Summer of '98

The giant clock in the living room read 4.55 pm as Shenaz Treasuryvala chose yet another ridiculous-looking letter from out of her pile. Ten year old Nitin closed his eyes. He couldn't take the suspense. He knew that everyone else in the room was tense too. He could hear his eldest cousin sitting next to him silently uttering a prayer to the Almighty under her breath. Please be the Titanic song. Please be the Titanic song.

Growing up in a middle class Brahmin family in Chennai in the 90's had its fair share of ups and downs. One of the 'downs' was that education took the front seat and anything else didn't matter. Scoring a double century in the district level cricket tournament and helping your team win didn't warrant a praise unless you got a perfect score in the Mathematics exam the next week. Nitin's household didn't have cable television. Watching TV meant watching one of the three channels Doordarshan broadcast free-to-air. Except during summer vacations.

After a mini-mutiny by the four children of the house during the previous summer, it was decided by the elders of the house that Nitin and his three cousin sisters could watch cable television for the duration of the holidays. The subscription would start the last day of classes for the academic year, and would promptly be canceled the day before the first day of classes for the next year. Nitin felt like it was Christmas in May. He could watch Dexter's Lab and Tom and Jerry every day all summer! Of course, there was an occasional squabble with his sisters on what they wanted to watch. But if there was one program that they wanted to watch unanimously, it was MTV's Most Wanted.

Every single day of the summer, when the clock struck 4, Nitin and his sisters would gather around the TV to watch Shenaz read letters designed and written by her avid fans from around the country sending in requests to play their favorite songs. Every day, Shenaz would pick her favorite half-a-dozen letters from among the thousands of letters in her pile, and would play the song those fans had requested. The more artistic and grand the letter was, the more it had a chance of getting picked.

1998 was the year of the Titanic. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that more people in the world knew who Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet were than who the President of the United States was. The movie earned billions of dollars worldwide, and people of all age groups lined up to watch the movie in theatres. Also very popular was the movie's soundtrack, especially the song My Heart Will Go On by Céline Dion. The song topped all possible charts, and 90's kids all around the globe spent multiple hours listening to the song on their Walkmans. Unfortunately for Nitin and his sisters, they couldn't quite convince their parents to let them buy the cassette. So they came up with a plan. They would record it using their tape recorder when the song is played on TV.

It wasn't an outrageous plan. The TV sat right above where the tape recorder was, and they had enough pocket money to purchase a blank cassette. Since it was by far the most popular song of the year, you couldn't watch Channel V or MTV without listening to it twice every day. It was played at least once every other day on Most Wanted. But fate had other plans for Nitin. As luck would have it, every time the song played on TV during the summer holidays, something or the other would prevent them from recording it. Once, Nitin forgot to put the blank cassette in before hitting record. Another time, the power went out just as the song was about to be played. Unexpected guests, cable TV blackouts, quarrels within the family, summer vacation trips, weddings, and cricket matches happened. They could never get the song on tape.

Soon, it was the last day of summer vacations. This was it. If they couldn't get Céline Dion to sing on TV that day, they could never get her on tape after that. The next summer would be too late, as the song's popularity would wane and be taken off air. The four children were camped in front of the TV with the tape recorder ready. But they had had no luck all day. It was almost as if the universe was conspiring against them. At 5 pm, the cable guy would arrive to cancel the subscription. And that would be the end of their Titanic song dreams.

The kids in the living room held their collective breath as Shenaz opened the final letter of the day and read its contents.

"...and I love your show so much! I think you are the prettiest girl on TV! This is the first letter I have written for any TV show! So if you could please play me the song 'My Heart Will Go On' by..."

