Neal and DC

Well I know you must be wondering what’s the word DC doing along with the word Neal, And I guess that’s the power of cinema, it creates inseparable pairs in peoples mind, that would never part in years to come. So if its’ Abhishek’s and Rani’s Bunty Aur Bubbly or the much recent crap that Yash Chopra brought out for his son Uday’s never to have kick started career, popularly called Neal and Nikki we know they are to be referred together for ever. I hope even Real life was like that. And because this blog is all about real people and real stories (off course ignoring some Punjabi exaggeration from my sideJ) so the twist named DC is given to the post, representing that reality here. What is it, we shall see n the lines below.

Well Neal and DC are the names of the leading characters of the stories. Neal is a dear friend. Tall, Dark, handsome, and one of the many Indian Software Techies like Sethi Sahib, that you can now find in every nook and corner of this world from America to India.

And since he is a part of Sethi Sahib’s very close friend circle, despite everything perfect about him, he is still looking for that perfect being that can take control of his single life and end his bachelor’s existence. In short and simple words he is looking out for that never to be found perfect girl friend.

And now words about much awaited DC. Well DC is an acronym for words Dhoop Chaaoon( Translated to English – Sunshine and Shadow) . And yes it’s a name of a girl. Name not given by her family but the reference name given by the boys on the SUS Road (the place where I use to stay), who catch their office bus on the same bus stop as hers and since nobody knew her real name this was the name that was coined for the ease of reference by the entire boys club.

This naming process by the boys club to all the girls on the bus stop is really interesting.
Like many Indian engineer boys who grew up cramming hundreds of bulky books and only enjoying one sided relationships this set too has one sided affairs with all the girls coming on the bus stop. An affair of which the ladies in question are always totally unaware of and probably will never will. An affair that will last only till the time, the girl changes her residence or finds someone with a bike or a car to drop them off to office.

So to address them when they talk they gave their ladies a name of their choice. Being Engineers the naming process reflects the finest example of the logical and analytical abilities you can get hold off. Here are few examples, a short beautiful lady was known amongst the group as PKB (Papa KI Beti or Fathers daughter in short ) because on the bus stop whenever she talked , after every five minutes she would refer to her dad. So for all of us she was PKB.

Then their was group of four very similar looking Kudis from Punjab and when one of the south Indian boy from the group heard a girl speaking in Punjabi and saying words “ Koi Load nahin hai”, meaning “ No need for that” to someone on her cell ,he got so crazy and fascinated by her and her Punjabi word “load”, that he started addressing their entire group as Load . So phrases like “Today Sus Road was fully loaded” or “The bus was half loaded” or “I need to load up my life” became words of common usage amongst the group.

Well their were many such names like Clones , Kala Chasma , Sharan Pur each with a different but interesting stories behind it but I wont go into their details as an entire new post can be written about this whole naming convention process.

But yes I would be failing in my duty if I don’t mention how DC got her name. Well DC had always been different. She was beautiful, fair, blackish/golden haired and slightly heavy built with a “I will kick you ass, if u come near” looks in her eyes. She has two things that totally differentiated her form others, one was her red colored lipstick which no matter what was the color of her dress, color of the surroundings, the season or the occasion was always present on her face. The red color and the kick your ass looks were the perfect combination for signaling danger from hundreds of kms away. The second different thing was that she uses to always stand all alone on the opposite side of the bus stop. Imagine about 20 people on one side of the road looking at 1000 watt danger signal on the opposite side on the start of the day, reminding people not take life for granted. I guess she thought someday the driver would notice the presence of her highness standing and would take an opposite turn to pick her up , but that never really happened. Bet me bus drivers in Pune not even care to stop on the designated bus stops always, leave alone the thought of taking a U turn for someone.

Now even on the opposite side, she use to sometime stand under the shade and next day under the falling lights of the sun. This use to alternate everyday and hence the name dhoop chaaon or sunshine and shadow was bestowed upon her. Guys use to bet every day on which side of the light she would stand today. Imagine so much happening without the lady in question even aware about it. Well that’s the beauties of these one sided affairs. Guys live a whole complete life with the lady of their dreams on the bus stop, discussing even to the extent what their grandchildren would be doing from 40 years from now.

My own perception about DC was that she was some sort of psycho but as it always happens , you witness Murphy’s Law on earth working effortlessly around you and my dear talk dark and handsome friend from down south Neal falls head over heals with the “seem to be a psycho” Punjab girl, known as DC. And from here begins the story of Neal and DC.

