Wishing my friends, well-wishers and readers that the year 2010 would usher in prosperity and happiness of unimaginable proportions! Happy New Year!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Close Encounters with the Terrifying Kind
This happened about eight years ago, but the entire episode is imprinted in memory with a kind of clarity like it all happened yesterday. It was an evening; I was driving around for sometime and was just beginning to enjoy the summer breeze, when I spotted an old friend of my mine, Dinesh. He was walking hurriedly along the pedestrian path looking almost lost. I slipped in front of him and stopped my bike and we struck up a conversation about old times. At the end, when I enquired what he was doing stalking the streets? He quipped, “I am searching for a Clinic – an ENT specialist’s.” As I had barely anything important that evening, the Good Samaritan instincts sprang up, and I offered help even though he hadn’t asked for it. I guess, that’s how people foolishly play into the lion’s mouth, in my case, it was the Great Danes’.
To top it all, Dinesh didn’t have the exact address of this clinic so we were literally going in circles. For sometime, we looked more like the door-to-door salesmen knocking on every door, checking if it was the doctor’s clinic. The only difference was that it was dark anybody could have mistaken us for thugs instead of salesmen. After sometime, to avoid being mistaken for any of these two, I stayed on the bike, while my friend went around enquiring.
Halfway through our search, we came across a small rundown joint which looked like a carpenter’s makeshift. I saw no possibility why a doctor would run his clinic in such a ramshackle. But Dinesh, who was aggressive by nature, barged in without second thoughts, in other words, without any thought.
Inside, sat a man in front of a small table on which one bottle of RC (Royal Challenge) and a glass rested. Both were empty, indicating that the man had consumed the full bottle, and was now under the complete influence of the drink. Unmindfully, my friend enquired if it was the doctor’s clinic, the man nodded that it was and ushered him inside. Once Dinesh stood standing where the drunken man wanted him to, he screamed, “Tozzo!” and out came a four-foot high canine – a Great Dane. It emerged with a hungry look in its eye and its tongue licking its mouth obviously thinking that his master had bought some special delicacy for dinner that night. Looking at the size of the beast, Dinesh lost his cool, then his guts. Sweating profusely, he started addressing the drunken man as “Sir” and delivered apologies for intruding on his quiet time with his drink.
One glance at the beast, one part of my heart begged me to kick-start the bike and scurry away while the other enquired if it was ethically the right thing to do? Torn between the two, I held on to my bike like a lifeline, hoping that the dog owner wouldn’t notice me. This man started interrogating Dinesh on what made him think that his place was a clinic. My friend, after a few moments, along with his guts lost his speech too. His speech suddenly turned staccato and his face paler. It was while answering these questions that he shot a glance outside at me. The drunken man immediately sensed I was also an accomplice in disturbing his peace, summoned me inside. Though I didn’t want to become another victim of his drink, I obviously didn’t have another choice.
I thought, come rain or hailstorm, I will defend my friend with my life. But I realized that was foolhardiness when I stepped in and stood a few feet away from this lean but muscular dog. On watching the dog’s height and weight up-close, I suddenly had a strong urge to run. Bolt away to southern or northern hemisphere where there were no dogs! Under the circumstances, I would have even raced against Ussain Bolt and won and never give a damn about it!
Caught in this terrifying situation, my mind raced, trying to figure out a plan to escape the place unscratched, which on all parameters looked impossible. I heard the drunken man ask some questions, which I intentionally didn’t answer. I thought any answer would aggravate his temper, which I sensed, was precariously perched at the edge of a precipice. Unfortunately, my silence only challenged his drunken stupor. He rose. For a minute; I thought he would strike me. But instead he screamed, this time, “Bozzo!” I didn’t know where this creature was lurking till then, but out it came. Another Great Dane! This, built-wise, was stronger and looked more ferocious than the other one. Shocked, my heart did a quick summersault in my ribcage while I stood dead in the tracks gulping down fear.