The next couple of seconds were filled with overlapping screams and shrieks of excitement. Nitin almost tripped on his own feet as he jumped up with joy. This time, he was sure they would get the song on tape. He remembered to hit the record button on the tape recorder. You could hear a pin drop as the song started playing on TV. He had already triple-checked that the cassette inside the recorder was blank and ready to go. When the song ended, everyone huddled around to verify if the song had been recorded correctly. As the cable guy turned up on time to disconnect the line, the sweet voice of Céline Dion echoed throughout the room. Now they will have the song on tape for eternity! They could listen to it as many times as they wanted. And whenever they wanted. That was the moment they had been waiting for. It was the happiest night of the summer for Nitin, as he drifted off to sleep listening to it on his Walkman.

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Nitin stumbled into his apartment after a long Monday at work. He gulped down the burrito he had bought for dinner on the way back, and went straight to bed. He did his nightly routine of opening Spotify on his phone and plugging in his earphones to listen to some tunes before retiring for the night. As usual, he opened the Discover Weekly playlist, and hit Shuffle Play. On came a song that he hadn't listened to in a long time, and as sleep engulfed him, a hint of a smile appeared on his face as he remembered the moment many summers ago.

Game Over (Part 5)

Author's note: Finally, I managed to get enough time and inspiration to complete my (long) short story series, Game Over. I had fun writing it, and I hope to continue updating my blog as much as I can. If you haven't read the first four parts yet, you can find them here - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Please read the other parts before you start reading this one. 

My mind was blank when the bus I had to board arrived at the bus stop inside the Indianapolis International Airport. I boarded the bus, and occupied a seat nearest to the exit. Being Sunday morning, the bus was almost empty, except for a couple of other people. I didn't mind that. I needed the loneliness and space. I was too numb with fear and anxiety to think about anything. I felt like I was about to explode. That is not to say that I hadn't thought about a logical explanation behind the email I got from Krithika, and what could have happened to her for her to send such an email. But I tried not thinking about it again since all the scenarios that came to my mind ended with either me getting killed or her getting killed. 

After I got the mail, I barely had enough time to check out the address on Google Maps and to figure out how to get there. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me until after I boarded the bus that I could have actually checked out the building using Street View. The bus ride took about 40 minutes, and I got off the bus at the stop nearest to the address. It was a 10 minute walk from the stop to the address in the email. As I started walking, I took in as much information as I could about the neighborhood. It wasn't particularly crowded, but more importantly, it wasn't empty either. It was mostly a residential neighborhood, with a few seven or eight-story buildings here and there. I could feel my heart beating increasingly faster as I got closer. 

I finally reached the address. It was a house, a really small one at that. There were no cars in the driveway, and the lawn looked like it could use a mower. But I could see signs of inhabitancy inside the house through the windows. I was in half a mind to break in to the house through the windows, but I thought it was better to knock on the door first. And that was exactly what I did. 

Knock knock knock. 

I waited and tried to hear footsteps, if any, coming from the other side, but I couldn't. A few seconds passed. No answer.

Knock knock knock knock.

I knocked harder. Now I could hear movement from inside the house. And I could distinctly hear footsteps coming towards the door. I tried to prepare myself for the unknown entity to open the door. I suddenly had a distinct feeling of being watched through the peephole in the door. The door opened. It was she who had opened it.

"Krithika, what happened to you? What is this place? Why are.."

"Just come in, Karthik." she interrupted me. "Just come in, and I will tell you everything." Her voice had an eerie feel to it.

I entered the house into what seemed like a living room. It was dark, so I really couldn't see anything.

"Do you remember the date we first met, Karthik?" she asked me, in a soft, mellow voice. Her voice was really creeping me out. It sounded very much unlike her usual bubbly, cheerful voice.

"Yes, of course. It was the 14th of August. Now what does that have to do anything?" I wanted to know.

"And how long have you known me?" 

"Err, around two weeks. Come on, now...."

"Happy birthday, jerk!"she exclaimed, and at the same instant, turned on the lights, and in the middle of the room, was the biggest cake I had ever seen in my life. There were balloons all over the room, and on the cake were written the words 'Happy birthday love!". I had been involved with this stupid girl so much for the past two weeks that I had even forgotten my own birthday. I had lost track of time.

