Many generations ago when there were stalls down in Nariman Point, 4 o’clock was to me what 12 was to Cinderella! Albeit in a little different way. It was time to step down for tea at the tapri.
Basically a few senior guys (well seniority gives one the prerogative to be absconding from work during office hours!) would step down for their evening chai. I was the lowest order – a management trainee. At my level, everyone seemed like BOSS! While I would
Also back then we didn’t have a CCD tea dispensing machine. So the tea at the tapri was the only authentic tea that we had in the day! While the guys smoked, I would quickly dip a pack of glucose biscuits into my cutting. Yea…the entire packet! I din’t become fat on cheese alone!
I’d briefly started that habit again with Aniket and Sandeep (when he’s around). Yesterday was Day 1…after a good 7 years. And it was all loads of nostalgia for me.
Today the tapris are little away. Just round the corner behind Express towers. As we slowly ambled out of the our building, one furlong away we saw this spectacled guy walking casually with ear phones plugged in, capris, and a short yellow tee. He looked familiar but I couldn’t place him immediately. Aniket however did and blurted “Isn’t that Chetan Bhagat?” and I was like “O yeaaaaaaa…lets go ask him” and I made a u-turn towards him. Aniket came along too…but hardly 10 seconds later when I turn around there was no Aniket. He chose to stand and monitor the situation with Sandeep.
But I went through.
I tapped him on his shoulder gently. He stopped. I was a bit gasping from the quick dash, a bit blushing, desperately trying to hide that ‘I feel like a fool’ look that I had plastered all over me.
“Are you Chetan Bhagat?”
“Yeah”
“What you doing around here?”
“I live here…”
‘Here? I thought you were based in Singapore?”
“No. I’m here. Infact, I’m going to see a movie at Inox”
“Cool..”
“So what do you do?”
“I’m in advertising. I work in this building on the 4th floor.”
I just loved how the conversation flowed. So what if they were just a bunch of monosyllables!! He just seemed so sensible and grounded. What made him sell out to Bollywood…that whole Hello fiasco! I thought.
I somehow didn’t want to end the blah blah. I had really loved his 5 Point Someone. I had even gifted a copy to Aniket. Since he was from engineering I thought that he would relate to some of the stuff. But I don’t think he quite got the drift. He hadn’t read it for about 2 months after I’d given it to him. Wonder if he’s finished it even now!
Not liking the moment of silence I blurted “You said on your website that you’d reply to emails. I sent you 2 mails on your book. But you didn’t reply”
I thought I had him. But he’s an author. He makes up stuff all the time. And how could I think I had him cornered!
“Haha. I said I’d read…not reply. But I will respond to you. What’s you name?”
“Sharon…Well, ill go now…enjoy your movie”
“Yesss. I will reply. Thank you”
And now the killer…my parting shot… “It was nice meeting you…I so thought you looked like Chetan Bhagat!”
And he was like “hahaha..I AM Chetan Bhagat”
And I promptly turned around, half embarrassed from my boo-boo and half happy from the rest of the conversation. Ran back towards my 2 lovely friends…one a ditcher and the other a skeptic. I narrated the entire conversation to them…and went on to tea.
Somewhere around 10 minutes later after some half conversations both the boys are sniggering about something. They dint want to tell me what it was. But I insist.
“We can’t tell you…its boy talk”
I’m thinking…you guys talk all sorts of crap around me all the time. Don’t ever get the chivalry a girl deserves and all of a sudden I’m excluded from this boy talk and besides I don’t think (screw think…I can lay a 100 bucks) Sandeep can discuss anything more graphic with Aniket than he can with me!
He blurts “Your author looks gay”
And without a thought I jump to his defense. “What crap? He’s married and has a family too, just because he’s a little fair…”
My usual behaviour. To speak first and then think.
Once I stopped spewing words, my Eureka moment came - Chetan Bhagat was the writer, but these two made up something on the spot much sooner!
