It has been a while since I posted something here, aint' it?
Well, it is cos Jane hasn't been keeping well... Food poisoning! (though she insists on calling it "Bangalore Belly")
Finally she is healthy enough to go back to work... And as usual, Saturdays are off for me, but not for her... So, here I am getting some chores done with "The Immortals of Meluha" in one hand, when I thought, "It HAS been a while..." :)
So like I said, Saturdays are extremely boring, alone at home. But at the same time, there is a lot of work to be done too. Every Saturday, I drop Jane at work, have breakfast, wash all the clothes (albeit the washing machine does most of the hard work), do the dishes, and download the latest episode of "The Mentalist" and "How I Met Your Mother" ready to watch together at night. And then when I go to pick her up at noon, she will ask what I did all day, I will say "Nothing!", and when she comes home she sees all the work is done, she acts all surprised and I get my peck on the cheek... This is Saturday tradition... And I am not going to break it... Lol...
So the clothes are in the machine, the dishes are done, the latest episodes are downloading, and I sat down for a smoke, when I thought, how different were the first few years of our relationship!
Now, some people say that the first few years of a relationship are always the best. I do not agree, no sir! Every day of a relationship is special and you can never know when a woman will surprise you with a kiss, or a casual "I Love You" or in some other really cute way!
So what was special about the first few years of OUR relationship? Well, IT WAS CRAZY! That's what it was!!!
The year was 2004. We bunked classes almost every alternative day (my good friends saved me with proxies but she had to write an apology letter to the Principal and attend extra classes), the Bangalore BMTC was our favorite ride, and all the shopkeepers at M.G. Road and Brigade Road knew us by our names! Settling down and the tensions of a job or running a family were in the distant future.
The only tension was the fact that she had to be back at her Hostel by 08:00PM! I still remember running out of Rex Cinemas before Peter Jackson's (painfully long) "King Kong" got over. (I still have not seen the climax to that movie. What happened to that poor beast?)
I still remember how we used to walk all the way from our college in K. Narayanpura to Kammanahalli and back, right after classes got over for the day (that is about 12 kms daily! Uff! Can't imagine doing even 2 kms now!)
And also our usual hangouts in and around M.G. Road like, Cubbon Park, Commercial Street, F.M. Cariappa Park, the benches on the other side of M.G. Road (where now the monstrous metro rail stands), the Science and Technology Museum, and the long, long, loooooooong wait at Shivaji Nagar Bus Stand to get the least crowded bus so that we could sit together. Allowances are tight as a student and so all the places had to be either free or cheap! The occasional movie was at either Rex Cinemas or Symphony (now Fame). Inox at Garuda Mall and PVR at Forum Mall was for special movies only.
I also remember skipping breakfast and dinner (lunch was always together) for days together just to buy her something nice or to catch a movie. I remember how much she made me wait (always late! Arrgh!) looking through the corner of my eyes to see if she was walking out the hostel gate. The first thing she always said to me was "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry I am late!", almost immediately followed by "I am fed up of seeing you in your black tee and blue jeans!"
Well the times changed when we both started working and now; that we have are living together, the changes are drastic. Can't bunk work, movies are rare (mainly cos' there aren't any good ones), all the travelling is on our bike, and one free day is spent at home. The one thing that has not changed yet is that she still does all the nonstop talking. I just have to respond with "Mmmms" and "Mm hmmms"! He!!! He!!!
Although the first few years were CRAZY, 7 years later we still do keep it alive by going crazy once in a while. Like the occasional ride in the rain (which I did repent later), visiting friends, behaving like adults, giving the "been-there-done-that" look to young college kids walking hand-in-hand in malls, etc. But the things that have changed include making Purple Haze and Pecos our usual hangouts, shopping with our own money, long rides, and then cribbing about all the money we wasted doing all the above things. Ha!
Life might have changed... But still, when we get back home and then settle into each others' arms for the night, I kiss her forehead as she sleeps and say to myself, "Life's good!" and then almost immediately followed by "My god! She snores like a pig!" :P
- John Doe
- John Doe