"What the f&*% is all this?" I didn't know if I was angry, happy, relieved or a combination of all three. 

"You don't even remember your own birthday, do you?"

"But, was it really necessary to scare me like this? Don't talk to me ever again!"I was kind of pissed. 

"Awwww, my baby is all angry now." she said in a cuddly voice, and put her arms around me, and gave me that perfect, cute smile. My heart had already began melting.

"I love you." I blurted out. "I love you with all my heart."

"Sshh, I know, you jerk." She put her finger on my lips. I looked into her eyes. I could see the universe swimming inside them. Subconsciously and slowly, our lips started approaching each other. I knew it was going to be the most beautiful kiss ever. 

"Dude!" suddenly I heard my roommate, Suresh's voice. I looked around. I realized I was sitting inside flight number 9W 226 from Brussels en route to JFK, and Suresh was sitting right next to me. "Dude, wake up. It is time to get off the flight." he said.

Game Over (Part 4)

If you missed the previous parts, you can read them here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Morning came soon enough, that meant she had to catch a bus to Indianapolis, and I had to take the shuttle to Bloomington. In other words, it was time to part. As much as I tried not to feel sad, I couldn't help it. Though we started talking due to a mishap, we got along so well that we couldn't believe we had known each other for less than a day.

"Are you on Orkut?" she wanted to know.
"Who uses Orkut nowadays? I moved on to Facebook like a decade ago." I quipped.
"Oh what is Facebook? Is it similar to Orkut? Or is it like Yahoo Messenger?" she asked.
"Wow I can't believe you are so behind in technology. No one uses Orkut these days. Nor do people use Yahoo Messenger. It is all Facebook and Google Talk now."

So after a short, two-minute long lecture on the latest trends in social networking and instant messaging technology by me, we exchanged email ids. I promised to send her my mobile phone number as soon as I could, and so we parted with sadness writ large on our faces.

"Don't miss me too much." I said jokingly as she got into her bus, but deep inside my heart I knew I would miss her a lot.
"Ya right. Dream on." she managed to smile, as the doors closed and the bus started to leave the airport. I kept looking in her direction till the bus disappeared from sight, and I was sure she would have done the same too. Soon after, I was on my way to my apartment in Bloomington, thinking about how my life was going to be at a new place, with new people around me.

A couple of days passed. I managed to settle down in my new environment, new roommates and all that. We managed to have Comcast install a new internet connection, and I got myself a cheap Nokia on an AT&T connection in one of my seniors' family plan. As soon as I opened my inbox I saw that it had close to a hundred unread emails, but I immediately found the email which I really wanted to see.

Jerk,

Got myself a phone. Call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx. Miss you.

Krithika

I reached for my phone in such a swift move that my roommates thought I had a paralytic attack. I called her. Somehow she knew it was me on the phone, even though I hadn't sent her my number yet. It was such a magical feeling when I heard her voice again. I felt like a hundred unicorns were circling around me, and a thousand flowers falling all around me. It was as magical and revolutionary as the original iPhone. I hadn't missed anyone that much in my life before. And I told her that. She told me she felt the same. We spoke for hours, yet it felt as if we spoke for hardly a few minutes. I can't even remember what we spoke about, but I couldn't care less. Yes, I was in love.

A couple of weeks passed. I kept talking to her on the phone so much, that I hadn't bothered to go out and look for part-time jobs while all my other friends were already employed. I was absolutely certain that she was into me as much as I was into her. I think she once mentioned to me that she hadn't taken a shower in 48 hours since she spent most of that time talking to me, but I am not quite certain.

It was a Sunday morning when I received the email. It was around 9 in the morning and I was wondering why she hadn't called me yet. I was still lazing around in bed, when I casually opened my inbox to find an email from her. It had been sent to me 4 hours earlier.

