Who are you kidding?

Scene I

Bob sees Alice across the café. He is scared of her for she will break his bones for what he must tell her. ‘Hey’, he says timidly. ‘I broke your guitar’, he blabbers it out before his nerves could fail him. ‘Brrreak???’ She wishes she could break his bones and say just as matter-of-factly ‘I broke your bones’. Nostrils flaring, she gives him a hard look and turns around and walks away to get coffee just to keep herself from slapping him.

Alice comes back to the table to find a chocolate kept on her seat and a pleading-eyed Bob. Another one of her hard looks. ‘Don’t try silly tricks’, her eyes seem to say. She sips her coffee while Bob thinks of more silly tricks to try.

‘You know what, I saw this café the other day, just like the one we want to have’, says Bob.

Alice looks at him for the first time in ten minutes, interested, but trying to retain her anger.

‘It even has the wood and stone look we talked of, just imagine,’ Bob goes on.

‘But I’m sure it doesn’t have bonfire on winter nights like ours will. And dude, we have to coin a new word. Café doesn’t fit. It’s a café, lounge, pub and music place ya,’ says Alice, all indifference gone.

Bob: ‘Yaar, it’s going to be awesome. Every evening we’ll sit by the fire with great music and a beer. And Sundays ko only coffee. We’ll just keep sitting there’. :dreamy eyed:

Alice: Ya ya, why not. If I keep sitting there all the time, I’ll have to sing cats in the cradle when thinking of my kids ;)

They laugh.

Alice: And my husband will beat you up.

Bob: Haan, koi na. Tell him to come beat me up once a week. I’ll take it.

Between laughs Alice says ‘I’m so gonna break your bones for breaking my guitar’. The coffee, cold now, sits on the table amidst the planning and excitement.

Scene II:

Bob is smartly dressed, ironed corduroys and a striped shirt, tucked in, unlike his usual dirty t-shirt and shorts with torn pockets. His hair is neatly combed back and his stubble shaved. Files in hand, he walks in for an interview.

‘So Bob, why VLSI?’

‘When I design a circuit/IC I passionately try to better my design, reduce redundancies, increase gain and optimize it. My creativity comes into play. And when I’m done designing I feel immense satisfaction. VLSI is my passion.’

He gets the job.

‘Bob, we have a five year bond, is that fine by you?’

‘Yes of course, I look forward to a long rewarding and enriching career with your company’.

He signs the bond.

Scene III:

Alice sits in the library. ‘God, I haven’t read this month’s Business Week and I must start reading Eco Times cover to cover too’.

‘My percentile in the mocks is quite ok but I must work harder now. There’s just three months left. I’ve got to pull up my socks if I want to walk down the dark dingy exposed-brick-work, architecturally awesome corridors of IIM-A, my dream.’

Who are they kidding?