Monday, February 27, 2006

Dumb charades on a Friday night

On the way back from work today, I bumped into Friday-night-no-life-guy. Someone I hadn't seen in a very long time.

Someone I had never spoken to.

And as usual, we completely ignored each other and walked off.


So here's the history of Friday-night-no-life-guy and Friday-night-no-life-girl.

My partying on Friday nights promptly got over as soon as my good friend Sinnerman the party animal left the country last year. My part-time Master's course made it even more difficult for me to go out as after three consecutive days of work+night classes from Tuesday to Thursday, I'd be in no state to go anywhere on Friday nights.

So, instead of going to clubs, I started going to the gym on Friday nights. I figured since I was so exhausted anyway, I might as well royally finish off all the bacha-kucha energy before the weekend begins afresh.

So every Friday night, I used to go work out at my gym. I liked it. The whole world would be partying and I'd have the gym all to myself. I used to get the keys from the security guard and open the gym myself, turn on the aircon, inspect the equipment as if I owned the place. I could use any exercise equipment I wanted, I could watch anything I wanted on the TV, I could even play my hindi songs on the CD-player as I worked out, I could practise a bit of kickboxing (which I definitely can't when others are around). Basically, the gym was my kheti, my own ilaaka.

But it was not meant to last.

A few Fridays ago, as I extended my hand to get the gym keys from the security guy, he said, "No need. Someone's already there."

In my head rang the word "What??" followed by "What the..??!!"

So I grumpily made my way upstairs and stepped in to be greeted by the sight of an Indian guy who had fallen at my feet. Okay fine, he hadn't fallen at my feet, he was doing sit-ups. He paused his sit-ups to sit up just as I entered, and was obviously as surprised as I was, to see another soul in the gym on a Friday night.

And that's how started the non-verbal communication between us, which mostly consisted of giving each other attitude. I was surprised at myself that I was giving him attitude. Usually I greet all gym-goers with a smile. But I wouldn't even look at him. He also made sure he ignored me completely.

For two months, he was always there on Friday nights. No matter whether I went in at 7 or 8 or 9 or even 10 pm! He'd be there! And no, he wasn't stalking me. If anything, it appeared to be the other way round, that I was the stalker. I'd enter the gym and he'd give me the "So you're here again!" look. And I'd give him the "And so are you!" look. And it'd be like a fight for territory.

And each time I'd enter the gym, in my head I'd hear him say, "So back here on a Friday night, huh? No life, huh?"

I hope in his head he heard me say, "Yeah, I have no life. Have you? Oh wait, you don't. Isn't that why you're here at the gym?"

I nicknamed him the 'Friday-night-no-life-guy'. I'm more than sure he had a similar nickname for me.

So it was one of those Fridays again, when I walked in and caught him looking at himself in the mirror. I tried not to laugh, but you know how incredibly funny it is when guys are checking out their own bodies in the gym mirror.

So I bowed my head very very low to suppress my smile and started the treadmill. He was embarrassed. I SO knew it. For a few moments, he did not know what to do next. Then he started fiddling with the radio and switching stations.

And as he put me through the torture of listening to English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil stations in a loop, each for about 5 seconds or so, I gritted my teeth and remained calm.

Suddenly my ears perked up. Hey, wait a minute! Was that a piece of Bollywood kinda music that just flashed by? (Some stations do play Hindi songs for an hour each day.) I made the mistake of looking up towards the radio, and he noticed it. Ah. Sharp. He actually scrolled back to play the song. Yes, the music was unmistakably Bollywood. He let it play and started walking towards the weights.

I went back to staring at the numbers on the treadmill, wondering when the music would stop and the song would begin, cos I was not able to identify the song.

Suddenly the song blasted, and the next thing I know the singer was repeating a million times over, "On the roof! In the rain! On the roof! In the rain! On the roof! In the rain!"

Geez, what song was that?! I was a bit shocked at first.

But soon it became hilarious! I wanted to burst out laughing but I did not. Controlling myself with much difficulty, I walked on. I could see he wanted to laugh too. But he was far away from the radio now and probably did not want to go back to change the station.

