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First piece of fiction Ive written...lets see where this journey takes me.

December's in Chennai arent known for anything. Except maybe the 'music season';only the brahmins went there though,no self respecting son of the soil would be found dead in the Music Academy's Krishnamachari hall.The weather isnt remarkable either,it is hot, the first in the oft-quoted trilogy of weather in Chennai-hot,hotter and hottest. So with nothing to do and un-remarkable weather to aid,Kabilan made the call that set in motion a rather interesting day in my life.

'Bella Ciao' was the new restaurant in town. 'Eatery' as only Kabilan likes to call it. He wasnt exactly a coarse guy in the typical Chennai sense-he spoke Thamizh without sounding like he had constipation ,as most inhabitants of the city usually do. He wasnt dense either,finishing engineering school in one of the prominent schools in the city.

"Macha,come to Bella Ciao,you know where it is,right?".I dint like what he was implying, that I dint know where one of the hottest spots in Chennai was.
"Why Bella Ciao? We could meet at the usual places around Anna Nagar?"
"Illa da, I'll explain, come NOW". His implications kept getting worse, I do have a life of my own you know.
"Ok"

With much goading and no expectation, I went to meet the finely mannered Mr. Kabilan at 'Bella Ciao'. You get the feeling as soon as you enter 'Bella Ciao' that its owner has never been to Italy. You dont know why you feel this way,you havent been to Italy either. You just look at the place and know immediately that it tries too hard.Couple of twenty-something PYT's smoke a local brand. I stared at them a little longer than I should have.You always stare at women who smoke in Chennai. You've seen it before of course,but you just have to stare-its a guy thing. Kabilan was sitting the way he usually does-facing the women,leaving me with a strategic view of Toys-R-Us located opposite.The objective of tonight's rendezvous was well known. We'd had a couple of conversations about this on phone and email. Kabilan was seeing someone;as in dating her and not just staring.

I ordered the only Italian food that made any sense to me-spinach ravioli.It almost made you tolerate the Italian who was ruling your country.That out of the way I looked at Kabilan for an Ice-breaker,no soup or 'ante-pasta' this time,I was runnning a little low on cash, what with the credit crunch and all.The waiter hung on a little longer than he should have,I felt. If only he'd known that I wanted to eat Minestrone soup as much as he wanted me to.

"I dont know where this is going,da" Kabilan said,avoiding my eyes.
"She is nice,good looking in a Thamizh sense,and holds a decent job". He trailed off in a way that was supposed to mean that all was not well with his love life.
"Ok"
"See the thing is that she'd be an excellent partner for me.She wants to do an MBA and all..she is very ambitious" Hmm,something was badly wrong with his love life.
"Okayy...so whats the catch" I snapped.I felt I shouldnt have as soon as I said it.
"She met my mother yesterday" Ah-haa.There's the problem.

Life Since 2004...

Just had a flash of thought in the shower today...my life since 2004...

2004-mildly depressing to start with,GOT EMPLOYED!!! in september,euphoria
2005-left home,started on top;went south,really south in the end
2006-started going south;depressing,suicidal;lots of mistakes;started on a journey of learning
2007-mission,vision, whatever;"anything's better than 2006" kinda attitude;LOTS of learning on the way
2008-SUPER Learning,career progression,travel,life's direction makes sense(only a lil bit actually);good fun on the way!