Bear with me, Cheekysmile and Greybits. I'm updating my short story, so just skip this one if you don't feel like reading it. The part below is the one taken from my previous blog posting. The part with which is typed with large font is the continuation....
I seldom put my thoughts in writing.But let me try.
Sanjiv woke up late for work that morning. It was almost 11am and he was still in
slumberland. He had an appointment with a potential client who was interested in the mineral pot which he sold. As usual the 24-year-old bachelor's morning began with the ringing of his handphone alarm at 8.30am. Sanjiv would get up and walk over to his desk which stood by the bedroom window. He'd switch off the wretched handphone and took it to bed before getting back to sleep. Of course, hours would pass before Sanjiv magically wakes up. That moment would consist of a very dramatic "Damn, it's late" exclamation as he looks at his watch in horror. Damnation, it's 10.30! He'd squeal. A split second goes by when Sanjiv contemplates a downward spiral life- one where he becomes a professional bum- pretty similar to how he lived before starting his sales job three years prior. This thought required him to snooze for another 20-odd seconds. But always, rationality grabs hold of Sanjiv. He sits up in bed and lazily takes his bathtowel before heading for the shower.It was 11.05am, but heck, what the hell. Sanjiv would always think that way.My client would be late, he thought. He always thinks that way.As he stepped out of the shower in his towel, Sanjiv looked over his handphone.
There was a text message which arrived during showertime.It read: "How r u? Wat u doin 2day?"It was a mesage from Subashini, whom he had met a week earlier.Great. It was just what Sanjiv needed. Someone whom he meets only once a year, practically. And when he does meet Subashini, she would ramble on about every overseas trip and every guy who flirted with her in clubs or bars or departmental store, or whatever floats her boat nowadays.That's fine, Sanjiv thought. I do the same bloody thing, he said to himself - I go to bars and clubs. I flirt with the cute girl at the cash register. But having Subashini text-messaging Sanjiv like that was unlike her character. It was never "Hello how are you" text messages. It would always be
"Sanjiv, I'm atthis spanking new club in Bangalore. I'm dating this engineer, and we plan to go to Spain for the summer". It was these messages that Sanjiv didn't care for.Yes, lovely Subashini, or Su as Sanjiv called her was a dish. She was the same age as Sanjiv but with her mixed parentage, she was known to turn heads back home in Madras. I'm not Indian, you know, she said that night they both met last.Sanjiv had forgotten Su's famous story about her Scottish/Sri Lankan father and her Thai/Tamil
mother. Her three hour stories over dosai and brewed coffee were utterly unnecessary.Sanjiv was surprised to have found Su at a bar that wretched Saturday night one week ago. She never called when she was back in town.And Sanjiv had to endure stories about men (yes, men as in the plural) she had locked lips with just before Sanjiv arrived at the bar.Do I have to listen to your nightly conquests? Sanjiv asked Su, whilst glaring at her in jest. Alas, Sanjiv and Su were
only casual friends. Though it could have been more than a platonic relationship. Sanjiv regrets with a passion the night when he confessed his infatuation for Su.