So we let it play.

"On the roof! In the rain! On the roof! In the rain! On the roof! In the rain!" went on the moronic song.

And to my utter amazement, after a while, I found myself exercising to the beats of the song. He had gone back to doing his sit-ups and was bobbing his head to the beat too.

It was funny. And strangely comforting. Two strangers who always gave each other attitude exercising to a stupid song about rain on the roof.

And just then, another guy - a Chinese fellow - walked into the gym and did a double-take. He appeared extremely disturbed to hear the song that the two weird Indians were exercising to. And the worst part is - the lyrics were in English, so he understood them. But he did not quite understand them. You know what I mean. And that made him even more puzzled.

He paused near the door for a while, and then took turns to look at Friday-night-no-life guy and then at me. He looked visibly traumatised.

Friday-night-no-life guy strained his neck to give me a "Would you put the fella out of his misery now? I'm lying on the floor for heaven's sake!" look.

I continued to walk on with a "You played it, you stop it. Why should I pause my treadmill?" look.

Outnumbered by the minority (which probably appeared to him to be a couple who had just fought and was letting off steam at the gym), the Chinese guy did not dare to change the station. But he still had the petrified look on his face.

"On the roof! In the rain! On the roof! In the rain! On the roof! In the rain!" The song went on.

Finally Friday-night-no-life guy realised it was too much. He got up and switched the station to an English one.

The Chinese guy was smiling as he got on the exercise cycle.

Friday-night-no-life guy was also smiling.

And I was smiling too.



52 comments:

oxymoron said...

hahaa!
awwal number!
bole to,
gold, medalist!
bole to first!
abhi jaake post padhne ka!

Anonymous said...

yaaaaaaay!!! Silver!!! my day has finally come...:-)...now off to read the post...

Ravi said...

hahaha

The rebooting did work well, didn't it?

I remember that song. And I distinctly remember the voice of Shaan singing that song.

Negative Creep said...

Haha. good post this one.

Raj said...

That was really funny!!

Two people with no life giving each other attitude!!

"On the roof, in the rain" is a (hit?) song from Masti, btw :)

Suggested song for the two of you to work out on next friday: "Main ek disco, tu ek disco" :D

Macho Girl said...

I think I heard this song once! Watched the video on TV! It was quite weird actually. can't remember who was in the video though.

The gym has never been so free over here. everybody is the friday-night-no-life types! I normally have to wait to get on to the treadmill :( *sigh*

quite hilarious to think that you were working out to the "on the roof in the rain" tune! :D

Anonymous said...

:) aah the bar has some exquiste cocktail served this time ...excellento :)

Srihari SN said...

Funny :).

Sayesha said...

#Oxys,
Mona, sona kahan hai?
Bed par! Hahahaha!
(Sheesh I think I am drunk on OJ again!)

#Freebird,
Ok I have no chandi jokes :P

#Ravi,
Why Shaan why?? Actually, it's not that bad a song. Just stupid lyrics! :P

#Creepy bacha,
Thanks! :)

#Raj,
Hahahahaha! Main ek disco it seems! :D
ps: I don't see him anymore these days.

#Macho Girl,
//quite hilarious to think that you were working out to the "on the roof in the rain" tune!

Hahaha! I have gymmed to 'Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam'. This was nothing! :D

#Asterix,
Thanks! :)

#Matter,
Welcome to Sayeshaz! Enjoy your stay! :)

shub said...

lol!!!!
"give attitude" is pretty much how I'd describe what transpires between me and another Indian chap at the gym every morn at 8.15 too!! noo one else around n its weirdd!! Once outside the gym I tried smiling at him,and he simply looked away! the creep!

and you know what, its a huge relief to have normal transmission resumed at your blog :)

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! *Pauses to catch breath* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

This was good! I just came back from a class, switched on the P.C. and my mom was petrified to find me laughing like crazy....lol...her reaction was even funnier!

"On the roof! In the rain!" ROTFL!!!

Okay, sorry...I'm again in a super excited mood today. :D

Ta-ta!


