Learning from my Friend's Mistakes

Hello friends! Today, I want to tell you about this friend (name withheld on request) of mine… Otherwise a decent gentleman, he generally falls for girls. But then, that’s human tendency, right? He, however, is very very shy (reluctant) to approach, talk or “socialize with” a girl – which is a good thing, by the way! Whenever we are together, he often points out how cute he thinks the girl sitting there on that table is! I often find him regretting tat he gradually drifted away from a few of his female acquaintances as he now has no contacts with them what-so-ever! And hence, whenever he sees them at a social gathering (now much “smarter” and “highly charismatic” than they were 4 or 5 years ago, when he had been friends with them), he is reluctant to approach and talk to them – not that he is desperate, but just that he wants to [Every guy wants to talk to a cute (or any) girl. If you say you don’t, then I can bet that either you’re not a guy, or you’re not a normal guy!]

So, this friend (name withheld on request) of mine went to a play one day. No! Make it evening… I wasn’t there with him, but then, since we have been so good friends for such a long time, I didn’t need to be there either to know what had happened… He tells me “almost all” of his “secrets” – which include his (very few) adventures and (many) misadventures… Yes! So, I was saying that he went to a play on evening. It was a good quality play and the participants were his age-old acquaintances – mainly feminine…

So, our hero was enjoying himself a lot and got a golden opportunity to… well… “relive” his “glorious” days of his friendship with the participants of the play. He had invited me too. But I was compelled to refuse owing to my lawn tennis schedule’s clash with the timings. I regret my refusal, though – not that I missed making new girl friends, but that I wasn’t there with him during what happened to him the in next few paragraphs!

The auditorium was almost a-mile-and-a-half away from his (beautiful, spacious and enviable) bunglaw. Hmmm… Neither too close nor too far! Neither “walkable” nor “far away”! So, after all the “socializing” and re-establishing his contacts with his old contacts, he wanted to go home – obviously! It was almost 9 P.M. and the driver was gone, plus dad was a bit busy doing some paperwork. After he just had socialized so earnestly with them, it was tempting to ask for a lift – and even easier to get one! But then, his ego came in the way! So, our hero, after a super evening was unknowingly and involuntarily moving towards a fix! Little did he know that the evening was not yet over!

So, he did not have a mode of transport, could not ask for a lift and, to save his prestige, was in no mood to catch a public transport or any other mode of transport which would “hamper” his “image”… So, he decided to get away from the auditorium to a relatively lonely place where no one would see him committing the crime of catching an auto rickshaw… hopeful, he broke off from the group a bit and – when no one had their attention towards him – slinked away out of the auditorium and headed straight towards the direction of his home…

When our hero was convinced that he was “distant enough” from the auditorium and none of his friends (especially the girls) were around – and he was on a lonely street – he started a massive “search and hire” campaign! Finally, an auto rickshaw was generous enough to pass through that street and stopped at his call! Just when he was about to tell the auto-man where to go, his phone rang – it was a girl from the play who he had known for the past 8 years or so… Now how could he board the auto rickshaw while he was talking to her? She would know that by the background khattar-khattar noise of the auto! So, he took the call, hoping that she would hang up fast, but the call was long as she was expressing her anger on him for not informing her before leaving… A statement was, “Phone mein ghus ke tere ko 2 jhapad maarne ka man kar raha hai!” He found it “cute”… But then, every action of a girl is cute, right? Anyways… So, the girl was angry on him for not saying “Bye!” before leaving! [You know how girls are… Their most fierce fights with their friends, boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, etc. are basically because they “did not say ‘Hye!’ to me while passing me by” or just “didn’t smile at me”]

So, it was past 9 o'clock and parents were waiting for dinner at home. And the girl was behaving like an angry girlfriend! And our poor hero (duck) was walking that lonely street apologising… She forgave him and informed him that they were going to Chrome for dinner (a local pub)… The poor guy did not know what to do! He was stuck half-way between the auditorium and home – both physically and psychologically! He could either go back to the auditorium and then to the pub (with quite a few of his FEMALE acquaintances) or he could go home – where parents were waiting for him… He was in a great poignant dilemma!

But then, as I mentioned in the beginning, he is basically a nice guy and otherwise a gentleman. So, he mad the right (though tough) choice – HOME! He politely declined the offer and started walking home… There was a slight possibility – a very slight possibility; a very VERY slight possibility – that he might get an auto in that lonely way! After he had crossed the halfway mark, and all hopes of an auto fading, he realized that was VERY late! So, the poor guy decided to sprint back the rest of the way… He started to make a dash – home was about a k.m. away! Just then, an auto showed up out of nowhere… The auto driver, however, was greedy and demanded 20 bucks – the fair fare would have been 10, but then it was night time and the auto driver had the demand and supply balance in his favour – so, he said – “20 bucks! Board the auto or run back home!” So, my friend, who is a bit of a miser and had his own ego – asked the auto driver to get lost and continued with his Dandi march… Each time a car passed by, he’d stop running and try to portray that he was walking – it would look stupid for a guy to run on a roadside at around 9:30 P.M.! So, he half walked and half sprinted his way back home – his shirt drenched in sweat – out of breath! To make matters worse, parents were a bit upset and he had missed the evening at the pub, too!




Moral of the blog: Reputation isn’t everything! But it sure is SOMEthing!