Take a bath and I'll drink the water that you leave, Sanjiv wrote in a letter to Su. So what if he had quoted a rock song from Stone Temple Pilots. Typically Su never replied that letter.That was several years ago, and it seemed like an eternity. How could all that lead to that Saturday night?Where did all the time go? Now Su was sitting beside Sanjiv and sharing several shots of Tequila. Su was spitting the limes to the floor. What happend to this town? she asked Sanjiv, where have all the men gone?They're happily married to beautiful wives, Sanjiv replied, and they're probably fucking their brains out right now while their three kids sleep snugly in plush bedrooms inside huge mansions. By that point Su was indeed the drunken
princess of the night. It was the usual, Su and her posse hanging out at the Blue Diamond club every Saturday. It wouldn't be the same without her around.Sanjiv had learned to ignored Su's stories. He could hold off the earthly urges. (????) Similar to Su, Sanjiv was a man who kept his eye on the prize. He might be quiet and attentive like your best confidant, but Sanjiv always had ulterior motives, though not in the cruel sense of it.He loved talking to people. He loved listening to their stories. He was a good listener thanks to his salesman job. But he sucked at
persuassion. Believe it or not, the man whose job is primarily (though not entirely) is to persuade people into buying his wares lacked persuassion in real life.Sanjiv and Su downed a few bottles of Coronas and two shots of tequila each. Talk shop
ensued and later Su did her 'thang'--chatting up a shaven head English guy sitting at the end of the bar. Could he be any older, Sanjiv thought to himself as he watched Su giggling with the Englishman. He's like what, Sixty, Sanjiv said to himself.Not one to become bitter, Sanjiv scanned the bar for women. There was this girl with her hair dyed golden brown. She couldn't be more than 25 and sitting with a girlfriend at a booth by the corner. She was drinking a very bluish drink with an umbrella in the glass. That's not a good sign, innit? Sanjiv thought. Her girlfriend's kind of cute too. Freckles. Shoulder length hair. But she was too tall for Sanjiv's liking. I mean let's be real, Sanjiv stood slightly more than five feet. He'd dated several lanky tall women before, but typically for Sanjiv, they never worked out. As a matter of fact, no relationship has ever worked out for poor old Sanjiv.Then Su interrupted Sanjiv's train of thought by plopping back at the stool next to Sanjiv's.
He's from Dover, Su said, bloody hell, isn't that where the hovercrafts are? Su was excited. Anyways, we're going to his hotelroom, she said breathlessly before giving Sanjiv a peck on the cheek. She then ran off with the grandfather version of David Becham. Within seconds intoxicated Posh Spice Subashini and Grandpa Becks were out of the Blue Diamond.Great, Sanjiv thought. Now he could possibly chat up the cute gold-haired girl.
But why did Sanjiv end up in bed with Su later on?
-----------
continuation:
So we know that Sanjiv and Subashini ended up making love at the end of that hot, humid
Saturday night.By the time Su had left the Blue Diamond night club with her new acquaintance, a shaven head Englishman, Sanjiv was downing two more Coronas and two tequila shots.
By 2am, Sanjiv had befriended the bartender and they were soon on first name basis.
Sanjiv was so engrossed with his conversation the bartender that he hadn't realise the girl he had been eyeing had disappeared. Though slightly disappointed, he was enjoying the debate he was having with bartender boy about the cricket match playing on mute on the TV.
He found out that the bartender's name was Raj, and he had been working the club circuit for almost a decade, moving around the country. He learned that Raj had turned 22 the previous night and that his colleagues threw him a surprise party with cake and sparklers as candles. Sanjiv learned that Raj was planning to study political science and travel the world with his soon-to-be-attained knowledge. Ah, a man with a plan, he thought. Sanjiv was feeling jealous that that his old friend Su was probably getting down on her knees while he got wasted in the bar, Sanjiv was downing his pathetic existence with every drink.
"What is your ambition?" Raj finally asked after Sanjiv finished rambling on about how the country's education system moulds its students to become robots without their own opinions.Sanjiv stared back at Raj with shock expression, as though the latter had asked him about what size his penis was or what his most embarassing moment in life was. But Sanjiv knew it was a valid question which anyone would ask.
"Well, ummm. I suppose..." It was a long pause before Sanjiv realised that he had forgotten what he wanted out of his wretched life.
"I always wanted to, to travel?" he said half-heartedly.
Raj managed a slight giggle, and then sensing his poor patron was looking even more confused than before, he finally switched to smypathising bartender mode:"Wow, I too would love to travel. Maybe to China, before proceeding to Japan and then Korea
maybe. I'd love to go to Antartica. I know it'll be unbearably cold but I just want to, you know? Just to see how far I can go," Raj said. Clearly he was very good at talking with customers in the club, and he knew how to make his customers feel comfortable. He'd tell his stories and hopes, but only after he'd listen attentively to his customer's story.
