Newyork Minute IV

NYC Dec 03 2000 Sun 11:54 hrs
Anna felt pretty much relieved from the “marriage proposals” that her parents were bugging her during the trip. She felt happy to be back in US. Naren and Anna started from where they had left earlier: Phone calls, messages and mails. Though they conversed a lot, the intention of meeting him personally was still strange to her. It was too early to fall in love with an unknown person for no particular reason. She had no idea if Naren too had the same feeling towards her. Or was it one way traffic?

NYC Sep 11 2001 Tue 08:35 hrs
“Anna, I am feeling excited. I am going to meet you for the first time. This day will be special” Naren was speaking to Anna over the Airphone of the American Airlines Flight 11. “Me too Naren. I have something to tell you. Let it wait until we meet for lunch.” Anna was shy at the moment and Naren did not fail to notice it in her voice. “So what is it? Can I have a clue” Naren asked Anna but she refused. “I was also feeling the same thing inside. I’ve kept it hidden for a long time. I don’t want to waste a moment. I want to tell you now. I think I am in Lov…”. Before Naren could finish it, he saw 2 men standing up from the seats with guns in their hands. “Listen up people. This is a Hijack. Put your hands behind your head”. Everyone was scared and did what exactly those guys asked them to do. Naren, in a low voice told Anna that their plane was been hijacked. Anna showed a sense of fear in her voice and was about to drop her phone. She managed and asked him what it they wanted is!!


NYC Sep 11 2001 Tue 08:45 hrs
“Anna. I am sure that I am going to die. They want to crash the plane” Naren narrated her, what the hijackers had told them all. Anna burst out into tears. She could not believe her ears. She had planned a lot on how to spend the whole day with him. Suddenly things changed so much in 10 minutes. She was crying heavily over the phone. Naren had no clue what to do. His life, like everyone was at stake. Suddenly he heard a voice from the front: the voice of one of the hijackers. “People. Good news! We are going to crash the plane on a Building. Let our Souls rest in peace”. Naren was speechless. She told Anna about their plan. Anna suddenly saw an airplane, which was approaching closer. To her naked eyes, very close which seemed almost to crash on the building-The Northern tower of WTC. Anna felt a sense of urgency spoke to tell Naren. “I love …”
Bang!!!

Boston July 8 Sat 2000 08:05 hrs Present Day
“No. Not me”. Naren stood up with a shock, like something had hit him. He was sweating all over. “Oh! Good heavens. It’s just a dream. I am alive! I am alive!!
Why did I get a weird dream? A plane hitting a building! “Who is this girl Anna? And Rachel, Coimbatore, Brookline Hospital, my car crash, getting hospitalized, Yerba Buena ….Have I gone mad? Oh it’s already late. Need to get back to work” Naren had a series of thoughts flowing so fast. He stood up and walked towards the Bathroom. He finished his bath. He could not concentrate on anything as the thought kept repeating. He felt troubled. With lot of confusion, he stepped out of his house.

About 190 Miles from Boston- New York City. Present Day
NYC July 8 2000 Sat 20:58 hrs
Two Indian girls: One in her mid twenties and the other in her late twenties were having a chat. One was from Chennai and the other from Coimbatore.
“Hey Anna, come check this out”, Rachel called Anna. Anna, not interested to take her eyes off the laptop, asked her “What is it?” Rachel was from Chennai.

-----THE END----

Newyork Minute III

Boston Nov 17 2000 Fri 18:00 hrs
Naren was still finding it difficult to walk with a stick. He had major injuries and bruises all over his body and finally felt relieved to get out of the “Hospital smell”. He switched on his PC to check the mailbox. After replying to all the official mails, his mind was hunting for the name “AnnaPoorni”. There were almost 15 mails from her, asking about his whereabouts and what he was doing and why he hadn’t answered her phone calls. He dint wait to sit and reply, rather grabbed the phone and called her. He wanted to hear her voice and make her know he was ok.
“Hi this is Anna. Sorry I will not be available to take your call at this moment. I will be in India for next 2 weeks. I will return your call once I am back. Thanks”
Naren sank in the Sofa not knowing what to do.

[To everything (turn, turn, turn)…
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)…
And a time for every purpose, under heaven …
A time to be born, a time to die…
A time to plant, a time to reap…
A time to kill, a time to heal…
A time to laugh, a time to weep…]

The Dude was playing the Byrds on the player. “Hey Dude. Can you please play that one again?” Naren asked in a dull tone. Yogesh played that one again. And again. And again. The Byrds filled his house in Boston, the whole evening.

