Do you think that friends replace family when one stays on their own?

Friday, December 14, 2012

Mumbai Diaries: Knight in distress


In the dark of one winter night, he sat waiting to be rescued from the shadows of the past. The unhappiness spread from childhood to his recent past. The knight has fallen well manicured to the ground. His cowl top under the shield has a tear giving way to his hairless chest. He looks up toward the only light in the street showing his Greek god gorgeous face and flaunting his well shaped eye brows and glossy lips. He is waiting with baited breath for the damsel on the white horse to rescue him. And…

This doesn’t sound like your usual fairytale right! I know, and neither does the usual man these days. When I speak about men today, it is completely out of experience that they have decided to change places with the women. And somehow women have again given in to the modern day man’s whims. From the time of the women have decided to wear the pants, men have somehow lost their sheen a little (I am understating it, I know). You might wonder why I am ranting here. Well, as a kid I was told in the fairytales about the man who was all macho, brave, didn’t cry, was the one in-charge, took care of everything and everyone, didn’t wear his emotions on his sleeves and much more, which now seem to be the qualities of the medieval age.
Men now are like Mr D, who even post 30 seem lost for an urge to have an ambition and seem to think that the first strongly oriented woman who comes his way is the woman he is going to cry on the shoulders of. 

Earlier I used to find the sensitivity of a man a refreshing change. Oh how sweet he can confess to his weaknesses, how nice he can cry and crib easily like men were never really human in every woman’s mind.
Mr D is a modern day man. Well manicured, good pedigree, suave, and the kind you will feel automatically attracted to when you meet him for the first time. He has the ability to keep you hooked on to him with his charming smile and knowledge. That’s when you thank god for small mercies and ignore the fact that he is a narcissist. “Being a narcissist is good business sense!” he had explained to me. So here I was, basking in the glory of what God had kept wrapped for me and away from the rest of the world – Mr D. And yet, there’s this bloody nudging conscious of mine sitting in a hammock in my head and looking at me as if I have missed the obvious.

A few days of knowing and a couple of dinners later, I was finally ready to snarl back at my conscious when he started talking. Before I go ahead, here’s the thing. When women say, we got to talk… it is generally a piece of gossip or a tragedy stricken story. When men say we got to talk… it generally means business. But here I had forgotten that this man knew his GUCCIs from GAPs.

“It is strange but I feel I can talk to you about anything, it is like I have known you for so long!” Oh that line gives me the creeps, but in Mr D’s case, I let it pass. “You know you make me realise that not everything can be bad all the time. Light does shine on you someday or the other.” I was officially lost by this time (read – not mesmerised but lost). “I had a horrid childhood, a not so good teen and I have never been able to sustain a relationship. But with you, it all seems possible. You can change things for my life, I can see it.” And I couldn’t! While my conscious constantly kept giving me a I-told-you-so smirk, I had to spin my head around the fact that this man was actually asking me to take care of him. So I am the nanny now? And here I was looking for someone equal and this one was offering me the pants with tassels attached. “I have been an unhappy man for a very long time. I know we might seem like a mismatch, but I know we can work it out wonderfully. “Hang on, mismatch for sure, he is needy and I am not ready to indulge that. I still asked him what he meant by the oh-so-obvious mismatch. “Not to offend you or anything, but I know I am a good looking guy. I know this because I am very critical about my looks. And you… well you are cute. And while I know when we walk into a restaurant, like today, a lot of head turn around and wonder why I am not with the sexy model. But for me, looks don’t matter!” My conscious fell from her hammock in shock and I couldn’t suppress my smirk. I had to tell him, to break this needy modern day man’s bubble and so I do. 

“Well Mr D, you are right… and you are so observant. I like the fact that you are honest and forthcoming. I am glad that you are comfortable talking to me. So sweet of you and yet… I still feel that you missed two major points.” Mr D kept smiling and asked me what the points that were missed are. “Oh Mr D, the two most important things I look for in a man, are compassion and intelligence. And you lack both. Just because you are good looking doesn’t mean that I will compromise on these two important qualities and adjust. While my dear Mr D, you are a modern day man, I am absolutely the modern day woman!”


And they lived happily ever after… separately… the END    

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