Thankfully for Sanjiv, Raj was a good listener and had a firmly placed head on his shoulders.
"I guess everyone has to challenge themselves, you know, once in a while. It keeps the blood pumping," Raj said finally.
Sanjiv however was staring into space. Though he had listened to every word, he was, in his capacity as the drunkard he'd become by that point, still very much confused. He was angry at himself for forgetting what his ambitions were. What? Amnesia, Sanjiv? he thought to himself.
Come on!
-------------
On another matter, I have been listening to Sting a lot lately. I just bought one of his CDs. My favourite Sting songs have always been his 90s stuff, i.e If I Ever Lose My Faith in You, Fields of Gold, When We Dance. But the lyrics of this song, which was taken during the Police's heyday is superb, dude....
The Police - King Of Pain Lyrics
There's a little black spot on the sun today
That's my soul up there.
It's the same old thing as yesterday
That's my soul up there.
There's a black hat caught in a high tree top
That's my soul up there.
There's a flag pole rag and the wind won't stop
That's my soul up there.
I have stood here before in the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running 'round my brain.
I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign,
But it's my destiny to be the king of pain...
There's a fossil that's trapped in a high cliff wall
There's a dead salmon frozen in a waterfall
There's a blue whale beached by a springtime's ebb
There's a butterfly trapped in a spider's web
There's a king on a throne with his eyes torn out
There's a blind man looking for a shadow of doubt
There's a rich man sleeping on a golden bed
There's a skeleton choking on a crust of bread
There's a red fox torn by a huntsman's pack
There's a black-winged gull with a broken back
There's a little black spot on the sun today.
It's the same old thing as yesterday,
That's my soul up there.......................
I have stood here before in the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running 'round my brain.
I guess I always thought you could end this reign,
But it's my destiny to be the king of pain.............
I'll always be king of pain
I seldom put my thoughts in writing.But let me try.
Sanjiv woke up late for work that morning. It was almost 11am and he was still in
slumberland. He had an appointment with a potential client who was interested in the mineral pot which he sold. As usual the 24-year-old bachelor's morning began with the ringing of his handphone alarm at 8.30am. Sanjiv would get up and walk over to his desk which stood by the bedroom window. He'd switch off the wretched handphone and took it to bed before getting back to sleep. Of course, hours would pass before Sanjiv magically wakes up. That moment would consist of a very dramatic "Damn, it's late" exclamation as he looks at his watch in horror. Damnation, it's 10.30! He'd squeal. A split second goes by when Sanjiv contemplates a downward spiral life- one where he becomes a professional bum- pretty similar to how he lived before starting his sales job three years prior. This thought required him to snooze for another 20-odd seconds. But always, rationality grabs hold of Sanjiv. He sits up in bed and lazily takes his bathtowel before heading for the shower.It was 11.05am, but heck, what the hell. Sanjiv would always think that way.My client would be late, he thought. He always thinks that way.As he stepped out of the shower in his towel, Sanjiv looked over his handphone.
