Something for you guys......

A year draws to a close on this day. :-) And so does my three-month stint in the blogoverse.This day,I think I should blog a little about tall the people who made my blogging experience so enjoyable and fruitful here.There are some bloggers I can't resist reading whenever they put something up. There are some I absolutely relish talking with. There are some who captivate me with their thoughts and ideas. Below is the list of those awesome writers I want to dedicate this blog to. Clicking on the pictures will take you to the blogger profile of the respective blogger.So keep clicking!!!!!!!:-)

Dawn Zhang  There are writers and then there are brilliant writers.She is one powerhouse of a content machine who packs such awesomeness in her creations that once you've read her ,you are left with just no option but to keep coming back to her.:-) She describes herself as a "feminist bitch". Don't know about the bitch part, but her strong and unequivocal writing tone has all the qualities of a warrior ready to kick any nuisance-maker's butt!	Philo Naughtiness and niceness live in perfect harmony in this just turned 18 girl. Her writings are good,her nature even better.She is one of those bloggers who make me smile when I am down and out.She is one of the reasons I keep blogging even when I feel like quitting.:-)	Menachery Well she is a model!Not only a fashion model,but a model friend and a model human being as well. She goes to such lengths to help out her friends which you cannot even begin to imagine.And despite being famous enough for Google to immediately recognize and suggest her name in searches,she is humility personified.She is one of those persons who make me believe that success doesn't always get to one's head. :-)
Crystal I often say of her writings,be they poems,stories or just reflections,that Awesomeness Has Just Been Crystallized. :-) A talented prodigy,she is just seventeen. One day we will read books written by her which will give Chetan Bhagat a run for his money.I am just waiting for that day with eager anticipation.	Red Handed  Funny,witty,intelligent,sensitive,amazing... I can run out of adjectives to describe her talent but I will never be able to do justice to her potential.One of the most popular bloggers around,I hope she continues to entertain and enthrall her readers like only she can.:-) I have no idea what she looks like.So I chose this picture for her...it has that mysterious aura to it....;-)	PeeVee  She creates multi-hued writings with a narrative style as fluid as water. Once you start reading her stuff you can't put it down.Plus her blog design is the object of a lot of people's envy and admiration.:-)
Spaceman Spiff  I find a lot of similarities between Spiff and Red Handed. Both are insanely humorous, intelligent and damn fine writers. And yes,Spiff is a die-hard Calvin & Hobbes fan.And Suzie is such an important part of that comics strip.I wonder why she doesn't change her name to Spacewoman Suzie.:-) But whatever name she goes by,her writing will always pack the punch of 10 thousand lighting bulbs!!!	The Dragon In the Skin Of a Goat Her name is Shetty,Priyanka Shetty. Considering her initials P and S,me thinks it would always make perfect sense for her BF/Husband to write a letter to her and ending it with "P.S. I LOVE YOU"....... ;-) My stupid jokes apart,let me tell you that this gal is absolutely kick-ass. She has been through a lot in her life,and every hardship has just strengthened her until she has become as sharp as steel but with a heart of gold.Some love her,some hate her.....some fear her......and she is one fantastic writer....and a fabulous human being....:-)	Aakriti   A soul with the gentleness of an angel, she is the embodiment of a lot of virtues which every parent want in their daughter. No matter how 'crappily' I praise her, she will flood me with profuse gratitude.She was my first follower by the way.....:-) and so somewhere in my mind her presence will always remain special.
Shreya You should read her poems. They will make you fall in love with poetry if you are not already.:-) Another talent powerhouse which makes my reading experience all the more rewarding.	Princess Fiona Wisdom and kindness personified, this lady from Scotland reinforces my conviction that there are still a few good men and women left in this world.And her poems....:-) Rhyming,rhythmic and meaningful....just the way I love them...	Rachika  She is fond of dark stuff. And yet she is a soft angel at heart. And I found just the right picture to represent her dichotomy. I wonder what she sees in my writings, to keep coming back to read them. Personally I think my writings are crap.But she....she makes me believe otherwise. :-)
Sakshi  Future MBA grad and successful corporate woman.:-) Presently a fabulous poetess, popular girl and in love with another MBA grad.:-) By the way, she spared no effort to pull me out of my sullen moods on a number of occasions too. A charming woman with a beautiful heart...need I say more?	Priyanka Kamath  One of m my very first followers and a superb writer.I miss her sometimes.She doesn't write as often as I would have liked.:-( Hope she starts writing more often......	Saumya Kulshreshtha   IAS aspirant,future administrator of our country and a person who has her life in perfect order. :-) Brimming with ideas and a storehouse of knowledge,she reads 5 newspapers a day.:-)  And she is a very nice person to talk to .....Trust me....Whenever you need an intelligent convo,dial S for Saumya.:-)
Saru Singhal, Meera Saundarajan,Sarah Malik, Blahblaholic are some of the other writers I enjoy reading. :-) Please don't feel offended because I am mentioning you people at the end. It's just that,I tried to find appropriate pictures for you guys....but couldn't.Probably because we haven't interacted that much,:-( Maybe once I get to know you better,I can come up with those....:-) My humble apologies... The End

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MIA

I have been missing in action for some while.Not too sure whether anyone noticed it,but anyway,I was away,you know, because of one of those zen things....the ones where you take a break from everything and then somehow come back magically turbo-charged with brilliant ideas and innovations which reshape the world.My ambitions were a lot less ambitious.Re-modelling the existing frameworks of human thought and life processes can wait.:-P I simply took an unannounced hiatus from blogging in the hope of some brain-wave striking me,which I could then translate into something awesome. Unfortunately,nothing happened.The 100-MW bulb which was supposed to lit up over my head never switched on.My Eureka moment never came to pass.I was even deliberating for a while on giving up blogging altogether.But all said and then,I think I should just hit the road with whatever ideas I have rather than wait for all the signals on the path ahead to turn green at the same time.:-) So I will be back soon.Don't expect anything out of the world from me.An average writer on the wrong side of 25 can only come up with so much.But I will be back definitely.If not with a bang,then just an inaudible pop!:-D

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My first blog award

So finally someone finally decided to give me a blog award! :-) It's about time.I was beginning to think I am such a crappy writer that people don't even consider my blog worth a look-see.

Thanks Nikhil Podder.I owe you one.*Hugs*

And here is my award:-

Let me tell you something about this dude called Nikiller who gave me this award. He is young.He is sharp.He is funny.An avid HP fan.And he has an opinion on a lot of things.Most of which will make you laugh your heart out.So go ahead......have a look see at this blog....:-) You won't regret it.

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Happy Birthday...........

So yesterday one of our beloved fellow-bloggers turned 18. :-) And on this special occasion, it would simply be wrong on my part not to pen a few words on her.

