Chapter 6 Reading Losing My Virginity Manufar Rashin Budurci by MADHURI BANERJEE

was feeling too lazy to even try them out."

" Trust me. You might not wear them now, but when you do find a man, you ll want to. She shoved me into the dressing rooms and I went off muttering something."

"I was so glad that she had forced me, because when I emerged, I looked amazing! She was right as usual. So I went and spent a small fortune on new clothes to wear and no one to wear them for. But at least I was ready!"

"I was ready to fall in love and get married. Oh sorry, lose my virginity! Did I just mix"

the two? Maybe the lines were getting blurred after all.

Eight

I met him in Goa.

"I was actually there on work, chaperoning the Princess of Finland, along with her many bodyguards. It was extremely hot in the afternoon on the second day of her visit and the Princess couldn t take the heat coming from a land of icebergs. So she decided to stay in the hotel and go for a spa. She gave me the rest of the day off."

"I quickly changed into a red off-shoulder blouse and white mini skirt that Aditi had picked up for me and went off by myself to find a shack and drink away the afternoon and most of the night. After walking on the beach to find just the correct shack to sack in for the next twelve hours, I came across Sunny s. The shack was closer to the rocky edge than the beach and there weren t too many people at two in the afternoon. So I got myself a table overlooking the sea and ordered a beer. Surprisingly, the shack was cool despite having no air conditioning and just an air cooler blowing at the tables. And since it was secluded, I didn t have to deal with pesky couples, kids or rowdy office parties."

"I started humming to the music playing in the background. This was the life! Soothing retro music, cool breeze, a beer and solitude. These were the times I loved my job as a freelancer. Just as I was about to call out to the waiter for some fried calamari, a man walked in and sat at the table next to me. Madonna s Like a virgin faded in. Irony was my aunt."

The man was gorgeous.

"No, that s an understatement. He was a Greek God personified. Everything about him screamed, Model . He was tall, with dark, wavy hair, light brown eyes and a body that could pass off as one of the bodyguards from Finland. He was wearing a white linen shirt and khaki shorts and sunglasses. He sat down at the table next to me and placed an order. I was trying hard not to stare, but it was difficult."

"After some time, the waiter appeared with a plate of fried calamari and put it on my table. I said flummoxed, I didn t order this. "

"The Greek God spoke, No, I did. "

" Sorry, said the waiter and switched the plate to his table and left."

"His voice was melodious. Not the waiter s, the Greek God s. A lovely deep baritone. I nodded towards the plate and then looked around for the waiter, That actually looks good, I said, I m going to order one myself. The waiter was already on it. He knew anyone who came to Goa could never resist a plate of fried calamari especially on a hot afternoon with a chilled beer already in place."

" Here, I ll lend you some till you get a plate. The Greek God said unexpectedly."

" No, it s okay, I blushed. I took off my sunglasses and pushed them to the top of my head so he could notice my eyes, the only good feature about me apart from my wrists, but that hardly counted."

" I m serious. Here, grab one. He handed the plate to me and I took one piece and put it in my mouth. Then he took a fork and picked a calamari with it. I was mortified. Why hadn t I thought of using a fork? I had unceremoniously touched his plate. I didn t know what to say. I began to blush again. But he seemed nonplussed and introduced himself."

" Hi, I m Arjun. The Greek God had a name, a name that was eulogized in Indian mythology. I was swooning. I needed to get a hold of myself. Maybe it was because I had too many drinks on an empty stomach, or maybe because he oozed sex. I felt as if I was swirling."

"I took my hand out to shake his and found the courage, I m Kaveri. "

"After what seemed a long time but was actually a few seconds, he asked, Like the river? I nodded. He continued, So you re south Indian? I nodded again and added, Partly. And partly & "

" Beautiful, he said without missing a beat. I smiled. I might have been looking like a tomato. Suddenly hiding my big stomach and small cleavage was the top most priority on my mind. So I leaned forward and sat up a little as close to the table so he couldn t see too much of my body."

" What about you? I asked, sipping on my beer and all the while thinking that it would be so wonderful if we got married and had sex!"

"He took a long gulp of his beer and said, Partly not beautiful and partly from here. Ohh but you are & I mumbled. Oh god, I wish I could have kissed him. I was going"

mad.

What? he smiled and asked.