Pssst: If the guy's cute, you can be friendly with him, can't you? :P

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

Oh wow! Mera 11th comment tha? Shagun ho gaya. ;):P
HAHAHA...this shagun thing's so funny! 11, 21, 51, 101...hehehehe. Okay, okay, I'm crazy, fine? :P

Anonymous said...

u say "we completely ignored each other"...hmmn... reminds me of "ignorance is bliss" :-)

nd the equipment shud b dubbed "Dreadmill"!!

Anonymous said...

HAHAHA, the whole non-verbal communication sequence was hilariously funny!

On a related note, in my experience if you want to break the ice with a (ahem) "stranger", you have to say something or at least smile AS SOON AS you see them. With every passing second that you wait, things get weirder when (if) you actually start talking.

At 3 seconds past zero you are - cool out-going guy

At 6 seconds past zero you are - slightly nervous guy

At 10 seconds past you are - nervous guy who has been staring a little too long

At 15 seconds past you are - "I should have brought my can of mace"

At one day past zero you are - uncool guy who took at a whole day to muster up the courage just to say hi

and so on.....

...wimmen have it easier of course.

Cheers,
Kais

Suds said...

Another great post. Oh god I was laughing like mad in office everyone giving me strange looks. Heheheh...

Princessse said...

heee heeee heee.. dayamn cute post yaar!

Kais' comment reminds me of saif in hum tum on the plane with rani... 'magazine bhi padli, khaana bhi khaa liya, aur abh toh bhau bhi khaa liyaa...' and oh!!! rani's look when he draws the humtum characters -- hahahahahhaah TOoooooo good

Aj said...

Hahaaa.. Sayesha .. hilarious post..
Had kind of funny ideas when read the line "Indian guy who had fallen at my feet" :)
Cool one yar...
Cya
Aj

Anusha said...

Hehehehehe!!! Hilarious!! I love the whole non-verbal communication u guys have going on...sometimes it works better!! Its all about the expressivity of the eyes, madame...seems u both have a lot of it!! :D

And oh, remember at the Shaan concert? He sang this 'Rainy roof' song, and both of us looked at each other with similar 'Yikes!' looks followed by 'God, could this song be more ridiculous?' ones. Hee. Fun day it was. :D

Lalit Singh said...

And there were smiles all around...

2 months n you two havent spoken a word.. To hell with the attitude gal!!!
You two might try out shaking a leg or two at some club or something..not a bad way to exercise I would say...

OK ....I hear the "mind your own business" in my head.

Anonymous said...

too much :D
-- Yash

Anonymous said...

hahaaaa..:-). Kya baat hai. Kya communication hai! :-) Sash, kaun hai yeh anjaan ladka?
Naam toh poocho? ;-) :-)

Rays Of Sun said...

HAHAHAHA..too much! On the roof in the rain..I made my labbies read this:D
BTW, how does the dude look??;)
Also, it reminds me of the weekend convo with Viks..I left him a msg on saturday saying I was in the LAB.

Rays Of Sun said...

Song for you (and him)
Ek ladki bhaagi bhaagi seee,milee ek ajnabi se koi aage na peeche tum hi kaho yeh koi baat hai.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Shekhar said...

It is 4:50 in the morning here. I've just finished a report that my group is supposed to present tomorrow. I swear I was fuming some fifteen minutes ago since I was SOOOOOO frustrated at not being able to complete half as much work as I would like to. I am COMPLETELY PISSED at some of my group members. And trust me to allow this pall of gloom to spread over life in general.

Thank God, I'm smiling now. :D

Who the hell shut the radio off ??!!! On-the-roof !! In-the-rain!! On-the-roof!! In-the-rain !!

Thanu said...

We do laundry and gym on friday - No crowd... and weekends can be more relaxing...
Plus I'm way past Its Friday lets go party... Its more like its friday, lets order in food, watch a movie..

Acha post tha...

-thanu

oxymoron said...

question -
have u ever actually spoken to FNNL guy or is it 'aakhon-hi-aakhon main ishaara' going on??

Sriniketh S said...

