Caged..

he walked up to his desk. the acceptance letter lay open on his screen. he had finally done it. after three years of wishing to get out of here, he would now be out. all he had to do was reply to this e-mail and then start the long-driven process of exit from his current firm. and of course convince everyone who mattered that this was what he wanted to do. convince his family, his colleagues, his boss and everyone else who thought that quitting a swank job for peanuts and passion is insane. but it didnt matter to him. he felt brave. he felt he was ready to take on the world. and he did not need the safety net of a well paying job. he would quit. he would follow his hearts desire and everythin else would automatically fall into place. he would do dis as his gift to himself. he would first confirm that he would join the organisation and then send in his resignation e-mail.

he walked up to his balcony. n looked out to say the bustling life below his flat.. on his balcony though he was not alone. he had company. mithu sat der in its cage, lookin at him with a new fangled interest. he looked into its eyes. and saw his dream reflected in it. d dream that had taken shape in his heart and was now in his reach. of stepping out. of stretching ones wings. of taking flight. he reached out and opened the door o the cage. he stepped back and looked at mithu. he stood der waiting for mithu to make a move. mithu angled up to the open door. it held the edge of the cage with its clawed feet as it put its head out and took in the surroundings. for a second he could swear mithu looked him straight in the eye. and then mithu stepped - not out of the cage but right back into it. and.. it stayed there. back in its favourite corner, next to its bowl of chillis.

stunned, he stood der lookin at mithu. as slow minutes ticked into hours, he reached out and this time closed the door of the cage. listlessly, he walked back to his desk. the acceptance letter lay open on his screen. he clicked on reply and typed in - 'i'm sorry to say i will not be able to accept your offer because of personal reasons...'

How do you do..

she logs in to facebook once again. to see if there is any action. life is a relentless restlessness now. she logs in to all her accounts. two in gmail. one facebook. one orkut. and one twitter. looks like the world is frozen. so she logs off. with nothing to do, she snuggles into her king sized bed, switches off the light. and falls asleep. after 5 hours.

he fiddles with the remote. one channel after the other. nothing looks appetizing enough. he shuts the thing down. and searches for the newspaper. sitting cross legged on the sofa set, he tries to absorb himself in the affairs of the world. and fails. he sits there for a while. realizes he is in a mood to not-care. walks up to his bedroom, and drowns his miseries under layers of cozy blanket.

the next day dawns. he calls his friend next door to step out for office along with him. they meet in front of their rooms. together they go down to the parking lot. as they walk, he asks - 'how you doing? how was your day yday?' 'oh i'm doing good.' says she. 'i met up with a lot of friends online. how was yours' asks she. 'was good. was checkin out some really cool shows on television last night.' replies he.

Just in passing..

they wait at the theatre. the young couple, the guy's mother and their group of friends. the guy - young, smart, with a voice that resounds and dissolves people into helpless laughter. the girl - petite, short, the vermillion on her forehead vouching for more years than the face would otherwise merit. the guy turns around to walk to the popcorn stall. his shirt has come untucked at the back. she looks at his retreating figure. silently she walks up to him at the pop corn queue. standing next to each other and away from their gang of friends and family, they talk. he turns to her and smiles. in the blink of an eye she reaches out and tucks his shirt in. an impish grin spreads across the pretty face. his arm comes around wraps her waist.