Behind the bride's veil - VII

'Do you like it?'
'Like? You got to be kiddin', I love it! Girl, I love you so much!', Varsha yanked the Michael Kors limited edition bag and watch from my hands and hugged me tight.
'Best. Gift. Ever!', she yelled.

I slithered my way through the flashing lights and music blasting to the DJ. 'Hey DJ, it's my friend's budday! Varshaaaa, give her a shout out!', I whooped into his ears.

'We've a birthday girl in the house! Everyone throw your hands up and wish Varsha a very happy birthday!', the crowd went roaring while we all danced and cheered like there's no tomorrow!

2.47 AM. 

The digits shone bright as I double tapped my screen. I blinked a couple of times and narrowed my eyes to make sure I was reading the time right. We all were part deaf and very disoriented by then. I gasped and shook my head, 'Too late'. As always, Google Now, my alter mother, was over concerned and read '46 minutes to home'. It was our final round at the counter. 'To Vaaaashaaaa', our shot glasses clinked and we tossed them up!

3.12 AM.

'Too late', I thought to myself.

'Guys...?', no one hears me.

'Heyyy, isn't... isn't it late? We've ... we... uni ... morning', I stuttered to the finish. With each attempt, they lost me all the more and finally we all broke into one monstrous laugh. 'You're too... done Vandhu!', Karan scoffed and almost fell off. Varsha grabbed his hand in an instant! 'Yah, I see you're the boss!', I snapped back and we all guffawed again.

3.20 AM.

'Very late. Very', I mumbled to myself as Glenn was settling the bill. Varsha and I dawdled ahead to the exit. The music from the other clubs was still on and loud and we tapped and swayed innately. We had random people from the club come over and wish her and cheer while we laid back feasting on the pizzazz walking past us to the parking lot. A charming chap walked past us with his group of friends. We looked at each other. 'An eight ... ', I told her. She glared. 'Ok ... and a half', I said handsomely. 'Ay, you're ruthless. A ten. A Prince Charming ten', she contested. While we were scoring princes in the judges' panel, my phone rang. It was Aditya.

'Heyyyy...', I picked up as I walked away from Varsha who still couldn't take her eyes of Mr. Ten.
'All set? We're ready'
'Oh great, you guys can leave now', he spoke up. 'You and Varsha come along with Jay. The others can come along with Glenn'
God he sounded so good. Keep talking please, I thought to myself.
'Ok?', he broke the quiet.
'Done', I hung up.

'Who?', his sister asked.
'Aditya', I said fumbling on my phone without looking at her.
'Whooo?', she asked again.
'Aditya!', I told her and quickly looked down to my phone again.

'Nice', she sighed. 'My brother... My dear dear brother calls up my friend... Who? My friend... to check on us and hasn't even wished me yet. Very nice', she gave it a slow clap.
'Don't be silly, he just called to check when we're coming. What's in that?', I topped back nonchalantly, veering away the topic.
'Of course of course', Jay nodded at the others. 'He called her, so?', they shrugged.
'Yeah whatever', I ignored them. It wasn't long before I smiled at this scandal.
'Hmmmm...', Karan smiled at me.
'Dude, it's a surprise at her house, Aditya's invited everyone and they're waiting for us! It's gonna be crazzzyyyy!', I couldn't hold my excitement as I whispered this plan to him.

~~~~~~~~~~

'Then? What happened?', Rishi was as excited as I was to hear me.
'Then what. We all went, we celebrated her birthday at her place. That's all', I snuffed out the buzz.

We were in the cafeteria at work post the presentation. I had barely managed to pull it off given my frame that morning with my love glitch that decided to fly from Singapore to win me over, again. The place bustled with people carrying around cups of chai and coffee and munchies for the evening. And there was us. Rishi sat right beside me, he was always by my side. Aditya sat on the other side, he'd always been on the other side.

'WHAT! That's all? Oh c'mon, you can't leave me hanging like this! Tell me what happened', Rishi cried out.
'Nothing! Like I said, we celebrated her birthday, God it was a fab party! Then I went back home and it was business as usual the next day. Right...?', I nudged on.

'And what happened the next day?', Aditya smiled narrowing his eyes slightly beyond the rim of his coffee cup.

April in the eye of Resolutions

'I thought at least this year she'll care for us'
'Humans are ruthless. They don't treat us with love and respect'
Just a few things my resolutions tell me. Rather, whisper in my ears.

It's April. The fourth month of 2015. And how have my New Year Resolutions been feeling lately? Left out, malnourished and sad. Course they will be, the charm just lasts that long.

Honestly, I start my fancy resolutions' list by December mid. 'Next year is just going to be so much more productive, healthy and enriching', I often tell myself. I would visualise regular cardio sessions at the gym, being cheerful and active throughout the day at work and giving in more time to things I want to spend more time on. Be it playing the Veena, learning a new language, meeting new people or just delivering what I'd promised. I start with so much energy jotting down all that I want to do this new year. From the clichéd time management to exquisite travel plans. In fact, making the resolution come true itself was a resolution for my cousin. And the usual, never make another resolution was another's. Believe me, the process for some of us is like the Finance Minister charting out the Annual Budget. It is the be-all and end-all.

But, what it really boils down to is something very simple. Can you can simply stick to them for a reasonable amount of time, say, a humble six to seven months. Ironically, that's the tricky part. We look at the bigger picture and miss out on the details. Shift in priorities and time crunches fling our plans out of the window. We're left at the disposal of the same routine in life. Pretty much, we're back to square one. Back to, 'Ay chuck it. Life's unfair. As usual'

'But this year must be different. I really want to make changes, bloke!', you'd hear friends whine. At least I did, on the 30th December 2014. 'Everyday must be something I look forward to, something I thoroughly enjoy'. '2015 is gonna be impactful and hell yeah!'. It all started of with Day 1. January the 1st. Amidst parties and visits to the temple, I did keep up my resolution on that day. I was realistic. Just two simple ones for 2015. Wake up early. Spend at least half and hour doing something different. Music, gym, calling up friends, picking up a book and learning to cook to survive came in this list. Alright alright, I hear you do the 'Ahem, get to the point. Did they happen?'

The first week of January was full thrust. I breathed in and breathed out my resolutions. Admitted, it was indeed a very rewarding experience every time I completed a resolution. The pat on my back post that? Un. Matched. January was truly the champion month. 

But then, days turned into weeks and routine crept in. Now there're other things to do and resolutions were no longer the new groom in my life. They're, ummm, just there. It wasn't until this blog post that I thought about them, about how I've ignored them.

'Chal yaar, saal bhar hume April fool banati hai', the resolutions spoke to one another.