Statutory warning:- Cigarette smoking and drinking liquors are injurious to health, unless and until you have them with your friends. ;)
The clock was ticking. I have never had the merriment expressed by the animation of countenance before. It's 8.40 P.M. I was working in the second shift. Sorry. I was busy working in the second shift. Can you imagine? Chatting with friends, working on issues, BMC, Mercury ITG, PPM, answering the phone calls, talking to personal calls in my mobile. All at the same time. Just 80 minutes left. Damn. I must leave early today. Too many weird thoughts struck my mind. I must be there on time. Gosh. Suddenly a message popped out in my gmail.
Nivash: mamsae
me: ennada?
Nivash: if possible call hurmath & ask abt the details. I don't know where he is.
me: okay
Nivash: ok done.
machi am so much excited abt karthik's arrival
from last week.
Mama sarakku vera varuthu. Champagne and Jack Daniels
inda hurmath kudikara naaye ithukku thaanda varaan.
Namakku oru sottu kooda kidaikkathu maame.
me: dei. ithu ramzan maasam da. avan adikka maataan. sarakku ellame namakku thaan. Cheers. :D
mama naan inikku romba santhoshama irukkaen da..
namma uyir thozhan rendu varusham kalichi varaan plus inikku ennenne therila romba santhoshama irukkaen. solla vaarthaigal illa maamu. I am deliriously joyful.
Nivash: appo night sarakku adikkalaam.
me: dei already late aayiduchu. airport poganum. iru naan kilambi veetukku varaen.
Nivash: okay. come soon mama. bye
It was already 9.45 P.M when I bid sayonara to Nivash in Gchat. I could have left office early but there was one person who stopped me. Yes. It was my friend. The clock striked 10 when she said good night. I was like okay. It's high time I got to leave. There were two reasons for my exhilaration. As I told Nivash about them. One reason being my friend and the other was Karthik's Arrival. I hunted my keys, made sure I logged off my pc and there was nothing left on my desk.
I plugged in the keys, kicked and started my splendour and operated it at the maximum speed. I stopped at a petty shop. "Boss oru packet Kings" I said to the guy in the shop. "Oru packet ah? Oru naalaikku onnu adichale adi othaila irunthu seruppu varaikkum parakkume. Oru packet nu therincha enna solluvalo? Parava illa. Inikku its a special day and over gujaals ah vera irukkom. Onnum solla matta. Ketta samalichikalaam. Freeya vidu maamu. Vaazhkai vaazhvatharke" I cogitated. It was 10.30 when I reached home. Had a quick shower and I reached Aravind's place with Nivi to take the Omni. I am not an expert driver when it comes to any four wheelers other than Maruti Zen. I remembered the dialogue "Evolovo Pannitom. Itha panna mattoma". It was difficult at first but I managed well later. "Enna vandi da ithu. Itha otrathukku pesaama oru lorry eh ottidilaam. Cha" I parked the car at the airport. The time was 11.30. We went and checked the flight arrival status board. Thank god. The flight was late by 30 minutes. "Seri mama. Seekiram vanthutomnu ninaikkiraen. Namma velaya aarambippom va". This was nivi. We started our usual job. Taking snaps in different postures. It continued for some 15 odd minutes.
One thing I really admire about the airports is its environment. Some people excited about receiving their friends or relatives and some depressed about their friends or relatives leaving. Not to forget about the beauties, the stewardess who cat walk the entire airport giving visual treats to the passengers. "Mama Gantrool" I told myself. Lufthansa LH758 landed at 11.55, 30 Minutes behindhand. This was my first experience of receiving a friend who was coming home after a long duration. I was not aware of the immigration and the procedures that follows it. So I had no clue when this guy would come out. We waited, waited and waited. After nearly 20 mins, some weird looking guys, supposed to be business men came out of the airport one by one. I consulted a guy holding a placard. He said that these were people from the business class. Then came the crew followed by the economy class people. "Anna antha black t shirt ah paarunga. Semma figure na" Aravind whispered in my ears. "Dai venna, olunga karthi varaana paaruda" replied me. 'Eine welt voller Ideen' It was written on a plastic bag of an outlander. Wtf was that, I thought. I stood there for 50 minutes. How should I call this? Is this intense desire or impatient expectancy? Vaazhkaila intha mathiri naama yaarukkume wait pannathu illaye. My legs started to ache. I spoke to myself "Dai porambokku. Seekiram vanthu thola da". My thoughts started to waver. "Namma nanbana rendu varusham kalichi paakurom. Ithukke nammalaala 50 nimisham wait panna mudiyala. Appo avan avan than kaathalikkaga varusha kanakka wait panraan. Avangala enna solrathu. Then I told myself, "Dai ippo intha ninappu romba mukkiyama? Moodittu karthik ya thedu da. Avana thedriyo illayo. Avan kondu vara sarakku pai kannula maattutha paaruda dabur".
Out of the blue, Karthik manifested from doors. The ugly, unattractive, displeasing guy had turned into a stylish, modish, smart, trendy and contemporary guy (with the sleeky earphones from the iphone hanging through his neck) in just two years. Strange isn't it, but this happens to everyone who goes abroad and returns back to his homeland. Almost all. "Dai macha, Welcome back to India da." I said. I felt his happiness, the joy, the excitement from the ecstatic smile on his face. I handed him the rose which I bought at the arrival platform and Nivi put a sandal garland and we took like thousand snaps with him. Hurmath joined us and we left the airport at 1am. When we reached home, Karthik's mom was waiting at the doors."Vaada kutti. Apdiye irukka" She hugged him with a bright smile on her face. I loved watching her expressions. The expressions of a mother getting to see her only son after two long years. At long last, we had our dinner, the typical iyer family's sambar and rasam satham with the appalam and vaazhai pazham. Nivi's eyes were focussed on the bag which had the sarakku. We chit-chatted for sometime and while leaving, nivi cautiously took the bag and the time was 2 A.M when we opened our doors. As usual took all kinds of snaps with the champagne and the Jack Daniels for sometime. As this experience was new for me, I thought of posting it as a blog. It took two hours for me to write this and my mobile displayed 4.01 A.M. I thought of getting some sleep but couldn't. May be because I am all buoyed up tonight. It's 6.23 now and I haven't slept yet. Peace Prevails. :)