Hello Readers,
The idea for this one was from a thought on difficult it is to find people compatible with yourself and what if you end up finding someone with just the proper dose of the same kind of weird you are!
Hope you like it!
********************************************************************************
I was walking without really bothering about my
surroundings. I was far far away from the familiar road I was walking on, the
road I take everyday to office. I knew the road so well, Knew the bumps and
rocks and potholes like the back of my hand, that I would freely let me mind
dwell on other stuff while my years of practice would be called in to guide me
through that road. I came across the junction of main roads and immediately,
my autopilot was switched off and I was woken up from my reverie. I dully
turned my head to check for traffic on both sides before crossing the road,
when my eyes saw the old mechanic shop to my right. There were 4 guys working
there and one of them had taken a lunch break.
Nothing very interesting but somehow, something was not quite right here. I had
already turned away and started crossing the road but there was a nagging in my
brain that seems to say something just didn’t fit in the scene that I just saw.
IT took my boredom induced befuddled brain all of 5 secs to understand. When I realized what it was that had somehow
been a misfit there, I was so astonished that I came to halt! Right there! In
the middle of the road! Stupid move! A car swerved to my right and just missed
hitting me! The driver swore horribly and made some rude gestures. I raised my
hands in apology and gave him a shamefaced look, that immediately cooled him
down and he reprimanded me saying I shouldn’t be day dreaming while crossing
the road and drove off.
I turned and walked back to the same footpath again because
I wanted to analyze what I had witnessed a few seconds back. I had a look at
the garage again. I was taken aback because they were all staring at me. They had
just seen the stupid thing I did in the middle of the road. I was so
embarrassed, I decided I’ll check this out some other time and again did an
about turn. I heard someone laughing behind me which made me walk away faster!
I couldn’t sleep that night. The image of what I had seen
kept flashing in my mind’s eye. I was wondering about the ‘whys’ and was coming
up with countless possible answers! One weirder than the next! I decided I need
to talk to this guy and figure out the answer to the ‘why’ else I shall not
know peace!
So, the next day, on my way to office, I had a peek at the
garage. Sure enough, they were all working. My brain was in tangles! I was
finding it hard to decide whether to go talk to him or make my way to office
like a coward….As I was contemplating, He lifted his head and shot me a curious
look! That helped me with my decision! Coward it is!
By evening, I had made up my mind…I had to woman up and talk
to this guy! I was unable to concentrate at work!
I was on my way home that evening and as I neared the garage, my feet suddenly had
a mind of their own and started walking towards the garage! Before I realized
what my stupid feet had done, I was standing there, right in front of him!
I was feeling a bit awkward and was mumbling a bit when he
gave me a kind smile and asked me to have a seat! I looked around for a chair
and found none. He just chuckled and put one of the drums upside down and what
had my heart beating so fast was ..he wiped it clean with a cloth before putting
a sheet of clean newspaper on it! He then gestured me to sit. I think that’s when I fell for
him…hard!
He offered me a glass of water (which I accepted owing to
the fact that I could see a clean water cooler inside). After I had gulped it
down (I didn’t realize I was that thirsty!) I felt a bit at ease and started
talking about what I have been planning to from the past 36 Hrs..
I told him that I had watched him eat his lunch the other
day and found it surprising that a mechanic would be using a fork and knife to
eat rotis! And the way he was using them made it clear that he used them well! He
immediately lost his friendly disposition and appeared a bit stand-offish.
I realized I had upset him and in my eagerness to sort
things out, I blurted out the first thing that came to my stupid stupid brain!
“It’s just that I suffer from a mild case of Mysophobia and nothing turns me on
more than a neat freak”
I realized I had said that aloud! My mind short circuited
and I ran for it! I sent the empty glass in my hand flying and from the ‘Ouch!’
I heard behind me, I guess it had landed on his head!
But before I could cover some considerable distance, he
overtook me and forced me to stop. I was so embarrassed, I started blabbering.
He calmly asked me to be silent and inquired whether he could do some talking
now. I nodded my head. He gave me a reassuring smile and introduced himself. He
was not a mechanic as I had assumed, rather an entrepreneur who owned the
garage and many other like them. Mechanical work was a passion he had. Hence,
instead of just running the business as white collared entrepreneur, He’d spend most of his
time in the garage, working with his mechanics.
He was well educated and was single. (He gave me a wolfish grin when he
emphasized that!) and yes..He suffers from the very same illness that she
herself had! Though his was limited to food. He just could not eat with dirty
hands and he being a mechanic, his hands were bound to get dirty. Hence he had
always used cutlery to eat anything and everything! That was the reason he was
very particular on the cutlery and had a clean set on him always! To prove his
point, he removed a pair of fork and knife from his pocket! They were wrapped
in a clean napkin!
That did it! I knew he was the one! When one is berated for
a quirk one had, when my family had tried everything they could think of to get
rid of this oddity I possess, when
everybody made fun of or ridiculed me for being a freak, I finally meet
somebody who would not only tolerate my freakiness but could also understand and
relate to it! The Gods have spoken at last!
