Vague conversations - one fine September evening with friends in Pune...

Disclaimer: Although I admit that this conversation is not entirely fictional, it is highly exaggerated. The characters mentioned in the conversation are all real, and in fact I know them well… In fact, I am one of them. And most importantly, the events and conversation described in the following are not to be taken seriously… until proved otherwise…

Happy reading…

Cast of Characters:

Ankur (protagonist)

Aditya (protagonist)

Vikarant (friend)

Sameer (super enthusiastic friend)

Sourabh (well… friend…)

Meghana (the customary dumb girl)

Location:

Kollage café, off law college road

Situation:

Café moderately crowded. Slowly the group gathers, general pleasantries in the form of abuses doing the rounds as usual…

Sameer (almost barking at Ankur) : where’s your partner?

Ankur simply nods.

Aditya arrives last, straight faced… sits next to Ankur. He is congratulated as he passed some of his CA exam

As usual, what Vikrant wants is not available that day, so he settles for French toast, Meghana orders toast and omelette and Ankur asks for egg curry and roti… Sourabh ate elsewhere some awesome Lebanese food, and doesn’t want anything. Sameer asks for coffee

Food arrives.

Start eating… Ankur and Aditya sharing the food … talking continues…

Topics shift from Sourabh’s site to Vikrant’s Solapur visit. We wonder if Gangu is going to join us, but none us seem sure.

For a brief second, everyone is silent… everyone is looking at the food… suddenly:

Sameer (Lifting his head and looking at Aditya): Did you tell at home?

Aditya (Looking bleak…): Yes… Dad told me to do whatever I want to do…

Sameer (with a gleam in his eye): really?

Aditya (extremely animated): Over the dinner table… everything was peaceful… suddenly my dad asked me about it… and I Looked at my mom who knew (Looking towards an imaginary mom with eyes wide open, towards where Sourabh was sitting…) and she said that she told dad about it… And I said that it was true. So he told me to do whatever I wanted to do, and go to hell if I wanted to… so he’s not at all happy… but at least he knows…

Sameer (turning towards Ankur): And what about you…? Did you tell at your place?

Ankur (with a little sly smile) : they have an idea… My brother accidentally discovered it while I was conversing with him… Later during dinner… my dad asked if it was true… and I told him it wasn’t and he told me that I am not admitting now and must remember that…

Sameer (with a semi shocked expression): so now what are you going to tell your family? And when?

Ankur (Nodding slightly): dad’s birthday is approaching… plus I plan hand over the finished office to him that day, so he might be pleased enough to listen to me…

Vikarant and Meghana continue eating and listening adeptly to the conversation…

Sameer (inquisitively, almost at the edge of his seat): the date? Have you decided?

Ankur: mid October probably…

Sameer (jerking his head): that’s great!

Vikrant: (Looking at Aditya almost as if waking up from slumber): Doesn’t Aabha support you at it?

Aditya (desperately): she does… a lot… but it’s not like her support matters… since she went away…

Sourabh (weird expression, looking at no body in particular): Ankur, you should introduce Aditya to your family on your dad’s birthday…

Meghana (bad timing as usual): Congrats you two…

Ankur: well at least it’s more or less out now… We should start our preparations…

Aditya (looking at Ankur): When should we go to Pali…?

Ankur (sly smile, nodding…): Lesee…

At this point, the café is no longer crowded… its almost time to go home. The last few cups of coffee and lemon juice arrive and the bill is paid… The conversation shifts from topic to topic… about Sourabh’s current site, to his experiments with recycling plastic bags to Vikarant’s fiancé who is as much a vegetarian as he is a Non vegetarian… and to cycles and which cycle to take for long trips: geared or un-geared, road bike, mountain bike or a hybrid…

At this point, let me explain that Ankur and Aditya are cycling comrades who are planning a bike trip from Pune to Kanyakumari, and their respective families are very much against it… I realised that for any one not knowing this, this conversation might sound poles apart from what we understand it as. Ankur and Aditya are NOT homosexuals and even though they both are struggling to find love from members of the opposite sex, they are gaily planning out the long cycling trip in the hopes of finding their true selves and true loves…

May they succeed in all their endeavours…