Guess, I’ll never know what tickled them and more importantly why they didn’t want to tell me!
Basically a few senior guys (well seniority gives one the prerogative to be absconding from work during office hours!) would step down for their evening chai. I was the lowest order – a management trainee. At my level, everyone seemed like BOSS! While I would
Also back then we didn’t have a CCD tea dispensing machine. So the tea at the tapri was the only authentic tea that we had in the day! While the guys smoked, I would quickly dip a pack of glucose biscuits into my cutting. Yea…the entire packet! I din’t become fat on cheese alone!
I’d briefly started that habit again with Aniket and Sandeep (when he’s around). Yesterday was Day 1…after a good 7 years. And it was all loads of nostalgia for me.
Today the tapris are little away. Just round the corner behind Express towers. As we slowly ambled out of the our building, one furlong away we saw this spectacled guy walking casually with ear phones plugged in, capris, and a short yellow tee. He looked familiar but I couldn’t place him immediately. Aniket however did and blurted “Isn’t that Chetan Bhagat?” and I was like “O yeaaaaaaa…lets go ask him” and I made a u-turn towards him. Aniket came along too…but hardly 10 seconds later when I turn around there was no Aniket. He chose to stand and monitor the situation with Sandeep.
But I went through.
I tapped him on his shoulder gently. He stopped. I was a bit gasping from the quick dash, a bit blushing, desperately trying to hide that ‘I feel like a fool’ look that I had plastered all over me.
“Are you Chetan Bhagat?”
“Yeah”
“What you doing around here?”
“I live here…”
‘Here? I thought you were based in Singapore?”
“No. I’m here. Infact, I’m going to see a movie at Inox”
“Cool..”
“So what do you do?”
“I’m in advertising. I work in this building on the 4th floor.”
I just loved how the conversation flowed. So what if they were just a bunch of monosyllables!! He just seemed so sensible and grounded. What made him sell out to Bollywood…that whole Hello fiasco! I thought.
I somehow didn’t want to end the blah blah. I had really loved his 5 Point Someone. I had even gifted a copy to Aniket. Since he was from engineering I thought that he would relate to some of the stuff. But I don’t think he quite got the drift. He hadn’t read it for about 2 months after I’d given it to him. Wonder if he’s finished it even now!
Not liking the moment of silence I blurted “You said on your website that you’d reply to emails. I sent you 2 mails on your book. But you didn’t reply”
I thought I had him. But he’s an author. He makes up stuff all the time. And how could I think I had him cornered!
“Haha. I said I’d read…not reply. But I will respond to you. What’s you name?”
“Sharon…Well, ill go now…enjoy your movie”
“Yesss. I will reply. Thank you”
And now the killer…my parting shot… “It was nice meeting you…I so thought you looked like Chetan Bhagat!”
And he was like “hahaha..I AM Chetan Bhagat”
And I promptly turned around, half embarrassed from my boo-boo and half happy from the rest of the conversation. Ran back towards my 2 lovely friends…one a ditcher and the other a skeptic. I narrated the entire conversation to them…and went on to tea.
Somewhere around 10 minutes later after some half conversations both the boys are sniggering about something. They dint want to tell me what it was. But I insist.
“We can’t tell you…its boy talk”
I’m thinking…you guys talk all sorts of crap around me all the time. Don’t ever get the chivalry a girl deserves and all of a sudden I’m excluded from this boy talk and besides I don’t think (screw think…I can lay a 100 bucks) Sandeep can discuss anything more graphic with Aniket than he can with me!
He blurts “Your author looks gay”
And without a thought I jump to his defense. “What crap? He’s married and has a family too, just because he’s a little fair…”
My usual behaviour. To speak first and then think.
Once I stopped spewing words, my Eureka moment came - Chetan Bhagat was the writer, but these two made up something on the spot much sooner!
Guess, I’ll never know what tickled them and more importantly why they didn’t want to tell me!
