karthik lakshmanan: SMS Minnale

“Hi Rahul.. This is my new number. Sheela here.. how r u? Loooong time! ”

I am Arun Kumar, doing my 2nd year engineering and living in a hostel in one of those million engineering colleges in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. I had just received an SMS with the above text at around midnight. Basically being a barren land when it comes to girls, I was not sure how to react to that message. It was pretty obvious that the message was not intended for me but I didn’t want to let go of this opportunity. A thousand questions ran through my mind as I looked at the SMS for the 197th time in 5 minutes. “Should I reply saying I’m not Rahul?” “Should I call that number?” “Should I ignore the message?” “What if it’s an attu piece?” Damn! I’ve never strained my brain so much in my life. Finally I decided to temporarily ignore the message. Firstly, I didn’t want to portray myself as too desperate by replying immediately, and secondly, it would give me time to think. As far as the attu piece dilemma was concerned, I thought of the age old wonderful saying by an unknown Tamil poet: ‘Vandha mala, Pona masuru.’

After a lot of deliberation, I decided to reply next morning from class. “Hi Sheela.. sorry for the late reply.. had slept yesterday.. I’m doin great.. wazzup with u?” Yes, I had done what Madhavan did in Minnale. I knew I was no Maddy in looks, but how would she ever find out through a phone? Nervous and struggling to concentrate in class, I waited for a reply from Sheela. After a wait of around 20 minutes which seemed like an eternity, I received an SMS.

“Hey! I’m good 2...slept so soon?? I thot guys in IIT hostels don’t sleep so early! Anyways, no problems..:).. where r u now? Bunked class? Its been ages since we spoke.. I guess we didn’t talk after the school farewell??”

IIT. A mini explosion took place in my heart. IIT enga naa enga? No wonder she had messaged ‘Rahul’ after a ‘looooong’ time! But I decided to carry on. ‘Confident machi.. confident’ I said to myself and replied:

“Yeah guys in IIT hostels don’t sleep early. But you know I’m not one of those nerds ;).. and yeah.. a looong time indeed..madam suddenly became super-busy after school :P”

Somehow, my hands automatically made me use smileys. Pretty soon I received a reply and we started exchanging messages at a faster rate.

“Ha ha! Me and busy? No way! And you not a nerd eh? Then how did u get to IIT in the first place :P?”

“Still trying to find out the answer. I actually asked my professor after I joined here. He said shit happens once in a while.. I guess that answers it ;)”

“LOL. I’m literally rolling on the floor and laughing uncontrollably. HAHAHA!” came the reply.

Was it that funny? Anyways, a part of me felt proud and happy to have made a girl laugh. The confidence urged me to continue.

“Chuck that. Hey btw..wazzup with u? What you doin these days?I’m sorry I forgot.. you know IIT guys tend to have short term memory loss ;)”

“Ah..but i thot you were not the ‘typical IIT guy’?? :P I’m like you.. in the process of wasting 4 years of my life.. I mean I’m doing engineering..but not in the IIT! LOL”

I had succeeded in my first step - to get some details. But why was she LOL-ing? Whatever. I decided to LOL too. Thought it would sound rude otherwise.

“LOL. Yeah I guessed you would be doing engineering.. and Yeah not many people waste their lives in IITs ;) It’s reserved for the special (un)lucky ones!”

“Haha! You are in IIT and you are complaining? But its logical - guys in IIT are never satisfied.. thats why you end up in IIT in the first place!”

I went and stood near a mirror. The person from the other end stared back at me and had a million expressions. Some of them being :

* This face ku IIT too much.
* This face ku IIT too much.
* This face ku IIT too much.
* This face ku IIT too much.
* Have you ever seen an IIT campus?
* Have you ever seen an IIT campus?
* Have you ever seen an IIT campus?
* You still have 3 arrears left.
* You still have 3 arrears left.
* You still have 3 arrears left.

But I decided to carry on. Confident machi..confident.

“Oh what a brainy girl..you deserve to be in the IIT :P”

“No thanks. I’m happy this way. And hey btw.. how did u find out that I would be doing engineering too??”

“Oh..that..It’s only natural for anyone to jump into engineering after 12th standard right? Especially for girls..enroll in some engineering college.. slog for 4 years... outperform the boys.. draw margins in assignments.. submit assignments a day in advance.. block 2-3 jobs when the guys struggle to get one.. and then finally give up the jobs to marry some rich guy from America.. this is the life-routine for most girls in Tamilnadu right? :P”

“Ooooohh.. why don’t you give some figures about how many girls take up engineering... how many go on to get jobs.. how many get married to America maapilais? That would be interesting..:P”

“ You think I’m captain Vijaykanth or what? ;) I am weak in those statistics!”

“LOL. You are a funny guy. Anyways.. i got to go.. nice convo after a long time.. bye bye”

It was indeed a nice convo, not after a long time - but for the first time. I just realised that I had spent almost the entire morning session in messaging her. There are a few ways to check if your kadalai session went well - First, you should lose track of time. Second and most important: you should not remember what you spoke. I succeeded in both and found myself smiling - for no reason.