At times, I feel like I am married to somebody who is the modern adaption of Lord Buddha. Nothing else explains his calm demeanor and zen charisma. Try as you might, it is hard to annoy him. Since I have grown up troubling my little sister and being manically yelled at by her, I miss those reactions when she is not around.
A few days ago, Mint was busy watching something on TV. Since I was bored, I went and placed a folded napkin on top of his head. He let it stay there, without blinking an eyelid, and continued to watch TV. Hoping to elicit a more entertaining reaction, I decided to carry this game forward. I then filled a cup of water and poured it on his left shoulder. He looked up at me for a second when he felt the water trickling down his arm, and then continued to watch TV without saying a word. Since that didn’t give me the reaction I was looking for, I chose to carry on. I brought another cup and poured water on his right arm. He didn’t blink and continued to watch TV. I poured water on his back, and yet, there was no reaction. The next time, I filled a large mug with water and poured that on the front of his tee. This time, he looked up at me, gave me a big smile and exclaimed, ‘Main geela hogaya’. (I got wet). And then picked up the napkin from his head and proceeded to wipe himself. That’s it.
Huh? What about calling me an annoying pest? Sounding harassed and troubled? Or even screaming a little? My sister would have brought the roof down had a drop of water touched her. No wonder, I prefer annoying her over Mint. What is the point in taking the trouble to trouble him if I get to see no reaction? I know this sounds hard to believe, but I swear I am not making this up. You can ask him about this if you see him. He was soaked because of me, and he didn’t even choose to question my motive, let alone be mad at me. All I got from him was a smiling declaration of the truth. That he was now wet.
Sigh. I just realised how much I miss that crazy guy already. Mint is traveling. He left yesterday. And I fly out elsewhere tomorrow. I will be gone for a couple of days. And I leave just a few hours before he arrives. So I will not be seeing him for about a week. 😦 I know I sound lame, but let me just admit that I can’t live without him.
For some reason, the thought of Christmas is really cheering me up. We officially enter December in a few hours. And December is all about waiting for Christmas. I was going through pictures of earlier Christmas celebrations and I found one that I thought I should put up on the blog.
That is Mint and I, during Christmas 2008. He was visiting me in UK while I was studying for my Masters. That was the time when my parents *kind of* knew about him and his parents had no clue about me. That was the time when he turned into the best Santa ever and gave me about 20 Christmas gifts. That was the time when he had no trace of a paunch. That was the time when the future seemed like a mystery. So much has changed, and yet, I remember this picture being taken like it happened yesterday. I remember insisting we stand in front of the tree, so I could show off the size of the Christmas tree, since I have not had the fortune of owning a tree of this size earlier. I remember asking him to not stand too close to me, so I could pass him off as ‘just a friend’. I remember smiling for this picture and the click of the camera. Just like that, so many years have passed. And here I am, writing this post, and smiling at the past.