Cat Mouse and the Cupid!

Love hits your senses in a number of ways. It hits you when you least expect it. It hits you when you have lost all hopes of achieving it. Something similar was going on with Sammy last year.


Sammy was a very calculated guy. Always knew what to do and how to get what he wanted. He had an acute understanding of life which no one ever knew. I was always marveling at his approach to life. Unlike me, he was totally into science and was the firm believer of the 1 true fact – Everything has an answer. Using this attitude he carried himself through school, college and stepped into the professional world. At the same time he was shy and he suffered from the 1 syndrome which affects almost half of all the male population – Approaching Girls.

Sammy’s eyes were always following 1 particular girl for the past few months – Romi. Well all I knew about Romi back then and even now is that she was an honest, fun loving reserved girl. She was the kind of girls, guys really want on their facebook/orkut accounts just to get their reps up!! But somehow Sammy knew that there was more to her then just getting your rep up. Yes, she was complicated, but my dear friend Sammy had the tools of decoding this female. Everytime Sammy would just – one way or the other – find out some information about Romi and try to understand who she is and how she is. I always find it amusing. His reaction always reminded me of myself when I was at a shopping center every weekend passing by a toy store!

Every now and then Sammy would make up his mind about talking to her and then as time passed, I would see Sammy’s enthusiasm deflating and finally he would sink into his Economic Times, occasionally surfacing to share the Daily Dilbert comic strip to which I would respond saying “You’re a real fattu!”.

This cat and mouse gave me real fun to look forward to in an otherwise dull morning bus rides. I would always see Sammy twitching the moment Romi and her friend walked into the bus. In most cases, when Sammy and I would arrive late in the bus, Sammy would react as if he had just scored a wonder goal when he got a seat right behind his dreamy lady! Believe me, my jokes had no bounds back then.

Anyways, entertainment is indeed expensive. Sometimes on Sammy’s request, I had to race the bus in our trusted autorickshaw, overtake it and then board it! These requests were taking a toll of my fitness as well!!

Anyways, the moment when this all turned on its head was when Romi suddenly spoke to Sammy “Hi, excuse me, can I borrow your newspaper? I really want to read about Dilbert”. That entire bus journey, Sammy’s smile was as beautiful as the one which the Grinch wore when he stole Christmas. Make no mistake about it, he wasn’t ecstatic becoz she asked for ET, he was overwhelmed by her love for Dilbert.

Well, this was the opening that Sammy required. Requests like these turned into conversation, conversation turned into more conversation which turned into more. It was as if someone jump started the talkative part of his brains!! She really did bring a smile to Sammy’s face and the moments of entertainment ceased to exist for me!

“Hey dude, listen, I need to get Romi some gift. Valentine day is coming up and I really want to go for it”. I knew this was just the beginning. He would go through a dozen shops, look for the perfect gift and then identify her with it and then evaluate, using his scoring mechanism, whether she would love it or not. I remember him doing this when we went to shop for his computer RAM chip. Anyways, finally after hours and hours of digging through what not, he finally found something fun for her – a pearl bracelet.

So, the moment had arrived. It was Friday morning, a day before V-day when Sammy, in his nice new smart guy tshirt waited in the bus for his lady to arrive. I was half expecting all the bachelors in the bus to stand up with roses the moment she stepped into the bus but Sammy was hopeful that wont be the case. Anyways, she entered, looking super cool and hot in hot rod red! Sammy was floored. I bet he swallowed his tongue that morning as during the entire journey all he could do was either nod his head or say the words “hmmm”.

The day was passing by. According to Sammy, the Sun was trying to move quickly in order to give him less time – something to do with his Zodiac sign. Sammy received, suddenly, an Instant Message at around 4 pm, It was Romi “Can we meet in the Café?” Sammy jumped and quickly agreed to meet. He cancelled all his meetings and his weekly status discussion with his manager (boy did he talked out of it) and headed for the café (almost forgetting the gift).

Romi: So, how was the day?

Sammy: Day was good, not much work.

Romi: Did I interrupt you in your daily activity?

Sammy: No No, I was just winding up. No work at all today

Romi: Well, what was the urgent thing you wanted to talk?

Sammy: Romi, I wanted to give you this. (Saying that, Sammy popped out the bracelet case)

Romi opened the package and was awestruck at the bracelet. Smiling she hinted at Sammy to offer it to her. For the 1st time in his life, he understood such a gesture and proceeded to tie it around her arm. With a romantic twist to this moment, the mouse said “Can you give me the opportunity to be with you. I am just asking you to give me a chance”

The Cat said “Of course idiot, you took 5 months to tell me such a small thing? Thank god your friend asked me to talk to you!”

Cupid was sitting a few tables away…smiling….