Thursday, November 13, 2008

Sun Signs & Star Partners

It was a dull morning in Bangalore. I had come back home late last night from office and I had to leave early today. It was 6:00 AM when I peeped out of my bathroom window before my daily shower, to see that it was quite gloomy and drizzling outside. Not the kind of motivation I needed at all. I was thinking “I’d rather sleep than run behind the office bus”. But I pushed myself to finish the chores and managed to be in the bus stop on time. The role change exercise that was supposed to happen at office today, triggered the push. Soon after, I was inside the bus, next to the window seat, trying to get back some sleep. After all, what would I do during the hour and a half of travel time!
Couple of stops and Pratap got into the bus. He bustled his way next to me, sat down with a hush and stared at me for a moment. I was in no mood to start a conversation and pretended to be half asleep. He pushed me with his weak shoulders and said “I’ve got something to talk about”. He was in no mood to buckle down to my pleading and said that it was an interesting topic that he wanted to discuss. It was about his habit and his thoughts and it was about Sun Signs. That caught my attention and asked him to go ahead. He started...

I embarrass myself with the way I get obsessed with Sun Signs sometimes. After any new acquaintance, when we get to meet each other for the third time or so, that should probably suggest that we can hit it off together, up, pops a question in my mind: “What could his/her date of birth be?!”
Generally, if I’m really interested in the new acquaintance, I tend to sum up things about him/her. May be it is bad, but I don’t give a damn cause I don’t let myself to be prejudiced about his/her character. I still remain open to the change that will be projected by the acquaintance. Well, to put it simple, I tend to make no fixed characterization of anyone and be stubborn about it, I let people the way they wanna be and I’m always open to change they want to attain. But I still build the rough character and keep editing it, based on the change that is obvious. Guess, its like a sculptor at work!:)
And once I have done that, I race thru the whatever bytes of Sun Sign memory I have and I assign him/her one sign. Now, that Sun Sign might be the actual Sign or may be not! But that is the game I love (and sometimes hate) to play! Is he/she as impatient as an Arien, as quick witted as a Sagitarian, meticulous like a Virgo, dreamer like a Piscian, a dilemmatic Geminian, a family person and stubborn Taurean, a big hearted Scorpian, often misunderstood Libran or the steady climber Capricorn? These questions flow like a disturbed river in me and I keep looking out for projections or ques that will help me build the character. By the time I have met the acquaintance for the sixth or seventh time, by which time we could call ourselves friends, I would have edited his character, the resulting Sun Sign and in turn the resulting birth date. And when I meet my new friend again, I feel a strange urge to ask his/her birth date.
Now, my heart pounds a couple of beats harder. No, it doesn’t skip a beat, as my friend is about to reveal his/her birth date. Could the birth date that I have analysed from my findings of him be the actual birth date? Or could there be a mistake! May be I should have taken more time or may be I should give up this dumb habit. Thoughts race across my mind like a marble rolling in space. Lets note this as Reference 1.
And then comes the answer. I usually am, 80% of the time, right. There is no display of hysteria when I get it right nor do I sulk if I get it wrong. Its just that the game is over! No prizes, no hard feelings in this single player game:) Its for the Reference 1 that I play this game for. The unexplained, sweet pleasure that I derive out of this, is unparalleled. Then I move on. If I had got my analysis wrong, I go back to the basics and try to improve.
It was about a quarter ago (Ah! Here comes the corporate lingo, I thought) that I met Sangeeta at a coffee shop for the first time. As is my practice, I started building her sign and her birth date. After about 12 meetings, I had failed to notice myself that I had started to really like her. Her effervescent smile, coupled with her spotless face and shiny teeth made her look perfect for a tooth paste or beauty soap Ad! Such was her magnetic charm, grace and personality that I couldn’t help but feel mere iron powder. She had me thinking all about her, at her feet, in that classical style, with all the violins and bells playing in the background, waiting to propose.
(Then what is that is stopping you, idiot, I thought. He continued) I was meeting her daily now and it seemed that she too enjoyed my company. All the editing of the character, following the projections had gone hay wire. I kept feeling, I needed more time. She was as childish as an Arien, as talkative as a Geminian, as calm natured as a Taurean, as mushy as a Cancerain, as royal as a Leo, as rational & methodical as a Virgo, as friendly as a Sagi and as attractive as a Capricorn. (Now, why do you need all this dumbo, you like her then just propose, I thought) Finally, when I could tolerate it no more, I asked her birth date. It was 4th of January. And, there lies the problem.

“Whats the problem with her birth date, you idiot?”, I blurted out. He continued. No, 4th of Jan would make her a Capricorn. And I am an Aquarian. The thing is that Aquarians don’t gel well with Capricorns. Actually, this is a very hard combination to analyze. (Whats the need, I thought). According to Sun sign compatibility, there is a huge difference in values and personalities here. It’s a battle between the organized Capricorn and the never organized Aquarius. The sure footed Capricorn may prove to be too much for the nimble water bearer Aquarius, who aims to make the world a better place to live in. Capricorn does not like the interest that Aquarius shows to other people. Aquarius does not like confinement or restriction at all. There are too many other differences as well and so it would make this a very doubtful combination. Pratap ended with that.

