Hyd Diaries: 3 - The Lady across the courtyard

When the whole of Hyderabad was steaming under summer sun that April, Spring came to Aeroview apartments, in the guise of our new neighbor's daughter. The apartments had two blocks with flats facing each other with a courtyard in between. The blocks were connected at one end to create a 'U' formation. This new family of three moved into the flat opposite to ours in the other block. She was a beautiful young lass in her mid twenties perhaps, who strongly believed in the principle 'if you have it, you flaunt it'. She was like fresh rain in an otherwise barren desert.

She used to roam around in her room and occasionally in the balcony, generously showing off her toned legs and arms. She used to work as Floor Manager in 'Life Style' and we also found out that she had a boyfriend there. But all this did not matter as long as she believed in circulation of fresh air and kept the window curtains up, while she is in her room. So in the nights, we used to keep the lights switched off and crowd near the window to get a glimpse of the 'lady across the courtyard' grooming her hair, reading a book or simply walking around. There was something about her mannerisms that kept us glued to the windows for hours. We always made it a point to be at home when she is around.. after all what would have Da Vinci felt if nobody loked at Monalisa and appreciated its beauty? Days passed and the show went on and on.

Then one morning we had a surprise visitor. Srini was shocked to see the lady's father at our doorstep. He asked whether he could come in and he did before Srini could say anything at all. We all were standing in line, like the 'usual suspects' attending some Identification parade. He looked around at all the posters on the walls and then smiled. Unlike what we suspected, he had come to offer us some caps. He thought we are youngsters roaming around in the sun as a part of our job and he got few caps from somewhere and wanted to give it us. Though this was his story, none of us believed that. Anyway, he sat with us for a while telling us stories about his college days. Donno whether he was trying to tell us how he can understand all that we were doing, but stay away from his daughter!!

We were a little cautious after the incident but for a short while only. The night show continued and our 'White Mischief' sessions once again got relocated to the kitchen, where mischief was cooking all the time. Unlike others, we used to sit and peacefully sip our drinks without anyone uttering a word. Once we learned about the importance of 'Visibility' in our Marketing class, we decided to put it into practice in real life as well. So every morning, seven of us used to stand in the balcony, brushing our teeth and looking eastwards for the sun to rise and shine. It was during these days that all of us signed up for gym and unsuccessfully tried to make it a routine.

Yes, we had a reality show much before they started showing it on the television. But after quite a few memorable episodes it was taken off the air. I am sure TRP ratings weren't the issue at least in this case!!

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Now playing: Deep Purple - Sitting In A Dream