There was a text message which arrived during showertime.It read: "How r u? Wat u doin 2day?"It was a mesage from Subashini, whom he had met a week earlier.Great. It was just what Sanjiv needed. Someone whom he meets only once a year, practically. And when he does meet Subashini, she would ramble on about every overseas trip and every guy who flirted with her in clubs or bars or departmental store, or whatever floats her boat nowadays.That's fine, Sanjiv thought. I do the same bloody thing, he said to himself - I go to bars and clubs. I flirt with the cute girl at the cash register. But having Subashini text-messaging Sanjiv like that was unlike her character. It was never "Hello how are you" text messages. It would always be
"Sanjiv, I'm atthis spanking new club in Bangalore. I'm dating this engineer, and we plan to go to Spain for the summer". It was these messages that Sanjiv didn't care for.Yes, lovely Subashini, or Su as Sanjiv called her was a dish. She was the same age as Sanjiv but with her mixed parentage, she was known to turn heads back home in Madras. I'm not Indian, you know, she said that night they both met last.Sanjiv had forgotten Su's famous story about her Scottish/Sri Lankan father and her Thai/Tamil
mother. Her three hour stories over dosai and brewed coffee were utterly unnecessary.Sanjiv was surprised to have found Su at a bar that wretched Saturday night one week ago. She never called when she was back in town.And Sanjiv had to endure stories about men (yes, men as in the plural) she had locked lips with just before Sanjiv arrived at the bar.Do I have to listen to your nightly conquests? Sanjiv asked Su, whilst glaring at her in jest. Alas, Sanjiv and Su were
only casual friends. Though it could have been more than a platonic relationship. Sanjiv regrets with a passion the night when he confessed his infatuation for Su.
Take a bath and I'll drink the water that you leave, Sanjiv wrote in a letter to Su. So what if he had quoted a rock song from Stone Temple Pilots. Typically Su never replied that letter.That was several years ago, and it seemed like an eternity. How could all that lead to that Saturday night?Where did all the time go? Now Su was sitting beside Sanjiv and sharing several shots of Tequila. Su was spitting the limes to the floor. What happend to this town? she asked Sanjiv, where have all the men gone?They're happily married to beautiful wives, Sanjiv replied, and they're probably fucking their brains out right now while their three kids sleep snugly in plush bedrooms inside huge mansions. By that point Su was indeed the drunken
princess of the night. It was the usual, Su and her posse hanging out at the Blue Diamond club every Saturday. It wouldn't be the same without her around.Sanjiv had learned to ignored Su's stories. He could hold off the earthly urges. (????) Similar to Su, Sanjiv was a man who kept his eye on the prize. He might be quiet and attentive like your best confidant, but Sanjiv always had ulterior motives, though not in the cruel sense of it.He loved talking to people. He loved listening to their stories. He was a good listener thanks to his salesman job. But he sucked at
persuassion. Believe it or not, the man whose job is primarily (though not entirely) is to persuade people into buying his wares lacked persuassion in real life.Sanjiv and Su downed a few bottles of Coronas and two shots of tequila each. Talk shop
ensued and later Su did her 'thang'--chatting up a shaven head English guy sitting at the end of the bar. Could he be any older, Sanjiv thought to himself as he watched Su giggling with the Englishman. He's like what, Sixty, Sanjiv said to himself.Not one to become bitter, Sanjiv scanned the bar for women. There was this girl with her hair dyed golden brown. She couldn't be more than 25 and sitting with a girlfriend at a booth by the corner. She was drinking a very bluish drink with an umbrella in the glass. That's not a good sign, innit? Sanjiv thought. Her girlfriend's kind of cute too. Freckles. Shoulder length hair. But she was too tall for Sanjiv's liking. I mean let's be real, Sanjiv stood slightly more than five feet. He'd dated several lanky tall women before, but typically for Sanjiv, they never worked out. As a matter of fact, no relationship has ever worked out for poor old Sanjiv.Then Su interrupted Sanjiv's train of thought by plopping back at the stool next to Sanjiv's.
He's from Dover, Su said, bloody hell, isn't that where the hovercrafts are? Su was excited. Anyways, we're going to his hotelroom, she said breathlessly before giving Sanjiv a peck on the cheek. She then ran off with the grandfather version of David Becham. Within seconds intoxicated Posh Spice Subashini and Grandpa Becks were out of the Blue Diamond.Great, Sanjiv thought. Now he could possibly chat up the cute gold-haired girl.
But why did Sanjiv end up in bed with Su later on?