I was shocked and confused at the same time. I had to say something to Pratap and I did. “Pratap, I think you need to ask yourself a very important question: Do I really love her? You think of all the qualities in her that has made you go weak on your knees, add to that, her not so good qualities and whether you would provide her that unconditional love and whether you are really ready to make a few compromises. Weigh it down and ask that question. If the answer is Yes, then to hell with this Sign Compatibility and go ahead and propose her.” There was a moment of silence. I continued.
Look, if you go by the sun signs and compatibility stuff, I have a thing to say. I am an Arien and my wife is a Capricorn. As per the sign compatibility stuff, Ariens and Capricorns are not a good match as well. Aries being the Fire Sign and Capricorns being the Earth Sign, the relationship is bound to be on stormy waters. It has been 10 years since we got to know each other. But believe me, since then, its been an enjoyable, fun-filled and amazing ride. Yes, we have had our share of ups and downs, our share of quarrels, heated arguments but that has only made our love for each other grow.
According to the sign, a Capricorn should be a bit laid back, likes to plan everything in detail, likes to dissect all the happenings or the arguments and thoughts, is a bit head strong, is a bit pessimistic, makes sure his/her path is free of hassels and only then opts for it and a typical Arien, hates all those things because they are naturally instinctive & optimistic, hates it when they don’t take the decision in addition to being childish, impatient, egotistic and always wanting to have their word and so on. I know I’m a typical Arien but I also know that my wife is not a typical Capricorn. She is amazingly accommodating, quietly confident and definitely not head strong but she is also not very organised which is a strong characteristic of the Capricorn.
A person is not only influenced by their Sun sign but also Moon Sign and other planetary situations during their birth. Also one cannot rule out the strong paternal and maternal influences on them. In short, sun signs are not be all and end all to determine characteristics. So, my friend Pratap, if you really love her, then go ahead and propose. Its better to have loved and lost than not to have tried at all.
Suddenly there was disturbance in the bus. Everybody had started to get up and slowly started to move out. We had failed to notice that we were already in the office campus! I put an arm around him and said “Just go for it buddy. You will love it” and got up and left. We met for lunch again. Pratap was silent and was consumed in his thoughts. I didn’t disturb him. Surprisingly the others in our lunch gang were also silent. Nobody spoke a word. Then suddenly out of the blue, a soft hand clutched me and shook the hell out of me! It was my wife. It took some time for me to come back to the present and realize that I had dozed off by the pool side table. Pratap and Sangeeta were laughing aloud looking at me. The hot tea that was served drove out the slumber in me and I was clearly awake. I looked at my watch. It was 5:10 PM and it was 15th October. I had dozed for about 40 minutes but the more relevant thing was it was exactly 2 years after we, that is Pratap and me, had that conversation in the bus. After about 10 minutes, Pratap and Sangeeta stood up and wanted to take our leave. We wished them and were on our way back to our hotel room. We had accidentally bumped into them at this hotel. Suddenly, Pratap came running back, held my hand and told me, “Thank god I listened to you. Otherwise I would have missed out on my soul mate. Its been an amazing 18 month journey”.

10 comments:

Chaitra Chidanand said...

Lovely story!! :D :D
I really like your style!
Continue like this and you can have a book of sweet little short stories published soon! ;D ;D
(Btw, in Germany now. Got your email. Totally understand your not being able to make it. Wish I could! Will meet sometime soon for sure. Was telling a friend about our Infy life and missed you suddenly! :) )

Anonymous said...

You woke me up too buddy!
It was amazing...So here's your first (official) blog! I knew you had it in you :) I hope many more are ready to be published soon.. Cant wait to read them! Please do write..
By the way, Do I know Pratap? :)

jyeshta said...

Anna namaskaara....
sakatagithu :)

kusuma said...

short and sweet story . congrats on reading this i got curious about sun signs. if more people read it, books regarding sun signswiAlll be sold out like hot cakes.!!! A good start .nice. and interesting. keep writing. all the best!!!!

Sunil S Murthy said...

Thank you all for reading this and then posting your comments. This obviously means a lot and I hope to come up with more soon.

Anonymous said...

Great writeup Sweetheart..Keep it up..
I have seen the draft and the final one and there are almost no modifications done. that says it all..it comes naturally for u..Someone has really modelled ur brains in his leisure time..
Keep it going..

Ravi said...

Anna...sooper...yenella bariyakke shuru maadidiallo :) anyways, keep this going...

Sunil said...

hey...super post....not surprising that u chose this topic for ur first post :) ....keep this goin...

Shalini said...

This blog is real good one.. You seem to have done a great deal of research for writing this..

The language and style is really great.. Can't stop reading till I have read it to the end..

Please send me your autogragh Jijju.. :)

Chaitra Chidanand said...

This is my fav entry :)