Good one !!! I dont think the Chinese guy will ever miss gym on fridays from now on !!!

Sayesha said...

#Shub,
You're at the gym every morn at 8:15? I'm at work every morn at 8:15! :'(

//Once outside the gym I tried smiling at him,and he simply looked away!

Maybe you made him nervous! :D

//its a huge relief to have normal transmission resumed at your blog

Yeah! :)

#The Girl,
Paagal ladki! Tera kya hoga re Kaalia! :D

ps: Idhar aa, I will give you one more shagun wali cheez. 101 kaan ke neeche bajake! Muahaha! :D

pps: The guy is kinda cute, but he's the same height as me so dismissed! :)

#Well wisher,
:)

#Kais,
See see see??????????????? I told you that you should start your own blog!

Love your seconds rule! :D

//wimmen have it easier of course.

Of course! :)

#Suds,
Hehehe :P

#Princesse,
Hahahaha! Yeah, you're right! It was very Hum-Tum. :)

#AJ,
Yeah man.. he had fallen at my feet and was begging for forgiveness for having given me attitude! Hahaha! :D

#Clueless,
Yeah, I think it was the same song! Sheesh! :O

#Lalit,
Shake a leg with attitude-guy? I'd rather shake a fist at him! :)

#Freaky Chakra,
Welcome to Sayeshaz! Thanks for commenting! :)

//cmon if the guy's cute u mi8 flash an occasional smile ;)

Well, he's kinda cute but it's too late to smile now! :)

#Yash,
:D

#Harshi,
Haha! It's too late for naam and all. The Sash ship has sailed! :D

#ROS,
Kyun torture karti hai labbies ko yaar! :P

Dude looks kinda cute, lekin same height as me! :/

ps: Loved your song. Ladki 'bhaagi bhaagi' si it seems! Hahaha! :D

#Shekhar,
Wow, someone's really working late... hope you get the presentation outta the way smoothly :)

And if you get frustrated again, just sing "On the roof! In the rain!" :D

#Thanu,
Hmmm... Laundry and gym on Friday... sounds like a plan. No bheed bhaad, aaram se work and work out! :)

#Oxy,
Never spoken to him. :)
Will never speak to him. :)

#Sri,
Welcome to Sayeshaz! :) I haven't been to the gym in the last few Fridays, so I dunno what's transpiring between the guys now! Maybe they're both working out to 'On the roof! In the rain!' Hahahaha that would be a funny sight! :D

Eclectic Blogger said...

Mebbe he is also an editor somewhere.. sometime u will get to see him, probably in an official conference, and he will be the "Monday-morning-all-work-guy"..

virdi said...

Friday-night-no-life-girl Khi khi khi khi... Everynight no life guy this side... ;-)

Basically, the gym was my kheti, my own ilaaka. You proved it again, Hindustan kisaanon ka desh hai... ;-)

V...

Anonymous said...

sayesha at her best..luvd da post..:-) :-) :-)

The Girl Who Sold The World said...

pps: The guy is kinda cute, but he's the same height as me so dismissed! :)
Oh darn! TallER guys are better...as you wrote on Freaky's blog. ;)

And btw, I'm taking a break. Got my Boards starting from tomorrow. I might pop in sometimes but not sure.
So, here's my comment on all your posts till the 16th March (will be back on the 17th:D):

ME FIRST!!!!!!!! YIPEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

So, the gold is mine now. *smug grin*
To everyone else, don't you DARE touch my gold medal! (Greedy Rohit, are you listening?) And if anybody does that, then... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... phir kya? Maine kya kar lena hai? Jaa kar bech dena usey. :P HAHAHAHAHA! Stupid joke, I agree.

Tootles!

Pujya said...

i give u a 'why-were-u-smiling???' look..
and similar thing is happening with me..our mess is closed on saturday nights...so i usually go and cook something for myself..for last few weeks there is another guy who also comes every saturday to cook...its like someone is encroaching on my territory...so every time i see him i give him "inqalab zindabad, simon go back'look!
apparently his name is simon..so the nara kinda suits him..;)

Ankur said...

u narrated it like a film was rolling in front of me... :-) simply gr8 and hillarious

Anonymous said...

sardar...every nite? you forgot the evenings! bah!

the way u get excited abt having to stay back to take calls, m beginning to wonder if you've fallen for one of the clients...*thinks deeply*

Anonymous said...

lol!!!!!
hilarious post after a long time...

