Dec 2010, 6.15 PM, Thoraipakkam, Chennai.
Gavin alights from the shared auto, thinking to himself, "for god's sake it's my first date ever and can I for once afford to have a non-creased t-shirt travelling in this over-cramped vehicle, great choice." His mind shifts to the attire selection, "well this is my best, I wore this in Helsinki, Blue Levi's Jeans, Black Puma T-Shirt, albeit all purchased on discount from T. Nagar Saravana Stores. Are these fake? I don’t want to know the answer," he thinks to himself. He looks down at his most dear possession, his black Fossil, time is 6.25.
We have been meeting regularly in office, however this is the moment of truth. "Time to call Rachel, buddy," he says to himself. As he reaches for his phone and the thought of calling Rachel races through his mind, his heart starts pounding at a speed he had felt only once—as a 6th grade student in military school when he had to jump and climb the 10-foot wall of the insurmountable obstacle course, an unsaid but understood ritualistic initiation to become a man from a boy.
Tring Tring, the phone rings breaking his thought process, it's Rachel.
"Gavin, are you here? It's 6.35, I thought of calling to check when you will be here."
He musters back, "I am here Rachel, walking over to your PG, you can come down."
As he keeps his pocket perfume back in his pocket, used profusely to get the share auto essence out, Rachel walks down the stairs of the PG. He notices her sandals, "wow these are new, have never seen her wear those to office, what color is that, can't figure it out." Her nails are painted red, "are those stars glittering on those nails?" he asks himself as he lifts his gaze to her angelic face with that peaceful smile, her pearly teeth showing. "How poetic that she has stars on her nails, movies didn't exaggerate did they, all stars of the world deserve to be her footrest, just for that angelic smile."
"Hi, hum aapke call ka wait kar rahe the..." she greets him.
He mentions, "I had the phone in my hand when you called—"
She doesn’t let him finish the sentence. "We match!" with a childish smile.
"Do we?" he thinks, looking at his Saravana Stores jeans and t-shirt, contrasted to the pristine ocean blue frock of hers with a thousand polka dots plastered across her like many tiny moons, and the belt across her waist, "can't name the color, but yes that’s a gold buckle."
"Let's walk up to the road to get an auto," Gavin mentions, only to be interrupted by Rachel.
"Arey kyun, share auto me hi chalthe hai. It's Besant Nagar only right, we will get enough share autos here."
A dread dawns upon Gavin, "share auto with a doll like you, does she think I can't afford a regular one?" As if she reads his mind, she reassures him, "Dekhiye, I and my friends normally take only share autos, unless you want to do otherwise."
Gavin nods and they walk up, and a share auto pulls up with only two people. Gavin and Rachel get in as Rachel smiles looking into his eyes.
The share auto ride is an encyclopedic discussion on the Santhome Church, well mostly Gavin sharing one-way all his knowledge of the church. Rachel cheerfully listens, only to pitch in the detail about St. Thomas's visit to Chennai, making Gavin realize with a grin that she knows all of this already.
Besant Nagar, 7.25 PM. Gavin recollects what his friend Sonali had mentioned, "take her to Besant Nagar, there are a lot of ice cream parlours by the beach, nice place." The beach is vibrant and pleasant; Gavin thinks to himself, "not a bad choice at all." He looks towards Rachel. "Would you like to have an ice cream?"
"Yahan baithe thodi der?" She points towards the beautifully laid-out stone walls bordering the beach. Gavin nods and they sit across the wall facing the beach and deep dark ocean, lighted in the half-crescent moon shining across.
Rachel looks heavenly sitting there, smiling on the beach. Gavin stares across her and the ocean, dumbstruck with the magnificence and beauty of both. Rachel takes a deep breath, as if to break the awkward silence, nudging Gavin to have a conversation. A roster of topics races through his mind, "don’t go into encyclopedic details, politics... say something nice to her, compliment her."
Gavin blurts out awkwardly, "You look like a thousand moons."
Rachel's glowing face replies, "Acha… Yeh kuch jyada nahi ho gaya? By the way, I like your perfume."
Gavin relishes the compliment, especially as he had emptied the perfume next to her PG.
"I thought we could have taken an auto. Did you not want me to have trouble?" Gavin asked.
"Aap bahut overthink karte hai..."
Gavin is taken aback by the sudden dose of truth, and laughs, acknowledging her seeing right through his mind.
As they sit across seeing the beach vendors pass through trying to sell beads and toys, Rachel looks across at Gavin, bringing out her iPod. "Aapko RD Burman gaane pasand hai? Mera favourite song is Bade Acche Lagte Hain, would you like to listen?"
Gavin is relieved, as music and RD Burman are his passions as well, although he hadn’t listened to this particular song. Rachel takes out her iPod from her green purse, passing one earphone to Gavin as they both lean across each other.
The song progresses as Gavin stares across the ocean:
Hum tum kitne paas hain, kitne door hain chaand sitaare
Sach poocho toh man ko jhoothe lagte hain yeh saare
Magar sacche lagte hain yeh dharti, yeh nadiya, yeh raina, aur... aur tum
As Gavins eye meet Rachel bright wide eyes, he marvels how deep and understanding those beautiful eyes of hers are, her long hair sway as the musky ocean breeze floats across them. Gavin think to himself "this moment will live on for life, just like the moment a father holds a child for the first time, this moment would describe better what 10000 words couldn’t have." He reached out and took Rachels hand in his, as they stared back at the ocean while the song played on.
Nice Song , Gudiya ….
Daddy !!! Gavin snaps back into current, as his 2 year old daughter call out. Mummy wants eggs. As Gavin looks across at Rachel , he calls out “Happy Anniversary Gudiya!”
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