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