Umbrella Romance

Ashitosh was working in Chennai, some years ago. The devout movie buff that he is, Sunday mornings were reserved for a visit to the movie club at Mylapore, where the screened classic French films. On one such visit, the organiser drew him aside and invited him to join the movie discussion youth group. Ashitosh agreed, and on the same day was inducted into the group. The group members sat in a circle; Seated next to him was a pretty girl he’d noticed earlier in the club.

Thus began a friendship sustained by the phone and covert and not-so-covert glances at each other in club. She introduced her parents to him, and they liked the handsome, polite boy. Strangely though, Ashitosh never asked her out. Perhaps he felt the time was not ripe yet. But the relationship flowered. In the club group meetings, she invariably sat next to him. It was soon the talk of the club, if not of the town.

One day she insisted Ashitosh to come home for lunch. Her parents were eager to know him better, and a date was fixed. On the appointed day, Ashitosh took the bus to her house. On the way, the skies opened and it began to rain heavily. Ashitosh was not carrying an umbrella. So after getting down at his stop, he called her, asking her to come to the bus stop with an umbrella for him.

Soon she appeared — but with just one umbrella. Ashitosh frowned and asked: “Did I not ask you to bring an umbrella for me too?” She tossed her head, laughing, and shot back: “Sorry! I forgot!

And it was under one umbrella that they wended their way home, purring ecstatically (I like to think!) in the pouring rain. Yes, they did get a little wet, but it didn’t matter; in fact, so much the better, for they had to draw closer to each other to avoid getting wetter. And Ashitosh at first didn’t know what to do with his arms, which kept getting in the way as they walked together.

But soon he learned something that anyone who has ever shared an umbrella with another person will know: Under the umbrella, there’s just one place you can comfortably rest your arm.

In other news: - It rained yesterday in Bangalore, as Ashitosh watched the rain from his balcony and updated his blackberry status to “Feeling Nostalgic”.