Srini----- Our guy next door

Hmm the topic itself would have given the reader a fair idea as to what I am going to talk about and I can already see that grin on your face and that silent nod of your head in agreement to your imagination of what I am about to conjure.
Kudos my friend as you are just right in thinking about it the way I would.

If not also, please don’t lose heart continue to read.


So let us now meet our dear Mr. Srinivasan Iyer from our sweet Chennai. The land of lip smacking rice cakes (Ok now don’t you get confused, they also call them yidlee.) and taste bud tickling sambhar. The land of beaches and the land of our own Chennai tamizh.
Ok Ok here we go.

Now a little backdrop on our Srini ( I am taking the liberty of calling him so henceforth). A lanky and gawky guy from the beautiful and scenic Chennai.
You may be wondering what is so scenic about that place. Well that’s were the home of our protagonist is. So nothing to beat it.
Life had been a struggle for this chap right from when he had finished his engineering. So his expectant parents like most of them had high expectations of their only boy.(BTW he has a sister who is younger to him and in her eleventh standard, but that still makes him the only boy;)
So he somehow lands a plum job in this software industry. But fate had other plans for him. He had to leave his comfort zone and embark on a journey of a lifetime or so it seemed to him and go to Bangalore. So the day had come and with a heavy heart and eyes brimming with tears he bade goodbye to his family. A practical mom who was very happy to see her son set out to chase his dreams, a not so practical dad
who is turning away just in time to scare that tear off his face and a happy sister who is happy that she will have her brother's room all to herself and his computer will be hers now.
His bicycle will be at her beck and call.

So now that was the scene at the station. The brindavan express now gaining steam and chug chugging happily to Bangalore. Somehow his entire life so far just seemed to go past his eyes.
Moments when his mom would be awake till he returned after freaking out with the very few friends of his, moments when his dad would take him to chepauk stadium to watch India play and moments when his sister would jump over him on a lazy Sunday morning just to start his Sunday with a startle. A wry smile graces his lip.
"Hmm so you are going to Bangalore is it?" spoke a voice startling Srini out of his trance.
He was just not sure where the voice had come from. So adjusting his glasses he just looked from right to left.
Little did he realise that there was only one girl sitting in front of him. then with a sheepish grin he replied" aamam nga,i i mean yes maam"
She giggles seeing his nervous response. The now our lanky boy genius is so very shy that he immediately turns away from her and begins looking towards the window.
But as his luck may have it his window is jammed and so is closed shut. He tries his might to yank it open. But to his utter dismay the window just refuses to open
“I am not going to open up Mr.Madras try however hard you may." was it telepathy or was it some hunch; Srini seemed to hear the window talk. So he just laughs away at the window.
Now our lady looks at him suspiciously wondering what he is laughing at. So immediately gets her mirror out from her hand bag to see if there is something about her face that is so funny.
Then heaves a sigh of relief as she notices no major change from the last time she saw it. Just that the face was a little oilier now and looked a wee bit more tired. But that doesn’t warrant a laugh.

Hmm she goes ahead and asks Srini," hey you what is so funny. All screws in tact?"
Now at this Srini blushes. And he said,"Ya ya just felt like the window spoke to me."
She is thrown aback a little and she hugs her jute hand bag closer to her heart and just sits almost to the edge of the seat.in a fraction of a second she would have been lying flat on her posterior hadn’t our Mr. Johny Bravo gone to her rescue. He just helps her back to her seat and is again trying to escape her glance. Now he can feel her glance on his neck and feels a strange heat running all through his body.

Then somehow he gathers courage to look at her. She has this real pleasant demeanor and a smile that made him go weak at his knees. So he now tries to strike a conversation.
“Hmmm so you are going to Bangalore too is it maam." She gives him a scornful look and says" Please call me Padma, every time you call me maam it feels as if I am 40 years old."
Wow he thought I must have got up on the right side of the bed. She has given me her name; he was already in seventh heaven. Then this little dream sequence of his was interrupted by a voice.

