Part 2- The first meeting

It was a Saturday and she woke up at 8:00 AM. She wondered why. She would have happily slept till 10:00 AM had it not been for the whole crowd of people coming to see her. 9 people , what were they thinking? And she was pretty confident that they wouldn't like her. All her friends were going for another friend's house warming and she had missed all the fun. But she was not rebellious , in fact she was a lazy laid back person. She got up grudgingly and prepared herself for the ordeal.

Aunt :  You are still in your night dress? We have to get you looking all gorgeous in Saree. We can't have them feel that our girl is not good.. you know..

Mom : (In frenzy over the arrangements. Talking to Dad): Can you go and collect the food . It must be ready now and (to the maid). Make sure the upstairs room is perfect and keep those 2 chairs and a side table for the boy and girl.

Maid : But that chair has a problem. The back-rest is loose. It will be bad if the boy sits on it and it gives away.

Mom : Then we have to get another chair . (To Dad). Hey do you hear that..

Dad (Over the news paper): What?? Oh the chair, Mole , you make sure to sit on that chair when you take him upstairs. That problem is solved (Goes back to the paper).

Cousins(To the girl) : The postman has come and it looks like he has a registered for you.
Every one gets the registered and it turns out to be a placement order to join a software company in Bangalore after college.

Mom and Dad : this is such a good news to come today. The boy is working in Bangalore too.

She wasn't listening. Her mind was a whirl of excitement and happiness at her job. She felt nothing could take that smile off her face that day.

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Girl (Practicing walking in Saree with ease and talking to herself): Hey I just hope I don't trip down the stairs when I take him up the room . And yes the right chair is the faulty one and I should sit on it . No. that would be way rude, I should somehow stand right in front of the faulty chair so that he will sit on the good one and then I will sit on the bad one..Hmm that's a better idea. And I'm going to be absolutely frank with him. If he does like me even after that..

Sound of calling bell and a general flurry in the house : (They have come . They have come. )

Boy's relatives ad girl's relatives talking :
"Yes her course is almost over and she has just got a job in Bangalore. Her joining order came today".

"Oh that is SO nice, (the boy) , he works in Bangalore too..

"May be we should let the boy and girl talk  for a while alone".

Dad : Mole , may be you should take him to the upstairs room where you can talk, while every one else has tea and snacks.

Girl and boy entering the room . (The settings are all ready , complete with a side table  with tea and some chips.)

Boy : You know , I was planning to ask you that dialogue from Sandesham . "The Das Kapital Vayichittundo one"? He laughed.. Oh and my cousins were warning me not to scare you with my loud laugh..

Girl : (Laughing ) My cousins have trained me to say "balaramayum poombattayum vayikkarundu.. " (I read Balarama and Poombatta , two children's bi weeklies that every 80's kid in kerala grew up with),if ever that question comes up.

As she laughs , he walks ahead and sits on the chair.

Girl : (for the love of god , I don;t remember which one was faulty. I  just hope it doesn't give away.)

Boy: No need to be tensed.

Girl sheepishly tells him the chair incident and they both laugh again.

Boy : So why did you take IT? Why not electronics?

Girl :  I just hate it when people ask me this. While choosing an engineering degree, every one wants Electronics and Mech and finally when placements come all they want to do is scramble for IT jobs. I just hate those Jaada people.

Boy : You know , I'm probably one of "those" people. I joined mechanical engineering for a year and then wrote the exam all over again just to get electronics in a good college and now I'm in IT.

Girl :(Regretting that she said that at all ) : I'm just too blunt. I didn't mean people like you. I just meant those that look down upon IT engineers.

Boy : So, do you really read? (Don't give me the movie answer please). I love books and poetry and all those things.

Girl :  So do I. Actually I just love reading books and even just looking at them in a book store.

Boy : Me too.
(And they delve into an discussion involving Jeffrey Archer to O.V Vijayan)

And I love old Hindi songs. Especially Mukesh.

Girl : I love old Hindi songs too. But I like Kishore Kumar better.

Boy : So what are you planning to do with the short vacation before you come to Bangalore.

Girl : Hmm haven't really thought about it , but probably learn a bit of cooking  , you know if I'm really going to get married, I'd better learn some basic stuff.

Boy: Sure you don't want to ask what every one wants to ask at these things? (About my bad habits?)

Girl : Since you are putting that topic back at me , I'm pretty sure you don't have any..You don't smoke ? Do you?
Boy shakes his head .

Girl : Good , that's something I can't stand..

Boy : (Looking out of the window ). Wow you have jack fruits in your back yard. I love them. Do you know how to cook them by any chance?

Girl : (shocked): No. (suddenly gaining her wits). But if you can cut it up for me , I can give it a try.

Both looked at each other and laughed at each other's candidness.

Boy: We'd better go back down. They must be all wondering why we are taking so long.
Girl : So what are you going to tell them?
Boy (with a  smile): Wait and see. It is a suspense.

They went down the stairs , the boy in front, the girl behind him . The girl feeling for the first time that she wanted this boy to like her after all and a trifle perplexed at his suspense talk. Did he really like her or was he that his usual demeanour?

The boy smiled to himself. He liked this frank and artless girl  . But he would make her wait a trifle more for his reply. There would be a whole lifetime to chat and joke about it later..

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