" Um & I mean, you re from Goa? I corrected myself."

"He nodded. He stopped drinking, eating, being. He just kept looking at me. In a deep, intense way and his eyes said a lot more. But I didn t want to misread them. That was it. I knew then that what we had was chemistry."

" Yup, from Ponda, he said, finally looking away and then asked looking back at me,"

What brings you to my land?

" Work, I replied and smiled. I tried to sound normal. Instead a squeaky girlish voice came out and he smiled. I had not done this in a long time. Flirting didn t come easily and my back up called Aditi wasn t around to make me look good."

" Oh, you look like you re doing a lot of work! he smirked."

"I smiled, I have an afternoon off. I ran my fingers through my hair, desperately wanting him to fall in love with me."

" Let me guess, you re an agent to a Bollywood star? "

" No, I laughed softly, trying to be coquettish."

You re a model in search of real food?

"I laughed out loud, secretly happy he thought of me as a model. No! I m a freelance interpreter. "

What s an interpreter?

" A person who translates languages for delegates coming from different countries. Oh, there s a job like that? Wow. That must be cool. "

" Ya. Sometimes. And sometimes it can be extremely taxing, I said nonchalantly."

What do you do? I asked politely.

I m in TV.

Are you an actor? I asked.

" No, he said very seriously, knowing how good looking he was, I work in syndication for the media. "

" Wow, that s exciting, I said, not knowing what it really meant but wanting to impress him."

Hardly exciting. Makes you travel a lot and you get to drink a lot of airport coffee. He left it at that and looked away. And I didn t pursue it. I guess he didn t want to talk about work. We sat there for a while not talking and just looking at the sea.

" I love this place, he mumbled after some time."

" Hmmm, I agreed."

" It s so much better than beaches across the world that are more famous. I looked at him stunned and asked, Like? "

" Miami, Hawaii, Mexico, France. You ve been to all these places? I asked."

"He turned to me and said, Oh ya. My work made me travel to all these places. I hate travelling though. If I have to do so, I will, but otherwise my idea of a perfect vacation is right here. "

" Home, you mean? I said. He nodded. I didn t want to tell him about my world travels. I loved travelling. I thought it enhanced you as a person. And I didn t want to tell him that I would rather be travelling than be home with my parents. Just then, there was a strong gust of wind and the ketchup that was on the table fell on my lap. My white skirt was completely stained."

Shit! I cried out.

He got up immediately and poured water all over it and I was shocked. We both just stood there with our mouths open for a while till I started giggling.

" I m so sorry, he said, smiling a bit. I thought that would help! "

"I started wiping the sauce and my wet skirt with some napkins. It became worse. We both began to laugh and I gently held his arm pretending not to fall over with laughter. I m such a klutz, I proclaimed, all my coyness coming to naught."

" Oh, join the club, he said."

" You? No! I said, feigning shock and laughing some more."

" Ya, why do you think I m all about the cutlery? "

" Oh really, I said and squealed with more laughter. I was wondering why a guy would pick a fried calamari with a fork when it s easier with two fingers! I teased. He laughed some more."

I wasn t the one who ordered ketchup. Hey. Ketchup tastes good with everything!

" Ya, I ll bet you have it for breakfast with toast, he said while nudging me gently."

How did you know? Laughter followed. All our pretenses of trying to be cool for each other had gone out of the window.

" I think I should go change or something, I said."

Oh don t go. Just put my shirt around your waist and it ll soak up most of the water.

"He took off his shirt and handed it to me and said with a twinkle in his eye, I ll buy you as many beers as you want & if you stay, and then suddenly, he quoted a famous painter, You can drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can t drink any more than that. He finished with a flourish."

"I quickly looked away suddenly conscious once again and trying not to stare at his hard body. My mind was whirling with thoughts about how I could just rub my hands all over his perfect pecs . I started feeling hot and said shyly, No don t worry about it. I ll just put some napkins on it. We sat down again and he looked at me and said, You re really stunning, you know that? My body started tingling. But my mind gave me the logic that I barely knew him."

"So I tried to change the subject. Hey, you know what you just said? Those were Picasso s last words. "

" Really? I read it on a t-shirt somewhere yesterday, he exclaimed, ordering more beer for us."

