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Thursday, October 8, 2009

The Very Short Conversation

“You do know that people are talking about us. Don’t you?” She asked him in her usual matter of fact no nonsense way.
“Oh! Are they? But why?” He looked at her quizzically, still frantically stirring his mug of almost boiling coffee
“Isn’t that obvious?” She asked incredulously
“erm...is it? Why?” The stirring was replaced by blowing into the mug.
“Coz we are always together. We have our meals together. We are practically well yeah for lack of better word...together.”
“Oh!” she was sure he dint understand “But what’s wrong in it? Is there anything wrong?”
“ No. I just wanted to let you know in case you had a problem with it.”
He considered. “ No I don’t think I do.” He went back to stirring his coffee. She was sure the spoon would create the end of the orange large mug. “But then you know....”
“what?”
“well you are a girl and all.....” he hesitated.
She snorted. “men are so dumb”
“Whats wrong? I meant you know the tag and all...what if people start talking about you in a wrong way and all? Especially others in campus...”
“men ARE dumb” she reiterated.
“I am trying to be nice.”
“Idiotic. Thats what you are being now.”
“You women say we men are jerks because we are insensitive. Here I am, trying to be nice, and you call me dumb.”
“Listen men are jerks. No denying that. Men are also dumb. You are just proving that point. Over and over again.”
“Not all men are jerks. Come on. Don’t give me that feminist crap.” He looked insulted.
“It’s not a generalization. Like how many women you know stare at you up and down and virtually undress you as you walk past? How many women have passed lewd comments at you while crossing you on the road? Just about how many women have grabbed you and your whatever in public spaces? And am sure no women has rubbed against you while traveling in the bus or flew past in a bike shouting obscenities and laughing at you or followed you if you happened to be alone on the road at a particular point of time? Can you count the number of times?” Her eyes flashed as she looked at him.
He put the mug of now-just-steaming-coffee on the table, neatly kept the spoon next to it and ran his fingers through his hair. “Well...I haven’t had to face any...but then again...not all men are jerks....” he said almost feebly.
“Oh no. Not all men are. Just about a mere 90% of them are” She sneered.
“oye! Thats unfair. Would you call me jerk?”
“Well I’ve just known you for like what half a month...so I can’t really say.”
“That’s unfair again. But I guess I can only defend myself in saying that I haven’t done any of those things that you mentioned above to anyone...”
“Well am sure you haven’t. You don’t come across as that big a jerk” she grinned.
“That big!! What’s that supposed to mean? You women never trust anyone...that's your main problem.”
“Well yeah. We generally don’t trust men. How can you when there are fathers raping daughters and uncles fathering nieces’ daughters? And especially when we women know for a fact that whenever a man says he loves a girl he’s secretly even unconsciously thinking how good she’ll be in bed..”
“Well in my defense I’ve never thought of that when I think about....” ? He stopped. Grabbed the orange coffee mug and gulped down a big mouthful. If the coffee burnt right down to his tummy bottom, he dint show it. Except that his eyes watered slightly.
“think about....?” She grinned
“no..like...randomly....you know....girls and stuff....” He ran his hand through his hair and scratched behind his ears.
“Oh so you think about men that way...” she chuckled. “Well don’t worry...gay rights are getting a lot of attention...and soon they’ll legalise gay marriages too.” She guffawed.
“Oh no no no....am am normal...sorry am straight. I just said I don’t think in the way you mentioned....” he blushed furiously.
“Ok let’s get back to the conversation...” She smiled wickedly. “You don’t think like that when you think of.....me?” she looked at him again.
He squirmed
“Does that mean you hate to think how bad I’ll be in bed?” she stuck her tongue out at him.
“ NO!! No!! Its just...well I don’t know...just that I’ve not thought in that way....”
“Someone once told me that you shouldn’t wait for a guy to propose to you. Knowing guys they just might not. They are all lazy bums. So am saving you the embarrassment. People are talking about us anyway. Why not give them something to talk about? Do you mind?” she asked.
Whatever it was he clearly did not expect this. “You are kidding me!”
“So is that a no?” she laughed
“no no....sheesh!....who is the guy here?” He almost looked offended.
“See...I told you guys are dumb.”
“They are also jerks. I was in fact thinking about how great it would be kiss your lips while you were on your spiel about men.” He winked.
“See we women are always right...”

22 comments:

Sonal Dhiman said...

the high point of today. the only point i want to remember from October 8, 2009.
you were missed. endlessly. and now that you're back, one can't help jumping up and down on the sofa! lovely writing. simple, sweet, familiar and warm.
please please write more often.

dii said...

definitely not short.. but a sweet end to a long dearth of posts :D

Anamika said...

@ IT

thank you for missing me...i believed that I was forgotten....and thank you so much for liking it...and be careful about the sofa :D

Anamika said...

@ Dii

gee.... :D glad you liked it

Anon...let me be... said...

ha ha !!!!!!! i loowweeee it!!!! for many reasons of course!

Practical Dreamer said...

Lovely...
Would make anyone want to go confess love

Anamika said...

@ Anon

Knew you would know the allusions :)

Anamika said...

@ practical dreamer...

Aww..thats perhaps the sweetest comment I could get. Do you want to now? ;)

savi said...

Beautiful..It is very difficult not to get labeled as feminist if u write on women issues..(It is not to say that getting a 'feminist label is bad..)pinne ningal enthezhuthiyaalum feminist enna thozhuthil kettum...nammude kavithayudeyo kadhayudeyo mattu maanagal (ranges) kaanaathirikkum..I had to fight against it..may be still fighting...
You write so well ..best wishes .

Anamika said...

@Savi,

I don't know if I am a feminist. Chances are that I am not. But there are issues I feel strongly against/for. If it risks my being slotted as a feminist, I don't know. I missed my writing a lot more than I'd like to admit when I was suffering from writer's block. If I have to at any point of time change my style just because certain sections do not agree to my writing, I think I'll suffer more. I am the happiest when I write my way...hope I can continue to do that without being slotted.

Your comments mean such a lot to me...Thank you so much :-)

manu said...

ah. good to see ur writing again :)
obvious feminist leanings apart, a great piece of work

Anamika said...

@ manu

The feminist leanings-- ah! with guys like you around its a wonder why women dont turn feminists.. :D

Anamika said...

@ manu

but on a more serious note....
Thank you for being happy along with me...you dont know how much it means :)

manu said...

well, who's supposed to know better on tht.? not me anyway :P

manu said...

the prev was a reply to ur initial response, and ur pleasure is mine too

manu said...

and b.t.w i guess u know why i'm a chauvinist :P

Sandeep Balan said...

hey vrinda....good one daa....nice to see u back after a loooooong time....def a 'very' short conversation :P

Cud see some grammatical errors in this piece...i think 'unconsciously thinking' in ur post shud be 'subconsciously thinking'....apart frm that...as wonderful as ever

Sandeep Balan said...

and hey...we share the same blog template :-)

Jyothi said...

Yay! you're back!!! You were SORELY missed! Glad that u'r back in action again!

Anamika said...

@Sandeep

I was just so happy that words were flowing in a rush that grammar just dint seem worthwhile :)

Anamika said...

@Jyothi

thank you :-)

Jeevan said...

Lovely post..great flow...intrepid females are a genuine turn on!