"Divi, I have something. Please close your eyes."
"Why Niku? Whats this about? Got a surprise for me??"
" I guess... I hope you like it."
Divi would have had to be a pea-brain to not have realised what this was all about. She did, and she was all for it, and felt her heart warm so much that had she suffered an artery rupture, she would not have known. She was all ecstatic and decided to close her eyes, and perhaps imagine the two of them together sipping the finest wine in Switzerland months later.
"Ok.... surprise me... " *giggles giggles*
Divi heard a click, a click that was a melody at this time. Closed eyes were not a handicap, she could see with ears the ring-box open. Now only to experience her retina focus the light from the lamp-post refracted off the diamond.
"Surprise...!!"
Divi opened her eyes, and what she said killed Niku more surely than a bullet.
" Where is it?? I don't see anything. Don't tell me you didn't buy me a diamond ring."
" I did! You can't see it cos the damn power is gone. Good thing I have my Nokia 1616."
" 1616? What happened to your Samsung Galaxy?"
" Sold it.."
"What? Why?"
"What do you mean why? I'm not able to have charge in it for more than half a day. It's difficult to charge my Galaxy fully when there's power for only 6 hrs of my awake hours, most of which is spent at work."
" But my iPhone is always charged."
" That's cos I spend two hours in running trains everyday with your iPhone charging it near the door. I could've bought you a more splendid ring if I hadn't had to spend 5000 rupees a month paying fines for ticketless travel. "
" You mean you got me a cheap ring?"
"No..."
" Let me see it...."
Niku's 1616 flashes light on the diamond ring, and Divi melts...
"Oh, Niku....its... its..... BEAUTIFUL....." *sob!sob!*
"It is...?" *wipes a sweat"
" It's dreamy...!! How could you afford this?"
" I couldn't"
"Then?"
"Oh I stole it! There was no power, no light, in the shop. I just...stole it. Decamped. It's nothing really."
"Oh you stole from a jewellery shop just for me?"
"Um..hmmm..."
"Oh Niku, you're the best! And my answer is yes..."
*kiss, kiss, smooch* and they lived happily ever after...
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Chennai Times, back page:
"POWERSTAR'S LATIKA HITS ROCK BOTTOM"
Chennai, March 18: The much anticipated release has evoked minimal response from the cinema-loving residents of Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu. Latika, a much awaited release for facebook trollers, laugh therapy specialists, and biological researchers working on the evolution of apes into humans, has failed to live upto expectations. Cinema owners and distributors have ruled out legally demanding Dr. Powerstar S Srinivasan for a refund. Says Irulappan, a distributor, " What can Dr Srinivasan do? It's not his fault. The public are not able to relate to Powerstar when they don't understand the catchy-ness behind the name. They recognise 'star' but they're asking what is 'power'."
Dr Srinivasan has decided to take matters into his own hands. " This is a conspiracy. My new enemies are not Facebook trollers. It is the TNEB. They have contrived with Facebook trollers to tarnish my image. This is the reason they are cutting power so much. They know that since power has become a joke in Tamil Nadu, powerstar will also become a joke. I will deal with this. I will become Doctor Lawyer Powerstar S Srinivasan and challenge TNEB and Koodankulam protesters is court."
On the other side, a group of protesters are forcing theatres to stop screening Latika protesting the wastage of power in TN. Says one, " What Dr Srinivasan is doing is atrocious. Already we are suffering. We don't have enough power to even make use of the central operation theatre high power light in our bedrooms that help us put make-up properly. In this situation he is wasting more power by including power in his name. We cannot allow this. We will allow Latika to run only if Dr Srinivasan drops power from his name."
Is this the beginning of Dr 'Powerstar' S Srinivasan's identity crisis??
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*Yawn* Sunday morning! Yaenga (the respectful word that wives use to call their husbands) looked at his digital alarm cum radio. Blank, no power. Sun shining outside. Must be anytime between 7am and 9am, the first of the days powercut slots. Trundles along to the bathroom. Takes a s**t. Opens tap. *bucket filling sound. 3 seconds later, plink, plink, plonk, stop*. Now, Yaenga says s**t and shouts to Yaendi.
" Yaendi, did you not run the motor?"
"Yaenga, this is Sunday. I woke up only now. I didn't put motor. Take tissue paper. It's in the kitchen cupboard."
"Kitchen cupboard?? @#&%$!!"
Noon:
"Yaendi, I'm hungry. Is saapaadu not ready?" asked Yaenga
"Yaenga, now only I am going to pakathu aathu maami's house to get ammi."
"Ammi?? why??"
"Current is not there. We have to use ammi to make sambar podi."
"Why make podi? why dont you just buy Aachi Sambar podi or Rasa podi?"
" Current cut is in whole state. Not just our house. So podi packets out of stock. We have to make our own."
"Aiyo! thayir saadham enough. Tell where is thayir?"
"Yaenga! No current means fridge wont work. Thayir has gone sour. Eat if you want."
" Do you atleast have rat poison?"
Evening:
Yaenga was watching TV when power got cut. So he gets pissed off.
"Yaendi, give me your USB broadband device. I want to see news online."
"Yaenga, I have not paid its bill."
"Yaendi, dont you have any responsibility? Why didn't you pay it?"
"It is unnecessary I thought, since we already have modem for our desktop."
"What is this?? I work so hard 6 days a week to feed you and kutti, and this is the gratitude I get? I should rightfully have asked you to go get water in a bucket from the hand-pump in the next street when I was stuck in the toilet in the morning."
"That is your mistake. You should've checked if water was available."
" You're opposing me and speaking?? GET OUT!!!"
Yaendi cries *sob! sob! boo, hoo!!*
Night:
"Ah c***! Have to go to work tomorrow. Have to get up early, so have to sleep early."
Suddenly fan stops...
"Yaendi, why is the fan stopping? Is inverter not working?"
" Inverter maintenance guy came when you were grinding sambar podi in the ammi. He told me to bring water in bucket for pouring into those holes in the battery. But since power had come only half hour before water had not yet filled the sintex tank. So told him to come later."
"Then?"
"Then I tried calling him, but it kept saying switched off, so I realised his mobile battery might've got drained."
"Loosu! Why didn't you bring water in bucket from hand-pump on the next street?"
"From next street? If you were so worried you could've gone, why didn't you?"
"You're opposing me and speaking? GET OUT!!"
Yaenga pushes Yaendi out of the house and slams the self-locking door. Yaenga doesn't sleep because of no air circulation. Yaendi borrows Odomos from pakathu aathu maami, applies it and sleeps soundly on the terrace with cool breeze.
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WELCOME TO TAMIL NADU