" Really? I asked, scarcely believing that the famous painter s quotes could be put on t-shirts that are sold in Goa. I thought only the Rolling Stones got onto t-shirts. "

"He laughed. Okay, you re right. I didn t. I was just trying to impress you with some quotes by famous guys. "

You mean a famous painter!

" Well, I was in Paris a few times and visited the Louvre. It was then that I became fascinated with art. I ve never said that to anyone. Everyone will think I m just a pansy! No you re not! How could you be? You look & and then I stopped myself. I was"

"smitten by a stranger. A stranger who looked like a Greek God and knew my favourite subject. J taime Paris, I said."

"And he replied back, I still think the French are really foo foo though. Foo foo? I asked, sipping my beer."

" You know, uppity, pretentious, wannabe. Foo foo. "

"I laughed till there were tears rolling down my cheeks. There s no such term, Arjun!"

"But it makes so much sense! I said and then when I collected my thoughts, But I still think the French language is very beautiful. "

" It s hardly a language. Most of the time the French are saying aaah , oh and um ."

"They gesticulate with their hands and you understand the gestures, not because they complete the sentence. "

But look at English as a language. The phonetics alone is a nightmare for students.

"Which should we follow, the British or the American system? I contested. I was actually having a debate with a stranger who had made me open up to him."

" Personally, I think language is a manifestation of the behavioural pattern of a race, he said, while ordering yet more beer for us."

" Meaning? I asked, interested that a man that good looking could arouse me intellectually as well. Ahem!"

" Well look at Bengali. It is a slowish language with a lot of emphasis on o and when do you say oh ? When you are stretching lazily. Hence, the race itself is a lazy lot made to work hard, but the language is reflective of their nature. Look at Tamil. Tamil is spoken very fast; it s not a languid language. That s because Tamilians are always in a hurry to achieve something. They need a language to be curt and crisp and to the point so they can speak it fast. Phonetics is completely different. Get what I mean? "

"I nodded, but said, That s a very general statement to make though. I m sure neither a Bengali nor a Tamilian would like to hear that! I mean, I know so many hard-working Bengalis and an equal number of languid Tamilians. Okay, what do you think about Hindi or Punjabi? I asked. And he told me some more theories he had. And I refuted him some more."

"Our conversation lasted for hours into the sunset and we were wonderfully buzzed with beer and each other. He was amazingly cool without trying to be so. He had impeccable manners and made me look like I had grown up in a village, even though I had travelled the world. He was undoubtedly the most interesting man I had ever met. We chatted about art, films, books and the French Riviera. But what was most astonishing was that he made me see life through his eyes. Even though I might have known the subjects better, he gave me a new perspective to them. I knew this man had many more tricks up his sleeve and I wanted to wait and watch!"

I was having such a good time that I didn t realize I needed to get back to my job or I would be fired. So I thought I should go check on the Princess and wash away my beer buzz and sandy hair.

"We decided to meet later for dinner. I don t know what it was, but somewhere in my heart I felt I had known him forever already. It was a strange feeling, one I had never had before. Oh my god, was this my first infatuation? Did I just have a love at first sight "

"day? I needed to call Aditi and tell her that just a week after giving up on men, I had"

"found one. But then again, I knew this was something I didn t want to share immediately. I felt that by talking about it, I might jinx it. And I did not want to jinx the only connection I d ever felt with a man in thirty years!"

I went back to the hotel feeling like a teenager. Maybe this is what people meant all

along. A feeling that makes you want to wait for a man. The feeling called Love.

Nine

"We not only had dinner that night, we ended up having a snack somewhere at two and breakfast at dawn by the beach. It was truly magical. The evening went something like"

this.

8.30 LOBBY HOTEL

"Greek God looked wonderful in a pair of dark blue jeans and a black shirt. He was casually smart. I went over and air kissed him on the cheek as if I d known him forever. He smelt of Acqua di Gio, a light smelling but expensive cologne. Thank god I had showered well and washed the smell of beer and sand off my hair. I could see him checking me out in my blue chiffon top, black skirt and high heels that I d kept only for special occasions. Just when I thought he was going to compliment my look, he turned around and said, Would you be comfortable in that on a bike? Then I saw the Yamaha behind him."

" I would be uncomfortable in a skirt if we were going on that. I ll just go and change, I said and he nodded, I ll wait here.

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