So when he was making a conscious effort to return to the present again he saw a vision where Padma and he were walking on the elliots beach savoring the salty but cool breeze leaving a layer of mist on his glasses.
"Hellooooooo sir where are you" that was Padmas voice startling him from his sweet sojourn to Elliots.
'Hmm ya I beg your pardon maam oops err padmini wat were you saying." She says " I Love you darling"

Srini hears her suddenly talking in a male voice " Get up u dumbo" then he wakes up only to find all this was a dream. Curses his stars." Aiyo muruga ennada idhu indha madhiri oru kanavu(Oh lord muruga what is this dream)"
He lives in one of the places that is the closest landmark of civilization to electronic city a place in Bangalore that houses majority of the software majors.


That place where he lives is called the Bannerghatta tavarekere Madiwala layout or in short BTM layout. His crib, a typical bachelor hang out. A small 2 bedroom hall and kitchen apartment. That would at max be 700 square feet.
The rent he pays for that is five grand a month. Every month when goes to pay the landlord the rent the only thought that comes to his mind is that had it been in chennai I would have lived like a king for this five grand.

So he is searching for his glasses in half awake state. In the process tips over a bottle of water on his room mate, Nandha, who works in the same company as Srini.

Now Nandha is real pissed off at being woken up in this unholy manner. He just begins to swear, but returns back to sleep midway. Srini is relieved and thanked god for small mercies. Srini shares his crib with Nandha his colleague and with Jojo who works for a call center.

He performs his daily ritual the moment he gets up. For the devout brahmin boy he is.
ok ok stop stop what i meant was caressing the poster of bipasha basu that decorated the wall of his bedroom. And then blowing a flying kiss to angelina jolie who looked at him seductively.

That day is really important to Srini as he is about to meet his client for the first day. All these days, he was just able to listen to the voice on the other side of the speaker phone. And it was a team lead who was incharge of the project from the clients end. So he is all charged up one reason being he is going to meet his client (and his team lead) and second the basic male instinct should i say, that just lights up at every prospect of interacting with someone from the opposite sex.

After a huge struggle with his parents Srini finally cajoles them into permitting him to buy a bike. A brand new pulsar DTSI. Fear the black. Everyday before leaving to his office he spends this extra half an hour in cleaning his bike. That’s how much this new found love means to our Srini.

So he gets up reluctantly after tipping over the bottle of water on Nandha, and then rushes to the bathroom to finish up his daily chores and rush to the office.
Just when he is about to take bath .His geyser konks off. Wondering " Aiyo muruga why me and why now". so the very thought of taking bath in the ice cold water sends a shiver down his spine. Jus trembling in his turkey towel he steps out of the bath room, when a thought occurs to him that he can use his stove for boiling the water. He pats himself and somehow manages to find a vessel in which he would boil the water.

He fills water in the vessel and places it on the stove. He is scampering around to find a match box to light the stove. He somehow finds a match box. To his utter astonishment he finds there is just one match stick. He lights it and turns on the gas.
He then lights it and moves his hand closer to the stove.

That’s when God decides to take a break from his creation to take a tea break and have some fun.
So providence has it that the 14.5kg gas cylinder is empty now. So with just a gust of gas the cylinder breathes his last goes dead.
So now even in the chilly December morning beads of sweat grace Srinis forehead. Not knowing what to do he decides that he has no other choice but to take a dip in the cold water that is waiting to pounce on him the moment he opens the shower.
Praying to his lord muruga he steps into the shower after a count of three. Then he grabs the soap in a fit of urgency and God decides that this is getting funnier man I need a little longer break.
Off it slips from his hand and goes dancing in to the drain. Cursing his stars now Srini is getting desperate, so he decides he will use his friend nandhas soap for today. And somehow gets out of the bath room shivering and chanting his daily slokas.
Then rushes to his wardrobe. He had decided he would wear his favorite white shirt and grey tie today to office. He opens his wardrobe, and is frantically searching for his shirt. In the process he finds a note, the note says

“Hey machaan, I’m wearing your white shirt today da and also taking your bike. Got to go out with Rita today. Thanks da."
Oh christ, immediately Srini runs out not aware that he is decked only in his turkey towel. He finds that his bike is gone and it is not a practical joke that Jojo is playing.
Oh god I have to take the office bus and it is already 8.He rushes inside grabs a shirt and gets into a pant and he is combing his hair. There is this one tuft of hair that is refusing to settle down.
And he sprays the new Garnier hairspray that Jojo had bought jus the previous day and just like in the telly all the hairs on his head stand up for attention. Now he is just cursing Jojo for buying this and Garnier for making something like this.
So now looking like a porcupine dressed in formal indigo nation trouser and a color plus shirt he leaves his house. The bus stop is almost a kilometer from his place.
So he is half running and half scampering and half panting for his breath. That’s when his mobile phone goes buzzing and pops out of his pocket .and as a trained cricketer he does a fine catch and the mobile lands into the safety of his outstretched arm.
As if thanking Srini the mobile buzzes with all the more fervor and energy. He looks at the display. The four letter word that again sends a shock wave through the entire body.
"BOSS" that’s what his mobile reads. He picks it up having no choice.

