It is seen in most cases that the use of the word ‘must’ is done in situations that definitely need to be underlined as ‘must dos’ and ‘must don’ts’. This one I tagged as must read!
So keeping my friend’s identity in tact and naming him Jerry, my most favourite and smartest toon character, I proceed.
Jerry is from London, born and brought up my Non-resident Indians. Now London is not just the center of culture in terms of art, music, festivals, museum and 300 nationalities. Love is an inherent part of the culture, just like tea with a hint of lemon. So my friend Jerry fell in the love the first time when he was 16-years-old and she (the first girlfriend) was about 15-years-old. Jerry loved her truly and she loved him too. The cute teen love that is of the most predictable sort. The only twist in this tale was that she moved to Paris to saying that she has breast cancer and didn’t want to ruin Jerry’s like. Poor Jerry took a pledge that he will love her for the rest of his life and only wait for her to come back to his life after she recuperates. “What I didn’t know was that she actually had another boyfriend in Paris, who was rich and also got her an admission in Collège de Montaigu, the University of Paris. I mean I always knew she was quite creative, but later I realised that she was also a very creative liar,” said my friend. So while the first girlfriend wondered off to be a part of a college from where the likes of John Knox, the Scottish reformer and John Mair, who later taught theology there.
Jerry again made a pledge to not fall in love, at least with a girl who loves art and can be quite creative. So the next time he fell in love was when he was 18-years-old and she was 17-years-old. She was an aspiring model, and he was planning to come to India to connect with his roots and study. But she was too beautiful and too dumb to let go off. So plans to discover the roots were shelved for a bit. The affair went on for about six-months and Jerry went to church every Sunday just to thank god for this one. But I guess even god didn’t want to stop right there. On Jerry’s birthday he kept waiting for soon-to-be model girlfriend to call and wish him before the world did. After not receiving a call till noon, he thought that she must have fallen ill or something. But when he reached her home, he saw the board of for sale at the house. After probing the neighbours for a bit he discovered that the girlfriend’s father owed a lot of money to some people and because he didn’t have any, he ran away from London with his entire family. “Did she leave a letter or a note or something for me? I am her boyfriend and I know she loves me quite a bit,” Jerry asked the neighbour. The neighbour said, “She left this!” and gave him a bill of 13 pounds for the cake she had ordered for him. “At least she left a cake for me, so what if I had to pay the bill as well?” And that is my dear friend Jerry and his optimism. But his plans to come back to his roots fell in place.
He came to India, looking for good colleges and work. “And then I fell for a Gujju girl!” till I had heard all this, I had thought that cupid has counted arrows for everyone. But I guess not for Jerry. She was yet again dumb, but very sweet. So from being a vagabond non-vegetarian, Jerry transformed in the Sagar Ratna and Sukh Sarag regular. Left the flesh to enjoy the leaves. But how long could have Jerry lived away from first love. No not his first love the girl who faked her cancer, I am talking about meat… chicken. And people from PETA, please don’t get offended. Love is love. So Jerry bid farewell to the Gujju babe. Cool che, isn’t it!
So Jerry, my dear friend Jerry decided to give up on all this love-shuv funda and settle for the best option of life. The most famously tried and tested and does not need a handle with care tag – the best friend. Thankfully, Jerry throughout all this journey of ‘love and lost’ has had one best friend who has heard him, put logic in place and been a great support in life for many years now. And she is also the one with home he has been with since the past six years, and I won’t call it an affair or just been in love with… it is too small a word for a relationship like that. So no matter how much entertaining his life has been to me in the past and how I would have loved to see him have some more of such escapades, but I am happy that he has found a partner in a friend. And trust you me that is a better combination that rum-and-coke or Vodka on the rocks. So till Jerry says, “happily ever after!” I am happy sharing this life’s story with all who have the patience to read these 1,153 words now… 1,154 now… 1, 155 now…