Whatever fight was left in me simply evaporated as beads of perspiration quietly descended down my side locks. My thoughts raced. Body stood paralyzed. I thought Dinesh and I could fight one dog. But definitely not two. Then realisation dawned. Our lifelines were now in the hands of this drunken man. One pull at them, if not dead, we could easily end up in a hospital. I shot my prayers up. I guess Dinesh did too. We hoped for the dogs to pounce on us any moment. We waited. Nothing happened.
I didn’t know what came over the drunken man but he had a sudden change of heart. He smiled at us. “Since this is your first time, I will excuse you both” he cried. So relieved was I that I felt like hugging this very man, who, a few moments ago, threatened to throw us to his dogs. With his words came the assurance that the dogs wouldn’t harm us. Before he changed his mind, Dinesh and I quickly but cautiously made our way to the door. It was after a good 5-minute drive from this place did any of us speak. Dinesh cried, “What does this idiot think of himself? I will report him to police.” All along the way Dinesh let out a relentless list of abuses. I, for one, was too shocked to say anything. Even when I dropped him at his place, we hardly spoke. We were that overwhelmed with fear.
After this, I couldn’t meet Dinesh for various reasons. Later, I heard he moved to Dubai. But it was at a recent Christian concert that I noticed him talking to somebody. I quickly walked over and said, “Hello.” He turned around and flashed his usual smile and shook my hand vigorously. Looking me in the eye, the first thing he said was, “Do you remember that day?” Even before he said anything, I exclaimed, “How can I ever forget it?” Then both of us burst into a hearty laugh.
To top it all, Dinesh didn’t have the exact address of this clinic so we were literally going in circles. For sometime, we looked more like the door-to-door salesmen knocking on every door, checking if it was the doctor’s clinic. The only difference was that it was dark anybody could have mistaken us for thugs instead of salesmen. After sometime, to avoid being mistaken for any of these two, I stayed on the bike, while my friend went around enquiring.
Halfway through our search, we came across a small rundown joint which looked like a carpenter’s makeshift. I saw no possibility why a doctor would run his clinic in such a ramshackle. But Dinesh, who was aggressive by nature, barged in without second thoughts, in other words, without any thought.
Inside, sat a man in front of a small table on which one bottle of RC (Royal Challenge) and a glass rested. Both were empty, indicating that the man had consumed the full bottle, and was now under the complete influence of the drink. Unmindfully, my friend enquired if it was the doctor’s clinic, the man nodded that it was and ushered him inside. Once Dinesh stood standing where the drunken man wanted him to, he screamed, “Tozzo!” and out came a four-foot high canine – a Great Dane. It emerged with a hungry look in its eye and its tongue licking its mouth obviously thinking that his master had bought some special delicacy for dinner that night. Looking at the size of the beast, Dinesh lost his cool, then his guts. Sweating profusely, he started addressing the drunken man as “Sir” and delivered apologies for intruding on his quiet time with his drink.
One glance at the beast, one part of my heart begged me to kick-start the bike and scurry away while the other enquired if it was ethically the right thing to do? Torn between the two, I held on to my bike like a lifeline, hoping that the dog owner wouldn’t notice me. This man started interrogating Dinesh on what made him think that his place was a clinic. My friend, after a few moments, along with his guts lost his speech too. His speech suddenly turned staccato and his face paler. It was while answering these questions that he shot a glance outside at me. The drunken man immediately sensed I was also an accomplice in disturbing his peace, summoned me inside. Though I didn’t want to become another victim of his drink, I obviously didn’t have another choice.
I thought, come rain or hailstorm, I will defend my friend with my life. But I realized that was foolhardiness when I stepped in and stood a few feet away from this lean but muscular dog. On watching the dog’s height and weight up-close, I suddenly had a strong urge to run. Bolt away to southern or northern hemisphere where there were no dogs! Under the circumstances, I would have even raced against Ussain Bolt and won and never give a damn about it!
