Strangers in the Night

His Story

"Strangers in the night", Frank Sinatra was crooning. He never understood her fascination with the song, but over time had learnt to appreciate it. They were just about finished with their first glass of wine, at the Cafe Coffee Day next to the International Airport. They were celebrating the 10 years that they had been together.

"Hey weren't you guys at IITM ?" Thick glasses, blue-eyed, long hair tied in a pony tail and a stubble at least six months old seemed vaguely familiar. There seemed to be a scar that started somewhere on his left cheekbone buried under all that facial hair and which seemed to end somewhere below his left ear.

"Yes we were, I am Jai and this here is...."

"Geeta I guess" pony tail chirped.

"Yes I am Geeta" she said with an uneasy edge to her voice. He knew that IIT girls being the rarity they were on campus pretty much everyone remembered her.

"Well I am a couple of years junior to you guys, John do you guys remember ?"

"Aah yes Johnnie "keep walking" Walker right" A nick acquired due to John's typically being found in drunken stupor more often than not.

"Yup, I remember bowling to you and Vijay at IITM"

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Geeta pursing her lips. Vijay was literally the blue eyed boy of his batch. A Comp Sci student, was in the top half of his class but you would rarely find him mugging. A Mardi Gras P-team member, hostel band's vocalist he was also one of the most stylish batsmen of his hostel who batted like a millionaire meant that whenever John was sober he would throw his wicket away. Plus he had that rarest of things at IIT, a girlfriend.

"Yup you really did have Vijay's number I remember, never prepared to ground it out....well what can you say to the style merchants"

"And I don't think you scored too many off me either, I knew your correct batting would always mean that I could bowl to my field"

His time at IIT was a big contrast to Vijay's. He belonged to the "fighter" class rather than the "stud" class. He studied very hard to reach the top of his class and his batting much like everything else about him was a very studied perfected technique. He was no big shot at Mardi Gras nor was he good at any other extra academic stuff, he could not strut a guitar and shout "Born in the USA" or go around in a false accent shouting "rock is dead". In an institution where a lot of emphasis was placed on doing things without appearing to put in any kind of effort he was not exactly very popular except during exam times. People tolerated him because of that. But then he was a stud in one field and it was that he could keep drinking till even the last person in his group gave up. He never could figure out why he never got drunk like everyone else, the more he drank the only feeling he seemed to have was a kind of fury at the world, a dull throbbing pain in his temples. But he rarely gave voice to it and would keep drinking.

"Jai stop being all nostalgic about your cricket memories, John join us in the celebrations, we are celebrating our 10th anniversary"

"Ah and we are to be having wine I see. The new policy of the government regarding wine licenses is cool."

Another glass was called for and the wine was poured out in the correct manner by Jai.

"Cheers" as the three glasses clinked, "To you guys" John said.

"So Jai what are you up to these days ?" John asked

"Well I always realised I was not really cut out for an engineering job so passed out and did an MBA at IIMA. Now work for Barclay's at London"

He realised that he had done exactly what most of his friends at IIT did, an engineering optimisation problem of making the most money in the least possible time. Was very successful at his job too, but there was always an inner voice that kept telling him that this was not what he had dreamed of all those years back. And these days the inner voice seemed to irritate him all the more and far too frequently for it to be called an irritation.

"Whoa man that must be interesting!! And what are you up to Geeta"

"Oh I have given up my job, keep myself busy by trying to paint mostly"

"Any idea what happened to Vijay ?"

"Well he passed out of IIT, had this fantastic idea that he wanted to be a writer but never did amount to much"

"Ah after my own heart then, I am also a writer you see."

"Oh what do you write ?" Geeta asked

"Nothing path-breaking, right now writing some technical manuals to make ends meet. The idea being that this kind of free lancing work is temporary and with all the free time that I have, I should eventually get down to writing a novel" John said.

"Oh I see" there was a disappointed note in her voice.

"Anyway guys all the best to your future, I have a flight to catch now"

And he left them and walked out of the cafe. Jai envied everything about John, the ease with which he had come over to the table and talked to them, the apparently effortless small talk he made. He himself would have walked out of a cafe if he had to confront people from his past whom he did not know too well. He remembered what Vijay had told him long ago at IIT after getting drunk "Man you are born with style, there is no way it can be taught, not to you".

Her Story

There was the usual music that played at most coffee shops that was playing that night. Ten years since she had been with Jai. Ten years since she had bet on safety.

"Hey weren't you guys at IITM ?" For a moment she thought, but no it just cannot be. The first few years had been great, they had travelled all over the world, seen all the places she had wanted to see.

"Yes we were, I am Jai and this here is...."

"Geeta I guess"

"Yes I am Geeta" Being a girl, an attractive one at that at IIT meant that everyone three batches junior and senior knew you.

"Well I am a couple of years junior to you guys, John do you guys remember ?"