Boston July 9 2000 Sun 21:55 hrs
Naren: So… A Bank employee huh?
Naren was asking Anna about her work. She talked a lot for the past 3 hours with Naren.
Anna: Yes and how is Boston?
Naren: I read in the morning paper, Boston is doing well; Pedro Martinez RP winning the player of the year for Red Sox, New England Aquarium getting renovated, somebody got shot in the Prudential center mall in the Boylston street for no particular reason. J
Anna: That’s quiet interesting. So you deal with models, right. Do you work with photography related to nature? Or just the models who always like to strip in front of you?
Naren: Well what is the difference? Both sound quiet natural to me J
Anna: Interesting! Naren, do you mind me asking your hand phone number
Anna flashed it in a minute. Naren was not prepared for this question. He said, “Not at all”

Coimbatore Nov 15 Wed 16:14
“No ma, I can’t and I don’t want to”, Anna was fighting with her mom. Anna’s mom wanted her married to a Software engineer in CA. Anna tried to convince her mom as to why it was not the right time to get married. “What is it?” Anna’s dad was asking Anna’s sister. “Akka did not like the idea of getting married now”, Anna’s younger sister Abinaya to her dad.

Boston Nov 18 2000 Sat 04:00 hrs
Naren had not slept the whole night. DVDs, Music, Books and Rugby matches seemed bizarre. He had left the cold drink on the table untouched. His thought flow at the moment was so much filled he forgot the drink; one among them was “Anna!!!” {{Why did she leave to India? Was there an emergency? Was somebody hurt? Did her parents find an alliance for her? Will she turn back?}} He then sipped his drink with no interest. There were no replies to his mails which he sent to let her know he was doing fine and just had a minor accident. He paced towards his PC.

Coimbatore Nov 18 2000 Sat 13:30 hrs

‘What might have happened to him? I couldn’t even find time to check my mails. He must have called me and would have mailed me or left offline messages’ Anna was thinking to herself. She checked her mobile and checked for the time in Boston: 4:00 A.M in Boston and decided not to call him as he would be sleeping.

"Anna, we are going to my friend’s place. Would you like to come with us? She will be very happy to see you after a long time”. Anna heard her mom. “Am not coming ma. You better take Abi. She is totally vetti”. Knowing Anna’s stubbornness, Anna’s mom let her stay home. She heard their car out of the gates. She went to the porch and waved them bye.

Boston Nov 18 2000 Sat 04:10 hrs
Naren was immensely happy to see her online. So was Anna! She was reading through his mails. Her heart sank when she read about the accident. She felt happy for the first time after landing in Coimbatore while reading through his mails. They started with a Formal “Hi” “Hello”.
Anna let Naren do the talking first. She enquired everything about the accident. Then she updated her purpose to fly back home. She said that she had no intention of going for an arranged marriage. She wanted to have a marriage of her own choice. A Love marriage

Newyork Minute II

Nov 13 2000 Mon 06:30 hrs
[Beep beep beep beep beep bee…]
Anna switched off the alarm. She saw Rachel still lying on the bed with her IPod earphones still inside her ear. She took it switched off and took a look at Rachel. Rachel has a good selection for songs, dresses and lipsticks. Except for being flirtatious, she is good by heart. She studies in an evening college which is just a few blocks away from their place. For Anna things are not that cool as Rachel. Anna works for a famous bank in floor number 84, WTC, North Tower. It is just a few minutes drive from her place. She usually punches in at 9.00 sharp. She has enough time to reach her work place. She usually spends some time on the dailies and music for sometime. Rachel always tells her to put the volume down. She sleeps a lot. Anna took her mobile and was a bit upset. She had expected Naren to return her call back, but she thought he might have had a thought of not disturbing her in her sleep. They had exchanged their numbers just a day before

Boston July 9 2000 Sun 09:55 hrs
[Janie's got a gun…
Janie's got a gun…
Her dog day's just begun…]

Naren opened his eyes, hearing Aerosmith. Though he did not have much affinity to any Rock band, his cousin from India, who is doing his final year in MBA in Boston, had come to visit Naren on his semester holidays. Naren liked Yogesh a lot except for his selection of songs. Yogesh or The Dude [After The Big Labowski had hit the screens, Yogi called himself “The Dude”]. Hey Yogi, please turn that off or just keep it low. “Hey big bro, call me The Dude, man”. This was Yogi with a big grin in his Shorts and T-shirt. A funny T-shirt though which read, “Wanna date babe?” “You will never sound American, unless you are left hand drive by nature. Don’t try that one too hard”, Naren replied. “Come on man, get your &#$ off and help me with this thing, will you?” The Dude wanted something to be done for him. “Now don’t you ever dare to use that word again in front of me? That doesn’t sound professional”. “You know man, I am the Dude.” “For gods’ sake, tell me what is it you want me to do”. Naren now had a close look at the T-shirt. “Now where did you get that?” “Well, I just sneaked in through your wardrobe and found this one lying in the bottom. This sounds cool on me. Don’t they? Now tell me where did you get that? I would like to buy myself a couple of things like this”. He had been trying to be so modish. “I had bought it in a store opposite to my college. They’ve closed the business. It didn’t go well as expected. Now tell me what you want me to do”. “Do you have BSB?” the dude asked Naren. “I Am sorry. What’s that? “Backstreet Boys’ new album. Show me the meaning. I love it man.”