Boss: Hey Srinivas where are you man?
Srini: Good morning Sir, I am on my way to the office sir. My bike sudenly ran out of fuel and I am coming by the office bus.....Sir
Boss: How can you be so irresponsible Srinivas I did not expect this from you. I want you to be here in another 45 minutes
Wham goes the receiver at the other end and now Srini is really running hard. His wrist watch is now happily running. The minutes hand is happily chasing miss seconds’ hand.
His watch is shouting out at him. Hey dude it is 8 30 now yahooooooooo.

Just then a company bus arrives at the stop. There is absolutely not even a single seat to sit. But still Srini manages to get in and stands by the side of the driver.
he says" saar olagada hogi (please go inside)" He has not yet caught the lingo of the place. So he has this real blank expression on his face trying to correlate what the driver said with whatever little vocabulary he has gained in the stay in Bangalore for a little over a year.
Just then the driver realising the plight of Srini says" andhar jao saab"
That’s just when he curses himself for not having learnt the rashtra basha, and for that case not even having watched one Hindi movie all his life.

The driver now gets irritated and almost in a yell says " Inside go saar".
This amuses his fellow colleagues who break into a chuckle. Embarrassed at being chided by the driver and feeling ridiculous in his latest hairdo he slowly canters to the rear of the bus.
The driver now increases the volume of his music system that is nothing but an assembled set that the BMTC has provided for the comfort of its drivers who spend most of their time waiting for the vehicle in front of their bus to budge an inch or two.

So now Srini has his laptop hanging from his shoulder and his other hand struggling to hold onto the railing at the ceiling of the bus. That’s exactly when his Boss calls him up.
He allows his mobile to ring 5 times that’s exactly when a rather considerate colleague reminds Srini of his ringing mobile. He flashes a grin and picks it up only to find his boss on the other side.

Boss: Srinivas where on god damn earth are you man?
Srini:Boss I am now on the hosur road. There is this huge traffic jam.
Boss: I dont know Srinivas what you do or how you do. i need you to be here in 30 minutes and have you got that presentation ready.
Srini: Yes boss, I have got it ready and all prepared. No worries about it boss. we will definitely put up a good show.
Boss: That is really nice to hear mr.Srinivas but do you really know for all that to happen basically there is one thing that must happen
Srini: Oh is it ? May I know what it is boss?
Boss: that is Mr Srinivas I need you to be here in office for all that to happen.
Srini: (Now giving one of his trade mark stupid grins) yes boss of course.

Now the bus is edging and crawling towards the Bosche building that is a famous landmark on the hosur bangalore highway.
That’s when Srinivas notices that there is a seat in the far end of the bus that is not taken. He immediately rushes and stops near it.
God is now enjoying Srinis plight with a bag of corn and coke and praising himself "Dude you rock"
Only to find that the seat has a hole in it. But the thought of standing all the way to the electronic city overpowers him and he goes ahead and takes that seat.
To him it feels as if straddling a western toilet. tough times call for tougher measures.
He finds time to start his laptop to catch the presentation that he supposed to make at office.
That’s when the familiar orange LED on his laptop begins to glow. A message pops on his screen “please switch over to main power" and just then his screen flashes for one last time.
"Muruga" he shouts and wins the stares and glares of a few of his co passengers who are deep in slumber, continuing from where they left off that morning.
Again flashing his grin Srini tries to escape the glares of his co passengers by looking out of the window. A cool breeze embraces his face. Thats when he realizes that he needs to just relax.
Turns his phone to the silent mode loosens the noose of his tie that is more like the noose on the neck of a death sentenced prisoner.
Removes his glasses and places them inside his shirt pocket and relaxes back. Savoring the pleasant breeze in all its entirety and a smug smile now begins to appear on his face. His hair now eases and begins to flutter as if dancing to the tunes the breeze is playing now.
Thats then unknowingly our Srini dozes off. A strange thing is that he is again transported back to the train compartment. He is not sure whether this is a dream or reality
Whatever he is enjoying it and is not bothered to verify whether a dream or not.
he now is sitting right in front of Padma who is asking him "Hellooooooo sir where are you "
he replies " hmm ah ya ya me right here nothing nothing"

