Sunday, February 22, 2009

Happy Christmas

“Konandra...we are not comin.” We three said it simulatneously. It was on the night of December 25th at Rome

“Why not. We have already wasted one day in Rome and we have only 2 days remaining till we get back to germany.” Konandran replied. "Besides the view of Rome in the night is awesome."

"But it is raining. And I dont want to get drenched" said Anish. "We will do one thing. We will put this decision in to a vote. Who all wants to go back to the hostel and who all wants to continue touring around."

I and Renjith raised our hands. What we had imagined that no one wanted to walk in the rain. But we were surprised that the majority wanted to continue the tour. While Anish, Renjith and myself wanted to go back to the hostel, Konandran, Su raj, Vivek and Bijoy wanted to see the the roman city at night.

"Ok. Then we will split. We will be at the hostel while you guys enjoy your walk." said Anish

"Then we will meet you at the hostel" replied konandran

I secretly asked Anish "How much of jegeroff vodka is left."?

"Mebbe some 6 pegs ...."

"Pefect for 3 of us." I smiled

So we parted are headed for the bus Stop. We didnt know the bus stop so we saw the our destination written on one of the route list so we stayed there. But to our surprise we saw a bus with our intended stop going in the other way. It halted at the stop on the other side of the road. By the time we crossed the road, the bus had already left. The next direct bus was 45 mins later. So we decided to take a bus which will take us nearest to our destination and we will walk the remaining distance.So we got down at the stop.

" Should we wait for the next bus to Termini". I asked Anish

"Yea. That would be better. The distance to our hotel is longer than I thought"

Just then another bus came and five people got down from it. From the looks we guessed they were Indians. But we didnt make any move. It was then one of the guys asked Anish

"Ningal thamizha??"

Anish was surprised(or disappointed) “Nope we are from Kerala”

Then one of the girl told another girl at the end. "They are from your state."

Fortunately she was standing next to me.

“ So you are a malayali”

“Yes"

"Whats your name”

“Rekha”

“So where do you stay in kerala”

“I stay near the Padma theatre in Ernakulam. So where are you working in Europe”

“We are working for Bosch in germany. And you?”

“I am woking at the L&T at sweden. I am here for one year. So where did you complete your engineering ”

“Nice ...I am here for six months. I passed out from Rajagiri”

"Great, I also studied in Rajagiri, I mean i completed my MCA there"

Just then the bus which we were waiting for arrived at the stop. We all got in the bus. Usually I am not very keen about deciding about the stop at which I should get down. But today I surprised the other two by discussing with Anish about the stop and looking keenly on the road.


“Is anything wrong with you” Anish asked

“Nope. Never felt more better”

All of a sudden Renjith cried. “I just saw Termini. We can get down here.”


I conveyed the news to the other group. We all got down at the stop. It was when the other group discovered that this was not the Termini stop they had expected. Immediately they got back in to the bus. But we 3 were sure we had done the right thing. So we stayed. The doors closed while tehy waved us. I had a feeling something was lost.


"Guess we are never going to meet again" I sighed

"Dont jump into conclusions. She stays in Yellow hotel which is same as ours. I even know her

room number. Maybe we can make a direct encounter. But we made a mistake we could also

have stayed with them so that we cud have had a conversation while walking back" Anish replied


"Well, thats not going to work now. We can walk back to our hotel and think abt our next step. But chances are that she can also be engaged"

It was Renjith who clarified that doubt"Well, her friends were already teasing her with you. If she was married or engaged that wouldnt have happened."

"Well we have one option ...we can walk back fast and wait for them in the entrance with a smug smile. How about that?" said Anish

"Sounds interesting. We can try it tat way..." I replied

"They might not have had dinner today. So chances are there that they will invite us along and we can strike a convesation. I and Renjith will take care of the others while u can have a quiet talk with Rekha."

"Not bad. Will you guys do that"

"Dont worry we will take care of it. Besides I think the tamil girl had a soft corner for Anish. We can capitalise on that " replied Renjith

So we literally ran back to our room, freshened ourselves and started waiting at the front of the hotel. We waited for 15 mins and started loosing our hope. We were about to go back to out room when we saw our target approaching. We were ready with our plan. The gang came near. The guy at the front was smiling at us.

