When Shah Jahan Met Mumtaz

Sparks flew, glasses broke, there was electricity in the air, the mood was tense and sombre, there was skepticism and apprehension and then from somewhere crept in meekily almost cheekily - love.

While Mumtaz was pretty sure it was over even before it began, Shah Jahan was not. Considering his overtly unsuccessful endeavours in the past, he was too reserved, too reticent to believe that it was happening to him. For all that he has been through, it almost seemed improbable. And he still would not admit even to himself that he was swept away by the sheer enthusiastic liveliness of that woman the instant she shattered the glasses.

Now, I have broken tons of glasses in my 29 year old career at home. And the only thing I received was my mother's chidings and sometimes a stinging forehand crosscourt across my back and here my dear friend Shah Jahan gets a woman to spend a life with ! Unfair - wouldn't you say?

Mumtaz is cocky, vivacious, brimming with life, being blissfully and thankfully unexposed to the throbbing pain of unrequited love. Just the perfect foil for Shah Jahan - eternally skeptical and for good reason, never quite believing that someone could be so sure, could be so forthright in expression, in her ability to be pleasantly unpredictable, to hold his hand with assurance of being there - something which he had never known before.

So, there goes the last one of the best of friends I have. Claimed by the flight of fantasy, gripped by the excitement of the novelty of love, of marriage, of living the feeling of being together, of knowing that he also has not lost all of what he had and that he too would discover that its all there somewhere just waiting to be stroked, waiting for the match to strike to light up his life.

The wait ends on 30th Jan, 2009. Congrats!