5000 years

strange things happen in a foreign land and stranger things have happened to strangers.

ramalingam sighed and it was raining again. not the kind where you could take off your shirt and dance the merry dance to the merry song. this was more like cold arrows shot from the sky by the lord of how dare you enjoy sunshine. he looked back and saw his friend in the room adjusting his gear.

ramalingam not one to waste time at adjusting gears exhorted, "siva come on lets leave before it starts pouring." siva was the epitome of calmness. you could probably look at him and a sense of calm might overcome you, even in this weather minus the green tea. siva looked at him, "yes dude" and you could gauge from the reply that he was not in any particular hurry. his moves were fluid and smooth as he finally put on the gloves and glided across the room and closed the door behind him. in the meantime ramalingam took solace looking at the bicycles in all forms and colors on the street. he was mesmerized by it, not by the bicycle itself. but party due to this unimaginable number of them on the street. he was really curious, back in the old world of his this was not really the approved sort of transportation. lest one might be the subject to the games played by cars and trucks .. and god forbid state transportation. but that deserves another chapter. lets get to the task on hand.

they were quite a sight in this part of town. it is rare to see two indians walking on the street as if they own it. not in a particular sense of arrogance but more like a nonchalance of the world they were in. digging into the depths of their jackets and taking cover under the cap they walked towards their destination.

"so dude, what are we planning to do today". siva looked as if that was a very normal question considering the fact that normally one plans before leaving the apartment. he sighed, looked up for divine intervention before uttering the golden words, "there is a movie screening, lets check that."
ramlingam not one to dispute golden words with divine intervention agreed wholeheartedly with a shake of his head. "änd so after that lets go to the jazz festival, and the outdoor .... dude look over there do you think we should talk to those tourists." now to take a break at this point, its important to note ramlingam's characteristics here lest the reader be bemused and shocked when it is revealed in good time. ramlingam had peculiar conversation. his strategy from what scientists of lets-decode-conversation-strategies could decipher was this. he had a bag of conversation ideas, and new ideas would keep coming in from a path that has yet to be determined. however what is known is that he would randomly pick an idea and talk about it till he felt bored about it or another interesting topic in that bag is revealed. he then picks that up and talks about it. the two conversations might not be related nor important. another thing to note was of his genoristy to help stranded tourists with a lot of advice like "think twice before jumping into the canals" forgetting that he himself just moved into this city and truly they took a long time to understand his accent.

so going back to where we left you, siva looked at the direction which ramlingam had pointed. then looked at ramlingam, then looked straight ahead gliding his way effortlessly through the crowds unfaltering in his single minded focus to reach the destination. ramlingam did not mind that at all, he was used to it. rather he expected it. he had a lot to say without wanting anything specific more like general observations. as they kept walking towards the cinema theater, ramlingam was remarkedly getting excited. it was as one would say getting as close to a foreign culture as possible. that was ramlingam's enthusiasm, anything new and the opportunity to experience something new. even though his interest was not held beyond a few minutes ... as countless girls would recollect. it was a strange phenomenon and as said before needs a separate chapter by itself.

between chattering about how to evade if rain falls at a rate faster then 10m/sec to the new documentary on amazon rain forests they finally got to the line. and the clock struck 5, it was time for the doors to open. siva was puzzled , he didnt understand the concept behind entering doors in a single line. there was so much space around the line that is not being utilized.back in his old world people would rushing past others to find seats. you would never get the past seats. and after years of experience siva had perfected the art of entering-doors-past-crowds-with-effortless-ease. here he felt his skills were of no use. and as they were about to enter the door ,
"welcome to the balie, here you go sir"
both of them looked at each other. normally one would expect the person to ask for a ticked but what was this new thing. and the person had a smile and spoke in a friendly manner. and she held out a bag for each one of them. ramlingam's thoughts wandered back to the times when his mother had warned him not to accept strange looking bags from strangers. but those strangers roughly had huge mustaches and black glasses. he was confused. as was siva, he was thinking along the lines of glide past the bags and ignore this.

the lady getting a little impatient, "sir please take it and take your seats" they took it, they were well versed in the art of throwing bags in the corner and running out of the room, ever since their college days. with a little trepidation they looked inside. they found a packet of lays and a booklet. siva looked around and found everyone with a similar bag and munching into the chips. he knew this was a case for future deep thinking in the night about practices in the new world. ramalingam making himself comfortable was oblivious to siva's deep thoughts. soon the door shut and a woman entered. and what followed after that was an event of epic proportions.