Earthquake

Notepad and blackberry in hand, I strode out of the conference room in a great hurry, thankful that I had picked the flats over the heels from the line up this morning. No sauntering for me today, not if I had to get those TRP reports out by COB. It is busy work and I always put it off till later. Like Phil said the other day, procrastination is like.... in the end I was just screwing myself. I had acted disgusted when he said it, but I have to admit it was funny -and sort of appropriate. Aah, there it is, my other Eden, demiparadise, my cubicle. I set my notepad and blackberry on the desk and pull the Ipod out of the purse. Total godsend that machine, could'nt get through the rest of the day without it. I pull my "auditiara", Phil-speak for headphones, on and let the music provide me aural succor. Half a report in I've drifted into cruise control.

Sixth report in, something new on my playlist pops up. Guitar strumming that sounded oddly like a chinese harp. Interesting notes from the voice and my mind was off standby. Then came the chorus. It had a sort of effervescent quality to it. Lifting my spirit and memories to a more uncomplicated time. Or was it?

"Aathaadi aasai alaip paaya,
serththukko meesai koda saaya..."

It was his moustache that made me notice him first. Under his nose sat the most anachronistic Frank Zappa moustache. Of course at that time I had no clue who Zappa was, the stache just made him seem older and consequently cooler. Didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes of course. We always sat in the same spots on the college bus. V and I two rows behind the driver and he and his friend N one row behind us on the other side. Isnt it weird how intrinsically transitive things, like seats, become constancies sometimes? They were the talkative ones, V and N - always a wisecrack handy for the cleaners mixtapes, always always a prank in the planning. Birthdays and wastefully spent cakes were their specialty. So much so that people went to extreme lengths to hide their birthdays. I was the spectatorial type and he was... OK, I assigned him the strong, silent role. Why else would both of us pick the window seats? Observer's delights those window seats - just far enough from the action, both inside and outside the bus.

"Koothadi koda mazha peiyya..."

It was one of those december chennai evenings. The clouds had spent their rain, everything was damp and the liquid embers were still on the window frames. The cleaner insisted on playing an old Raja mixtape and there were no complaints. I was letting the wind caress my cheeks through the window while stealing the occasional glance towards him. During the peak of one of those pendulous eye movements I spied a tear escaping his eyes. I think N noticed it too." Ennada Azharriyaa?" N asked. "Illa da, just a drop of water from the window" he replied, afraid of the hazing that was in store if he didn't explain it away convincingly. N believed him, but I didn't. I had watched as that single tear escaped through the inner corners of his eye. Incongruous little thing - it sat oddly with the rest of his facial features. I don't even know what the tear was doing there, but it was something about him that only I knew and I liked that. As "Nethu oruthara oruthara paarthom" played on the stereo, I went into a Raja fueled reverie where everyone was opening our wedding invitations in utter disbelief. How surprised everyone would be when we told everyone about our little love story? How it was the both of us, not N and V, that had gotten together after college? How they would say that it was the silent ones that could never be trusted.....

I was pulled out of my double reverie by Phil's voice. "You didn't feel that?" he asked. "What?" I shot back. "We just had a minor earthquake. Everyone evacuated the building. I came back to get you". I guess there's some benefit to dating a coworker. I sheepishly gathered my Ipod and followed him out, head phones still on my ear. "Princess can't bring herself to take of the tiara, huh?" Phil chuckled. And the song played on...

"Aathaadi asanthe ponaaya
Aasaiyil melinthe ponaaya
Nakkadi nalinthe ponaaya
Kaathalil Karainthe ponaaya....."