TINA !

        Its almost been a week since the vacations have begun, and with each passing day all my study plans seem a distant reality. I was wondering, therefore, what has lead to this sudden lack of concentration. And, the answer was clear, I still hadn't moved on from the fiasco that had happened last Sunday. It was a battered ego now that was giving me sleepless nights. Also, it was the thought of Tina, that too was giving me sleepless nights. Somehow, I failed to convince myself that she wasn't existant! Now, I was only afraid that some day I may turn into “Jay J” ( a sequel to “Dev D”), and start preaching about the good effects of alcohol( if you dont know, click here to read)!

No, no, this can't happen. Revenge, they say, tastes sweet! And, I like everything that's sweet. Those of you lucky human beings, who manage to catch a glimpse of me daily, would have figured that out already from my body contours. If not, then “ I just said it”. I WANT REVENGE! This I decided on Tuesday, after I saw Pirates of the Carribean. Inspired by Jack Sparrow, I set out to gather my own crew. Cricket bats, stumps, hockey sticks, they all are available from the Gymkhana against a valid college I Card, all that I wanted now was a crew.

So, I set sail (not literally, please think intelligently) to find a few strong men and a few more beautiful women to serve as distraction! As I was walking, I realised that someone was following me (There was someone, I'm not a psycho!). I turned around, to find the biggest surprise of my life. It was something I had never imagined would happen. I was awestruck, dumbed. What was happening was unbelievable. Once again I pinched myself, it hurt, thus it was true. O My God, I thought, miracles do happen.

Even before I grew out of my thoughts, I found myself getting lost in those eyes. Those beautiful eyes, they hadn't changed a bit, though mine have narrowed down to the extent that I feel that someday they wont be visible at all! Big, bright. Playful, cheerful. Teasing and comforting! All at the same time. As I continued to get lost deeper and deeper on tose magical eyes, memories, started emerging from the even more deeper corners of my mind. Where had all of them disappeared all these years, I thought. Perhaps they were locked away in some safe vaults of my hitherto dysfunctional brain, saving them for this precious moment.

As more and more memories emerged from their hideouts, a picture developed before my eyes. I couldn't see around, what I could see, though was a world, not so long ago, where there was only happiness around. We were naive, we were just innocent little minds. NO raw emotions, no rat races, just life as it should have been! Took me back to my teens. This moment of introspection was interfered briefly when she jumped, rather pounced, on me. Oh she just hadn't changed! How easily did she forget that we were in the middle of the road. Thousands of people around us. All starring eyes. She had always been this carefree, and driven completely by emotions. That was what had lead to us meeting in the first place.We had done this before, not just once, but a thousand times perhaps, but I was 12 then and people didn't pay all that attention, but now I am 21. She, she was the least bothered. She had just not changed!

“Woo hooo, TINA. I shouted”, getting equally unaware of the surroundings! Then I was struck by an awareness. How easily had I forgotten her! That so mean on my part! Even after last Sunday while I was busy trying to search for a Tina, where none existed, it didn't even strike me about the one that existed!

Tina, I know her since I was 12. My schooling was done in a boys school ( I know what I have missed, but Boys school is an experience in itself, that you can't get anywhere else!). There was a seperate Girls' School not far away!!! :) And it was on my way home:) :). Tina was in the girls' school.

We had met, I remember, on a rainy day. School had just started. It was one of the early showers in Mumbai. I was walking back home with my new umbrella (simple joys of childhood). She caught my eye as that “little thing”, who was getting wet. I don't know why but I appproached her and took her in my umbrella. But, she had different plans. She just ran into the rains. I stood, watching her. All those directions from home- “Don't get wet, You'll fall sick, etc.etc, “ just vanished. And I too had run into the rains with her! And thats how we became friends!

This had become a daily routine after that for quite a considerable time. Everday, I would come and wait for her outside her school. We would play for hours, share our stories, run, chase, enjoy! And then, there was that big vacation, (big because that's where we lost touch). The following years were preparatory for the board exams. I got more busy with myself. Time was a rare commodity. Walk home was replaced by taxi or bus rides. And then with each passing year, Tina became a thing of the past!

In college, I made new friends (who still continue to be my friends, accounting for my eccentricities, they are God's Angels, except one, though, she is Devil reborn) and totally forgot that Tina ever existed.

Then is Medical College. What is free time? We don't know! We have been converted into bloody selfish ultra TYPE A personalities, with pitiable egos. Tina, where was she even going to feature on my lists. But, today, when we finally met, she was still the same old self! And none of these bothered her. Whether I am doing MBBS or any other damn thing, would have been immaterial for her. She still viewed me as I was 9 years ago. A lot changes in a decade, but a lot more actually doesn't!

And so began an age old game of chase, one which I had left incomplete! We played for a while, a thousand heads turned, and a double thousand eyes starring and transfixed. I between were also scattered a few smiles. And as we sat for a snack of biscuits, this too was our ritual, I noticed one more thing. She had grown older. I realised that even I had grown older. While I still viewed her what she was 9 years ago and vice versa, we were 9 years older. Yet, the joy of the meeting was as unadultrated as previously. Strange, but true! Two living beings, see each other but visualise something else. It is so easy to live in the past, rather, so desirable to be back into the past!

I was brought back to reality when two other “little things” joined us. They were Tina's “little things”. Wow! The perspective of time is so different for different beings.

Tina, who was a pup 9 years ago, had two pups today!