May 28, 2008

Acting my age!







Ever had that fantasy where you board a train, rush past the struggling old lady to your seat, push all the luggage under the seats before the others have a chance, and then you look up to see a beautiful girl! and then you get to talking with the girl and you discover she's your soulmate, someone who shares all your quirks, your interests , your hopes and even your dreams?

That happened to me recently!

Well atleast with a few minor details skewed, but finer details dont really make a difference to the big picture! does it?

So i board the kanyakumari express heading to Kerala(where else?) . There really was no old lady to rush past but i did stuff our ample luggage under our seats . And then i look up to see a middle aged woman and her adolescent son beaming upon me, my fantasy was not quite chugging along as i expected, unless the middle aged woman did a "desperate housewife" on me, but thankfully, my less than average looks and messy hair ruled out any such adventurism.

As i sulked on the fast decreasing possibility of my fantasy coming true i decided to check on my mother in the adjoining bogey, she was as usual locked in a conversation with her neighboring passenger, its amazing how women bond with other strange women in a strange train travelling through strange lands, but in this case my mothers socialising with strangers skill worked to my advantage.

As the the women rambled on about how 'sita' from the latest tear jerking serial had wrongly abused her daughter in law because she had added too much salt in the fish curry! i wondered if excitement would ever invade my state of boredom! And lo! there by my side was this really cute girl carrying her little brother, and amazingly she settled right beside me, she was the lady's daughter, my mother extended the 'blah blahs' to include the daughter, soon i joined in the conversation.

Her name was Rebecca, and like her mother i took the liberty of calling her becky, she had glasses on, but unlike my case it only served to enhance her looks, conversation soon landed on favorite t'v shows, and what do you know! She was a disney channel freak like me! She loved Hannah Montana,hadn't missed an episode! and all the other shows i watched on a daily basis! Playful as i am i suggested a game of name place animal thing! she agreed with great glee and excitement, after a while of playing that we moved on to word-building and even stone-paper-scissors!

So my age old fantasy was finally being fulfilled, i had met the one!! but curse those minor details, they ruined my perfect train journey


let me cut to the chase, Becky was 9 years old


The very minor detail kept me from cultivating further thoughts and adding to the fantasy! But truth be told i never had so much fun in a long long time! Sharing the simple joys and games of a child put me in the zone, it made me feel like i belong somewhere, I started acting my age, my mental age atleast!

Watching one too many cartoons you might say! Your dead right! I never really got over watching cartoons and playing board games, or eating chocolates behind your mother's back or even wetting the bed(just kidding i stopped that when i was 17).

As we neared our destination, i dutifully took down becky's phone number and the name of her primary school, in case i learned some new strategies in stone-paper-scissors and wanted to try em out!

But hey! li'll girls grow up to be big girls dont they, scouting early never hurt anyone! Just hope she still is crazy about Hannah Montana in 10 years time!