Karthik,

 I want to tell you so many things, but I need to tell them to you in person. I am in a very bad state right now, so don't try calling me. I will not answer your calls. Meet me at the following address at 2 pm today. I will tell you everything. If I am not there at that time, please call the police and report me missing immediately. Please hurry.

135, 7th Main St,
Woodburnton. Indianapolis.

Love,

Krithika


To be continued...

Game Over (Part 3)

If you missed Part 1 and Part 2, read it here and here.

"We are here, at last. In the USA." she said to me and smiled. The same cute smile.

"Yeah." I smiled back.

Once inside the JFK airport, we had to change flights, from a Boeing to the much smaller Embraer jet. Unfortunately, we couldn't get seats next to each other. She seemed more disappointed than me due to that. I had mixed feelings, since this time, it was a hot American chick sitting next to me. I was hoping to somehow start a conversation with her during the flight. She had to sit next to an old lady who kept asking her where she came from and whether all Indians are vegetarians. She kept turning back to look at me helplessly, but stopped when I started giggling uncontrollably every time. She was probably pissed at me for not having tried hard enough to convince the old lady to shift to my seat, so that we could sit together.

The flight landed in Indianapolis soon after, at around 11 pm local time. She glared at me when I walked towards her so that we could gather the baggage together. May be she did notice that I was chatting away happily with the American chick (Sarah was her name, by the way) while I left her to suffer in silence. I offered the biggest and most stupid smile I could manage, and hoped it would work.

"So, a busy flight eh?" her voice was stern, almost authoritative.

"Hmm no. But at least it was more interesting than the previous flight. And a much hotter chick." I grinned.

"You %&$*!@ (insert the worst expletives here) !!" she started off, but I knew she was floored.

We collected all our baggage and sat in one of the couches inside the airport. Being midnight, there was no transportation in and out of the airport. So we had to wait till the first taxi in the morning to go to our respective apartments, her's in Indy and mine in Bloomington. I opened my laptop and was pleasantly surprised to find a free wifi network. So I started replying to all mails and facebook messages that I had got during the two days of my internet deprivation. She hadn't brought her laptop from India, and thus sat opposite me, trying hard to sleep.

"Enough with the internet, jerk. I am bored." she quipped suddenly.

"I thought you were sleeping." I offered an explanation.

"Not able to sleep. Let us do something interesting together."

"Ya? Do you want to play NFS Most Wanted? Or FIFA? They are the most interesting things I have come across." I gave her two options.

"You know what? I am actually glad that you are going to be in Bloomington, and I am going to be in Indy. You are such a jerk." she gave up on me.

And there it started. Just when I thought I had told her my entire life history, and she had told me hers, I was proved wrong. We kept talking, for hours. After close to four hours, she finally got tired of talking and without any notice, lied down on my lap and dozed off. Careful, careful. Don't jump to any conclusions yet, Karthik. Not yet.

To be continued..

Game Over (Part 2)

If you missed Part 1, read it here.

It took me ten minutes to change my clothes and come back out of the restroom. Some people were still staring at me. I still kept ignoring them. I occupied my seat and looked at her. She still looked miserable. I tried to dump my clothes inside my bag, and after much effort, managed to do so. I settled down in my seat and she opened her mouth to speak.

'My name is Krithika." she said, as she offered a handshake.
"Oh, nice name. I am Karthik." I accepted her friendly gesture.
"Are you going to IUPUI too?" she wanted to know.
"No. Actually I am going to IUB." I noticed the disappointment creep into her face as I said that.
"Oh, good. I wanted to apply there, but I missed the deadline." she explained.
"That is bad. But IUPUI is a good university too."
"Not as good as IUB though." she added before I could finish.

And there it started. We spoke as if we had been friends for long. The talk started with university rankings, admits and rejects, and other academic stuff, and slowly moved on to hobbies, parents, and personal stuff. We had talked to each other for almost 2 hours, and I felt I almost knew her entire life history, and I had told her mine. An old lady sitting in the front row was glaring at us because I guessed she couldn't sleep. I ignored her looks. Anyway, both of us felt tired after the long talking session, so we decided we needed some sleep. And we fell asleep soon after.