She is one of those bloggers who is full of wit and life. All the chat discussions I had with her were remarkably enjoyable and amusing. Her sparkling wit and positive energy has lifted me out of many a gloomy day.

She claims she is a bad person.Although,a more sensitive and kind-hearted blogger,I have not seen till now. :-)

She feels for other people in a way which makes me believe that there is still hope for mankind with persons like her around.

Now now Rahul,you flatter me too much!!!!*blush blush*

And now,to her writing.What can I say? Such mastery over the craft of creative writing at such young an age.She and Crystal continue to amaze me with each quantum of brilliance which they throw at us. Easy flow,gripping narrative,touching and relevant topics,her writing has it all. And she never posts without pictures. :-)  Psst..so now you get the drift as to why I have studded this post with pics,don't you??

So this friend of mine turned 18 yesterday.I know her by a certain name. The rest of you probably know her as Philo.
She writes here.
Please do join me in wishing this package of awesomeness one super-duper awesomalicious year ahead. :-)

Happy Birthday Philo!!!!!

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55 fiction

 He buried her teary face in his silent comforting chest. He wanted to tell his best friend so badly he loved her. But he couldn’t break her trust. Her boyfriend had broken that already. She never understood what he felt for her, he rued. Suddenly he felt her lips on his. Something new had begun.

P.S.Ok PeeVee this one is for you. :-) 55 fiction crossed off the list.

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Ideas please...

I was having a chat with a fellow-blogger today.She said I should expand my vistas......try another genre......explore new horizons....She even came up with some brilliant suggestions.
So it got me thinking.:-) Maybe I should try out something new.You know,get my lazy ass out of my comfort zone,rise to new challenges and all those sort of a thing.
So please pour in your ideas.I would love to hear them.What do you think I should try my hand at?The ones which appeal to me the most,I will definitely give them my best shot.
So please..please...please........be liberal with your suggestions.Fill this blog page with them. It's time the entertainment I provide shifts gears and explores new avenues.Your help is very much needed here. :-)

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The shit called love

"I wish I was born in New Zealand," Ashish rued."The girls out there are the horniest set of bitches on this planet.On an average,a New Zealand babe has  close to 21 sexual partners?21!!!Would you believe that?"
The average guy thinks about sex at least once a day.Ashish thought about it on an average of twenty times a day.

"Tch tch," Rohit replied absent-mindedly as he applied a blob of gel on his hair.

"I tell you we are in the wrong country dude!I mean,like the end of the world is hardly a year away.And you and I are gonna die as virgins.Shucks,man!"Ashish,visibly frustrated, looked at his flat-mate as if expecting some consolation.

"Just shut the hell up,"Rohit said in an exasperated tone as he tucked in his shirt while looking at the mirror."I am nervous as shit about this date thing.And all you can think about is fucking!"

"Sheesh!Just don't shit in your pants when you meet her,fucker,"Ashish chuckled.

Rohit wondered when was the last time he and Ashish had a talk which had nothing to do with male or female parts,porn or voluptuous celebrities.
"Dude,if you could only fuck with your thoughts,do you realize you would have become the father of the nation by now?"Rohit grinned at his flat-mate and then started combing his hair.

"Nyah.I would have conquered India ages ago.China,Pakistan and Bangladesh would be in my undies by now too," Ashish shot back.

Rohit smiled as he looked at himself one final time in the mirror.The amusement eased his nervousness somewhat.Hair.Check.Shirt tucked in correctly.Check.Jeans fitting.Check.He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply.I just hope I don't mess up tonight!!he wished to himself desperately.

"Don't use up all the beer in the fridge,"he said as he stepped out of their flat."I might need it when I get back."

He was fighting with a feeling deep down that things might not go so well that night.He would say or do something outright stupid at the date and return to his flat feeling like a loser.A can of beer would again have to come to his rescue then.A shiny can of beer has been the knight in shining armor for many a dude in distress.Rohit could vouch for that any day.Or night.

***

"It's wrong Rohit.It's plain wrong.Two-timing is what ass-holes and bitches do," Mahima shook her head vigorously.

"Our first date and we are already talking about two-timing,"Rohit looked at her in an amused fashion."There's surely a great future ahead for the two of us.And by the way,just curious,but why do you think it is wrong?"

"It's just wrong.It's downright immoral."

"Exactly.But who decides morals?The moral idea of having only one partner at a time has been passed down and force-fed to us culturally by rulers, religions and women for centuries.But does that necessarily make it right?" Rohit asked her sharply.

"Well,you said it yourself.It has been in vogue for so long.There has got to be something right about it,right?Else it would have been discarded a long time ago."

Rohit just leaned back in his chair with a patronizing smile.

"What?"Mahima asked widening her big black eyes."You just gonna sit there and smile..or do you really have something to say on this?"

"Just this.If you look at it from a biological standpoint, it doesn't benefit women at all to have their man running around hitting the sack with other women. She can only carry one kid at a time, and she can only bring up a small number at a time, so having a man that's out sticking his dick into others is BAD BAD BAD news for her. When her guy's out distributing his semen, he can't be working or home helping. Even worse, he might have other kids with other women which will eat up his attention and income further. So anything that promotes monogamy, like religion, is seen as right to many women, as it goes along with what they know and feel is right."

"So men should just sleep around.Is that what you are saying?" She asked,her nostrils flaring in a cute way.She looked cuter when angry,Rohit concluded.


"I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with women's perspectives," he clarified." I'm just saying that if you look at it from women's point of view, she doesn't really gain anything by having a man that likes to sleep with a lot of women."

"And what about men?What benefits would they get?One flavor simply won't do,huh?You need to try out all the goodies in the ice-cream van,am I right?"

"Think about it. There are major advantages to guys...... or at least to their genes to sleep with many women. First, it doesn't take a lot of hard work, and there's virtually no risk.Sure,there is STD and stuff.But consider this.A man could probably sire a lot many children before a disease would take him out.Not a bad trade off,I say.Genetically speaking."

"Woaah,so we are back to the same thing," Mahima whined."Men should go around sticking their dicks into every chick possible."

"I am just saying  that men are probably biologically wired to look for sexual opportunities and sexual variety.But let me also add that just because you're wired to like sweet foods doesn't mean that you should only hog on sweet stuff. That will spell bad news for you too."

"Some swell date this is becoming,"she complained.

"You brought the topic up,"he smiled again.

"Let's change the topic."

"Amen to that."

"So tell me about Ankita,Rohit.Why did she leave you?Is it ok to share?"

