Of marine and terrain Fauna

Sometime in the mid of the week that went past, Ms Kutty, threw a party for us girls at a local restaurant. The occasion was to celebrate Ms Kutty’s return from her trip and subsequent stay abroad, on official purposes. Ms Kutty happens to be one of our ex-PG* mates. And the idea was initiated by the august efforts of one Ms Bumble Bee, whose unparalleled enthusiasm for organizing “events” in our tell-tale uneventful lives is well-known across the lengths and breadths of the nation. Owing to Bumble Bee’s deluge of emails and incessant flurry of phone calls (which Soliloquist dutifully missed, as usual, by leaving her mobile behind wherever she went, as a clue for any private eye who might have to trace her whereabouts, in case she gets lost, given her appalling sense of direction.) all the four of us were assembled sharp on time at the said venue, Bumble Bee making the grand entrance after a hard fight between the clock and the Madivala Traffic.

So we go in, gorge as much as we could, Bumble Bee getting experimental, ordering unidentifiable delicacies of the marine world which others were wary about, and finally having to finish all of it, (of course, Soliloquist, being solicitous, offering able assistance ). We had a nice long chat of old times, new times, and still newer times… Soliloquist, having lost the precious early morning hours of sleep for the past 4 days, benevolently smiles through most of it, dropping a quip here and there, to show she’s been listening…

As the evening progressed in this fashion, the meal traversed through its different courses, it was presently time to wind up. Kutty takes out her neatly organized purse. Soliloquist gapes in wonder at the sight of a neatly organized purse, as she does at anything that is neat and organized. Crisp Sodexho passes materialize and Kutty begins to count. As the count is checked, double checked, triple checked by all those at the table, Soliloquist’s interest with the purse vaporizes gradually. Soliloquist, by now fully awake, attempts to takes in the ambience, before they leave. ( Soliloquist, isn’t definitely lady-like, or even normal-human – like for that matter, ‘eat first – gawk later’ being her principle motto when comes to eating out.) A huge fish tank catches her attention and she is transported to a hypnotic trance by practicing the art of relentless staring without batting an eyelid on it. (A new technique of Transcendental meditation, eh???)

“They say its good for the heart to watch the fish”, Soliloquist announces, abruptly breaking her reverie.
Bumble Bee, rudely disturbed by this sudden digression, loses her count of the Sodexho passes and looks up.
“But I find them stupid” , opines Soliloquist, with a presumptuous air.
Bumble Bee, in a marine-favoring mood, enquires “why do you say so?”
“They are so dumb. All they do is swim, go up, hit the top of the tank, and go down. Go down, hit the bottom, and then go left. Go left, hit the left wall, and Go right. Go right; hit the wall on the right, and the go up. How absolutely mindless and moronic!!”
Bumble Bee lets out a guttural laugh. Soliloquist mouths a soundless “Oh-Oh”. Whenever Bumble Bee gives a guttural laugh, one can anticipate a well timed snub.
“How different are you from the fish? All you do is get up every morning, get ready, go to office, come back, eat , sleep, and again get up next morning, and repeat the same thing. Even if you take a break, or shift your location, you’ll still be doing the same thing. The maximum you might do is shift from one routine to another.”
Soliloquist mumbles under her breath, “ I need not have woken up from my half slumber in the first place. So much for taking in the décor.”
Bumble Bee, with rabidly (pun unintended!) multiplying enthusiasm of one who has scored over the other, and is ready to go for the kill, delivers her final blow “ At least the fish doesn’t have the sixth sense. You claim to have it ……” A suggestive pause follows which ensures that the message is duly communicated.

When the counting is finally done , and Kutty had neatly tacked up the bunch and left it for the waiter to collect, Soliloquist ruminates over the apparent snub and realizes the pearl of wisdom that Bumble Bee unconsciously let slip by. Soliloquist looks up at Bee with new found awe. And decides to append Bee’s name in her long list of awe-inspiring women.

And so the day drew to a close, with a more enlightened Soliloquist finally being able to catch her ever-lost 40 winks.



An aside:

Speaking of pearls of wisdom, ala PG style, this one came up late last night.
The Krish Heroine** was in a very chatty (read ‘reflective’ between the lines) mood. Soliloquist also warms up to the occasion and they happen to discuss all and sundry.
When the subject turned to relationships, Soliloquist, predictably, speaking volumes about the futility of human ties, The Krish Heroine wisely said, “Whatever said and done, Man is a Social Animal. If the “social” is removed from it, Man is an animal, nothing but an animal.”
Soliloquist blinks back her sleep and gets reflective. (Read ‘chatty’ between the lines.)



*: By now, the readers of the this blog should know what PG stands for. As for the rest, please go through the previous posts which I wouldn’t link here.

**: Tired of using initials, I decided to refer people by their nick names.