The Chemistry That Was!

If you are reading this chemistry series for the first time and even otherwise, since it was quite sometime since the last post, do read the previous posts “Chemistry!”, “The Chemistry”, and “The Chemistry That _________!” in that order. :)

Bhaskar
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The Chemistry That Was!

Somehow the entire weekend was going too slow for me.. even though I spent the most of my time with my dear friends in Chennai, still I was very restless. I was cursing myself for not taking her mobile number or atleast some contact number in Chennai. ‘But then, she would have given me if there was one, wouldn’t she?’ ‘I didn’t see any mobile with her’ ‘How can she give her contact number in Chennai to someone who she has just met on the train and even if he is from the same office?’ That’s how my mind was trying to console me…

Finally the appointed time arrived and I had actually reached the Chennai central railway station much earlier.. more than an hour earlier (which was very much against my values and principles of JIT (Just-In-Time), but then there were always exceptions to the rule!) I even bought two tickets on Tatkal (for the funda behind this, pls refer the previous episode ;) and had stocked myself with a 500ml bottle of Sprite and 2 bars of Nut ‘n Treat (her fav as I had found out during the small(!) talk on the fateful Friday).

So, there I am... beside the electronic weighing machine (there was only one those days) close to the main entrance of the railway station. Five mins.. ten mins.. time seemed to be ticking off like on a time bomb, but she was nowhere to be seen. Was she another late lathief*? Well, I was already standing on my toes… it was just another ten mins before the train would depart. And I was getting torn apart… it was like a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.. well, not exactly.. but then I didn’t have the time to think of a better one. I had to decide and decide fast.. what if she didn’t turn up.. what if she turned up at the last minute.. what if she turned up JIT and miss me since I would have already moved to the train and she wouldn’t know where to find me.. the money I had spent and which would go waste was the least on my mind that time.

Slowly I was moving towards my train and by the time I reached my berth I was comfortably numb. The disappointment was just too much to take. At the same time, I was worried and concerned about her. ‘what happened to her?’ ‘did she meet with an accident or what?’ those were the little voices at the back of my head…

I lost track of time as I was moving in and out of my sleep. And in that state of semi-consciousness I went about the routine of alighting at the Bangalore City, catching the pre-paid auto, reaching home, sleeping for a couple of hours more, finally getting up and reaching office on the bright Monday morning. And of course, the first thing I did on reaching office was to find out if Deepa was in. I went up to the receptionist and asked for her with the tech support team. And the answer I got had me seeing-stars-in-stark-daylight. There was no person by that name in the team!!

My first perceptible thought was that it should be some mistake but then she confirmed with one of the team members. There was no Deepa in the team and there was only one Deepa in the whole office.. Deepa Nagesh, married, project manager, semiconductors group. Definitely not her….

What kind of a cruel prank could this be?? How can she lie to me and that too get away with that???? I’ve heard of glib liars but that was the first time I met someone in reality... my gawd.. did I have to meet someone like that at all? how did she know certain details about me and my office? Was she actually from my office but with a different real name? My mind was whacking me with questions…

By the end of the day, I had resigned myself to the fate. Still unable to accept the disappointment I put on my crib-shoes and turned to my faithful companion.. the yahoo messenger…randomly cribbing with whoever I could find online.. one of them was my long-time online friend, someone whose pen name was Saki and who had refused to give her real identity. After a couple of mins into the chat, she messaged back to say “Bhaskar, I have a confession to make”, “no, actually many confessions”. I visualized some bulb switching on and glowing somewhere.. “Saki, pls give me some good news” “Ok.. let me put it this way.. Bhaskar, I’m romantically attracted to you!!”

Concluded
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*late lathief – I don’t know how this term originated but then it is used to denote the chronic late comers