Rohit knew this question would come up eventually.He steeled himself.Thinking about it still hurt.Bad.Talking about it was far worse.
"She had different priorities,"he answered slowly and with difficulty."I mean from her point of view,it's all ok.We weren't really a couple technically speaking.Just that we spent a lot of time together..and I..stupidly fell in love with her.So when the time came for her to leave...she just left."

"Just left?You didn't try to stop her?Tell her how you felt?"

"The day her flight was to leave,I went to the airport to bring her back.You wouldn't believe it but..my cab broke down 2 kms away from the airport.I actually ran the rest of the way.They wouldn't let me inside.So I purchased a 10 grand ticket just so that I could get inside the waiting lounge.I met her.That last time.I told her what I felt about her. But...she..well.....uhh..well things didn't work out.She left."

Rohit's eyes began to sting.Mahima watched as he tried to blink back a tear.

"Let me guess.You are going to tell me that something fell in your eyes,right?"She said,with the hope of lightening things up.

Rohit remained silent.

"Look Rohit,I am sorry to hear about Ankita.I guess you really felt she was the one,huh?"

"I was just being stupid,"he answered tersely.

"There was nothing stupid in it.You felt something for her.She didn't.Happens.I have been through the same a lot many times more than I am proud of." She touched his hand,trying to comfort him.

"I don't know,Mahima.All this stuff....the emotions....the pain....the blasted memories...they hurt...real bad.I don't know if... all this is really worth it."

"I know what you are going through.A couple of years back I was passing through a similar mess.I had a huge....and I mean a huge fight with my bf.I wanted to break up with him then and there.I wanted to just run away.Hide myself somewhere.Reset my life.Coz it seemed to have crashed completely.But then I discovered something."

"What?"

"Look.I don't believe in love in a something mystical sort of way, I don't think there is such a thing as the one. I mean,get real.There in no one person for you, there are many potential people for you. We like to call it love but in the end it is just another relationship.No relationship will just work, we make them work.Some are easier than others.Some are just worth more."


"All this sounds nice and all but...." Rohit started to interrupt but she silenced her with a gesture of her hand.


"I am not finished.I know so much has been said on how it's all a beautiful delicate balance and all that. Love is about meeting someone and growing with them.Blah blah blah. The reality is just that there will be downs, there must be so you will know, experience, and enjoy the ups. And trust me there will be ups. "


"You sure about that?" he smirked.


"I can bet my life on it.Don't give up on this shit called love, Rohit.You may not be able to make others love you but you can choose to love others and in doing so you ensure that someone else is loved. You have a gift see, it's your choice how you use it. There's so many different kinds of love. You will find someone, the trick is just to keep looking."

Rohit looked on at Mahima with renewed interest.There are some moments in life you can never correctly describe.In those moments,everything feels right and it doesn't seem anything can really go wrong.There is just  that beautiful feeling inside yourself .The feeling a kid has when he holds a long-awaited gift in his hands.

"You seem to be a nice guy,Rohit," Mahima's words interrupted his reverie."I would sure like to get to know you better.It's getting late and I have to go now.Can we meet again sometime?"

"I would love that," the words seemed to escape his lips even without his being aware of it.

"It's a deal then,"she smiled a glowing smile which warmed Rohit's heart.

Sometimes we fall for the wrong person.And sometimes we fall for just the right one.Whatever the outcome, the feeling of falling is unlike anything else.Rohit could not push off the feeling that his search might just have ended tonight.

Little did he know,he was just about to hit another speed-bump in Heartbreak Avenue.

**The End**

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In-TALKS-icated

"Would you believe me if I said I was a lesbian?" She asked Rohit playfully.

"Not a chance." Rohit summarily replied.

"Hey!!Why?You have no reason to assume I cannot be a les!" she said, putting her hands on her hips in a cutely indignant manner.He could almost feel his heart skip a beat.

"Throughout our entire conversation,you didn't eye a single chic," he said while pouring in vodka into his empty glass."Not even the red tank top bombshell who walked past us just few moments ago.You didn't even throw her a second glance.If an absolute knockout like her cannot make you turn her head,no gal can.On the contrary,I saw you steal glances at quite a few good-looking dudes here.So keep your lesbian nonsense to yourself.In fact,do me a favor and keep your entire self to yourself.Let me go back to my drinks.I picked the wrong gal to ask a phone number from.I get that.Now shoo away."

"Hey,no need to be rude here,"her voice seemed hurt.Was it feigned?Rohit couldn't figure out."I was just messing with ya!And dude,you are sloshed already.Right in front of me,you gulped down five pegs.You wanna get stoned or something?"

"Would you believe me if I said I get stoned every night?"He looked at her,fighting hard against the weight of his heavy eyelids.One bottle of beer.Followed by a splurge of vodka.He was having difficulty keeping his eyes open.

"I would have liked to say not a chance,but judging by what I have seen so far..." she left the sentence dangling teasingly.His vision was getting a bit blurry,but he thought he could make out a smile on her lips.

Rohit didn't utter a word.

"Hello?Had too much to drink?Can't talk right now?" She waved her hand animatedly in front of his face.

He just let out a rude grunt.

"Now I am curious.Just why do you get stoned every night?" She asked with a questioning look in her pretty kohl-lined eyes.

"A skewed sex-ratio in our country."The skewed sex-ratio in the country was at the heart of all his woes.To have a happy, active, fun-filled sex life in this country,you either had to be born as a female or not at all.At least,this is what Rohit thought.Substitute for good plentiful sex was good plentiful booze.And so it fell upon alcohol to fulfill the role of his rebound girl.He always looked upon alcohol as female.Just like women.,it was addictive and costly.And harmful in the long run.


"Love problems,huh?Tell me about it.I just broke up with my boyfriend  yesterday.We had been an item for three years.Three fucking years.I felt so messed up and shit,I cried the whole day yesterday.Would you believe that?!!!??"


For a gal,who just went through a traumatic separation from her lover,Rohit observed that she seemed to be in amazingly high spirits right now.Must be all that vodka she soaked herself in,he thought.She had downed four pegs of vodka in front of his very eyes.Heaven only knew how much she had before that. 

Gawd!!!I just hope she doesn't throw up on me!!!Rohit thought desperately.He had come to his friend's part just to hog on the free drinks.For quite understandable reasons, he didn't want a chance encounter with a lovely stranger at this heady venue to turn into a cloth-washing nightmare.


"I mean I was never good enough for that jerk," she suddenly became hysterical.Rohit grew even more alarmed.His story with hysterical women had been a history of misery so far.He didn't want another chapter of that history textbook to be penned that night.
"All the time,he used to compare me to some dumb-ass bimbo or the other who probably spend half their waking hours applying  make-up and adjusting their bras to turn their headlights on."


"Headlights?" Rohit asked groggily.


"Boobs."She explained contemptuously.


"Hmmm."Headlights.Equal to boobs.Rohit noted it down.


