Random Expressions

“Will you be able to recognize me?” she asked on the phone, after informing her flight details. “I guess so,” I replied, not very confidently. I had seen her photo only once earlier. “In any case, I will carry a placard,” I laughed. The phone disconnected, and I continued the drive to Delhi - excited about the upcoming meet.

RS, as she chose her on-line name, is not an unfamiliar name for the old-time bloggers here. Her humor in everyday bitter-sweet situations and family life packed in a solid punch hitherto unseen on the blogs, and all of it in the most artless and unassuming manner. The simple abundance in her blog is …well, abundant! We first ‘met’ online on a common blog-haunt, commenting on each other’s space, moving to chats on the Yahoo Messenger, and eventually exchanging mails. She quit blogging a year back, but her page is alive with her animated writings, for those who would want to check it out.

At the designated time I reached airport, amused that her flight was to land at 12:35, a time which in our school days had spawned off a corny joke (try saying it aloud in Hindi in Anglicized accent). The flight showed ‘on time’ and even as the clock moved ahead of the hour, it still showed ‘on time’. Was it actually delayed? Still, to be on the safe side, I stood near the railing, amongst myriad another tour operators/friends/relatives, holding an A-4 sheet carrying her name in bold black letters.

I think I was lost in trying to juxtapose the hazy memory of her photograph, seen on the mail, with the people exiting the airport - perhaps, a bit too lost. Suddenly, a lady swooped on me, taking me completely off-guard. “Are you looking for me?” she asked. For an instant second, I was about to say, “No”, before reason - in a rare shimmering display- took over. “R?” I asked, as if females are generally just about waiting to pounce upon yours truly *wink*! She nodded. She looked so different from her photos - or whatever, I remembered of those photos! Finally - and mercifully - reason and logic settled fully, and so did an assurance that I hadn’t actually picked up the wrong lady, and we walked up to my car.

The realization that we are actually face-to-face each other also sank in. For three years, we have chatted online, exchanged mails, had a few phone-conversations…and now, she was actually here. All the way from Canada!

“Let me show you around Delhi, then” I offered, as she said that she wasn’t in much hurry to check into the hotel. (Her hotel choice and the fiascos thereon can make up another full post!) We talked nineteen to dozen, filled each other with missing gaps - on my life, on her life and of course, on sundry others’ lives as well.

We had a small lunch at United Coffee House, at Connaught Place - a quaint restaurant in the inner circle, that has an old-wordly charm to it. Our talk didn’t dry up. Frankly, by that time, it just didn’t look that we had met for the first time. All the conversations over email had maintained a steady connection. Her work, my work, her family, my family, the bloggers, the country, her holiday, the cities (Pune & Delhi) - it just rolled on.

Before we realized, it was time to move. To another part of the meet. Two days back I had called up Anubha and Ashish, informing them about R’s arrival, and we had tentatively finalized Vasant Vihar as the rendezvous point, around 3:30 pm. So off we went there.

The four of us swarmed at Barista at Priya Cinema Complex, Vasant Vihar - and had a blast (quite literally too, since I had ordered something heavenly called ‘Barista Blast’). We talked, and talked, and talked more - on blogs, on people, on life, on Blogeratti. In between, we clicked snaps for posterity’s sake. With Anubha, I had been in touch, but digging out Ashish was a remarkable feat. There was lot to update. There was some bit of nostalgia as we remembered our peak in blogging. The fun of posting, and then waiting desperately for the comments to pour in - ‘the box-office collections’ as Ashish and I used to say.

Both R and Ashish are off-blogs these days. And have no immediate plans to return. But it is my immense good fortune that I met them at that time, and forged a great friendship. Lest Anubha slaughters me , let me add that with her it’s a constant exchange of fun-repartees, and always fabulous - but then, I have been meeting her off and on in the past year.

Time slid by - a bit too fast for my liking. We said good-byes around 5:30 or so, and went our way. I dropped R at her aunt’s place, nearby.

A memorable day, for me at least. And I hope I made it memorable for RS as well - so that when she returns to Canada, she should always remember she had been to the dil-walon ka shahar - Delhi!

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 7:45 am and is filed under Anniversaries and Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.