I have had some of my best moments while trying to cross the busy roads of Chennai and Bangalore.

It is a thought that came to mind all of a sudden while I was with my mum, trying every possible way of not cooperating with her as she was busy picking out clothes for me. (I don’t fancy shopping much you see. Find it a mundane task which is to be done when you are absolutely positive about the fact that you have definitely run out of presentable clothes).

During one of the hot summer days of Chennai (it is always summer in here) I met two girls- S and A, on the first day of high school. Having a social group in a school that seemed like a representation of celebrity parties and coping with brilliance that failed to radiate merely because of how highly spoilt they were, finding myself amidst two girls with similar tastes came as a shock to me! I swore to God that moment that my loyalty for them would never fade!* During one of our many “visits to Poseidon”, there came a fateful day when we had to experiment with our abilities of calculating the speed/second and understanding road width perception. But it wasn’t our poor mathematical skills that got us nearly killed, it was a small ploy played by teenage tendencies. It is not every day that we get to see uber cute guys riding a sexy bike just at right angles from us. Also the probability of this genre of male species reciprocating similar tendencies to us is less than the probability of the existence of yeti. So with circumstances of such rare occurrence, we decided to take the chance of risking our lives for it. As we kept ogling at his insane cuteness he kept staring back at our general insanity. With this exchange of eye contact, we were not only successful in ignoring every single curse word that came hurdling down like spears on us, we also managed to make the guy miss the signal and fall off from his bike by banging on to a pole! Well, you probably know how the rest of the day went for us! Laughter was an inevitable guest and the dreams of serendipity a must to maintain a happy hang out session.

That day made two things very clear- not only did we look decent, we DID have the power to kill!

Another intriguing situation took place recently, during my days of internship in TOI. The 18th of May was not the best of days for any of us- P, S K, B, M and I were disheartened at the fact that we would soon have no work to do and our days of professional journalism were coming to an end, at least for another year. However, with some amount of diplomacy, I was successful in holding back SK and B for a late night shift, though we were rather jobless. The universe on the other hand was ready to put in some twist to the otherwise boring hours at office. Our brains and hearts stopped functioning for several seconds when two journalists, N and AD, (one whom we adored and admired and one whom we crushed on, hated dearly for some time and then started admiring and respecting him) very cheerfully called us for some ‘chai’ at 9.30 in the night. What the hell were they thinking? Putting little girls through this torturous pain of exquisite joy?But this joy did not end there! What could be more interesting for three excited interns to visit a fire struck place at 10.00 in the night? That too with AD! Not only was the experience brilliant, but the walk back was pretty insightful. Being the weirdos that we are, SK and I happily crossed the road without waiting for the signal to indicate ‘stop’ and even after AD gave us the ‘really-u-guys-wanna-do-this-now-you-kids-from-planet-immature’ look. B on the other hand waited along AD for the vehicles to move and the signal to turn red, and then crossed the road. Meanwhile though, after getting to the other end, I noticed the two, opposite and away from us- B busily pretending to fidget with her cell to avoid the awkwardness and AD doing something similar, rubbing his chin continuously and looking left and right for no sane reason. The first thing that came to my mind was how the two were... weirdly comfortable even while not being very comfortable. It was so hitting- the presence of two people I really liked for different reasons, standing there together, looking like busy journalists who had a lot going on their minds and still not saying anything, but being merely happy about the fact that some familiar face was present next to them anyway. The thought of them being a classic couple did not escape my mind till I shook back to reality and figured that both of them were sane enough to not choose each other’s insanity. He was some well to do jack ass of a brilliant guy and she was some incredibly intelligent pretty looking intern, and that the ratio was simply not right, hit me two seconds later.

That day I learnt many things- One, my imagination ran wild even if fed for a few seconds and should not be left scot-free. Two, imagination and reality are really two different things till you don’t really try bridging the gap. Three, being a person of understanding is more important than becoming a person of habit. Four, I am exceptionally good at crossing roads.

2nd June is just twenty days away from my birthday. That really does not affect any one’s life. But 2nd June gave me more than what I had expected out of it. C and R are friends of A (the one mentioned above). I never really knew C till A introduced me to him. A very interesting boy who was capable of attracting the attention of my other friend S with his “boyish charm and how the hell did he grow so tall?” -as she put it. The whacko friendship between C and A never seized to amuse me. R on the other hand had become a friend of mine in school and hang outs with him and his perspectives, always keeps us busy thinking. So the 2nd of June turned out to be the days of getting us closer. After A left (was rather forced to leave by her dad) C, R and I had a gala time walking almost 5kms in search of bus stop. With the flow of perverted jokes with scientific reasoning attached to it and the exhaustion of walking in a sultry weather made us stop every 5 minutes, rather unwillingly. We never consciously stopped, just halted randomly till one of us reminded the other that we still hadn’t found a bus to board! We usually ended up realizing that we had to cross the road after the signal turned green. We would have been busy chatting about some person, some dirty joke or booze while the red light still remained for almost a minute! It really wasn’t a great deal. Just something that I really had fun doing. Missing the signals, not being so cautious, just being impulsive and running around like not getting home would mean the end of the world- I was rather different that day. Not closed, not worried, and not held-back- just really high on joy! It was brilliant! :D

I cannot predict the future. I might just have to turn into a flying pig for the purposes of becoming a special agent on some mission! But these people, these incidents at various cross-roads have made me think, somehow taught me small things that will just add up to become the bigger person I will be later. A, S and I had pretty much given up on our ‘best friend’ status after I left for Bangalore. We still, for unfortunate good looking guys, remain the best of friends. I never thought I would get into TOI, let alone working with people as adorable and admirable as N and AD. But that one night is now not only etched on our minds forever, but it has also increased our respect for the man whose impeccable talent leaves us at awe. SK, B and I became mature people that day- we left behind infatuation and anger and simply ‘liking someone for being happy always’, and grew to respect people like N for her warm nature and fascinating capability and AD for his charming journalistic abilities. C and R are now in for some trouble ’cause every time I want to do something wrong the right way, they are my targets! That with the company of A would I suppose bring hell on Earth!

I have had some of my best moments while trying to cross the busy roads of Chennai and Bangalore. These cross roads of life have given me cherish-able moments- moments I would live to relive for! Even a flying pig form of me cannot take them away! ?