He stands there clueless. His
hand hovering an inch over the pile of T-shirts. Reluctantly he drops his hand.
Thinking about what you are going to wear is a tough job he concludes glumly.
So much easier when you don’t pay even the tiniest amount of heed to your
physical appearance. Not a lot more you expect out of a person who lets his
mother do his shopping – even at 21. Then; panic blasts through his mind – I
can’t look stupid, what should I do? A pair of black jeans in one hand, and
eyes still on the bright red T-shirt. It
had been a gift from his elder brother, years ago. He tries to remember what
had made him stop and reconsider wearing that red T-shirt. Suddenly that memory
– crystal clear - came to the surface of his mind - his brother’s sharp
sarcastic taunting voice rang through his head. “ Red and black? Dude! You are
stupid aren’t you? No clue about dressing sense. Haha” Back then he had just
made a face at his brother and worn what he felt like. Now he isn’t so sure. He
self consciously thinks about looking presentable. All the apprehensions he had
buried away with weeks of effort; start simmering in his mind. From his hideout
in the cozy little cavern in his mind, his shy introvert avatar pokes his head
out and smiles distantly. His thoughts drift.
You don’t want to be late for a
casual meeting with an acquaintance and – daresay- a casual friend. Especially
if the acquaintance is of the opposite sex and you are meeting after 3 years. He
curses himself silently for his laziness earlier. Today morning, as of habit,
he had turned off the alarm; set it to an hour later, rolled over and gone back
to sleep. – ‘Forget breakfast and the newspaper, just a quick shower. I’ll be
good.’ The lazy-him had spoken in a drowsy voice then. The alarm dutifully had
rung again an hour later; he had snapped up his phone, turned off the alarm,
stretched and slowly gotten out of bed. He still had sufficient time, had it
not been for the dilemma about shaving. As he had begun walking out of his room
for a shower; he eyes fell upon his dishevelled image in the mirror – and
subsequently on his 2 day stubble. - C’mon! This complicates stuff. Should I
shave? His natural aversion to shaving –
he had made a fetish of not shaving during his exams; plus laziness and a
general nonchalance about the way he looked made it a hard decision. He
absently rubbed his hand on his face. ‘Fine I’ll shave.’ A shave and shower
later; he is standing there in front of his wardrobe foolishly.
With a shake of his head he sends
his thoughts away – to rest peacefully and drags his himself back to the
problem at hand – T-shirt. 11:03. – Damn! I better hurry, or I’ll run late. The
fretful him spoke in a high pitched tinny voice. He gingerly picks up a few of
the T-shirts and flops them on his chair. He eyes a green and a blue one and
then without much thought picks up the blue one; hoping with all his might that
at this attire may not make him look stupid or negligent in appearance. (Hours
later; his blissful oblivion about the shades of blue came to an end, when the
internet helped him differentiate between cyan, navy and royal blue; STILL he
had a hard time discerning the exact colour he wore that day. Cyan? Turquoise?
Electric Blue? Sky Blue?)
Taking a deep breath; he
hurriedly dresses and leaves. On his way; in the metro, the wisps of the idea
of consultation a friend take up concrete shape. He types out half-a-message to
his female best friend; then erases it, not wanting to answer the inevitable
deluge of questions that is bound to follow such an inquiry. “Gosh! I am poor
at colour coordination. Does light blue go with black jeans?” Precise, direct
and to the point – just like his favourite professor, who has unintentionally
influenced a lot in his life. He fires off this text to his male best friend.
“hehe. Generally, light and dark go well. N yeah, blue goes well with black
jeans.”- Comes the reply. The soothing and unassuming tone relaxes him a bit.
The next message says “Why the sudden heed to what goes well with what? Hmmm”
He deftly sidesteps the question and changes the discussion to a random topic.
A little jolt hits him as he sees a new message from his acquaintance. “I am
there. Call/text me when you get here” All through the journey half his
attention had been towards the time and the realization dawns on him that he is
already a little late. “See you in 5. Almost there” He replies.
Familiarity
with the area helps him in easily finding the designated place to meet; and he
stands there squinting in the bright sunlight looking around, unsure and
tentative about his next move and sudden indecision creeping in. Silently but
surely nerves and self consciousness creep up on him. “I am there” he texts and
waits. The scalding sunlight hastens his decision to enter the mall. Without
waiting even for a minute; he texts “I just entered the mall” His eyes darting
around, anxiously looking for her, he enters into the cool air conditioned
atrium of the shopping mall. He soon finds her waiting near the entrance
inside, and both of them spontaneously smile.
It takes a minute for him to
register – she is wearing blue and black
as well. Royal blue top, black jeans and sneakers – whose shoelaces are
undone. And as suddenly as they had appeared all his inhibitions, nerves and
self consciousness vanish. The shoelace pleasantly flops around as she walks besides
him and he smiles. The next three hours just glide past, the conversation
flowing like water from a spring – cool, quick, light and relaxed.
On his way
back; he texts his best friend: “Yeah! Blue and black works! :-P”