PuNeEt said...

i was smiling reading ur entire gym story with Friday-night-no-life guy

never know... u may just restart ur friday night hang outs @ clubs ;-)

lolz @ on the roof in the rain...
wat a waste song...

Nice read... as humesha...

Cheers

Surya Ragunaathan said...

Hey, "on the roof, in the rain!" is sung by Shaan, did you know that? But anyways, the song is moronic, indeed!!
cheers!!
(ps:good post!)

Kathy said...

Hehe..what if one friday he ask you for a date?^_^forget the "he's kinda cute but have the same height as you,dismissed!" for a while kawaii haha!

Anonymous said...

>> See see see??????????????? I
>> told you that you should start >> your own blog!

Hey, don't build-me-up, buttercup! I might appoint only to disappoint.

Besides these days I'm having a tough time with juggling just work, chinese class and staying alive on my mo-bike.... :O

Cheers
Kais

Shekhar said...

Yep, the presentation worked out fine. :D In fact, made two of them. The second one was more of a supporting actor kinda role where I just introduced the main person. Considering I've only slept for 2 1/2 hours, I think I did a pretty good job. But that is not important; what is important is....

On-the-roof !! In-the-rain!! On-the-roof!! In-the-rain !!

;) Yeah, the bug has bitten me alright.. Ha ha.

Sayesha said...

#Eclectic,
Oooh sounds like my kinda guy! Monday ko kaam, Friday ko gym! Wah! :)

#Virdi,
Oye ullu, kheti kisaan karte hain, ilaaka bhai logon ka hota hai! I'm a bhai-type kisaan! :)

#Anonymous,
Thanks! :)
ps: I'm beginning to get familiar with your style of commenting. Am gonna catch you soon! :)

#The Girl,
Theek hai baba, sara sona tera! Ab tu jaakar padhaai kar! :D

#Aethyr,
You should say it to his face once! Bahut maza aayega! Naare-baazi style mein bolna white sari with red border pehenkar! Hahahaha! :D

#Ankur,
Hehe... thanks man! :P

#Veena,
:D

#Puneet,
Thanks yaar! :)

#Surya,
Yeah I know Shaan sang it. Thankfully, he did not write it! :D

#Kathy,
There's no way I'm not wearing my heels on a date, so I guess not! Haha! :)

#Kais,
Chinese classes + mo-bike? Okay, you just went up in my 'cool guy' index! :)

#Shekhar,
Glad it went well. Gladder you're still dancing to the silly song! :)

Bonatellis said...

btw, i can still hire you if you come to India ;)

Bonatellis

Sayesha said...

#Bonatellis,
I'll keep that in mind! ;)

Sherry said...

haha....enjoyed reading this post, really.
[give us a sequel too..]
good to see u back in ur blogging spirit.
:)

Anonymous said...

*lol* this is great!! (got this link from your recent post). Hmmm... is he handsome, cute, tall, or "nevermind"?

Can't wait to hear the follow-up post on this, if there will be any. :-)

Cheers!

Sayesha said...

#Sanyukta,
Thanks! :) Life's too short yaar, it shouldn't take much to get us back on our feet :)

#Joy,
Thanks! :)
He's not tall or handsome, but kinda cute. And no, I never saw him again. :) If I do, there will be a follow-up post.

Abhishek said...

funny...
keep posting such typpa blogs.

Anonymous said...

hi ur good bye

Anonymous said...

good post. just accidentally bumped into it. but will surely coem back to read more.

Prithi Shetty said...

I swear your blog is so work-unsafe ! Its so tough to control my laughter. My cheeks hurts. :)) LOL

Bhavya said...

Ha ha :)
by the way, you should definitely see Vivek Oberoi and Lara Dutta dance to the tune on the roof in the rain!