Now Neal comes and tell Sethi sahib that she was the one he has been waiting for all her life. Sethi sahib is perplexed as always and thinks what the hell made, sensible guy like Neal to go for such dangerous, psychotic representation of love. But trust me never question a guy bout his dream women, it happens only once and no matter what the image she has in the world for him, she is the world. So Sethi Sahib and the entire gang decide to help out our beloved Neal in another love saga in making.

Neal finds out that she goes for a jog in the morning and this marks the birth of an athlete in Neal . Never in his life he has been up before 8 in the morning, even when he knew it would be impossible to clear the most dreaded of all complier exam in his engineering days without being awake 24 hours a day, but yes a girl once gain had her way in a boys life. Everyone form the boys club gave their one single morning to Neal to give him company every morning despite the night out a software guys has to do in his life.

But to Neal, nothing in the world mattered now , coming home at 1 am and ready for a jog at 5 am , I must say I learnt one thing from him , never fall in love with a girl who likes to go for a jog in the morning.

Its been one month now , No weight loss was observed in DC but our dear Neal was already spotting black circles under his eyes owing to lack of sleep and was still struggling to get a chance to speak to her.

God finally heard his prayers as, Sethi Sahib finds out an advertisement posted by DC on the office Bulletin Board. It said “House holds Item on sale. Items lying on Sus Road. Contact between 9 – 10 pm” . Items lying on Sus Road , I gave it a thought , Boy I commute daily on the Sus Road but have not seen any of the house hold stuff lying on the road. And even if they are lying on the road, by the time I would reach back , some one would have already picked it up. I am always amazed by the intelligence levels of some of the really beautiful women.

Anyways , a call was promptly made to Neal , who worked in the adjacent office as of Sethi sahib and relevant details were exchanged. Neal called up DC for the first time, and she tells everything is sold out except for a steel Almirah which was about fours years old and costs 2500 rupees. 2500 rupees for a four year old almirah , are you kiddin man , you can have a brand new one in 2800. But love makes you forget everything and even if the cost would have been 25000 rupees I am sure Neal would have still gone for it.

So Neal was ready for his big date. Though it was costing him 2500 bucks .The lady has obliged him with a 9.30 pm appointment at her and what a stroke of luck for him , from one sided affair to an invitation to a lady of her dreams house and that too in the moonlight night. Neal was ready for the big night.

The whole day was spent waiting to catch the 9pm bus for the Dc’s house. No bugs were solved, no time sheets were updated, no telecoms were attended, the only thing Neal did in office was to look into his watch after every five minutes.

And the clock stuck nine and Neal rushed to grab the seat closest to the driver in the bus so that he is the first one to move out.

He knocks at the door at sharp 9.30 pm and is welcomed by none other than the Goddess of red lipstick, DC herself. Dressed in white colored night casuals and her hairs untied , Neal is already in trance . I am sure now even 25 lakhs is not a big cost for him for the rickety Almirah. DC tells him that her room mate would be late as there is a project deadline so in the entire house its only Neal and DC. Neal agrees to buy the almirah in first 5 seconds and for the next five minutes forcefully tries to be with his one sided love, trying to crack one PJ after another. But DC knows the value of time and money and I guess 5 minutes for 2500 bucks was more than enough and she wishes Neal a good night . Neal takes the cue and the almirah and promptly moves out but yes he his happy , the happiest guy on this planet, the five minutes he spent with her , has had him lived five births with her , not to mention the numerous grandchildren he had imagine they both would be sharing.

Neal now waits for the morning when he can proudly wish her Hi on the morning Jog. But as luck would have it she didn’t turned up that day , nor she is seen for the next whole week. Neal asks Sethi Sahib to find out. And this is revealed.

DC had left Sus Road. It was her last night there as she had resigned from her job and joining her parents in Delhi where she would be getting married to Stanford MBA guy and then leaving for US of A from there on . Neal is left with a broken heart and equally broken Almirah.

Sethi Sahib and Neal decides to take walk on the Sus Hills one night , a week after the revelation and Neal tell Sethi Sahib that he is planning to take GMAT so that he can go and study Management In US. On asking why, he tells. so that next time when he goes to buy an old almirah from his girl of the dreams , he has nothing left to chance.

And Sethi Sahib wondered why the hell he would need to buy a old rickety almirah once he graduates from Stanford or Harvard when he can very well think about setting up a steel plant then. Well boys will be boys after all!