The Sunday I am writing about happened around 5 years ago.
One Friday evening, Aarti asked me whether I was free on Sunday. Her grandmother’s brother or Nana was coming to Bangalore and she had to meet him. She did not want to get bored, so she wanted me to come with her. I was shocked like why me. She was in relationship with my college friend and roommate Raj that time. She must ask him to meet her relatives, not me. Whoever she takes with her, her relatives will consider that guy as her boyfriend. It better be him. Or she would have thought her boyfriend can behave like one, but not me. I might keep distance, act decent and won’t impose rights on her. For me, it was an honour that she considered me so trustworthy for asking me to meet her relative. We generally consider it a risk to let an opposite sex friend meet a relative and specially a guy with long hair.
Sunday morning Aarti picked me from my home on her Scooty Pleasure, in presence of Raj. Obviously Raj knew about it. On the way, she told me why she was taking me. Her Nana is sort of saint and he lives in Mount Abu. He came to Bangalore to meet his disciples and give a Preaching. She thought I would be interested in such things because to her I was an intellectual kind of person and would love to ask her Nana some queries. Wow! she considered me intellectual.
We reached to the auditorium 2 hours earlier. It was on Bannerghatta road near the Dental College. I was ok to wait but Aarti did not want me to get bored. She asked me if we can go out somewhere. I suggested Bannerghatta national park because it was nearby. She made no second thoughts and we left for Bannerghatta national park. She parked the Scooty in the parking and we started walking. I was worried if Raj found out that we went to the park, he would definitely get angry.
It was my first time in the park. Aarti asked me whether I wanted a jungle ride in bus. I reminded her we could get late. She said that was ok, the Preaching will go for 3 hours. She might intentionally want to miss most of the Preaching as it would be boring to her. So we took the bus. The bus had 2 groups of people. Only 2 seats were left and that too not together. The conductor requested the kids in the second last seat to leave the seat and it was a couple seat. I heard it but ignored it. Aarti probably did not hear it. I did not even tell her. We sat in the couple seat. Everyone in the bus considered us as a couple. If I would not have had long hair, they would have considered us a married couple because Aarti looks very much a wife material. There was a very cute baby girl beside us and we played with her most of the time when tigers, lions and bears were not outside the bus. When we got down the bus, Aarti asked me did I hear what the conductor said when we entered the bus. She heard it but did not mind. Nice.
We went back to the auditorium. We were sure we are more than an hour late. We got in and sat in the middle seats. Aarti’s Nana saw her and notice her being with a guy in long hair. His Preaching was mostly Kannada but he repeated the important things in English as well and that was specially for me. Preaching lasted 2 more hours.
After the Preaching was over, Aarti introduced me to her Nana obviously as a friend. Her Nana and I talked for about 2 more hours. He, I and Aarti were the only people in the room or kaksh most of the time and Aarti was silent for the whole time. I was in the centre of Aarti and her Nana facing her Nana and Aarti was 135 degree behind me towards my right. It was just the way the super conservative wives are in a family, always behind her husband when he is talking to another person but at the angle that the husband could see his wife from the corner of his eye. Aarti’s Nana’s disciples who arranged his coming used to come and ask if we needed anything from time to time. They even brought the dinner for us, actually I am not sure they brought or we served ourselves. Some people did join us for some minutes a few times, but not for long. I felt that in the whole place only 2 people are important. One is Aarti’s Nana and other is me. We got the special attention because we were the preacher's relatives. And I got special treatment from her Nana because her Nana thought I am her long haired but super decent boyfriend, who she will be marrying eventually. If she was not to marry me, she would not introduce me to her relatives. That makes me a son-in-law or Jamai Raja. And even before leaving, I bowed and touched his feet showing elderly respect. Actually just not to give respect, but the naughty me wanted to cement his doubt that I am going to be his son-in-law. His disciple, who did not know Aarti before, would not have considered me a going-to-be-son-in-law, but already a son-in-law.
Aarti’s Nana and I talked about some intellectual things as well. But my favourite and simplest question to him was, “In your complete Preaching, you assumed the existence of God. Do you blindly believe or are you sure of it?” I was expecting him to say that he had seen god or some undigestible stuff, but he said, “All the people, who come to me, believe. I do so because that is the only language by which I can make people understand good things.”
Aarti and I left from there and went to a mall on the way. I don’t remember which one it was, probably was Reliance Mart. She wanted to purchase soap. When I saw her picking a soap, even I thought to buy a soap. She took Dove, I took Park Avenue. I teased her that we are shopping soaps like a married couple and she laughed about it. She and I used to tease Raj for using Pears soap that he is a kid. So she thought to buy one for him to tease him. I suggested to take the teasing one notch higher and gift him a Johnson baby soap. She agreed. We went to the counter. I kept the 3 soaps on the counter and saw it together. Shit. A Park Avenue, a Dove and a Johnson Baby Soap. I put the Johnson baby soap aside, before the counter guy could see it and swipe it. Aarti was shocked why I did that when I myself suggested the baby soap. I told her I would explain the same outside the mall. Outside the mall, I explained her summarising the whole day and the summary will conclude the post as well.
First Aarti preferred her best friend i.e. me over her boyfriend Raj for spending her Sunday with. We went to Bannerghatta national park and everyone considered us as a couple. In the Preaching place, everyone considered me as her husband or going-to-be-husband. In the mall, if the counter guy would have seen the 3 soaps together, he would think that we are married and even have a baby. And if we would have bought it, anyone who would see the soaps through the transparent polythene bag could think the same. Even at home when we show that to Raj, he would definitely think that what would other people who saw this would have thought. In a single day, first I was a friend preferred over a boyfriend, then I was a boyfriend to a wife material girl, then I was a going-to-be-husband, then we shopped like married couple and by the end we even had a baby.