"And you won't believe what that ass-hole suggested to me when we broke up.He said I should get a boob-job done.Some cousin of his got it done recently.And now he was saying I do it too.That sonofa...I just don't get it.Why can't gals be satisfied with what they have?Why go to such extreme lengths to change your physical appearance to appease others?"


This girl was on the slimmer side.Which meant her headlights kind of lacked the glare which Rohit would have liked.But despite that,with her angelic face and petite figure,she could still make a lot of heads turn.That bf of hers had been a downright jerk.Or maybe just too damn awesome.Maybe he could just afford to throw away gals with enough hotness quotient to melt a hole through anybody's glasses.


"Ah well.Blame it on Cecil Beaton."Rohit answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Cecil who?"

"Marilyn Monroe.. along with many more awesome now-dead people -- was in reality rather more wrinkly, lumpy and human than we think. She owed a large portion of her image today to Beaton's camera and gift for flattery. Especially the latter, seeing as he edited the shit out of his photographs."

"Interesting.Go on."She said,her curiosity aroused.

"This dude Beaton.He was the Photoshop of his times.Sixty years before Photoshop 1.0 was launched, Cecil was toiling away in dark rooms with basic tools such as razor blades and markers, trimming waistlines, correcting bulges and sharpening features.And this fucker actually gained world-wide fame for his ability to make the rich and famous look unreasonably sexy."

"Uh..huh.."

"That fucker started this whole goddamn trend.Of editing celebrity photos to make them look stunning.Thanks to the photographers' and magazines' tendency to...how should I put it...creatively correct their shots, scores of girls grow up thinking stuff like blemishes, love handles and dull hair are shameful rather than the human norm, and therefore need to be hidden or otherwise dealt with."

"Damn him." She cursed under her breath.

"Human beings anyway are an unpredictable lot. I wish a day would come when they would be replaced by robots and we can all live in a world of predictability and order.No heart-breaks,no disappointments,no hurt expectations,no pesky mess butting its ugly head into our lives."Saying this,Rohit lapsed into silence again.


Presently,she asked,"So what's your story,hotshot?Which gal tore a hole through your stony heart?"

"It's a long story."

"Shorten it then."

"Boy meets girl.Falls in love.Girl breaks his heart and flies away to a different city.End of story."

"Boy!!!!You rattled this out almost as if you had memorized this shit.Just how many times have you told this to other people?"She shot out incredulously.

"Only about a hundred and forty two times.But to your credit,you are the first person who managed to wrest it out of me within less than half an hour of us beginning to talk to each other."

"That too someone you started talking to just because we lunged for the same vodka bottle at the drinks bar."She started giggling.Rohit felt as if he could hear bells chiming in the distance.Funny,he thought.Didn't this kinda stuff happen only in soppy Mills and Boons novels?Must be all that booze!!!!!!!Rohit could feel himself being slowly, but surely, pulled into a sleepy dreamy quicksand.

"So,no touch with her huh?"She asked again.Her voice seemed far off.Distant.Even her face seemed to be fading away.

"None whatsoever."

"You know maybe we should meet up again later.You seem to me a nice guy to ....... to."

And that was the last thing he remembered her saying before he dozed off.

***

He didn't wake up before morning.He was still at his friend's place.Several around him were still picking themselves up from the floor,the sofa or the chairs after last night's excesses.He looked around frantically.There was no sign of her.

He thought of asking his friend about the girl.But what would he ask?His memories of last night were a blur.All he could remember were snatches of that conversation.He wasn't even sure what the girl looked like or if he could even recognize her if he saw her at a distance.

Disappointed,he left his friend's home.And suddenly his phone beeped.It was a text from an unknown number.

"Hey hotshot!U stil remembr tht gal u talkd 2 ystrdy?Coz she stll rmmbrs u.Wanna meet up?U dozed off last nite.So I jst called up my phone frm urs 2 get ur numbr.Im sure u dnt mind,do u?:-) Cheers,Mahima."

Rohit's heart sang.The morning suddenly seemed brighter.The birds chirping suddenly sounded sweeter.He started whistling as he made his way home.

*The End*

P.S.This is a sequel to Love and other bugs. Don't worry,you don't need to read that in order to enjoy this story.:-)

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Love Game-Epilogue

Prologue
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V

Two guys were talking at a coffee-shop.
"Somehow I can't shake off the feeling that this is a bad idea," the first guy said.

"Ohh stop whining,dude,"the second guy chipped in."This guy is a pro.If anyone can help you,it's him."

"But what if he can't help me?" The first guy asked desperately."What if I am beyond anyone's help?"

"Six months ago,I was in the exact situation you are now.But this guy.He is a fricking magician.He brought things round.Today Megha and I are together just because of him.Haven't I told you all this a million times already?"

"All the same,"the first guy said skeptically," what if he plain refuses to help me?What if he thinks...I am just not good enough for Arushi?"

"Look,Sid," the second guy replied in a soothing tone,"all this guy needs to be sure of is that your feelings for the gal are genuine.That you won't dump her the first chance you get to sleep around with another woman.And I can vouch for you.How long has it been,Sid?Two years?Since she walked into your office?You have loved her since.If this guy was convinced I was hell serious about Megha,then you will pass with flying colors,trust me."

"You were head over heels in love with Megha,Saurabh.Anybody could see that."

"Was?I still am,dude.Will be for the next hundred years or so.And I can say the same about you and Arushi."

"So Anand referred this guy to you,did he?How did Anand get hold of him?"

"Through a friend of his.And that friend came to know about him from another friend of his.That's how this guy works.Referrals.He says that way he can be more certain that he gets to work with genuine cases.When he met me,he told me that it takes one real lover to find another.Weirdly enough,I think it all kinda makes sense .Anand is happily settled with Aakriti.He says he could never have had her had it not been for this guy's help.I can definitely say the same about me and Megha.And now I am referring him to you.I am sure you can add one more link to the chain." Saurabh beamed at Sid after saying the last sentence.

"You speak as if I have already won Arushi's heart," Sid replied in an unsure tone.

"You will,my friend.You will.Ahh look.Here he is."

Sid and Saurabh stood up to greet the man who just arrived at their table.

"How ya doing,Saurabh?" The guy greeted Saurabh with a warm dazzling smile."Everything fine between you and Megha?" The guy then looked at Sid and extended his hand,saying,"Hi,you must be Sid.My name is R.Saurabh told me all about you.Pleasure meeting you."

Sid took R's hand and shook it feebly.

