Discussions Mar 06 - Apr 07 - Page 215

Giri, thanks ma for the update. if the story moves 1 cm Seyyar brings it back by a foot!!!!!

thanks for the update giriadimai

thanks for the update giri!👏👏 i know how where this track is heading. now SKPD's men think that priyan & co. are ACD's men. SKPD would want to take revenge on ACD & guess how he'll do it? of cos by kidnapping priya.😆😆😆

awww.. i want to see the resturant scene but how come they're showing the reunion of ACD & priya so simply?❓ i mean meeting in the resturant admist chattering friends, spying henchmen & potential suicide bombers is hardly romantic. 🤣🤣🤣

Thanks for the update Giri.

Leena, I agree with you about ACD-Priya reunion. How UNromantic is that. 😡

Pat

Thanks for the update Giri! I too hoped for a more romantic reunion 😭 😭 what a let down 😡

OK, a romantic reunion for you folks ;-)

A first date -- of the bumpy variety

It's 6.55 am. Priya is scrambling to get ready for college. Her Anni, who is helping to plait her hair, has been overgenerous with odorous Vatika hair oil and Priya is scowling. Sikamani is reading the morning papers over a cup of coffee. Some kirtanai by Balamuralikrishna is blaring from the crackly cassette-player.

An antiquated police car rumbles up and stops at the driveway and out walks … A. C. Durai. Priya is just about to get to her scooter and is pleasantly surprised to see him. Her heart is fluttering and she drops a book, which ACD immediately picks up and gently hands back to her with a half-suppressed smile.

"What's up, AC, sir? So bright and early?"

"Is Appa in?"

"Yes, she replies. He's in the hall". Then, in whispers and with mock annoyance, "You came to see Appa, not me?"

"Sssh", AC hushes her gently and enters the hallway. He greets Sikamani and Anni. Priya lingers at the doorway, reluctant to leave as yet.

"Good morning, sir."

"Sir?"

"I mean, good morning, Mama", AC corrects himself.

"Come in, Durai. Have some coffee."

"No thanks, Mama, I need to get to work soon. I was just wondering, Sir, whether, er, Mama, whether .."

"Yes?"

"I have an invitation to the inauguration of an art exhibition tomorrow and was wondering whether … I have been invited to bring along a guest … and I was wondering whether, I .. whether you would …" The usually confident A. C. Durai was stuttering and red in the face.

"Oh, you are inviting me? I feel greatly honoured and … " Sikamani beamed.

"Aiyoh, Mama. I think he wants to know whether you'd allow Priya to go with him as his guest", Anni immediately interjects and corrects him.

"Yes, Mama," Durai blushes and looks with great consternation towards Sikamani. It seems as if he'd burst into tears if Sikamani denies his request.

After 30 seconds of hesitation, which seem like an eternity to Durai, Sikamani says, "Oh, yes, by all means. You can take along Priya with all my blessings."

With visible relief, Durai thanks him and turns to Priya. "Priya, would you mind … would you like to come."

"Appa's wish is my command," says Priya, her heart racing with excitement. She is already starting to plan her wardrobe and hairstyle for the event.

Hmmm, kids, these days, thinks Sikamani to himself. They manipulate their parents into acceding to their wishes, they use all manner of emotional blackmail, and then they say your wish is my command. Aiyoh, Rama, Krishna, what is our society coming to?

***********************

Scene: Priya's house, the next day

At 5.00 pm, Durai promptly drives up in a nifty black Honda Prelude. He is wearing a well-tailored dark suit, a bright Cardin tie, and sporting his Raybans, as usual.

Durai arrives at the doorway, removes his sunshades and respectfully greets Sikamani, who shouts for Priya.

Priya, as usual, is scrambling to get ready, stumbling over furniture. Scrutinizing herself in the mirror one more time, she rushes out of her room. As she materializes in the hallway, Durai gets weak-kneed. The college-girl in double pigtails and loosely-tailored Punjabi suits has been miraculously transformed into a mature woman oozing with sensuality. Priya is wearing a dazzling pink and black silk saree and her hair is flowing loosely at her shoulder.

"Hi Priya," he finally mutters. "Are you ready".

She nods shyly. Durai turns to Sikamani, who says, "OK, Durai. I trust her in your good hands. You are from a respectable family and you are a policeman, so I don't need to say more. What time can I expect you back?"

"The speeches and reception are scheduled to end at 8.00 pm, Sir ..er, Mama. And I think I should be able to bring her back by 9.00 pm at the latest."

"Good, take care."

As Durai opens the car door for Priya the fragrance of her Chanel 5 wafts through the air and enchants him. He shuts the door, slips into the driver's seat and speeds away.

Durai and Priya ride in total silence for five minutes. They have never had a private moment before and neither knows what to say. Durai switches on the CD player. Sadao Watanabe is playing soothing jazz on the saxophone and Durai slowly begins to unwind. He removes his jacket and flings it to the back seat.

"Er, why are you doing that?" Priya is perplexed.

Durai opens up the moon-roof of his car, complains it is hot and begins to loosen his tie as well.

"Hey, Priya, this tie is suffocating me and I can't untie the knot, please do it for me as I drive". Priya hesitates for a second and then slowly fumbles at his tie and helps him remove it, careful to avoid body contact but failing.

Ten minutes later, Priya suspects something is amiss. "Why are you taking this route? This doesn't take us to the art gallery?"

"Who said we are going to the gallery," Durai smiles cheekily.

"What????"

Priya has hardly finished speaking when the vast blue sky of a deserted section of Marina Beach appears on the horizon.

"You've brought me to the beach! Aiyoh, you lied to Appa!"