Just then the ticket collector comes to verify the tickets and after verifying both of the tickets leaves them and proceeds further scouting for passengers in
an almost deserted compartment.
After he goes Srini again tries to strike a conversation. Seeing his plight Padma smiles to herself and then asks him where is he from and which college he is from and the usual barrage of questions you would ask a stranger in an attempt to strike a conversation and also get acquainted with him. Srini tries to answer but all he could muster was a squeal. that’s when Padma is reeling in laughter
and almost falls of her berth again. He blushes and says," Padma im from chennai, and have finished my engineering from Sathyabhama Engineering college'
I an a mechanical engineer. Now he knew what was coming " Oh if you are a mechanical engineer then how come you are working for a software concern"

Thats when Srini had his reply ready the one he had mastered for his interview the one that got him through the HR round of interview, he said." Look Padma,
an engineering degree or for that matter any degree is just to give you confidence that you can face the world all by yourself. If at all everybody decided to only work in what ever field he has acquired knowledge then many of them would be unemployed today."
Padma is all awestruck at Srini. She says," wow cool yaar, thats so nice."
And now it is his turn to fire his questions at her.
He asks her the same set of questions and she says" well I am from trichy, and have done my engineering from shanmuga college of engineering.I am a computer engineer I am too placed in a software firm in bangalore."
To this his eyes brighten up, " Wow cool man, so should I say two engineers set out on the roads of their careers together." ,"OOps, no offense Padma just felt like saying it that’s all."
"Hey that’s absolutely ok man can I Call u Srini if that is ok with u." For the first time in 23 years his name sounded so sweet to his own ears. There was a strange feeling behind that rib cage of his.
As if his heart was racing at a 1000m/sec. “Hey Srini so you have began dreaming again eh?" Blushing " No yaar nothing like that."
"So how long are you planning to stay in Bangalore Padma".
"I might have to stay for a year at least yaar before I can ask for a transfer to our company's branch at chennai." " How about you?"
"Well I might too stay there for a year before iask for a transfer. But I don’t know Padma how feasible is that going to be. Because i have heard that it is very difficult to get a transfer at least for guys."
"Then Padma how long will you work before you get married..... oops I am sorry may be I should not have asked you this question."
"Hey that is ok man, well may be for two years as my parents have already started scouting for alliances for me."
"That is nice pa."
"So Srini when are u getting married."
"Oh me, that will not happen until i Settle down in my career and take stock of my life yaar. So may be at least 4 to 5 years from now."
So the conversation went on for a long time.
Just before Srini was about to get her email address a hand shook him.
"Excuse me if you mind I need to get down now." He just woke up to find all but he and one of his co passengers are the only ones left in the bus.
Immediately wiping the drool that is forcing its way through the corner of his half open mouth he struggles to get up.
He allows the other person to get down. He tightens the noose around his neck gathers his laptop then makes way towards the exit. Escaping the scornful look in the eyes of the driver.
He just removes his mobile to turn it to the normal mode. only to find that he has 25 missed calls. All from the one and only boss of his.
he is now walking at a snails pace with a part of the dream still clear in his subconscious and when his conscious self tries to make sense of it swiissssshhhhhh
it disappears into thin air.
All he can remember is that the dream is about the girl he met on his maiden journey to bangalore. What a sweet person she was. The memory of her smile still so
Fresh in the cluttered and confused and contorted and tensed mind of his. He just smiles to himself absent mindedly and is stopped by the security at the gate.
" ID thorisi saar (Please display ur id card)" " What what was that, still some of the sleep lurking behind those glasses of his", the security now smiles and says
"ID card dhikaiye saab" "Oh no not again, just when he begins to curse himself, his conscious mind is frantically trying to make a correlation between what the security said and What his mind registered.
Just then he realised that his ID is not displayed. Scratching his head he displays his ID. and the security allows him to enter.
As he enters the buliding he is first spotted by his boss.
"Hey Srinivas, where have you been man. I tried calling you on your mobile too, why did you not to my calls also."
" Ok Ok let us go luckily for us the client was also held up in traffic so that gives us a few extra minutes to save our pride."
"Hurry up to conference room and set up the laptop and get ready for the presentation."
Now Srini goes to the conference and surprisingly everything seems to be working fine. The projector, the presentation his laptop et all."
"Thank you muruga"he mutters to himself.
God has decided that it was time for one last comedy before he got down to business.
So Srini now goes to the rest room to relieve himself. Thats when it happened. when he turned the tap to wash his face the washer came apart resulting in a huge jet of water hitting him right on the chest.
He frantically tries to shut the tap but only in vain. He is now dripping water all over the lovely leather carpet that is spread over the floor of the conference room.
His boss enters and he is at loss of words the moment he sees his lead drenched in water.
All he can do is just stare at Srini.