"I understand you're having a problem with a woman called Arushi," R continued."Don't worry,I am here to take care of it."
                           *******************************************************

Acknowledgements:
Ahh well,finally the story is over.For a moment there I thought I would never complete it.But thanks to Philo,Princess Fiona and Menachery,I mustered what was needed to pull this off.With a few scratches here and there,but that's ok. :-)
I can't thank these three individuals enough,of course. Menachery always had her hate-antennae on for the protagonist of my story.Her involvement made me feel my writing is some Booker Prize material.And my writing got the ammo it needed to spew some more fire in the blogosphere.She herself is an amazing writer.And any admiration from an admirable writer sure does a lot to a fledgling blogger's sagging ego.:-) I owe you,Menu.Big time.
Philo.What can I say about her?Always asking me on chats if I have posted anything.Makes me feel that there is at least someone who really cares about whatever shit I dish out at you guys.Her enthusiasm regarding my stories is enough fodder for me to start writing at a furious pace again.And btw,did I mention,the stuff she writes is totally mind-blowing stuff? Such awesomeness from a gal who is just 17.Brilliance sure comes in young packages these days.
Princess Fiona.Ahh well.:-) She is the warmest individual I met on blogs till now.She genuinely seems to care.And her words are so sincere,helpful and kind,I can't help but wonder how much of generosity she must be carrying around in those 4 chambers of that heart of hers.I am glad I took up blogging.It's people like her who make me feel that blogging still remains one of the most powerful ways of meeting new and wonderful people.I am honored to have you as my follower,mam!*Respect*
And lastly,a big thank you to all readers who made it this far.:-) Reading long stupid stories isn't the best way of spending one's leisure time,I know.So I understand why not too many people are reading this story.But anyway,those who patiently managed to stick to this story till the end,they deserve a BIG HUG from yours truly.Thank you all.You guys make my day.Bye bye.
Ohhh and in case,some of you might be wondering,what happens to R after all this?Well,honestly I dunno.Maybe he will come back in a sequel.A Love Game:Level 2 perhaps?:-D LOL..........

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Love Game-Part V

Prologue
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

I couldn't sleep.I couldn't rest.I could feel my heart sagging down into an empty pit of grief and torment. It began to feel like I have fallen and will never get up again. The darkness was creeping in on me.I had done something I could never forgive myself for.I had let myself down.

I had become a monster.
Rashmi had often begged me to leave Shalini and go back to her.All her desperate pleas had fallen on a deaf wall.I had cruelly stomped on her tender feelings.I hammered her,drove her insane and pushed her to a point where she couldn't face reality anymore.I never imagined anybody could love me this much.She sold herself to me,her trust,her vulnerability,she mortgaged everything in return for my affection.And I just took everything away from her and recklessly threw it away like a piece of crumpled paper.I couldn't face myself.How could I face Shalini?Just like Rashmi,I had ensnared her with manipulations and trickery.I was all hollow inside.I had nothing to offer her.The person who was ready to offer her his entire world,Adarsh,him,I had taken her away from.
***
"But R,I thought you loved me!!" Shalini stared back at me with teary eyes.
"Hah!Love?You? Did you know exactly how boring you are? Books and literature.That's all you care about.You used to drive me to tears whenever you started on one of those goddamn authors you enjoy reading so much." I retorted with an aggression which shocked her.
"But..all those talks we had...those long discussions.."
"All were a bloody lie,sweetheart.And you are so bloody dumb,you fell for that shit.Trust me,anybody with access to Google can find enough material to talk with you about.You just come too easy,bitch.It's so fricking easy to get under your pants,that I.."
"Shut the fuck up,R!!!"Her tear-filled eyes were now breathing fire."I can't believe what a sick,fucking low-life you are.How could you..."

"Oh spare me that moral science class," I barked."You ain't any Ms.Goody-two-shoes yourself.You had a guy who thought the world of you.And you just threw him out of your life like he was some broken furniture.Just so that you can get cozy with someone who is a little better than him in bed!"

Shalini's eyes were now spewing venom.She gave me one long look ,which was a mixture of hate and regret,and then ran out of my flat.
Hopefully into Adarsh's arms.


One day ago
"And what's the reason for this sudden kindness,may I know?" Adarsh made no attempt to conceal the sarcasm in his voice.


"I am not doing you a favor,Adarsh.On the contrary,I am asking a favor from you," I replied calmly." Take Shalini back.She would never have broken up with you had I not faked that bike accident.With me,it was all a lie.A big fat one.She loves you dude!I am just a sick bastard who should have known better than to come between the two of you."


"What's the reason for this sudden change of heart?" The sarcasm and incredulity had still not left Adarsh's tone.


"Repentance."


"Repent?For what?"


"A lot of bad stuff." I answered gravely."A lot."


"Look dude!If you think you can play the good Samaritan after all the shit you pulled on the two of us,and then just get away with it by throwing her back at me,you are dead wrong.Keep your charity to yourself.Shalini and I are over.You hear me?Over!"


"Don't lie to yourself," I locked my eyes with his."You still love her with all you got.I can see it in your eyes.She deserves better than this.You can give it to her.Don't rob her of what she deserves just because I managed to screw things up between you two.


I looked away for a moment and then added,"Just think about it."


One year later
I was at the mall and I saw Shalini and Adarsh walking together,holding hands.I caught her eye and she looked away immediately.

I just blinked back a tear.


*The End*

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Love Game-Part IV

Prologue
Part I
Part II
Part III

Six months passed away and I was still with Rashmi.That was the longest I have ever been with a woman. One dawn after a night of love-making,I dragged myself out of bed with a look of dismay on my face.
Rashmi urged me on:"Come,R, my flatmates will be back soon. You don't want anyone to find you here."

I gave a deep sigh, as if to say that the night has not been nearly long enough and that it is an agony to leave. Once up, I did not instantly pull on my trousers. Instead I came close to her and whispered whatever was left unsaid during the night.Even when I was dressed,I still lingered, vaguely pretending to be fastening my belt.
Finally,the two of us stood together by the side door while I told her how I dread the coming day, which will keep us apart; then I slipped away. Rashmi watched me go, and I knew that this moment of parting will remain among her most charming memories. Indeed, a woman's attachment to a man depends largely on the elegance of his leave-taking. When he jumps out of bed, scurries about the room, tightly fastens his trouser , rolls up the sleeves of shirt, stuffs his belongings into his pockets and then flees even without a proper kiss on her cheek—one really begins to hate him.

Each one of my moves was a calculated step planned way ahead.


I hit the gym soon after.As I was leaving,a girl caught my eye. Curly tresses,honey-like complexion and an intelligent gleam in her eyes. She was smiling as the trainer explained to her the usage of the various gym equipment. I couldn't help but stare at her. I had to approach her.I just had to.

"Hi,someone seems to be still in pretty good shape so many years after college," I beamed at her.

