love bytes
The end of another academic year and with no plans for the holidays and nothing better to do, Rashmi, Priya and I decided to go surfing…on the net! We plonked ourselves down at our local cyberwalla and after checking out a whole lot of sites decided to register ourselves for a blind date. Filling out the form was peanuts as compared to picking Mr. Right from the list. After a whole lot of scrutiny I settled for ‘Hairy & Horny’…yeah…really caught me by the horns that!

After days of exchanging mail, numbers and ideas, judgement day had arrived…right here on earth. The day - Thursday. The time - to beat a hasty retreat. The venue - Coffee House, Camp. How were we gonna spot each other from the crowd? He said he’d wait for me outside…without the usual rose. The alternative?  A red T-shirt!

I was there in time for our lunch date with my stomach already full…courtesy the butterflies! As if that wasn’t enough, I twisted my foot and ended up with a broken heel (pun intended). Walking to Coffee House was now an ordeal but I wasn’t about to give up after making it so far. Once there, my frantic search for my beau in red was put to rest…what with a whole football team lined outside in that very colour. Some were hairy and some seemed horny but which one were he…I didn’t know and I desperately hoped to death that none of them would be!

Well, my knight in shining armour did come to my rescue but not before my cheeks turned redder than the red T-shirts…and it definitely wasn’t the sun’s doing. There he was this 5’8” guy quite unlike his data, which read 6’2”. A short crop on his head and not the expected raastas…what a relief that was! Oh and he was as coy as I…although he sounded as cool as the coolest cucumber whenever we spoke on the phone.

For the next ten minutes surrounded by silence, what we really needed was an ice pick…and that the waiter served on a platter in the form of the menu card…and from then on there was no looking back. Rahul and I formed quite a team. He wasn’t hairy or horny…just cute and corny and had me splitting from my sides with his humour tumor.

We ordered something really light that was quite contrary on the pocket and though we just drank some cola, the conversation flowed like champagne. Time waits for no one and it didn’t for us but that didn’t stop us from carrying on our date till it was time for tea. Well, we discovered a lot of common interests and beliefs but fortunately or unfortunately no sparks flew, no love blossomed…what did develop though was the beginning of an amazing and warm friendship. We are still very much in touch and are buddies to the core. Many-a-time life throws surprises our way and sometimes…they turn out to be very pleasant ones…just like this one was!

-Shauna.