Sorting Out Sid Read Online Free
respond to Krish, her amused eyes still on Sid. ‘A joke? Several jokes, actually.’
She looked all set to start laughing again so Sid hastily told Krish, ‘Was just going down, man – I’ll be right back.’ He left the two of them and bolted out the door.
In the cool night air, it took a few desperate puffs of smoke for him to calm down before he could even think about moving his car. He went over to his WagonR and squeezed into the driver’s seat, keeping as much distance as possible from the yellow car that belonged to ‘That Girl’. He revved up the engine and backed out slowly. He drove around for the next few seconds, looking half-heartedly for another parking spot.
Then, with an air of determination, he strapped on his seat belt. Who needed parties, anyway?
Some nights, bed was clearly the only place for him.
3
Domestic Bliss
S id knew it wasn’t real, but he wasn’t going to allow that to bother him too much.
He was standing there on the stage, dressed in his sharpest suit, and had just finished telling a really funny joke. He had the audience in splits, rolling in the aisles. He’d had this dream before, but this time there was an interesting variation – this audience consisted only of beautiful, naked women, breathless with laughter and clearly waiting to mob him after he finished his stand-up act.
Why would he ever want to wake up?
‘WAKE UP, SIDDHARTH’
His eyes snapped open. Mandira was standing by the bed, glaring at him. With effort he propped himself up onto his elbows. If she had called him Sid like everyone else, he would have cracked a joke about the movie Wake Up Sid , but he was all too aware that the fact that she was calling him by his full name meant trouble. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and said groggily, ‘I’m up, I’m up. What time is it?’
Mandira just sighed and started flitting around the room, picking up random objects and replacing them in a harriedmanner. Sid glanced at his phone, 7.10 a.m. It wasn’t that late – his alarm had only gone into snooze twice thus far. And that always annoyed Mandira –that he could ignore his phone alarm any number of times until he felt truly ready to get up and face the world. He shook his head trying to get his dream out of it. He then noticed that Mandira was fully dressed for work, wearing a peacock-green salwar suit that looked brand new and fit well on her slim figure. She was looking nice, he thought, and he was just about to compliment her when she curtly said, ‘I need to leave early – important presentation. You need to get up now – make sure to let Sunita in when she knocks. And remember to tell her not to cook dinner.’
‘Why no dinner tonight?’
Mandira shot him an irritated glance, and he felt his own irritation rising. No one deserved to be rudely snapped out of an interesting dream, and to be treated with such hostility on a Monday morning. She said slowly, in the manner of someone explaining something to an errant and particularly slow four-year-old, ‘Because, Siddharth, we agreed that we would have dinner with Vikas and Sunny tonight – remember?’ She turned to look at herself in the mirror, examining her big black eyes done up with kajal and added, ‘If you can take time out of your busy schedule, that is.’
Aha – so that’s what it was, she was still bugged with him for going to Aditi’s party. That evening it had all started with an argument about some inane thing which he didn’t even remember now, a rather common phenomenon of late, and she had claimed she wasn’t feeling well, adding that he could go ahead without her if he liked. It was only afterwards that he realized what she had really meant was that she expected him to stay home and take care of her the entire evening sothat they could make up. He had tried to tell her that he would have, but he had taken her literally when she insisted she was fine and only needed a little rest. Why couldn’t women bloody
She looked all set to start laughing again so Sid hastily told Krish, ‘Was just going down, man – I’ll be right back.’ He left the two of them and bolted out the door.
In the cool night air, it took a few desperate puffs of smoke for him to calm down before he could even think about moving his car. He went over to his WagonR and squeezed into the driver’s seat, keeping as much distance as possible from the yellow car that belonged to ‘That Girl’. He revved up the engine and backed out slowly. He drove around for the next few seconds, looking half-heartedly for another parking spot.
Then, with an air of determination, he strapped on his seat belt. Who needed parties, anyway?
Some nights, bed was clearly the only place for him.
3
Domestic Bliss
S id knew it wasn’t real, but he wasn’t going to allow that to bother him too much.
He was standing there on the stage, dressed in his sharpest suit, and had just finished telling a really funny joke. He had the audience in splits, rolling in the aisles. He’d had this dream before, but this time there was an interesting variation – this audience consisted only of beautiful, naked women, breathless with laughter and clearly waiting to mob him after he finished his stand-up act.
Why would he ever want to wake up?
‘WAKE UP, SIDDHARTH’
His eyes snapped open. Mandira was standing by the bed, glaring at him. With effort he propped himself up onto his elbows. If she had called him Sid like everyone else, he would have cracked a joke about the movie Wake Up Sid , but he was all too aware that the fact that she was calling him by his full name meant trouble. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and said groggily, ‘I’m up, I’m up. What time is it?’
Mandira just sighed and started flitting around the room, picking up random objects and replacing them in a harriedmanner. Sid glanced at his phone, 7.10 a.m. It wasn’t that late – his alarm had only gone into snooze twice thus far. And that always annoyed Mandira –that he could ignore his phone alarm any number of times until he felt truly ready to get up and face the world. He shook his head trying to get his dream out of it. He then noticed that Mandira was fully dressed for work, wearing a peacock-green salwar suit that looked brand new and fit well on her slim figure. She was looking nice, he thought, and he was just about to compliment her when she curtly said, ‘I need to leave early – important presentation. You need to get up now – make sure to let Sunita in when she knocks. And remember to tell her not to cook dinner.’
‘Why no dinner tonight?’
Mandira shot him an irritated glance, and he felt his own irritation rising. No one deserved to be rudely snapped out of an interesting dream, and to be treated with such hostility on a Monday morning. She said slowly, in the manner of someone explaining something to an errant and particularly slow four-year-old, ‘Because, Siddharth, we agreed that we would have dinner with Vikas and Sunny tonight – remember?’ She turned to look at herself in the mirror, examining her big black eyes done up with kajal and added, ‘If you can take time out of your busy schedule, that is.’
Aha – so that’s what it was, she was still bugged with him for going to Aditi’s party. That evening it had all started with an argument about some inane thing which he didn’t even remember now, a rather common phenomenon of late, and she had claimed she wasn’t feeling well, adding that he could go ahead without her if he liked. It was only afterwards that he realized what she had really meant was that she expected him to stay home and take care of her the entire evening sothat they could make up. He had tried to tell her that he would have, but he had taken her literally when she insisted she was fine and only needed a little rest. Why couldn’t women bloody
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