"What?" She turned towards me and immediately a look of surprise registered on her cherubic face."Woaah,R????? Is that you??How have you been?Gossh!!!It's been so long!!"

"But finally we met.Guess the world is a small place after all," my voice rang with an enthusiasm, which perhaps in a long time, wasn't the least bit manufactured or synthetic.

Here she was.Shalini.My college crush. One I spent restless nights fantasizing about. Throughout the four years of college. The perfect victim has some quality that inspires strong emotions in you, making your wooing maneuvers seem more natural and dynamic. The perfect victim allows for the perfect chase.

Finally,my perfect victim was here.

To hook up with Shalini,my method was simple:study her, go along with her moods, find out what was missing in her life,and provide it.I had to pretend to be well-bred, polite, and generous. We went on long drives together and discussed literature.A serious and high-minded girl, she came to depend on our friendship; here was a man she could talk to for hours.There was just one obstacle.She was seeing someone else.Adarsh. Nice guy. Totally devoted to Shalini. Too bad for him.He  fell in love with the same gal I had the eye for.

One day I pretended to be  upset and excited: I confessed that I was in love with her. She was going on a date with Adarsh that night, and this was not what she wanted to hear. She told me I should take a drive to calm down.Later that evening she received news: I had met with a bike accident. Feeling responsible for my accident, she rushed to me, found me in bed, and fell into my arms, unable to control herself. We two became lovers that night.


Of course,none of this was easy.All this while,I had to focus intensely on Shalini, fathom what she is missing, what she is disappointed by. People will often reveal this in subtle ways: through gesture, tone of voice, a look in the eye. By seeming to be what they lack, you will fit their ideal.To create this effect requires patience and attention to detail. Most people are so wrapped up in their own desires, so impatient, they are incapable of investing so much effort. But to me that is only a source of infinite opportunity.I just had to be an oasis in the desert of the self-absorbed; few can resist the temptation of following a person who manages to pull that off.I stayed awake at nights Googling the literature and topics she was interested in.I finished half of the books she mentioned she had found enjoyable.I kept at the whole thing.Until she had fallen under my spell.After that, just a little ruse or calculation was needed to seal the romance.A contrived bike accident was my last move.


I had never worked so hard on a seduction before. But then again,Shalini was different. She evoked in me the feelings which I could call the closest to love.I loved her from the first year of college. And holy shit,I was in love with her all over again!!!!!

Throughout all this,Rashmi kept bugging me with emails,sms-es and phone calls.She even resorted to threatening me.She was one pissed off bitch. I wondered why she couldn't just get the message. I kept ignoring her mercilessly like an insensitive brute. But she just wouldn't stop. Rashmi was from a broken family. Her parents separated when she was only seven. Her mom could never devote much time to her. There was an enormous void in her life, which craved to be filled with affection and endearment. She longed to fill herself with me.But I was busy making other plans.I just wished she would move on and forget the hell about me. Shalini and me was all that occupied my thoughts those days.

One day,I received a sms from her.
"I want you to know
That it doesn't matter
Where we take this road
But someone's gotta go
And I want you to know
You couldn't have loved me better
But I want you to move on
So I'm already gone"

Kelly Clarkson.Already Gone. That was her favorite song. She played it many a time on her guitar. I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally,she had just decided to let go and move ahead with her life.I couldn't help feeling a tinge of guilt about the way I was treating her. I wished her a happy journey ahead through a text message and left it at that.

Two hours later I got a call from Akshay.He was the guy at whose birthday party I met Rashmi.

"R?" His voice sounded a bit shaky. I wondered what was the matter.

"Hey bro,what's up?You sound a bit off.Is everything ok?" I said into the phone.

"R,Rash..Rashmi...she.. is no more...S.she..jumped off the roof of her building."

The phone fell out of my grasp.

To be continued.....

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Ab 'Bus' vi karo

Sweating my armpits off in a crowded bus isn't exactly my idea of fun.

The problem with sweaty underarms......

They STINK!!!!!!

Getting to sit in the bus is so distant a dream,so many light years away,that I don't even look around for who is vacating a seat in my vicinity.Hope is a killer 'coz it disappoints. Hoping for the rarest of rare opportunities for me to get a sitting place in a bus is one expectation I can do without.

Trust me....this really isn't that IMAGINARY!!!!

Riding in a packed public bus is a strenuous exercise routine in itself. I have no accurate way to calculate the amount of calories it consumes, but I am pretty sure it is more effective than all the weight-loss products they advertise on all those confounded tele-shopping programmes.

Now that I've told you a better,cost-effective way of burning fat,these guys are planning to sue the balls outta me!!!!!!

After an hour long journey in a bus from hell, my shoulders, arms and legs take a beating which the gladiators must have taken in the ol' days of Roman amphitheaters.

After the bus ride.

The amount of nudging, pushing, shoving, poking I am having to endure day in day out makes me feel that running a 10 km marathon would be a breeze compared to this. At least there my body will have more than a 6-inch radius circle to claim as its personal space. In an average  bus during those bloody office hours, a six-inch radius circle is a luxury which will be afforded to you only under the luckiest of circumstances.

In the three years I spent outside my home-town ,I always chose my home to be in an area close to my office.So all these sweet and pleasant,comfortable and cozy rides home which I get these days was an unfamiliar concept to me so far.When I was a student in my home-town, I mean I used to stare at those jam-packed buses and would be like 'Tch..Tch...How do these people even think about climbing into those pig-sty-like-crowded shit-boxes-on-wheels?'Well,now I know. Necessity is the mom of invention.This kind of suffering is the son of desperation. Public conveyance from my office area is always overflowing with commuters. Be it a hot stinky bus which charges 8 rupees or an AC Volvo which charges 20. Buses can't do without the crowd it seems. It is as important to it as the fuel it runs on.Sigh....

This pic is funny only as long as you are not in it..

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Love Game-Part III

Prologue
Part I
Part II

Time flew since that day at the bookstore.And I flew along with it.As I became more and more successful with women,I started seeing the ugly side of it all. An unbridgeable chasm was opening between men and women in my mind. I was beginning to see women solely as gauges and dials to give me a measurement on how I was progressing as a seducer. They were fast becoming expendable and disposable, identifiable only by skin tones and numbers—a fair glowing 7, a sultry 10. Even when I was having a meaningful conversation, learning about a woman's ambitions and outlook towards life, in my mind I was just ticking off a box in my checklist of bonding. I was developing a fucked-up, unhealthy attitude towards the fairer sex. And the most troubling thing about this new thought process was that it seemed to be making me more successful with women.

"I just don't get it," she said, playing with a lock of her hair,with an inquisitive look on her face,"How come women fall for the stuff you do?It seems mighty odd that a man who is clearly dishonest, disloyal,and has no interest in marriage would have any appeal to a woman.And yet,here you are.With scores of conquests to boast about.I can't help feeling curious,R.When does it all stop?"