Caught in this terrifying situation, my mind raced, trying to figure out a plan to escape the place unscratched, which on all parameters looked impossible. I heard the drunken man ask some questions, which I intentionally didn’t answer. I thought any answer would aggravate his temper, which I sensed, was precariously perched at the edge of a precipice. Unfortunately, my silence only challenged his drunken stupor. He rose. For a minute; I thought he would strike me. But instead he screamed, this time, “Bozzo!” I didn’t know where this creature was lurking till then, but out it came. Another Great Dane! This, built-wise, was stronger and looked more ferocious than the other one. Shocked, my heart did a quick summersault in my ribcage while I stood dead in the tracks gulping down fear.
Whatever fight was left in me simply evaporated as beads of perspiration quietly descended down my side locks. My thoughts raced. Body stood paralyzed. I thought Dinesh and I could fight one dog. But definitely not two. Then realisation dawned. Our lifelines were now in the hands of this drunken man. One pull at them, if not dead, we could easily end up in a hospital. I shot my prayers up. I guess Dinesh did too. We hoped for the dogs to pounce on us any moment. We waited. Nothing happened.
I didn’t know what came over the drunken man but he had a sudden change of heart. He smiled at us. “Since this is your first time, I will excuse you both” he cried. So relieved was I that I felt like hugging this very man, who, a few moments ago, threatened to throw us to his dogs. With his words came the assurance that the dogs wouldn’t harm us. Before he changed his mind, Dinesh and I quickly but cautiously made our way to the door. It was after a good 5-minute drive from this place did any of us speak. Dinesh cried, “What does this idiot think of himself? I will report him to police.” All along the way Dinesh let out a relentless list of abuses. I, for one, was too shocked to say anything. Even when I dropped him at his place, we hardly spoke. We were that overwhelmed with fear.
After this, I couldn’t meet Dinesh for various reasons. Later, I heard he moved to Dubai. But it was at a recent Christian concert that I noticed him talking to somebody. I quickly walked over and said, “Hello.” He turned around and flashed his usual smile and shook my hand vigorously. Looking me in the eye, the first thing he said was, “Do you remember that day?” Even before he said anything, I exclaimed, “How can I ever forget it?” Then both of us burst into a hearty laugh.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Because you loved me!
Many years ago, while I was on the way from a client meeting my eyes fell on Celine Dion’s cassette in a music shop. I immediately stepped in to grab a hold of it. Then, Celine Dion was quite a new kid on the block (This was before Titanic song happened to her) as such not many knew how good a singer she was…at least on this side of the world. But still there was a fear that she could be a hot property among music lovers, hence, the hurry to get hold of the cassette. Once, I had gone through the list of songs at the back of the cassette cover of her album “Falling into you” I bought it with no second thoughts. Because the list had a song that secretly haunted my memories ever since I first heard it on MTV. The song was, “It’s all coming back to me now.”
Every day, after I returned from work, I would listen to this diva of music and her other contemporaries. After having heard all her songs my preferences suddenly took a change. The song, for which I bought the cassette, slid to a second place as another of her song replaced the first slot. The other song was simply fabulous! It was called “Because you loved me.” The song had a kind of depth, which I haven’t found in any of her other songs. Not just the voice but the music and lyrics too blended in extremely well.
Later I came to understand that “Because you loved me” won a Grammy Award.
But sadly, my joy was short-lived. While I was away, one of my brothers’ friends borrowed the cassette. And that was the last I ever saw of it. How much ever I searched for the album in the stores I couldn’t locate it. But I guess internet has its ways of throwing surprises at you. When I Google-searched for the song “Because you loved me,” it also gave video versions of it. So, here is the song I love the most along with my other Celine Dion favourites. Go ahead, check them out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve4XD4LveU0 (Because you loved me)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAKpu72Kugw (It’s all coming back to me now)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtFS0Lw1FB0 (That’s the way it is)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd1uEvyzCmM (My heart will go on)
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