Brookline Nov 13 2000 Mon 13:00 Hrs
“Am sorry I came very late last night. Thought you must be sleeping. I didn’t want to disturb you”, Naren was talking over the phone. “That’s ok. So had you lunch or brunch or whatever?” Anna asked him. “Yes had brunch at 10.30 and how about you?” “I am just planning to leave for lunch”. “So…”- Anna. “So….”-Naren. “So…..nothing. I will call you in the evening. See you then. Bye”. She cut the call

[Once in a lifetime….
You have seen what I’ve seen….
You will always swim for shore…
Once in my lifetime….]

Naren laughed to himself as the Texas’s song rhymed through his mind. He blamed himself for not being able to continue the conversation. He had planned for a photo shoot in Brookline. He might stay for the night if it would take a longer. His original plan was to turn back to Boston by midnight.

Yerba Buena, NYC Nov 14 2000 Mon 20:13 Hrs
“I don’t know what is wrong with this guy”, Anna was telling Rachel. “He is not attending my call at all”. She was almost in a shrill and worried tone. “May be he is not well or busy with his schedule” Rachel added not knowing what to reply her back. They had been waiting for their dinner. Rachel had ordered Arroz con Pollo, something out of chicken and chaufa rice. Anna had ordered Hongos, a mushroom dish. This Latin cuisine restaurant brought Anna many memories. Anna had given Rachel her treat, when she got her first job. She had some bond with the restaurant as she met her first love in the very restaurant. Later Rachel ordered for a cocktail; “Dark 'n Stormy”, a combination of rum, ginger beer and lime juice. Anna liked to remain a vegan, a non-alcoholic, through her entire life. She was staring at those Muted lime green walls trimmed with dark brown and decorated with large framed photographs of Havana. She had no mood to enjoy the cuisine.

Brookline Hospital, Brookline Nov 15 2000 Wed 09:34
Naren opened his eyes after staying in the Hospital for 2days. He had no clue why he was there. Worrying about his laptop and diskettes containing 5 hours of work, his eyes were frantically searching for them.

He had met with a major accident while returning to Brookline and luckily escaped the crash. “We never expected you to be alive”, the doctor said. He also asked him to take good rest in the hospital for a day or two. The dude was sitting beside Naren and was happy to see him alive there. “Hey Naren” Yogi said in a cheering voice. “Hey Dude”, replied Naren in a feeble voice. The Dude was very happy for 2 good reasons. One- Naren was ok. And two- he called him “The Dude” for the first time.

Newyork Minute I

Prologue:
1. Clairvoyance, a 17th century French word with clair meaning “clear” and voyance meaning “visibility”. It is “seeing” images and objects. It can be color, shape and position of the object. It is often referred to the “Third eye”
2. Precognition, a Latin word is “Pre seeing” or “before seeing” or perceiving something which is going to happen in the near future. It’s a form of extra sensory Perception
3. Telepathy, a Greek word with tele meaning “distant’ and patheia meaning “to be affected by”

National September 11 Memorial & Museum, NYC Sep 11, 2011 09:11hrs
Lake placid was overflowing on a drizzling, dull Sunday morning. NYC seemed too busy and terribly crowded, ignoring the rain or the Sunday. Cars, buses, all kinds of locomotives and pedestrians from everywhere were flooding the city. Everything was black in the surrounding: Men and women dressed in black.

10 years later, the poignant memory lied beneath the city. Everyone was dreamy and there was no charm in the atmosphere. Every single heart carried remorse in someway.
“May your soul Rest in peace, dear William. Love, Mom and Dad”. An old couple was holding a neat cardboard with the lines engraved on it.
"To my sweet and loving husband. R.I.P. We miss you at home. You finally made peace with God. Love Alicia and the kids” A women from Michigan, in her early thirties was holding a card
There were many people who had not lost their loved ones, but was there to shed tears and say their prayers. They were carrying Scented Flowers, Flag of United states of America, Bouquets and Funeral crowns. The memorial inauguration began with the address by the President of the US. With a heavy heart he was reminded of his good friend whom he had lost 10 years ago. Few Indian faces were seen in the memorial. 54 Indians who had worked in the WTC had died and few were from Tamil Nadu. A Congressman was reading the list of people who died. “We pay our deep condolence to the families of all the Indians who had lost their lives here in our mother land. Let the almighty give the strength and peace to the family members”. He started reading the names of the people
Janani Ananth (25)
Rajesh Patnaik (31)
Santhosh S.R. (5)
Abhishek Nair (32)
Vijayshankar Ragupathy (34)
Augustine (29)
Ekambaram S (21)
Banumathi (45)
Chandra (34)
Ravi Arumugam (27)
Daniel R (35)
Annapoorni (27)
Narendran Krishnamachari (29)
..
...
…
…

