Me, Myself and Nirmal

In a way, my life has nothing to do with this society in which I happen to exist. On the average, I speak only one or two words with only one or two guys per day. One of them is of course my boss and the other is my ex roommate.

My ex roommate is another fellow who cares a damn for this society. He speaks with no one. He is supposed to be a software engineer but he does nothing but coding. He doesn’t engineer anything. Perhaps that is the reason why he is still in this coding stage even after putting five years of experience in the software field.

As far as I remember the biggest conversation I’ve had with him lasted exactly for a couple of minutes. “Hi I am Venu, Venu Vedam, Howdy?” I asked him when he stood in front of my 1 BHK house in Bangalore with a suitcase on his head.

“Hi I am Nirmal, Nirmal Nekkanti… Glad to meet you.” He said.

“How was the journey” I asked him.

“Cool” he said.

We shook hands and became roommates.

The next conversation took place exactly three days later. “Where is the laundry?” he asked me. I pointed to the other end of the road. He nodded. And then we spoke nothing for the next one-week.

When he watched TV I chatted on the computer. When I watched TV he slept. But he was the best roommate I’ve ever had in the sense he didn’t interfere with my personal life at all.

My personal life is a strange one of its kind. I think it is a debatable topic whether I have a personal life or not. Most of my decisions are driven by my boss. “Venu, I don’t know what you’re gonna do. I want this done by the morrow.”, is his famous dialogue. One day I counted how many things he wanted to be done “by the morrow”. It came to around eleven.

The only reason why I am still in this job is… I am not sure if I’d be able to get another job. So I basically enjoy no choice. I have be with him only.

Socializing hence, as far as I am concerned, is talking to these two guys and occasionally to my image in the bathroom mirror.

One fine day in April, when the sun was shining with all his might, Nirmal came home with a girl. I was a little confused as that entity didn’t quite fit into my definition of the society. It behaved strangely. It asked me “questions” and expected me to answer them. It became angry when I decided to ignore it.

Nirmal introduced her to me-“Nitya.”

I said, “Venu.”

Nirmal mumbled, “My sister. Joined IISc.”

I nodded.

That day, I watched TV, Nirmal slept and Nitya chatted.. not on the computer but with me. I tried to put her on the “ignore list” but it was hard. How could one ignore a high-pitched factory siren sounding from just two feet away?

Finally I gave the remote controller to her and went out. I walked to the nearest bus stop and sat on a bench there. Home seemed to be the last place I’d wanna go. But it was getting dark and I had to get some rest to gear up for another grueling day ahead.

When I came home, it was refreshingly silent. I went to the couch and lie on that. Perhaps she was gone.

“Venu,” she shouted from behind. I was startled. She looked like a devil with some crazy white paste all over her face.

The very next day, I found another 1 BHK house a couple of kilometers away. “I am leaving” I told Nirmal that evening.

“To?” he asked. “Another house.” I said.

He nodded.

Nitya didn’t understand. “Why are you leaving?” she asked me. I wanted to say “because of you.” But I didn’t say anything. I just left.

So my circle shrank again. I still say Hi to Nirmal whenever I see him. But I converse mostly with my boss.

I spent a couple of months like that… like a yogi. Then my father wanted me to marry a certain Vaidehi. I just said, “No.” He wouldn’t listen. So I shouted, “No.” He wanted to know why.

“No specific reason.” I told him and put the phone down.

Two days later, my brother came to Bangalore and ordered me to pack my things up for the weekend. “We are going to Nellore.”

I remembered that my boss had assigned to me a multitude of tasks that needed to be completed at any cost on the morrow. But it didn’t quite help me in this case. I had to leave.

So I stood in front of my father in Nellore.

“What’s wrong with Vaidehi?” he didn’t mince any words.

“I don’t know her.” I said slowly. “Here is her photo.” He showed me her photo. I did not even look at it. It made just no sense. I knew I was not fit for these things. Girls and sex had never been among my areas of interest. Actually there was no entry in my “areas of interest” list. The first time I thought about this was when I had to prepare the resume. “Areas of interest” column puzzled me a lot. I just didn’t know what to fill. So I put a “None” there.

“What’s wrong with you?” my father wanted to know.

I wanted to tell him that I’d rather live for myself. He wouldn’t understand. So I didn’t bother. I just took my bag, shook my head once and was out on the streets to go to the railway station.

My father left all hope. He stopped bothering me with crazy proposals. I stopped visiting Nellore. Now it is just my boss and no one else.

My brother married Vaidehi. I skipped the marriage because I don’t like these social gatherings. People talk and want to know too many things. They want us to talk. Since I abhor talking I have no option but to boycott these functions.

I have never had a good rapport with my life. It has always been silent and dark. I relish it in a way. I like living like that. But I don’t hate death. I have equal feelings on both these concepts.

Life hasn’t changed much lately. It is still the dark, uninteresting mode of existence. My boss still dictates jobs to done “by the morrow” and I still talk to only two guys.