"So we were right anyway." Anish started the conversation

"Yea you were...we had to walk an extra 10 mins but it was fun" replied one of the guys

"What?"

"Ok then,bye. See you later"

Rekha who was coming in the back wished me good night but she looking downwards. And in a second the whole gang was gone

"What jus happened. I thought you guys would strike a converstion with the tamil girl." I was disappointed

"Sorry da...we werent prepared for the situation. We can go to the room and plan the next step"


At the room.

"Is Jegeroff still there."

"Yep. We will have a peg each."

"So wats next?"

"They said they will go for dinner. And their only option is the yellow restaurant below. Why dont we go and wait for their arrival and have dinner. But you will have to pay for the dinner."

"Yea..I dont mind paying...but that would appear too desperate. That is against my character."

"Ok...they might go for breakfast tomorrow. We can catch them then."

"Do you still want to have that same miserabe breakfast again for 5 euros?"

"Its for a good cause"

"I think i ll pass that offer."

"Well...another idea is that we can change our plans for tomorow and go to Pisa so that we can meet them there. You ll have to pay the extra petrol for the 300 kms."

"I dont think the entire thing is worth that much." Jegeroff had started to kick in

"I have an idea. Renjith said the tamil gal had and soft corner for you , why dont i go and say that you are married and even has a kid." I said

"Hmm....in that case we have only one option. Go to her room now and talk directly. Say you wanted to talk to her in private. Its only 10:45 now. They might not have slept"

"And?"

"Say that you like her."

"Why should I say tat...its too early for that. And by remotest chance if she says yes?"

"You have no other option. You will have to go to her room ask for her and say that you wanted to talk to her in private and say the words."

"Hmm...are you sure about this?"

"Yup....otherwise forget the whole thing."


5 mins past 11

I went to her room and rang the bell. One of the guys came out

"Can I talk to Rekha?"

"Yea...sure"

I could hear him telling her that her senior had some to see her. So there was a discussion about me. So far so good. She came out. By her looks I guessed she was about to sleep

"I wanted to tell you something and I need to say it soon because time is running out and we may not meet again. I dont want to have regrets that I missed this chance."

"Its 11 o clock. What do you want to tell me this late? You could also tell it tomorrow."

I replied grimly"Nope...I am not sure whether I will see you tomorrow. Actually I dont know the exact way how to start this conversation."

"You can start anyway you want"

"This is the first time I am in such a situation....So I am a bit tensed....Do you have any idea what I am about to say??

With a confused smile “No”

"I think ....you might have been in a similar situation before"

"Sorry I am clueless"

“Ok . Then I think I ll tell straight away. I .....I wanted to say this .................Happy christmas” and I extended my hand

I still didnt know whether she knew it was coming, but she shook my hand with a smile.

"Sorry i had to call you this late for this prank. But I didnt have much time because i could not say it tomorrow. So how was your christmas night?

"It was fun. We went to vatican city today morning and visited the vatican museum."

"So didnt you go for the midnight mass?"

"What?"

"Havent you heard about midnight mass?"

"No...I am a hindu"

"Ahh....(the revelations)So what are your plans tomorrow?(Although I knew it)"

"We are going to Pisa. The day after tomorrow we will visit the collosium."

"Nice...we will be visiting the collosium tomorrow. Anyways it was nice meeting you. Good night"

"Me too..bye.Good nite"

After bidding our adieus I headed back to the corner where my friends were hiding and listening to the whole conversation.

Renjith was excited,"I never knew you would pull that off. Was she surprised?"

"I have improved a lot since engineering. I couldnt read the exact emotion but I would say it was that of a shock"

"Great dude. I thought that we had missed the chance of visiting rome during night but this was even better." Anish congratulated

We went back to our room and thought abt the whole incident. We had spent a complete 3 hours to pull this off. But it was worth it.

Just then Konandran and his team walked in." It is really beautiful to see Rome at night . You missed a great chance”

"You have no idea what you guys just missed." I smiled

4 comments:

Bachu said...

Good One...
Actually you should go n try your luck in Sweden. ;)

tony said...

Well[:)]...I would have if she was a christian...parents have some rules...I have to abide those

Anonymous said...

kollam mone kollam! :D

romance in rome! ;)

Alonzo said...

Easter ingetharayi.. arelem okke noki vekku.. "Happy Easter" parayan.. ororo pick up linugale.. kashtam :)