Boston Nov 12 2000 Sun 23:14 Hrs
“Hi Naren. How are you doing today? Hope you had a great day. Call me back. Anna” Annapoorni recorded the message. She was trying to reach him, but he was having a tough day. They had known each other for 127 days 2 hrs 19 min and 31 seconds.
Narendran Krishnamachari from a well known family in Ambasamudiram had dreamt of a life in America right from his school days. He also had a passion towards art and Photography. He got into Illinois College of Photography, a dream for anyone’s aspiration of becoming a professional photographer. He preferred Lenswork, PCPhoto, Digital PhotoPro, Cosmopolitan and Vogue to Playboy. College had gone very fast and good for Naren. He got recruited for a well known firm in Chicago. In less than 3 years he started his own Ad agency. Though he had spent most of the time with the best models in America, he had not found his girl yet. Life had been so normal until he met Anna in a chat room…

Boston Nov 13 2000 Mon 00:13 hrs
Naren stepped out of the Huge Steam Shower Cubicle in his bathrobe. Anna’s message brought a smile on his face. He headed towards the refrigerator to find something cool to drink. He had this unusual habit of drinking something cold, before he dozes off. He sank into a bean bag in the wide hall. His huge collection of DVDs included Romance, Drama, Horror, Thriller and Classics. Being choosy was natural when it came to movies and music.

As he was sipping his drink and changing channels, memories about Anna rushed his thoughts. They got introduced on a Saturday night -21:03 hrs

Anna or Annapoorni was from Coimbatore. The only thing common between Naren and Anna was they were from Tamil Nadu. Otherwise, their taste did not match. Be it movies or music or books. He sounded American in everything. She was Desi. For him the best thing to do on a Friday night was to watch a Classic movie or Rugby or Baseball. For her, it was The Tonight show with Jay Leno and she would very much lose herself in the Ghazals of Jagjit Singh. She had felt music fascinating her than movies.

Surfing channels only pained his fingers. None of his movies fascinated him at the moment. He took his laptop wishing her to be online. He knew very well, she can’t stay online for a long time. She was offline as expected. He thought of returning her call back, but felt absurd to call her at midnight. “Let her sleep”, he said to himself.

NYC July 8 2000 Sat 20:58 hrs
“Hey Anna, come check this out”, Rachel called Anna. Anna, not interested to take her eyes off the laptop, asked her “What is it?” Rachel was from Chennai. After few break ups and dating a few good men, the plan of doing MS sounded refreshing.
A guy, whom Rachel has met in chat sometime back, has sent his photo. The guy resembled Orlando Bloom!
Suddenly somebody caught Anna’s attention in a public chat room. Unlike Rachel, Anna rarely ventured the public chats when none of her contacts were online.
Naren: I am Narendran. I would like to be called Naren
Anna: I am Annapoorni. People call me Anna
Naren: What if I call you Poorni
Anna: I don’t have issues. No one yet has called me so
Naren: Where are you put up?
Anna: Gobichettipalayam, near Erode. And where are you put up?
Naren: Ambasamudiram near Tirunelveli. So Poorni, are you working?”
Anna: I look after my kids and husband
Naren: Oh, Married is it?
Anna: I guess, yes. J How about you? Single/ married/ Separated/ Widower?
Naren: Am a widower, with a small kid who just managed combing his hair properly. He is turning 5 next month. I call him Arvind
Anna: I have seen the movie. Try something else.
Naren: Actually No. I am here to find a momma for my son
Anna: Guess you’ve got a wrong person. My kids need me. So tell me, what you do for your living?
Naren: I rob hotels and Banks. Sometimes casinos
Anna: Oh you have casinos opened in Ambasamudiram is it? :-p
Naren: Well Yeah. Haven’t you been to my town before?
Anna: What’s so special about it?
Naren: River Tamiraparani J Well, actually it has never dried till date.
Anna: Oh just like our River Siruvani is it? It was nice talking to you. I got to go. Need to wake up early. Got work tomorrow
Naren: Work? What work? I never remember you saying, you do something apart from cooking and cleaning. What other work can there be? Huh?
Anna: Why should I be telling you everything? Nice talking to you. Bye
Naren: No, no. Wait. I am from Boston. I run a business here- A modeling company. I am a Professional Photographer. Although Am from Ambasamudiram.
Anna: Why do you want to waste time with me? Go to bed soon Naren. Let god be with you. Good night
Naren: wait…
Naren: U there?
No reply. He sat there staring at his laptop…