Romance, Republic.,

I do not know why others flirt. I do it to get stories.
I cannot for sure say if it is good or bad… but I cannot tell stories without living them.

                                      

Riding to a government school in Kengeri, flag hoisting, witnessing cultural programs and then serving lunch at Snehajyothi orphanage was the plan for Republic Day. It had been some time since I had bought Lumia 1020 but I had not tested its video shooting capability. So I decided to leave my motorcycle at home and tag along with a BAC brother as pillion. Oliver happened to be the marshal of the day. With me being the pillion, photo marshal we were called though technically I was doing videography.

We reached the school after a break for breakfast. I started shooting everything that seemed interesting. The band, the offbeat Kadam Taal, colorfully dressed kids, a kid with unique shades, the flag pole and so on. The kids seemed delighted to be part of the celebration, the parents seemed even more. 

People with political connections of different scales were invited as chief guests. The usual song, dance and skit program followed after the flag hoist and national anthem. I shot some clips. The frequency of shooting had reduced because of 2 reasons. The phone battery was draining out quickly and my bladder was full; second reason being the stronger one. I took a comfortable seat and watched the performances. 

While watching the performances I noticed two girls who did not seem to belong to the place. They were too young to be teachers or parents and too old to be students there. One of them was clicking pictures on her point and shoot camera. She was not the prettiest girl I had seen but the mixture of compassion and joy in her eyes made her very attractive. She had worn a white kurta-sque something and a vibrant orange dupatta. Her friend was also similarly dressed only additional accessory being spectacles. The friend of the attractive girl looked like she weighed as much as my motorcycle.
I looked at the attractive one now. She too looked at me.
That-awkward-moment-when-you-are-caught-checking-out-someone happened.
“Shit!” I said to myself but continued the eye contact. Thankfully she smiled. I too smiled. A little embarrassed, I concentrated on the speech of a politician which had just begun. He appreciated these two girls for their dedicated effort to prepare the kids for the republic day cultural programs. Shruti and Jayati they were, Shruti being the attractive one to my taste.

The speech of the politician concluded. Jayati came to me and said
“gsk! Aapke tattoos mast hain”
“Thank you” I replied with a smile.
The sweet, biscuit and cake distribution to the kids had just begun. I did not even try to know how she knew my name. I turned towards Srinidhi, rested my head on his dam like tummy and said
“Dialed wrong number (sob… sob)”

My bladder was almost about to burst now. I asked Oliver to accompany me to take a leak. We found a secluded place amidst woods and gave some manure to the nature. Oliver too made fun of the wrong number getting dialed. We came back to the school. I saw that the two girls were standing on the platform behind Rajeet who was distributing cakes and biscuits. I went and stood between Rajeet and the girls. A school kid showed me Rajeet’s T-Shirt and said...

                                   

“Dekh baa.. Bhoot ka sir-uhhhh” He meant skull print on the T-Shirt.
“Raat ko dekhya toh light aata… maaloom-uhhh?” said I
“Ulloo banaraa merko” he said to his classmate.
His classmate asked me “Tum-uh Hindiwalaa?”
Even before I could say no, Jayati interrupted and asked me
“Tussi Punjab se ho?” in a not so flawless accent.
Trying to speak mother language of a non-localite is so like a Kannadiga, I thought.
She ignored that I am not that fair or well-built to be a typical Punjabi. All that she saw was my overgrown unkempt beard and skullcap, and concluded that I must be from Punjab.

“No! I am from here. A Kannadiga” I said “You people are from here too?” I asked
“Yeah” said Shruti
“I am from Jodhpur” said Jayati
“Ohhh! The city of blue houses” I remarked. She seemed clueless. So was I. Still I found it hard to believe that she was from Jodhpur.
Shruti asked about or motorcycle club. I gave her a brief introduction of the club, the rides we go on and the causes we support. During this, a school girl came to me and handed over a rose. I wanted a picture of that. I asked Shruti if she could take a picture of the re-enacted scene. She did it with pleasure. Then Shruti asked
“Can I have a photo clicked with your group?”
“Have a picture clicked with me first” I said
“Why?” she asked though she somewhat knew the answer.
“I would like to be the first privileged one” I said
“Oh come on! Privilege is ours” she said.

A school kid clicked a photo of three of us on my phone and also Shruti’s camera. Then I called the other members of our club for a group photo. Anshuman made fun of the moment by calling out loud
“gsK is calling for a group photograph” with an expression of I-know-what-you-are-up-to.

Once the group photo was clicked, other members dispersed. Shruti asked me
“What’s your name?”
“Oh btw… Gowtham… and you are Shruti and Jayanti” I intentionally called her name wrong.
“It’s Jayati” she stressed.
“What do you do?” I asked
“We are doing our engineering here in Vivekananda Institute of technology. It’s very near for for us. So we come here often to teach song and dance to these kids”
“Nice! Which year?” I asked
“3^rd”
“Which subject?”
“CS”
“What about you?” I asked Jayati
“Same. CS” she said
“Studious people!” I remarked.
“What do you people do?” Shruti asked
“We do different things. Some of us are employed, some do business, some are students… Like you see Srinidhi, the founder of our club… he is a student”
“Really!?” she asked
“Yeah!” I called Srinidhi  and introduced the three of them to each other
“He is Srinidhi, the founder of our club. Shruti and Jayati, student of Vivekananda institute of technology, 3^rd year, CS”
“I am in 2^nd year” said Jayati. The stress was on 2^nd.
“Ok! I admit that you are the younger one” I said in my mind. By now Srinidhi had left to attend to something else.
“Do you have a card or something?” Shruti asked.
“No I am not carrying my cards… or wait” I took a Bajaj Avenger Club visiting card from Srinidhi and gave it to her.
“This is Srinidhi’s number” I said
“And what about Ankit and Vinay?”
“They are not here” Srinivas Sir said.

I asked them to like our BAC’s facebook page and also support the causes that we support. Shruti agreed to inbox the photographs on our fb page. In that short span of time I tried to motivate her to get a motorcycle for herself and ride. She did not seem too keen though. I said bye to both of them and left the school.

Then all of us rode to Snehajyothi Orphanage and witnessed their dance. A few of our riders served lunch to the kids there. Avinash, Sreejit, Anshuman and Rajeet helped me shoot a small constructed scene which I hope to use in one of the BAC videos. Shivaram, Avinash and Srinivas Sir had to leave early. I tagged along with Avinash for my return trip.

Outside the school, while walking towards parked motorcycles, right after my last wave to Shruti, Srindhi had asked me
“gsK! Why all this now!?” since he knows that I am already taken
“I don’t do it to get girls. I do it to get stories” said I.