Posted:
Chapter 7: A Practical Joke
Geet was looking out into the window as the plane geared up for take off. She took out her ipod from her handbag, plugged in the earphones, and relaxed back into her seat. One of her favorites songs from the movie Anniyan was playing. It always made her smile when she listened to the song, Iyengar veetu azhage, sung by the talented Hariharan. Her Pappa particularly liked this song and always tried to mouth the difficult Tamil words to impress her mother as she came from a Tamil background. Anu had often tried correcting that she came from a Iyer family not Iyengar, but Arvind would brush it off and say that all it mattered to him that she was a beautiful Tamilian like the song meant. Her father always found a cute way to impress her mother. Ah! How she wished she would also find her love of her life and settle down to experience the bliss of marital life. Since she grew up in a small family with no siblings she always dreamed of living in a large joint family, surrounded by a lot of kids. Her dream was disturbed when she sensed a kind of commotion. She took off her earphones and peeked from her seat to see what was happening when suddenly a man walked by to her seat and slumped beside her seat. The suddenness of the event did not allow her to comprehend who sat beside her. "Tum!" she screamed. Hearing her scream, the man beside her turned to face her. The instance he saw Geet, his face contorted as if he had seen the most loathsome image of a horrific death scene.
"Tum?" Maan retaliated. "Are you not happy with the tamasha you created on the road? Now you have followed me here too?" he asked hitting his head.
"First of all you were the one who was rude enough to walk away from saying a sorry. And listen mujhe koi shauk nahi tumare peeche karne ki, I came to sit here before you, so technically you are the one following me around," she responded.
"Look here, I am no mood to argue with an irritating idiot like you. So if you could please stop your nonsense bak bak, I can take a nap," Maan said eyeing her with a scorn.
"Irritating what?" Geet said with her wide eyes trying to blink back her tears. Nobody has scolded her. And here this man was calling her an idiot no, in fact an irritating idiot. Could he behave any worse than he was doing right now, she reasoned within herself.
"Kyun, you didn't hear me, I said an irritating idiot!" he repeated a little more loudly this time. That was the limit she thought. This man had the guts to call her names, she motioned for the airhostess and requested her a seat change as soon as possible.
"Is this seat okay ma'am, I am sorry there is no other seat" the airhostess asked while Geet found herself again beside Maan. Except now he was in her window seat and she was sitting beside him in the aisle seat. She had requested for a seat change, a seat far away from the man she abhorred, and here she was in a different seat right beside him! Maan who was looking at this from the corner of his eyes and chuckled at her plight. The airhostess had requested him to switch seats with Geet, as she had requested a seat change. Not wanting any further arguments, he simply switched his seat. And here she was just right beside him.
She looked up, "Muruga! Enappa intha sothanai, vethanai vethanai (Muruga, why this test, very bad)," she said aloud hitting her head. Maan shook his head looking at her childish behavior of talking to herself. He had never seen someone talk so much, that too in front of him when people feared to even mouth two words properly. Her behavior and her antiques were really alien to him. He thought that if he would further indulge in any kind of talking with her, probably he would go crazy, so he decided to keep quiet. He slowly tried to nod off to sleep when he heard her clearing her throat. He opened his eyes to find her facing him with a pleading look on her face. He cocked his eyebrows as if asking her what did she want now. Geet gulped bits of saliva, gave a quick smile, and asked hesitantly, "If you don't mind could I get back my window seat. I only like sitting on the window seat. And now that I no option but to sit beside you, I would rather face the window than look your face."
"Listen, I have already had to switch seats with that couple who couldn't keep their hands off of each other. And thanks to you, I again switched at the request of the airhostess. I am not moving any further. So just turn around and close your eyes you don't have to look at me," he said with a tinge of annoyance for being pushed around the flight. Geet muttered under her breath and before she could say anything further, Maan folded his hands, closed his eyes, and plugged in a pair of earplugs to prevent listening to Geet's annoying complaints.
"Ugh!" she said furiously. She had sweetly requested him and he had denied her outright. "Jellyfish!" she shouted. It was no point trying to argue with a man as stubborn as a donkey and as heartless as a stone. Even the quiet walls of room would respond back to her pleas but this despicable man would never utter a single word to her crying pleas. She gave arguing with him and turned around trying to find a way to her get back her window seat. Thinking about a way, she slightly dosed off and the plane finally took off.
After half hour, a slight tap on her shoulder awaked her. She was annoyed to find Maan was motioning her to get up so that he could use the washroom. He had called her an irritating idiot; she would not forgive him easily for his rude name-calling. And acceding to his request would be the last thing she would ever do. She just turned around pretending she felt or saw anything. He again tapped her as he cleared his throat so that he could ask her to get up so that he could use the washroom.
"Excuse me, could you please move, I have to use to washroom," he said a bit hesitantly. Seeing she did not move, he again repeated his request a bit louder.
Geet looked at him, "Kya? I am sorry I can't hear," she said rubbing her ears and coming near Maan.
"Didn't you hear what I said?" he said getting annoyed at her latent response.
Not grasping the emergency of the situation she coolly responded, "En kaathu ketkaathu (this is meant as a joke and translating it would not help the person reading the joke but it literally means I cannot hear)" laughing a musical laughter.
"I am sorry, come again," Maan said not comprehending what she said and why she was laughing. He eyed her insane behavior with suspicion and nodded his head blaming what had he done to travel in discomfort. Finally, not wanting to her tirade he motioned her to stop laughing, "I am least bothered by what you said, could you just please for heaven sake move, else you have to face dire consequences," he warned. Geet suddenly stopped laughing and eyed him suspiciously.
She was about to move when she sat back and looked at him as though she would do it only if she was offered something in return. "I shall move, but ek shart pe," she said, "if you want to get out, then I shall return to my window seat."
"Is that all? If so please go ahead, but before that could you please move," he said folding his hands and praying that he pass through her. Geet flashed a smirk and a victory smile and got out of the seat so that he could go use the washroom. As soon as he went she jumped into her favorite window seat. She did a quick happy dance in her mind for finally sitting in her window seat. Maan returned to find Geet grinning; she looked like a little kid who won a piece of candy. Strangely insane was the only word he could think of describing her. He settled back in his seat to catch up on his remaining nap before the plane was scheduled to land in Delhi airport.
The rest of the journey was uneventful as both Maan and Geet were engrossed in their world. He was peacefully napping while she was looking out of the window while listening to her ipod. The plane smoothly landed and the captain welcomed the passengers to Delhi and thanked the passengers for their cooperation. Maan and Geet got up from their seats silently, gathered their things, and slowly filed out of the plane not wanting to acknowledge each other. They walked into the arrival section, turned their backs towards each other and walked away praying that they never have see each other ever in their lives. The whole incident seemed like a practical joke played by the Almighty, projecting and predicting their future. Okay guys here is the next part. Hope u like it 😃 please do comment or at least hit the like button!
Financial markets and global economy
Ishaani
66