Pact

Pacts , is what makes a lifetime . One makes all kinds of them.Some with self, some with God, some with your Boss and most of them with your wife . One of the deals between us is that ,I watch one of her chick flicks and she watches one of the action/gory movies with me . So she has watched "Black Hawk Down" , "300" for me and I have in turn watched ''Devil wears Prada, with her.You would think that seeing Meryl Streep,Anne Hathway and all the talk about fashion would have been a deterrence for me .But not until I saw the next movie as per our agreement, which was the epitome of feminism.

One lovely evening in Pasadena , I found myself standing next to her,while she was in the line to get tickets to see her movie. We entered the not yet darkened theater and to my utter embrassment,it was packed bevy of females .What else could one expect, I was in fact going to see ''Sex and the City''.But seeing is believing . I strained my eyes to find another member of my species . With great difficulty ,I located another fellow sufferer who would be going through the same torment as me . After taking our respective seats , it felt as if there is no escaping this place. .This is what Abhimanyu must have felt after entering the Chakaravyu ,surrounded by bloodthirsty enemies with no way out.

Carrie Bradshaw aka Sarah Jessica Parker appeared on screen, she was going to get married.The theater echoed with OOH AA H'S. My starry eyed wife looked at me to see if I was too enjoying like her . I suppressed my real emotions and smiled in appreciation of the proceeding in the movie.Some time later, Carrie Bradshaw was stood up by her finance and her wedding was stalled.The theater again resonated with sighs and ''OH NO'S.She again looked at me to find out if I also understood Carrie Bradshaw pain.And,here I was hoping if my partner could understand my pain.To get some reprieve, I asked her if she wanted popcorn or soda , hoping that the queue would be so long that I will miss most of the movie.No such luck. She was so engrossed in the movie and she did not want anything. In between the two hours, there was a moment where an unheard ,unsaid sympathy was conveyed through eyes to the other lone male gender sitting with his girlfriend.

Finally Carrie Bradshaw got married, and I felt my shackles being broken. I stepped out of the hall and took a deep breath under the open skies amidst the hullabullu of the shopping mall.I was appreciating the Pasadena crowded mall in a new light.On the way back, she asked me '' So how was the movie ?''. I could not control myself and finally announced to her'' after this last experience, I am proclaiming our little treaty null and void''.

Surprise!!!

A Surprise on your birthday, what more can one ask for ? When I saw mine for this birthday I went through a whole gamut of emotions .First, layer of Happiness,then disappointment next amazement, and last but not least pressure , all rolled into one like a sushi.

All you husbands/boyfriends out there who have ever given an excuse of forgetting their wife/girlfriend's birthday , I have one word for you 'Lucky '. As for me I can't even give that pretext to my wife as both our birthday are on consecutive days . What will I say '' Honey,I don't even know the day and month when I was born . When I have filled at least thousand of paper work for education,banking , visa, with a mandatory fill in the blank against the letter DOB (date of birth ). This justification will never fly.

For a past few years , it is a usual dinner or a lunch on either of our birthdays , no big gifts , or celebrations. But this time she decided to bowl a googly at me . Whoever says women cant keep any secret is all balderdash. We decided to go for lunch on the day of my birthday . She carried her usual load of things a purse and another bag , phone ,sunglasses . We reached the restaurant . She excused herself to go to the restroom. So far so good. We ordered our dishes and the waiter came back with mine and says to her it will be twenty more minute for hers . ''Twenty more minutes for hers what did she order?, I did not even pay attention '' I thought.

I waited patiently for 15 minutes. I should have guessed ,there is more than meets the eye , when she did not allow me to eat my dish . A few minutes later , I saw a waitress walking in with a cake and a package. The first thoughts in my mind was ''This is a brilliant idea , I can do this for her tomorrow.Thank you dear waitress for getting this to my notice''. The next second it felt she was coming towards me that just gave me the heebie-jeebieses . ''Oh no , is this cake for me. If it is , what will I do for a suprise for her tomorrow ''?.All these horrifying thoughts clouded my mind .The petite waitress then turned and it looked if she was going to the other table, I heaved a sigh of relief . She then picked the lighter from there and lo and behold put the white key lime pie icing cake on our table. My worst fear had come true , it was a surprise cake for me. The letters written on the cake starred at me and I starred them back ''Happy Birthday Rahul''. Not to mention there was a packet with the cake which had THE ipad. Beads of sweat appeared on my forehead.Stress of performing better tomorrow had creeped up and was at its peak.Instead of overwhelming joy I was experiencing performance anxiety . And if I knew myself better, I will crumble under the pressure and never be able to surpass her tomorrow .