"Hey, relax, Priya. Would your dad have allowed it if I had told him I would like to take you to the beach?" Durai brings the car to a halt in the sand.

"Aiyoh, yoh, I am scared."

"There's nothing to be scared of, Priya."

"What if someone sees us and reports to my father?"

"That's why I have picked this deserted section of the beach. Besides, it's already getting dark and no one will make us out us even if they come to this section." Durai holds the car door open for Priya, who remonstrates further.

"Hey, Priya, don't act like a patti. You are a woman of the 21st century; what's wrong with some cuddling and smooching."

"No, I am afraid."

"Come on, I am not going to rape you."

"It is not that, AC Sir." Gosh, how do I tell this moron I wouldn't mind being raped by him, she thinks to herself. "Aiyoh, if only you had told me you were bringing me to the beach, I wouldn't have worn a silk saree. It will get soiled in the sand and it will crush with all that cuddling," Priya says, blushing.

"So what?"

"AC Sir, how stupid can you get! Nobody who goes to an art gallery goes home with a soiled and crushed silk saree."

"Oh, I see. Not to worry, Priya, I have a tarpaulin in the boot, which I can spread out on the sand so your saree needn't get soiled."

"But it will get crushed …"

"I have no problem if you want to take it off", Durai says cheekily, grabs her hand and drags her with him. They spread out the tarpaulin on the sand and then Priya sits on it carefully. Durai seats himself close to her, places his hands gently on her cheek, fingers her lips and ….

A pierching scream fills the air.

"Hey, Priya, I haven't even kissed you. I haven't done anything. Why do you scream?"

Priya jumps up, hops around wildly and continues screaming. "I've been stung, I've been stung!!!" A Bharathanatyam music score starts to play in the background as Priya keeps time with her hopping and flailing of her arms.

"Where? What stung you?" as Durai enquires, he sees a swarm of hornets approaching him. "Oh, my God," he screams and joins her in a dancing duet as the hornets prey on him next.

Thakadhimi thakajunnu. Thakadhimi thakajunnu. Thakadhimi thakajunnu. [Imagine AC wearing salangai and dressed in a sleeveless bharathanatiyam outfit of the type that Kamalhasan wore in Salangai Oli.]

Finally, the couple somehow manage to scramble back to the car. Durai revs up the engine and races off, leaving the hornets trailing behind. When they have reached a safe distance, Durai stops the car and they both get out to inspect the damage. By then, both their bodies have been well stung and their faces are swollen. Durai decides to drive to the nearest hospital, where, after a two-hour wait while the nurses complete their tortuous paper-work and the doctors saunter in and out at a leisurely pace, they finally get some oral medication and ointments.

As they walk back towards the car, Priya bursts into tears. "Gosh, what do I tell my dad. It's already 8.30 and look at my saree, all crushed and soiled. And my face, all red and blotchy. It wouldn't look like I have just returned from a reception at the art gallery." Durai takes her in his arms and consoles her. "Don't worry, Priya, we will think of something to say."

"OK, think hard", says Priya as they reach the car. Durai is deep in thought. But Priya is impatient. "Hurry up, AC, Sir, think of something quickly. Appa will skin me alive."

"I'm thinking, thinking."

Suddenly, Priya gets a brainwave. "OK, I've just realized that you policemen are good only at catching criminals; you don't have a criminal's mind. Please go to the back of the car and wait for me."

Durai is curious and wants to know what Priya has in mind. She refuses to reveal her plan and insists that he go to the back of the car and wait. Durai shrugs his shoulders and does as told.

Five minutes later, Priya summons him back to the front of the car, wearing a triumphant smile on her swollen face. Durai dutifully returns to the front and … the car tire on the driver's side is flat!

"Nooooooo!" he grimaces. "Yes," Priya grins.

"What have you done?"

"Nothing, I've just released the air in the tire. We've had a flat and never managed to make it to the reception. As you were trying to change the tire …"

"But I've never changed a tire before …"

"Aiyoh, what sort of policeman are you? You bark orders to your constables all the time but you don't know how to change a tire. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Anyway, let's pretend you can. As you were trying to change the tire and I stood beside to assist you with the car-jack, we were stung by a swarm of hornets … and you know the rest of the story. And now, we catch an auto to my home."

"Oh, well," Durai tries to smile but he's been stung on his upper lip and it's an effort to do so. "At least our first date ends with a shared bumpy ride home." Ends

funny and cute Bonheur 👏 👏 👏

thanks giri... 👏 👏 ..

ippo abhi charu vukku spy aa irukka poralla.... 😕 😕 ...illa skpd kku sathagama panna poralla..... 😕 😕 ..illa ithuvum charuvoda oru trick thaanaa... 😕 😕 😕 .......namma onu nenacha serial aa onu nadaguthu...... 😭 😭 😭 ....

🤣
(Try imagining watching this on TV!)
Good job Bonheur 👏

Pat

Dear friends, thanks for the compliments about my two recent ACD-Priya stories, viz, In Captivity (page 328) and A First Date -- of the Bumpy Variety (page 330). These were fun stories written purely for laughs. I am still trying to develop the more serious story I first posted at page 296, which I have since retitled The Charioteer's Words. Although it too grew out of the Anandham sub-plot involving ACD and Priya and has a love theme, I am subordinating that to two larger themes revolving around Indian societal norms and the spiritual aspect of Hinduism. Someday I may publish it as a short story, so I'd welcome comments greatly as I continue to do more research on these themes. I haven't posted the updated version of that story but if anyone is keen to read, I can mail it to him/her.

Meanwhile, I hope Madhu's first spinoff story will get serialised in an Indian newspaper, movie magazine or even the Sun TV website.

Have a good weekend. Bonheur.