Prajakta!!
March 31, 2005 . 10.30pm. Bangalore, India
I am at my friend’s place having casual conversations after dinner. The cell phone rings. It is a Mumbai number. I pick up the phone and speak quietly into the phone. After a few minutes, I close the call and I say bye to both of my friends. Rashmi, my friend’s wife looks at me with a twinkle in her eye and asks ‘ Who is this new girlfriend’? I smile! I rush back to my studio apartment — a 2-minute walk from their apartment. I call the Mumbai number!
Prajakta!! What a name! The word Prajakta derives from Mother Nature’s White Flower called ‘ Parijat’ and has a unique fragrance! That was the first call from her. We spoke animatedly for almost 90 minutes as if we knew each other for ages. From that day onwards, every day we spoke non-stop for at least 2–3 hours till the wee hours of the morning! Days were flying!
I had just joined a few months ago an Investment Advisory Firm to head their Private Client Group at Bangalore.
My daily routine was awesome. 9 am to 6 pm work. Check. 7–9 pm Badminton with friends in the gated community. Check. Dinner at one of the friend’s places or make my own dinner. Check. And finally a long romantic call with Prajakta. Check. Life was indeed beautiful!!
April 14, 2005. Bangalore and Mumbai, India
On the 2nd weekend of April, Prajakta and I decided to meet in Mumbai. I flew down to meet her. I picked up a new pair of slacks and shirts. I was quite excited about our first in-person date! Wow! What a memorable 2nd Saturday it was!! I was at my friend’s place in Mahim, Mumbai all decked up in my new dress and waiting for my date to pick me up!
My friends were teasing me that am decked up like a woman now waiting for my Prince Charming to arrive! I said, ‘ So what, I have always been a postmodern feminist! I wouldn’t mind a reversal of roles in my life. In fact, I will be glad, if my woman is smarter, intelligent, earns more than me, and financially independent. That is the kind of woman I would love to have as my SOUL MATE! They obviously shut up for some time!
Finally, after an hour of delay, Prajakta arrives to pick me up. As she opens the car’s front door slowly, she sizes me up with her beautiful eyes😂 The eyes have a different color which is common among the Marathi community in India. The color of the eyes among Indians is usually black but there are some exceptions. Like Prajakta. Boy! I totally fell in love with her eyes and the wonderful cotton ethnic green Salwar Suit! It was so elegant yet simple and beautiful! It took me a while to get my breath back! She looked at me with amusement and with a smile on her lips, she revved up the engine and drove the car to the Bandra Bandstand at 6 pm! The audiotape in the car was playing ‘Kisna’ movie songs! One of my favorite romantic songs but even though the movie was a total disaster ( nevertheless enjoyed it with friends back in Bangalore a few weeks ago!).
We park the car at the bandstand and head out to walk on the paver block pathway for walkers and runners. As we just head to the walk away, Prajakta stops in her tracks and says, ‘ Wow! I have never seen a sunset in a long while now’! I scratch and tilt my head towards her. I then realize..yeah..she has been working like crazy in her bank for the last few months. Because of the year-end pressure. Obviously, she wouldn’t have had the time to smell a coffee or a flower or see a sunset!!!
We began to walk on the bandstand observing the sunset and the people around for a few minutes. While walking we had one of the most hilarious times of our lives! When we think about it, we still can’t help laughing out loud! A tall lean bald man was doing his walking exercise so seriously that he had a whistle hanging on his neck and every time somebody was walking in front of him and obstructing his path, he used to pick up the whistle and blow it hard to convey to the person walking in front of him (or someone coming from the opposite side of him) to give right of way to him so that he can continue to walk at his brisk pace rather than slowing down his pace and walk along with people like us!!! We found his act extremely amusing, interesting and hilarious! We stopped in our tracks and found a place to sit nearby just so that we can watch this gentleman walk up and down and blow his whistle whenever he finds obstacles in the form of human beings intercepting his ‘right of way’!
Thus our first date became totally memorable! It has been 15 years since we are married and we still recollect our first date at times and laugh out loud🤣
