Flirting witth friendship: Brainstorming Life’s Ambitions

Chapter 14: Brainstorming Life’s Ambitions

After the brief meal, I was relaxing on the terrace watching the view of the twilight sky. The orange-ish blue horizon formed a magnificent gradient as the background for the resplendent Taj Vivanta which was right across our apartment. The invariable cacophony of the trains at Yeshwantpur railway station, traffic on the busy Tumkur road, and the excruciating noise of Namma Metro flyover construction work, all added up to exterminate the tranquillity I came searching for. I took out my camera and started clicking pictures of the sky, and everything that bothered me and pleased me. I can still enjoy this evening. I consoled my conscience.

“Abhi... What are you doing up here?” Divya came up searching for me. Her eyes were eager and they had a questionnaire ready.

“Shoot me.” I said.

“What???” She asked with a surprise.

“Take a picture of me.” I said. She didn’t get it for the first time.

“Oh!” She carefully handled my equipment and with a quick shift in focus, she clicked my picture against the Taj Vivanta in my background. Perfect.

“Come for tea.” She asked me to come back in.

“Comforty?” “Come 40?” I mocked with a PJ. She didn’t beat me, but instead she pretended to drop my camera from her hand and I had my heart in my mouth for a second.

“I’ll come in a minute Nam Amma. Please give my camera.” I pleaded. She returned my camera with a warning smile and left. I too clicked a few pictures and came home.

My sister handed over a cup of tea and when I took the first sip my saccharine taste buds went for a ride.

“Did you add sugar to the tea or tea to sugar?” I asked clearing my throat, now filled with diabetic tea.

“I like it sweet.” She said impassively. I didn’t say anything, and I just finished my extra large cup (rather glass) of tea. The dusk had fully consumed the lights of the day and I went back on the terrace. This time Divya too accompanied me.

“So... What’s with you and Sakshi?” She asked me with a serious look. “Everything going good?”

“Yes. A couple of months and she’ll be Mrs. Sakshi Abhinav Karanth.” I said with a smile. The street lights had begun to flicker and the Taj Vivanta looked dazzling with the amber lights glowing in every floor, in every room. It looked like a matrix of tiny light bulbs lit to ‘Enlighten the World’ sort of thing.

“Be serious Abhi.” Divya’s voice modulated with a tinge of concern. “What are you doing about savings.” She asked. “Do you have any?”

I had a poker-face. I had no answer to give and I just kept staring at the Amber Matrix.

“Abhi. Look at me.” she scowled. “What are you doing about savings?” she repeated her question.

“I... I... am trying to....” I mumbled.

“Trying what Abhi?” her concern grew deeper.

“...trying not to spend much on unnecessary things...” I said. “That’s about it... my savings.” I gave a wry smile.

“That’s not enough Abhi.” She shook her head and started to explain.

“Why don’t you send some money home and ask mom or dad to do the saving?” She gave some sound suggestions.

“I will...” I nodded.

“Don’t talk in future tense.” She had now calmed down. “Tell me what will you do now?”

“Now I am just keeping the money in my SB account.” I didn’t try to pretend as if I had huge investment plans.

“Okay. You can talk to Naveen and he’ll help you with that.” She said.

Naveen, apart from being a hardcore software geek, is also a voracious investor in stock market and always talks about buying, selling and holding them. It’s a rare combination in him and sometimes it’s a curse too. It happened one day that I asked him which bus do I had to take if I wanted to go from Yestwantpur to Chamarajapet. He rolled out the whole Bengaluru map to show me the way including the alternate shortcuts if there was heavy traffic. He tends to confuse a simple question and give much more sophisticated solution.

“Dee...” I called her out while she was going downstairs.

“Yeah! Tell me...” She paused.

“I love you...” I said with a smile. She came back and gave me a hug. Her warm and smooth hands slipped from my shoulders swiftly and she rushed to the apartment to carry on with Gagan’s homework. I still sat pondering over her thought of savings and moreover, I was worried about talking to Naveen. He advises less, and drills a lot more with his hyper-comprehensive jargons.

Okay. I am doing this, just for myself. I am a crazy, selfish and I want all this for myself to enjoy with my family and friends. I made a strong determination and made a move towards Naveen.

“Abhi... What happened?” Naveen asked with an unmoved head while watching news on the TV.

“Are you busy?” I asked hesitantly.

“Not at all.” He quickly turned off the TV and inched towards me in his white vests and gray shorts. He looked like a Man on Mission minus the uniform. “What you upto?” he asked with a pillow on his lap while he folded up his legs on the couch.

“I was looking for some saving options.” I started the topic without beating round the bush.

“Okay. You are looking into stock? Commodities? Mutual funds?...” he went on giving options.

“I don’t know...” I said with a straight face.

“I am transferring a part of my savings to Divya’s account. You please do whatever you feel is productive.” I said blankly. “I am totally an illiterate in this kind of stuffs.”

After I was done talking, he went into his bedroom, brought some blank paper sheets and a pen. He started showing me some calculations of all the saving options and it was much more soothing than reading a novel. I fell asleep halfway while he continued to explain IPO, face value, market value, and I totally lost him at equity shares. Savings is not my thing. I accepted my defeat and went to bed.