-----------
continuation:
So we know that Sanjiv and Subashini ended up making love at the end of that hot, humid
Saturday night.By the time Su had left the Blue Diamond night club with her new acquaintance, a shaven head Englishman, Sanjiv was downing two more Coronas and two tequila shots.
By 2am, Sanjiv had befriended the bartender and they were soon on first name basis.
Sanjiv was so engrossed with his conversation the bartender that he hadn't realise the girl he had been eyeing had disappeared. Though slightly disappointed, he was enjoying the debate he was having with bartender boy about the cricket match playing on mute on the TV.
He found out that the bartender's name was Raj, and he had been working the club circuit for almost a decade, moving around the country. He learned that Raj had turned 22 the previous night and that his colleagues threw him a surprise party with cake and sparklers as candles. Sanjiv learned that Raj was planning to study political science and travel the world with his soon-to-be-attained knowledge. Ah, a man with a plan, he thought. Sanjiv was feeling jealous that that his old friend Su was probably getting down on her knees while he got wasted in the bar, Sanjiv was downing his pathetic existence with every drink.
"What is your ambition?" Raj finally asked after Sanjiv finished rambling on about how the country's education system moulds its students to become robots without their own opinions.Sanjiv stared back at Raj with shock expression, as though the latter had asked him about what size his penis was or what his most embarassing moment in life was. But Sanjiv knew it was a valid question which anyone would ask.
"Well, ummm. I suppose..." It was a long pause before Sanjiv realised that he had forgotten what he wanted out of his wretched life.
"I always wanted to, to travel?" he said half-heartedly.
Raj managed a slight giggle, and then sensing his poor patron was looking even more confused than before, he finally switched to smypathising bartender mode:"Wow, I too would love to travel. Maybe to China, before proceeding to Japan and then Korea
maybe. I'd love to go to Antartica. I know it'll be unbearably cold but I just want to, you know? Just to see how far I can go," Raj said. Clearly he was very good at talking with customers in the club, and he knew how to make his customers feel comfortable. He'd tell his stories and hopes, but only after he'd listen attentively to his customer's story.
Thankfully for Sanjiv, Raj was a good listener and had a firmly placed head on his shoulders.
"I guess everyone has to challenge themselves, you know, once in a while. It keeps the blood pumping," Raj said finally.
Sanjiv however was staring into space. Though he had listened to every word, he was, in his capacity as the drunkard he'd become by that point, still very much confused. He was angry at himself for forgetting what his ambitions were. What? Amnesia, Sanjiv? he thought to himself.
Come on!
-------------
On another matter, I have been listening to Sting a lot lately. I just bought one of his CDs. My favourite Sting songs have always been his 90s stuff, i.e If I Ever Lose My Faith in You, Fields of Gold, When We Dance. But the lyrics of this song, which was taken during the Police's heyday is superb, dude....
The Police - King Of Pain Lyrics
There's a little black spot on the sun today
That's my soul up there.
It's the same old thing as yesterday
That's my soul up there.
There's a black hat caught in a high tree top
That's my soul up there.
There's a flag pole rag and the wind won't stop
That's my soul up there.
I have stood here before in the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running 'round my brain.
I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign,
But it's my destiny to be the king of pain...
There's a fossil that's trapped in a high cliff wall
There's a dead salmon frozen in a waterfall
There's a blue whale beached by a springtime's ebb
There's a butterfly trapped in a spider's web
There's a king on a throne with his eyes torn out
There's a blind man looking for a shadow of doubt
There's a rich man sleeping on a golden bed
There's a skeleton choking on a crust of bread
There's a red fox torn by a huntsman's pack
There's a black-winged gull with a broken back
There's a little black spot on the sun today.
It's the same old thing as yesterday,
That's my soul up there.......................
I have stood here before in the pouring rain
With the world turning circles running 'round my brain.
I guess I always thought you could end this reign,
But it's my destiny to be the king of pain.............
I'll always be king of pain
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