"When I find the perfect victim," I said with a warm smile.

"Uh-huh!!!And who is the perfect victim gonna be?"

"The one who gives the perfect chase."

As I watched the corners of her lips draw into a smile,I couldn't help smiling a bit inside myself.I was beginning to enjoy this conversation.

"Clever.You speak well.I will give you that," she pitched in a slight appreciative nod.

"You don't understand that bad either," I replied.

Her smile widened.I was getting somewhere."Had you not been such a cheap low-life R,I might actually have started to enjoy your company."

"Cheap low-life?That's a bit harsh,"I tried to look hurt."All I do is give women a good time."

"That's the excuse you give yourself for cheating them day in day out?"

I became silent for a while.This kind of resistance required some strategy."Have you heard of Don Juan,Rashmi?" I finally asked in a serious tone.

"That  seducer of Italian legends?Yeah.What about him?"

"At first the legend was a male fantasy: the adventurous knight who could have any woman he wanted. But later, Don Juan slowly evolved from the masculine adventurer to a more feminized version: a man who lived only for women. Do you know why?"

"Why?" Her inquisitiveness was back.Which was my playing card all along.

"This shift came from women's interest in the story, and was a result of their frustrated desires. You see,most women were disgusted with their boring marriages;but Don Juan offered pleasure for its own sake, desire with no strings attached. For the time he crossed your path, you were all he thought about.His desire for you was so powerful that he gave you no time to think or to worry about the consequences. He would come in the night, give you an unforgettable moment, and then vanish. He might have conquered a thousand women before you, but that only made him more interesting; better to be abandoned than undesired by such a man."

As I paused for breath,she spat out,"And you took it upon yourself to gift woman their ideal fantasy,is it?Become the Don Juan of 21st century Pune!!!!"

Still resistant?Very good.I needed resistance to add to the thrill. In any case, an obstacle in my way only gave me the opportunity to prove myself, and the creativity I bring to matters of love. I put on an enigmatic smile and spoke slowly,"I do not offer the mild pleasures that society condones. I touch a person's unconscious, those repressed desires that cry out for liberation. Stop kidding yourself.Women aren't the tender creatures that some people would like them to be. Like men, they are deeply attracted to the forbidden, the dangerous, even the slightly evil."

"I guess there is some truth to that,"she said,looking down and biting her lip.She was pausing to think about what I had just said.Half my job was done.

"You kinda remind me of the sex-deprived middle-aged History teacher back in my school.No student seemed to be able to satisfy her."I winked at her."With their exam answers,I mean."

She smiled and punched me teasingly in the arm. The game had begun.
***

Among the most ironical facts about seduction is the desire in women to want to reform the seducer. How many think they would be the one to tame him; how many think they would finally be the one with whom he would spend the rest of his life. To the dismay of women everywhere,seducers exploit this tendency to the fullest. When caught red-handed , fall back on your weakness—your desire to change, and your inability to do so.With so many women at your feet, what can you do? You are the one who is the victim. You need help. Women will jump at this opportunity; they are uncommonly indulgent of the helpless hapless seducer, for he is such a pleasant, dashing figure. The desire to reform him disguises the true nature of their desire,the secret thrill they get from him. When President Bill Clinton was clearly caught out as a wife-cheater, it was the American women who rushed to his defense, finding every possible excuse for him. Women are funny creatures.Rashmi was no exception.I met her at a mutual friend's birthday party.I was instantly attracted to her  wit and intelligence.She was fun to be with.

What she saw in me,only she knew.

***
Two weeks later Rashmi was blogging.
"Then I met R and felt a kinship on an entirely new level. R listens. Most people don't listen because they are afraid of what they might hear. R has no preconceived notions. He is cool with however anyone wants to
be. In me he doesn't find a bitchy girl who has to be broken. But he finds a feisty girl who poses obstacles he relishes overcoming. He doesn't see a path of random obstacles. He sees an opportunity to explore new territory. Together we are a dynamite.

Yesterday night as we came out of a restaurant, R and I decided to come to my flat. We talked in hushed voices so as not to wake my flatmates. I teased R's fashion sense. He made fun of my Mallu sensibilities. We shared stories from our past and present life.

The mood was giddy. We felt on the edge of something.
"It's really amazing, Rashmi," R said. "I can't wait to see where all this leads."

He is so full of wide-eyed optimism, I sometimes feel it is childish. He seems to be in search of  something.Always.I want to tell him that the answer he is seeking lies elsewhere. But I never get around to it.

We are having too much fun. "

To be continued....

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Love Game-Part II

Prologue
Part I
My name is R.And believe it or not,I am far from attractive. I am shorter than I'd like to be and although I ain't fat,I don't have a lean, rugged or ripped physique either. So, for me, meeting girls takes work. I'm not the kind of guy women giggle over at during coffee chats or dream about taking home when they're feeling drunk and crazy. I can't offer them a piece of my fame and scope for boasting like a celebrity or a ride in a posh stylish sedan like so many rich dudes do. All I have is the machinery of my mind working quietly behind my forehead, and nobody can see that.

When I look back on my college years, I have one major regret, and it has nothing to do with not studying hard enough, not being nice to my parents, or geting into substance abuse. It is simply that I was never that good with girls. I consider myself reasonably intelligent. I am at heart a good person, and I try to avoid hurting others.But I never became comfortable around women. They intimidated me. In four years of college, female companionship eluded me like the Road Runner always eludes the Coyote.There was a girl named Shalini,and I was head over heels in love with her. But she was too busy with her extracurriculars to notice me.Some two or three random gals expressed  interest in me.However,things never worked out with them.After that, I pretty much gave up hope. Some guys had it; other guys didn't. I clearly didn't.

By the end of the final year,I was pretty downright miserable.And that's when Daksh happened.Daksh was my childhood friend who had moved to Delhi when he was ten.Daksh wasn't any taller, richer, more famous, or better looking than me. But he did possess one quality I didn't: He attracted women. Daksh landed up in the same company as me after college and we started spending a lot of time together. Daksh was what they call a natural. He had lost his virginity at age seventeen, with his class-mate as a sexual experiment, and he had been fucking nonstop since. That was Daksh's gift, his power: giving women the fantasy they kept locked away in some dark unknown corners of their hearts. I chalked this up to a simple difference of personality. Daksh had a natural charm and suave animalistic aplha-male machismo that I just didn't. Or at least that's what I thought, until my friend decided to take me under his wing. What I discovered was that he had broken down his methods to a specific set of rules that anybody could apply,including an average frustrated retard like myself.