Jai and John seemed to get lost in their cricket reverie. She did not particularly like cricket. She knew that whenever Vijay lost a match he would be irritable the whole night and that the whole evening of hers would be spoilt listening to the ravings of Vijay on what so-and-so ought to have done.

"Jai stop being all nostalgic about your cricket memories, John join us in the celebrations, we are celebrating our 10th anniversary"

"Ah and we are to be having wine I see. The new policy of the government regarding wine licenses is cool."

Another glass was called for and she could even with her eyes closed imagine exactly how Jai would pour the wine out.

"Cheers" as the three glasses clinked, "To you guys" John said.

"So Jai what are you up to these days ?" John asked

"Well I always realised I was not really cut out for an engineering job so passed out and did an MBA at IIMA. Now work for Barclay's at London" This is why she thought she had chosen him, someone who had mapped out his future like all the road trips that they had been together on. Unlike someone whose life seemed to like the innumerable paper boats set to sail in rainwater puddles, taking a course that was so random that one eventually got trampled upon.

"Whoa man that must be interesting!! And what are you up to Geeta"

"Oh I have given up my job, keep myself busy by trying to paint mostly"

"Any idea what happened to Vijay ?"

"Well he passed out of IIT, had this fantastic idea that he wanted to be a writer but never did amount to much" She remembered this same day ten years back. The writing thing for Vijay was not working out too well, Jai meanwhile was having great success as a banker. Today was the day that she told Vijay about Jai.

"Ah after my own heart then, I am also a writer you see."

"Oh what do you write ?" Geeta asked. She had come to see Jai off at the airport and he had proposed to her.

"Nothing path-breaking, right now writing some technical manuals to make ends meet. The idea being that this kind of free lancing work is temporary and with all the free time that I have, I should eventually get down to writing a novel"

"Oh I see" Which was her first awkward response then as well to Jai.

"Anyway guys all the best to your future, I have a flight to catch now"

It stuck her then that she would trade a lot to be liker her husband, always in control. Always knowing what you need and knowing exactly what is needed to achieve those goals.

The third story

Frank Sinatra's exquisite voice sounded over the background "Strangers in the night". Ten years was a long time, but if he knew Jai he knew that he could not resist it and would be here. He was right. As in batting so in life.

"Hey weren't you guys at IITM ?"

"Yes we were, I am Jai and this here is...."

"Geeta I guess" He still loved the way the name rolled off his tongue.

"Yes I am Geeta" and he knew that she was adopting the voice that she used with most IIT guys. If anything she seemed more desirable than she ever was at IIT.

"Well I am a couple of years junior to you guys, John do you guys remember ?" The subterfuge came naturally to him

"Aah yes Johnnie "keep walking" Walker right"

"Yup, I remember bowling to you and Vijay at IITM"

"Yup you really did have Vijay's number I remember, never prepared to ground it out....well what can you say to the style merchants"

Maybe Jai was right after all. He always thought that being a writer meant a bohemian lifestyle. Like everything else at IIT he thought writing success too would come easily to him. Maybe he really ought to grind it out, put in those hours of sweat that he had for the JEE towards his novel as well.

"And I don't think you scored too many off me either, I knew your correct batting would always mean that I could bowl to my field"

He never really understood why he had almost always wanted to put Jai down, both here and at IIT.

"Jai stop being all nostalgic about your cricket memories, John join us in the celebrations, we are celebrating our 10th anniversary"

"Ah and we are to be having wine I see. The new policy of the government regarding wine licenses is cool."

Another glass was called for.

"Cheers" as the three glasses clinked, "To you guys" John said.

"So Jai what are you up to these days ?" John asked

"Well I always realised I was not really cut out for an engineering job so passed out and did an MBA at IIMA. Now work for Barclay's at London"

And the memory of a frustrated James Stewart kicking his car in A Wonderful Life came to mind.

"Whoa man that must be interesting!! And what are you up to Geeta"

"Oh I have given up my job, keep myself busy by trying to paint mostly"

"Any idea what happened to Vijay ?"

"Well he passed out of IIT, had this fantastic idea that he wanted to be a writer but never did amount to much"

But then again those are the problems when one belongs to the stud class at IIT, the expectations are almost always sky high.

"Ah after my own heart then, I am also a writer you see."

"Oh what do you write ?" Geeta asked

"Nothing path-breaking, right now writing some technical manuals to make ends meet. The idea being that this kind of free lancing work is temporary and with all the free time that I have, I should eventually get down to writing a novel" John said.

"Oh I see" he could figure out that she was lost in thought and maybe had overstayed his welcome.

"Anyway guys all the best to your future, I have a flight to catch now"

Walking out he thought that Geeta probably led the best life of them. Married to someone rich enough to take care of all material comforts and so afforded her the time to follow her hobbies. On the ride back home he slept on the bus and dreamt of marrying a rich heiress and writing books just for the joy of it.