Just then Srini remembers that he has a shirt stashed away in his cabinet to gift to Jojo on his birthday. So he immediately asks Velu the office attendant to fetch the shirt from his cabinette.
Velu hurries up to the fifth floor to Srinis desk only to find that he had not collected the key to the cabinete from Srini. As he turns back he finds Srini huffing and puffing
and ranting and panting." What yaar velu, you did not take the key from me."
To which Velu quickly flashes a wide doe eyed grin that Srini is familiar with.
Then immediately Srini slips into the new shirt, and then rushes to the conference room. He doesn’t bother to wait for the elevator and takes the stairs instead. Jumping and clearing the stairs two at a time
He reaches the conference room only to find his boss shaking hands with a gentleman as old as his boss and his assistant a lady who is the team lead from the clients side.
" Hello sir, i am Padma working as the lead for the project."
That name sends memories reeling for Srini and he recognised that voice and would do it even in a crowd of ten thousand.
and even before he could take control of the adrenalin that is trying to muster its way out of the temples of his fore head he lets out a cry" hey Padma is it you"
Just then everybody in the conference room turn and are staring daggers at this sudden barging individual who enters the room. Just then realising his folly Srini immediately apologizes.
and is already finding it very difficult to suppress his excitement and should i say happiness.
He is introduced to the client and also to the lead. She says" Hello Srinivas nice to meet you."
That’s when he realises that she has forgotten all about him and then returns back to make this presentation with a sullen and morose face.
As the light in the conference room goes dim, so does his spirit. Then on being prodded by his boss he begins the presentation and does a great job.
Just as the presentation concludes the entire room is again lit by the radiant lights and everybody applauds Srinivas.The client was happy and they break for lunch.
But Srini is just in no mood to go for lunch so he continues to sit in that chair absent mindedly playing with the pointer in his hand.
Just then a hand taps his shoulder. He looks back only to find Padma standing flashing that sweet smile of hers.
“So how are you Srini, how have you been."
"It was as if life was returning back into the listless and lifeless body of his."
He retorts, "Nice meeting you Miss Padma lakshmi."
She sees his anger and all she can see before her is a school kid who is angry for being refused his chocolate.
This brings a smile to her well rounded face.
She says," So my friend is angry with me eh?, ok Srini tell me had I reacted the same way as you did, how would my boss have felt. I would have made a mockery of myself
And both of us would have looked like clowns."
Now the anger began to dissipate and Srini began to see the logic in her statement.
"Oh I’m such a duffer, sorry yaar. Just that I was so excited to see you here at a place and time I least expected, I screamed."
"I know Srini I know., ok so will you not show me around your office. But lets have lunch I’m starving.
The rest of the day passes of in a jiffy and time had come for Padma to leave.
Just as she gets into the car, Srini rushes to her and taps her shoulder,
She turns around half startled and half surprised.
"I need you mail id please wouldn’t want to miss asking you again."
With a glow in her eyes and a smile on her lips she rummages through her handbag frantically searching for something. Just like Houdini she conjures a card from nowhere.
hands it to Srini and says" that has my email as well as mobile number." and with a wink she leaves the premises of the company.
Srini stays there waving at the car and holding her card in one hand.
hmmmmmm



So guys this tale of Srini to be continued or not will depend on your reviews of my blog.
tata and thanks for having come so far. Kudos to your patience and thanks for your time.