First off... Sorry for the huge delay in replying to all the wonderful comments for my wedding post. By the time I could get access to a decent net, there were already 20 odd comments and after that, I was just...well, lost on where to start. Anyway, be it ever so late, I did finally get rid of the lazy-bug gene in me and reply to all the comments.

It, however, brings me to today's post. As I mentioned in the last post, me and my wife are diametric opposites and that often leads to hilarious discussions and arguments. Case in point : We were watching a movie on Tv one night. Everytime an ad break arrived, she'd turn to me and demand I start a conversation, using the centuries old "Don't you love me? Then why don't you have anything to talk to me ?" sentence to emotionally blackmail me. Attempts to discuss the movie, world politics, music, family and the weather ( Gimme a break ! I was desperate ok, guys !! ) all just added to the frown on her face. Soon, it reached a stage where I was spending the whole movie thinking of suitable topics to discuss before the next ad break arrived !!

But it made me realise something about myself. I'm so used to being with my own thoughts and enjoying 'my own private time' whereas this concept was totally alien to my wife who is so used to something or the other going on around her. She finally got fed up of the silent pauses between the ad breaks and  knighted me with the dubious title of "AWARD MOVIE." I, of course, refrained from calling her what was in my mind ( ‘Cartoon Network’ ) for fear of ending up on the couch.

It reminded me of an incident that occurred nearly 10 years ago. It was in a biochemistry lab and after drawing the required diagrams, we had to go and get it signed by the madam sitting in front. As my friend, H, went with his book to get the sign, he noticed that the madam was barely glancing at the pages as she ticked them but kept looking up and smiling shyly. She was even blushing, he told me later. Unable to understand, H followed her gaze... and struck his head. His roommate was staring unblinking back at the madam; his face resting on his arms and sporting a silly smile in his face. She kept looking down at the book, then looking up again to see him still staring back at her with that obvious schoolboy crush expression.

H realised what was going on and on his way back to his table, deliberately stamped on his roommate's feet, thus breaking the spell. His roommate, as he had guessed, had no idea what was going on. You see, he was lost in his own dream world and 'unfortunately' happened to be facing madam at the time. He had no clue that the happy thoughts in his bored mind were being deciphered as a teacher-student love story by the teacher !!

The final piece of this drama unfolded the next day, of course. By some weird coincidence, H and his roommate again had to go meet the same madam the next day at her staff room. On entering, the teacher's face lit up and she called them in. She then introduced them to her teenage son who 'just' happened to be there. She then went on a lengthy monologue, totally unrelated to the subject and dealing more on a very peculiar topic - how we were all 'like her children' and how difficult it must be for us being away from our parents and likely to 'have complicated feelings because of this new loneliness.' After an excruciatingly long 15 minutes, both students excused themselves and escaped from the chambers.

It took all of H's self-restraint to stop himself from killing his roommate that day for making him a part of such an embarrassing conversation. He would eventually get used to that familiar sight over the next 5 years of seeing his roommate simply staring into space, lost in his own world, oblivious to his surroundings and smiling like a doped dodo. 

I should know. That day-dreaming 'romeo' was and still is, of course, me.