Koyal si teri boli, ku ku ku ku ku ku...!

"Koyal si teri boli, ku ku ku ku ku ku".....kich kich kich..

The 6-seater came to a halt, with a forceful break from the man behind the wheels, amidst the loud and at the same time mellifluous sound of the 90’s musical melodrama. "Chauda rupaye zalet, doghanche", demanded he, air of arrogance following him. I handed him a 10 rupee note and 5 rupee coin, only to take back an anjur (fig) toffee.  "For a change, let’s accept the change instead of 'change' ", quipped my companion, Amit.

 "So, we have reached PDC-2, finally..!” exhaled both of us, content at having made it just in time to attend the city wide Antakshari competition. Commute from Magarpatta to Hinjewadi never felt comfortable during the past 1 hour or so. Having known this before hand, we still wanted to attend the second round of the competition, promising our respective managers that we will come on weekend (really ?), if need be. Sometimes, there is an inexplicable force which drives you, which drives the way you do certain things, which drives the way you take decisions. The force which has suddenly gripped you, and has been brought into play by you, with which you seek a female with whom you would be happy to argue, only to end up at a bittersweet question, “Tumhala jinkaychay ki anandi rahayachay?”. The get-me-married force, I mean. Couple of days back, my dad had called up to update me about a marriage proposal, 4^th so far. The girl, like me, worked in an IT company, in Pune itself. Sonje was the surname of the third party, I mean that family. Working extensively in an IT company has its share of effects. “Ghari pahune sodayala jaych asel, tarihi, sadaiv-sukh-dalanach dar ughadanyapurvi tumhala, ekda swipe kel pahije asach watel.” Aso.

“Aaj sagala kahi sangeet may zalel distay are”, Amit pulled me out of the world of my thoughts, to get me back to where we were currently, at the competition venue, PDC-2, another facility of my organization in the same city. “Tamtam walyan suddha gan kasla bhari lawla hota; kanat godtel otun jeva te galyat utarat ani mag ghashat tyacha jo godwa janawato, tasach watal bagh mala, te gan aikun.” opined Amit sarcastically. “Awara aata”, I had to pretend a laughing-angry-bird-expression, to curb Amit. But somewhere, in the background, a demon thread was still running the music player with ‘repeat’ mode on, and was playing the same song.

“The second round is about to begin and all the participant teams are requested to be seated”, shouted the loud-speaker. Everyone was seated within minutes, for discipline was somehow overshadowed by the hunger to perform.

And there it was, the breathtaking display of beauty. A team of 2 females seating diametrically opposite to us. “Thank you lord for the world we see, thank you lord for this lush green tree..!” was Amit’s immediate reaction. I don’t know where do bachelors get so innovative of thoughts. But they do. “Fatakadi aahe be”, craved he, And I had to help him realize that the 1^st stage was beginning. As the game started progressing, it started becoming more and more evident that the game was on between only 2 teams, myself & Amit Vs. Fatakadi errr.. Nikita & Shalini. And so was the game on, of countless human emotions, as the teams of opposite poles kept fighting for the top spot. The penultimate stage was : identify-and-sing. One of the team-members had to go on stage and act out for the song, without uttering a single word. We had an edge in terms of score and were a little ahead of the 2nd rung team. I asked Amit to go for it and enact.

He was smiling as soon as he saw the chit and started enacting, pointing right away towards fatakadi, while referring to Sunil Shetty and Aish from Devdas in between. I guess hints were strong enough. Because fatakadi was furious enough, if her expressions were anything to go by. But I somehow refused to budge, only to lose the opportunity and an early shot at the top spot. Knowing which, the expressions in the enemy camp changed for good, with one of them looking like a smiling-angry-bird and the other one: happily-smiling-bird. We lost in that stage and subsequently the top-spot.

            Obviously, Amit was not going to be pacified easily. “Tuz dok madhyech charayala gel hot ka?”, fumed he, demanding an explanation. “Mitra, mi fatakadikade nahi, tabkadi kade pahat hoto, 2 diwsanpurvi babancha phone aala hota, Shalini Sonje mhanun mulgi aahe, Punyat s/w company kam karate. Tich hoti ti, Fatakadi chi sathidar, tabakadi.”

“Mag, lagna jamanyaadhich sharnagati ka? Utawale navre an..???? ”, he cut me abruptly.

“Nahi re, mi gan lagech olkhal hot.., pan ek pahayach hot, kit ti hastana kashi diste te. Tich hasya fakt othanwarch khelat hot. Hasna he fakt othanparyant seemit rahu naye, te dolyatun disaw. Karan othanna ekwel sahaj khot bolata yeil, pan dolyanni khot bolan far awaghad asta..! Mhanal, chala jara baghuya ek sandhi deun. Ani tyanchi team jinktey he kaltach kay khulun hasli ti. Shalinichya ghari jauya 2 diwsanni, kande-pohe khayala.”

2 days later -- 

“Chaha”.

And that demon thread suddenly sprang to life, on reception of the acoustic vibrations of that sweet word.

"Koyal si teri boli, ku ku ku ku ku ku"...!

Note : This story is a work of pure fiction.