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| December 22, 2003
, 5:45 PM |
Chevalier at large
I like to think I lead an uninteresting life. That is to say except for that 2% of the time when I am taking to my heels leaving unpaid bills behind at pubs, stopping maruti 800s on the road to propose to hitherto unknown attractive women, eating golden fried prawns and the like. Being the blithe spirit that I am in the company of blithe spirits, nobody would suspect me of hidden depths were it not for the rapidly diminishing rum bottles that normally litter the table. However this story I am about to narrate is one filled with deep emotions, sentiments and the one profound lesson that I have learnt not to ignore in my daily, monthly and yearly undertakings. Having said all of that let me plunge into my story without further ado.
There are those men whose heart harks in joy whenever they see an attractive woman and then there are those (albeit the minority of the species even when including hen-pecked and libido controlled husbands) whose heart simply doesn’t. Until this particular incident I have firmly belonged to the former species but then came along an encounter that (to say the least) warranted a complete re-haul of the perspective in question. This occurred many a summer ago while I was yet a lad just out of college working for this small company which was trying to make money like most small companies tend to do, in a small but burgeoning market. Being the restless reader you are, you are no doubt wondering if there was a woman you will chance upon in this story. You couldn’t be more right my friend. In fact this entire story is about a woman. A very attractive woman to say the least. Absolute pin-up material with a smile to match. My life chanced upon her in a way that can only be described as a pure miracle. My meeting any attractive women is a well established miracle. Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you how rare an occurrence this is in my life. These women I am sure exist but tend to disappear into the woodwork at the slightest mention of my name. It is a conspiracy I am convinced.
I was sitting outside Nilgiri’s on the little scooter (also known as the phut-phutti henceforth) which my dad graciously let me have (and ungraciously refused to replace with a Yamaha), when out walked the most attractive woman I have seen in my entire life (which is not saying a lot actually). She looked around for a bit and then started walking towards me with a smile. After looking over my shoulder to make sure that there wasn’t anybody behind me I plastered a cheshire cat like grin on my face. Neither was I disappointed like I usually am when revealing the old smile to unsuspecting women (who usually look away). She kept walking towards me. At this point if she was tempted to grimace I must say she fought the good fight because the smile didn’t fade away.
“Hi! I am Anita. I need a little help actually”
“Sure, Sure” the ever-pleasing me.
“I need change for 500 rupees to buy something and the shop people don’t have any. Do you have change for a 500 rupee note.”
Imagine my happiness as I was in just a position to do dispose the exact amount. Dad had given me that exact amount to make sure I didn’t haunt his waking hours until my first month’s paycheque came through. Being the chevalier I was I quickly opened the wallet and let her have five crisp hundred rupee notes.
“I left the 500 rupee note at the counter. I’ll be right back” she said and disappeared into the shop.
Nilgiri’s I am sure has another door because I never saw her again in my life.
Since that day I have learnt not to trust attractive women outside Nilgiri’s. It of course took me a couple of more such incidents to learn that it is not necessarily outside Nilgiri’s that this happens and it is not necessarily change for 500 rupees that is always solicited (blast those 1000 rupee notes), but there you have it. The story that still moves my poor heart to tears. Damn!! I should have at least asked her phone number.
This story is completely a work of fiction. Should any of you be an attractive woman (which is a possibility) and should you decide to con me out of money (which is also a possibility), I really would love to see you try. |
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