Dumb...No I'm not

The glowing hands of the clock on his desk read past 12 AM. He had been through a long day at work, but somehow sleep was elusive. Something had been bothering him all day. So he decided to call up his friend for a late night chat. She picked up and answered in a sleepy voice. Dang! She had been sleeping. Feeling bad he asked her to go back to sleep. But she won't. Within seconds, she was wide awake and somewhere deep down, he felt lucky to have her as a friend.
After putting down the phone, he stared at the blank ceiling for some time. Seriously, if he had to put down something about her, what would he write. He remembered all the time that they had spent together in school. They weren't exactly the best of friends to begin with. But somewhere something changed and enmity gave way to friendship which in turn gave way to something more. Before he even realized what was happening, they were dating (secretly of course).
In front of the whole school, they hated each other's guts but back from school, they would laugh and joke about  the whole deal. He remembered his birthday when she had given him a rather awesome gift (read speechless). He remembered all the small little things she had done for him, cute in a way. But soon she had to leave. And with her leaving, it brought the one factor which breaks most relationships, distance. They didn't talk for ages and soon he forgot her.
But call it fate or just pure luck, she had somehow managed to get his number in college and one day she gave him a call. It was heaven for him, listening to that voice after such a long long time. They chatted for hours and chatted like they had never left each other's side all this time. He found out she was dating another guy. It crushed him, but he smiled and said that he was happy for her.
He remembered all the times she was down and he would stay awake all night to talk to her and console her. He remembered the times when she would give him chic advice. She had given a new meaning to his life. Through good times and really bad ones, they had stuck by each other. And till this very day, she would be literally the first person he would call to shoo away his woes.
He remembered her asking him to write a couple of words about her. He stared at the keyboard, half visible in the dim glow of his monitor. The glowing hands on the clock now read past 2 AM. Dang! He had office tomorrow. A smile crept across his face as he remembered the one word which would totally summarize her.
Dumb! And a beautiful distant voice in his head cooed...No I'm not.

Friends

The song was pretty loud, loud enough for him to be not able to answer the phone. His recently broken up girlfriend was calling. She hadn't called him in ages now; so why now. He spun down the volume dial and picked up the call.
Her voice still gave him the same feeling as it had for the past 2 years. But today there was a sadness present in her voice. He got alarmed; he still cared for her. And then she told him something which completely muted out the world. The cars, the construction, and everything around him was as if in slow motion. She had stated liking somebody else.
And just like a video goes from slo-mo to normal pace, he was back. But instead of the news killing him as he expected it would, it cleared his mind. As if the great fog had lifted and he could finally see everything. It all made sense. And then he laughed like he had not in the past few months after their break up. He was happy for her, but most of all he was happy for himself.
He remembered a conversation he had with a friend during lunch. Both of them had gone through the same fate, but his friend had moved on and was now a happier person. And his friend had advised him to do the same. But he was stupidly in love, and hence clinging on to the one hope he could hold on too. But now there was no reason to cling on to anything. He decided he would call up his friends and inform all of them.
One of them was in the office. She was definitely more worried than what she was portraying. She said she would call him back later. She was th typical love sick female. Everything was utterly romantic to her. And this news was a bad one.
Another friend who also happened to be busy, had a pretty cold response. She had expected the girl to move on before him anyways. She also would call him later.
His third friend then sat with him and laughed his ass off about how similar their stories were and he could not agree less. But then everything happens for the best, with these words he head back home.
By the time he reached, he realized that his friend had called and missed him. He didn't call back right away. The other had a different approach altogether. She had already begun to hate his ex-girlfriend, and now reading him excerpts from his facebook profile, laughing about how sad a guy she's falling for. 

But one thing that was common between the three of them was that, they cared. There had been times when they were busy or unavailable but when it really mattered they were there for him.


If you know who you are, Thank you...!! And it is truly an honor having you as a friend.

Valentines Day

Valentines Day, the day of love as the world knows it. I celebrated this day, after what seems like ages, being single. I must say it pretty much sucks. You can't go to watch a movie because the halls are thronged with couples all wanting to grab the elusive corner seats. And on top of that if you have seen every movie released this week and the only movie left is "No Strings Attached", then I must sat you are in deep shit. You pretty much have nowhere to go. The restaurants are overflowing, the streets are jam packed, the theaters are absolutely out-of-limits, which leaves what? The pubs!
So me and a couple of my friends decide to hit a nearby beer bar to spend valentines day getting sloshed listening to some great music. But apparently even these places are not spared. We had to wait for like 20 minutes before we could enter the place and that too on a Monday. I mean what the hell. Not only that, almost every table inside was full of people either drinking with their loved ones, in memory of their loved ones or to forget the same. You know you are in the wrong place when you have people toasting death to girls right next to your table.
I mean its not that I'm anti valentines day or anything but my recent break up had a lot to do with my decision to booze. But after spending some time in there I realized that there is no point hating what had happened and cursing the whole female race for that. I mean yes some of us have had their hearts broken (and broken a few ourselves) but thats no reason to curse the whole race. I mean given a few months ago, these same people must have been the ones snuggling up to their better halves as docile as lapdogs.
And then it dawned on me (or it could have been the beer), that we as humans are a very jealous race. We cannot withstand anyone else's happiness let alone be a part of it. Your best friend just got committed..."lucky ba***rd", someone got a more awesome cell that you do..."spoilt brat", a great girl walking with a not so great (read pretty lame) guy..."wtf". I mean what in the world is wrong with us? If he's got a better girl, then there is a reason for it. Sure in a lot of cases it is money but there you go. No point feeling jealous of it and getting sloshed in the pub. You want it, go get it.
Everyone of us falls in love. And by god it hurts when it ends. But then again there is a reason why everything happens. May be you'll find a much better girl and fall in love again, or may be someone from the past will turn out to be much more than a friend. The possibilities are endless. But the moment you stop to vent your anger and frustration, you are left with nothing more than a bad headache in the morning. So always celebrate this day (and booze) in happiness, if not for your then for those whom you really care about. After all Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji.

This is dedicated to all my friends who have found , are in the process of finding or waiting to find their one true soulmate, their one true Valentine. Cheers!