"My job ain't really so much as to make you learn stuff,but to make you unlearn the shit you know," I remember Daksh saying, as he made piercing eye contact with me. "I need to get what's in my head into yours.Kicking out the garbage strewn around in your head in the process.Think of this whole business as a game you are playing on your cellphone. It is not real. Every time you try to pick up a chick, you are playing this game." My heart-chambers began pounding overtime. The thought of trying to start a conversation with a woman I didn't know petrified me. Dealing with client escalations and unreasonable Project Managers were a cakewalk compared to this.

"All your fears and insecurities are going to try to fuck you up," Daksh continued. "They are there to try to confuse you, so know right now that your first instincts cannot be trusted at all. You will feel shy,nervous,terrified and self-conscious, and you must deal with it like you deal with a sore throat or a blocked nose. It's uncomfortable, but you ignore it. It's just that irksome anomaly in the equation that we gotta learn to throw away.I need to teach you the whole algorithm—the sequence of moves you need to win.And you will have to solve the goddamn equation over and over to forget how to lose and learn how to win. You will fail and meet with grief.The key is to get better with each and every failure."

"One of the world's greatest mysteries is the mind of a woman," he told me proudly puffing up his chest. "I am gonna teach you how to solve it.The basic chain remains the same—Select, Isolate, Cast a spell, and Kill. The game is S-I-C-K. It's a full-proof formula.A lot of people don't know that.You up for this shit,ol' fella?"

"Umm.I guess so," I hesitantly replied with an unsure face.

"Put a smile on that glum face,my boy.The number one characteristic of a seducer is the smile," he said, beaming an artificial beam. As I got to know him better,I discovered everything about him seemed rehearsed and practised to perfection."Smile when you enter a room. As soon as you walk in a room filled with babes, the game is on. And by smiling, you look like you got your wits in your mouth where they should be and not shoved up in ur ass.It shows you're fun, and you're somebody.You gotta loosen up pal."

"That's just not me," I said. "I look funny when I smile."

"If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten.Zilch. So you just have to do what I ask you to over the next few months.Trust me,you are going to see a difference."

Besides  a smile, I learned, the other characteristics of a seducer were culture and sophistication, a sense of humor, being comfortable in your own skin , and being seen as the social center of a room. Over the next few months,he made me join a gym,made me drain my first two months salary into getting a completely new wardrobe and even made me learn some rudimentary palmistry,astrology,face-reading and other cold-reading techniques. "Chicks dig this shit,"he leaned into me and said,chuckling softly.

By the time a person leaves college,he already has a set of established beliefs and rules he wants to live the rest of his life by.But the entire eco-system of my credo and values was taking a beating at the hands of what Daksh was dishing out to me.He was turning my whole world upside down,topsy turvy,hurtling me down a path I didn't know what it led to.Then again,there was my ego to deal with. Taking lessons from a guy on how to hook up with women was the most pathetic thing I'd ever done in my entire life. To do so is to acknowledge defeat, inferiority, and a total surrender of one's self-respect. It is to finally admit to yourself that after all these years, you have been able to figure it out on your own. Those who ask for help are often those who have failed to do something for themselves.  And now I had to go out and make other women bear witness to my humiliating shame and my glaring inadequacies. I was starting to have second thoughts regarding all this.

Until,one fateful day.

As we were walking past a book store, I saw a woman with long earrings and curly shiny hair that danced on her shoulders. She was slim, with smooth, gentle curves, jeans that hugged her body at just the right spots, and a beautiful complexion, like a dreamy creamy butter-scotch dessert. She looked like the rightful heir to the throne of a Barbie doll-house. She walked into the store, and I decided to move on. But Daksh nudged me in the ribs and asked me to take one more look at her through the window. I can't say why but I felt she could be someone I could talk to.She had that intellectual glimmer in her eyes which I hold an inexplicable  fascination for.It was what made me pine away through four years for Shalini.Daksh urged me to approach her. I knew that if I didn't approach her, I'd scold myself afterward and feel like a failure. So I decided to take my first shot at talking to a completely unfamiliar face. Besides, I told myself, she probably wasn't that good-looking up close anyway.

I walked into the store and found her in a corner looking at comic books.I was in luck.She seemed to have the same preference in comics that I did.

"Hey, is that book you holding any good?" I asked her. "I mean I read the last couple of issues and I noticed the storyline was kinda becoming predictable.So what about this one?"

"Ohh!I was just breezing through it," she replied a bit taken aback."I didn't know this book was part of some continuing series."
She held out the book to me."Here have a look and see for yourself,"her shiny eyes glimmered faintly.
I noticed that she was even more beautiful at close range. I had stumbled across a perfect 10. And I had to follow protocol and execute the algorithm.

"He he.Thanks.By the way,I know this is wrong to say," I blurted, "but I just watched a lot of Disney cartoons as a child, and your nose reminds me too much of the adorable snout of Minnie Mouse."

I was worried I'd gone too far. I'd made this ridiculous line on the spot and was probably about to get slapped. But she actually grinned. "Ohh shit,I so used to be called Minnie Mouse when I was in kindergarten," she replied. She was flirting back with me.
Was it just my luck?Or were the rules really working?

I performed the mind-reading number-guessing routine, and fortunately she picked seven. She was amazed.Everyone picks seven.But this was my first time,and my heart almost leaped out of my throat when I uttered "Seven.". I asked her what she did for work, and she said she worked at a software company just like me. The longer we talked, the more she seemed to enjoy the conversation. But as I noticed Daksh's teachings working, I became nervous. I couldn't believe that a woman who looked like this was having fun with me. Everyone in the book store was throwing stares at us. Curiosity.Disbelief.Those had their signatures on their stares.I couldn't go on.

"My friend is waiting outside," I told her. My hands were shaking.I was a bag of nerves. "But what can we do to continue this conversation?"

This was what Daksh taught me. There was no point giving her my phone number, because she might not call. I had to make her comfortable enough to give me her number.I also had to avoid asking for it directly, because she could always say no, and instead lead her to suggest the idea herself.
"I could give you my gmail id," she offered.

Gmail id?Shit!I wanted her phone number,dammit!!
She wrote down her name, followed by her  e-mail address.
No phone number,but I still couldn't believe it.
"I don't hang out outdoors much, though," she warned, as an afterthought. Maybe she was already having regrets.

I didn't get in touch with her after that.But one thing was for certain.There was no going back for me after that day.Daksh's way was my way now.Both love and companionship,as well as,success and accomplishments,are required to seal the circle of life. Half my life's circle was on the drawing board,begging me to complete the missing semi-circle. I was only half a man. I just had to complete my other half.

It was a decision which arose from all the sexual frustration which had accumulated in my system since my adolescence.

It was a decision I regret to this very day.


To be continued..

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