Tell Tale 7
The sticker
We were three guys sitting on a clean and well postered wall, which was not more than four feet in height (a kutti chevaru!). The wall was very comfortable to sit on because it was wide enough to not hurt our bottoms and the place had good supply of cool breeze and girls in the otherwise parched Madras. This was our usual hang out place. We don't indulge in smoking or drinking because our pocket money was not much. I love samosas and vegetable puffs. We pretty much sit there, with our legs hanging loose and our sandals dangling loose on our feet munching on anything edible in an arms reach.
We were the king of the roads because it was "our area". It is not a very busy street but busy enough to interest a bunch of bored 17 year old kings.
Oh yeah, did I tell about girls? That road never fails to deliver. It must have been the busy bus terminus nearby or something that we used to see a lot of "out of area" girls. We were not perverts or anything, but I would not hesitate to appreciate beauty walking on our road.
That day, there were fewer people that usual, maybe because of the football match between Brazil and Germany. Then as were talking about the soccer world cup and how USA lost to Ghana, I saw this girl walking on the other side of the road.
She was really beautiful by any standards. She had the walk, the fitness, the hair. But the best was her attitude. It was nice to see a girl walk with such confidence, on a road with a bunch of guys brandishing adolescent mustaches. I think she caught my eye. I smiled at her. Then I saw that she was wearing a shirt in the most beautiful of greens. She wore it well and it was a really good fit on her. I happened to notice that and tried to tell my other wall-mates, about how good the shirt looked on her. But the other boys were least interested and were annoyed at my irrelevant intervention in their now supposedly "scientific" reasons behind the patches on the soccer ball.
Funnily, she looked at me again and this time since I was slightly indignant at her refusal to reciprocate my previous smile, I smiled again in defiance. I was not really doing anything bad, was I? and it was my area. She walked past us, on the other side of the road and I promptly joined the next interesting thing on that road (the guys), but now they were in agreement and there was nothing to argue about.
Suddenly, the girl in the green shirt was standing before me and was handing me a sticker. It was the "UNWANTED" sticker from Blank Noise Project (I had read it in one of the newspapers). And she walked away. It was better that there were not a lot of people around because, it was very embarrassing. But it did not make a lot of sense. I was not eve-teasing, was I? I probably should not have directly looked at her shirt. There was an unusual silence for about 30 seconds.
But then, as my friend was trying to flinch away from me, I noticed I was getting goosebumps.
We were three guys sitting on a clean and well postered wall, which was not more than four feet in height (a kutti chevaru!). The wall was very comfortable to sit on because it was wide enough to not hurt our bottoms and the place had good supply of cool breeze and girls in the otherwise parched Madras. This was our usual hang out place. We don't indulge in smoking or drinking because our pocket money was not much. I love samosas and vegetable puffs. We pretty much sit there, with our legs hanging loose and our sandals dangling loose on our feet munching on anything edible in an arms reach.
We were the king of the roads because it was "our area". It is not a very busy street but busy enough to interest a bunch of bored 17 year old kings.
Oh yeah, did I tell about girls? That road never fails to deliver. It must have been the busy bus terminus nearby or something that we used to see a lot of "out of area" girls. We were not perverts or anything, but I would not hesitate to appreciate beauty walking on our road.
That day, there were fewer people that usual, maybe because of the football match between Brazil and Germany. Then as were talking about the soccer world cup and how USA lost to Ghana, I saw this girl walking on the other side of the road.
She was really beautiful by any standards. She had the walk, the fitness, the hair. But the best was her attitude. It was nice to see a girl walk with such confidence, on a road with a bunch of guys brandishing adolescent mustaches. I think she caught my eye. I smiled at her. Then I saw that she was wearing a shirt in the most beautiful of greens. She wore it well and it was a really good fit on her. I happened to notice that and tried to tell my other wall-mates, about how good the shirt looked on her. But the other boys were least interested and were annoyed at my irrelevant intervention in their now supposedly "scientific" reasons behind the patches on the soccer ball.
Funnily, she looked at me again and this time since I was slightly indignant at her refusal to reciprocate my previous smile, I smiled again in defiance. I was not really doing anything bad, was I? and it was my area. She walked past us, on the other side of the road and I promptly joined the next interesting thing on that road (the guys), but now they were in agreement and there was nothing to argue about.
Suddenly, the girl in the green shirt was standing before me and was handing me a sticker. It was the "UNWANTED" sticker from Blank Noise Project (I had read it in one of the newspapers). And she walked away. It was better that there were not a lot of people around because, it was very embarrassing. But it did not make a lot of sense. I was not eve-teasing, was I? I probably should not have directly looked at her shirt. There was an unusual silence for about 30 seconds.
But then, as my friend was trying to flinch away from me, I noticed I was getting goosebumps.
Labels: BlankNoiseProject, fiction, Pratap, Tell Tale
posted by The Kid at 12:42 AM
3 Comments:
Hey porukki paiyan.... too sorry you didn't have to bear a tight slap on your face in addition to those 30 golden seconds of silence..... btw, thanks for enlightening me on the Blank whatever project... sounds like a losers' claim to fame. I doubt if that would change the world, or the way hormones are meant to work!!
This story is very polar. Anyone who reads it will invariably take a side. But, me in the story and me now, are still very confused as to what happened there on that road that day.
Just would like to know. Please leave a comment on which ever side you are on and if possible why.
thank you
-Pratap
I didnt know about this project and it happened in my hometown.
So according to Ravi, eve teasing can be explained by the way 'hormones are meant to work?' I doubt the intentions of hormones is to do the perverted things that are done in the name of eve teasing. and why is it a losers' claim to fame?? if it gave a few girls the sense of self esteem or a few guys a few minutes of shame, then its worth it. we all dont have to change the world, we can start by attempting to make a difference.
as for you, I can tell you all it takes is a look to make a person feel cheap. and thats probably what happened.
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