By the time I opened my eyes again, she was awake already. I drowned in her eyes as she said a "Hi" with the same cute smile. I smiled back sheepishly, rather sleepily. She was watching something on the personal entertainment system. I leaned forward to see what it was.

"Rock on." she whispered before I could recognize the scene.
"Oh, nice movie." I replied.

Bored, I started watching some old tennis matches. Before long, a voice in the PA system announced that we were about to land in New York. Ah, finally after so much preparation and struggle, here I am, at the United States of America. A huge sigh of relief. Little did I know, that, two weeks later, I wouldn't be so relieved after all.

to be continued...

Love at work

I hated to work on Saturday evenings. Especially since all my roommates would be enjoying in Kilroy's Sports Bar, while I would be cleaning up trash, or serving burritos. That Saturday, I was put up at the Italian food joint, and it was particularly busy. I had never seen so much crowd before, and it was tiring. The only solace was that Hafize was working in a place right opposite to mine.

I first met her when we both were put up in the same place for the shift, the Deli. Being the evening shift, not many people wanted sandwiches, so it was relatively free. I managed to strike a conversation with her, introducing myself, and that I am from India. She introduced herself and said she was from Turkey. Boy, was she pretty! She was the most beautiful girl I had seen in years. I got lost in her eyes for sometime, before I managed to get back to the real world again.

The word 'India' worked wonders, as she started raving about how great and beautiful India is, and how handsome Indian guys are. Then we started talking about the university, our respective courses, how she finds speaking in English very difficult, and so on. She seemed to know most other people working in the food court. As one of the guys, Dan passed by, he commented.

"Hey, nice boo@#" he said to her. I couldn't hear properly what he meant to say, as I shook my head in disbelief.
"Thank you." she replied with a big smile on her face.

I was thinking, what the hell is wrong with this girl. Then I realized she was wearing quite a nice pair of boots. I literally banged my head against the wall. Time seemed to fly as we kept talking. By the time she left I knew it. Yes, I was in love.

Sadly, after that one time, I couldn't meet her much. Even if we did, we didn't have time to say anything more than a 'Hi. How are you?'. Even on that day, there was no way I could talk with her, but I had all the time in the world to look at her. Ah those pretty eyes. I could swim in them forever.

Soon after that, my shift ended, and so did her's. I met her when we were clocking out.

"So, how was your shift?" I asked her.
"Not bad. How was yours?" she asked me back.
"It was awesome." I said with a smile.
"Any plans tonight?"
"Nope, nothing as of now." I told her honestly.
"Oh. Where do you live, by the way?" she wanted to know.
"Park doral apartments, it is near Best Buy. You know?" I tried to explain to her.
"Ya. Actually that is quite near to my place."
"Oh is it? That is cool." I told her.
"You know what? You can come to my place, and have some food. Then I will drop you in your apartment. What say?

I couldn't believe my ears. Did I hear her correctly, or was I just imagining something?

"Er, you have a car?" I managed to blurt out.
"Of course, stupid. Tell soon, my husband is waiting outside in his car." she said quite clearly.

There was a huge shattering noise heard somewhere inside the huge hall, and everyone rushed to see if any of the glassware crashed to the floor. Alas, it was the sound of my heart breaking.

Evolution of dreams

Age 7-15 : You dream that your mom/dad is dead and wake up scared.
Age 16-22 : You dream that your girl/boy friend is dead and wake up scared.
Age 23-30 : You dream that your spouse is dead and wake up scared.
Age 31-55 : You dream that children are dead and wake up scared.
Age 56-69 : You dream that your grandchildren are dead and wake up scared.
Age 70+ : You dream that you are dead and realize it wasn't a dream.