Jab We Met Dwiteeye...Tweeteeye...Chautha...Panchum...(haven't kept an account of the number)

When I meet Imtiaz Ali next I'll tell him how indebted we SVC Bloggers are to him for letting us lay claim again and again to the title of his hitt’est’ film. (I'm not phenkoing, he really is related to me). The latest sequel happened when the intelligent Stanley arrived here to offer his training expertise to some dilettantes from Bhubaneswar. Really don't know if those green kids became any wiser with his lectures but by the time Stan left, Sarita, Debu, Shanker and I had got a few lessons in face reading. Actually it doesn’t make sense to take off our ‘Met’ing from mid-runway point so let me begin at the beginning.

I get a call from Sarita that Stanley Babu is in town and wants us to have yet another mini-meet…

’....but this time in a hotel please’…..are both their refrains as they seriously feel that it isn’t fair that I should play host every time. But hey, Stanley is Baby Auntie’s son and if any child of Mummy’s best’est’ friend came and left without paying respects to her, there will be a murder in my house. I tell him that. But they are both insistent and want to pick up something so we can all can have a Guilt Free Pot Luck Meet.

‘ What should I get’ each wants to know.

‘Really you don’t have to get anything. Shanker will mind and..’….

‘NO, NO, NO,NO.. we want to…’

‘Okay then, just get some rolls or noodles or kababs or something’.

So Sarita arrives with a bagful of chicken rolls enough to feed an entire starving army from Ethiopia. And Stan arrives with noodles. I am inside informing Mom that Baby's Son has finally arrived. Baby's Son probably hands over the bag of noodles to Nargis's Husband.

‘You shouldn’t have bothered’ Husband the perfect host, probably says.

'No problem' the cool dude actually says. Nargis asked me to get them’…..

WHAAAAAAAT??!!!

And my perfect host husband comes in and gives me a how-on-earth-can-you-ASK-the- poor-fellow-to-GET-something kind of demeaning look. As I am unaware of what just happened, I smile. Really don'k know what kind of training Stan dishes out to the kids but I bet there is not a spoonful of tact in it Hmmmmmph!!

And then the fun begins!! Stanley shows off his special face reading skills, which he's just learnt from some especial face reader. He also teaches us mango people (aam aadmi) the finer nuances of this talent. He looks at Shanker.

‘Your nose says that you are a good financial officer’. And we all go WOW!

He looks at me.

- ‘You’ve tampered with your eyebrows (I mean who doesn't Stan??)If not I’d have read what your eyebrows say’. Even as my shy eyebrows recede into my scalp the others go..WOW and nearly give him a BOW!!

Next Sarita and I try out our hand at this unique skill.

‘Your ears say that you are a good quizzer Stan’ says I.

‘Your eyes say that you have two lovely daughters Stan’ says Sarita.

'OMG You two sure are fast learners 'says Stan's amazed expression.

And then he reads some more faces and reveals some more interesting facts that nearly starts a spousal battle. Then I relate a script. About Jab I Met Henry- A sure blockbuster if Imtiaz decides to make it. And then we eat. And then we drink. And then we make merry talk. And then we start getting calls. National and International!!

We all wonder how Vimal, Lakshmi, Henry and Sancheyta ring up in succession to find out what is going on in Bhubaneswar. I almost switch on the TV to see if news of the SVC meet is splashed out in the Headlines Today. How could they know? I mean ONLY VIMAL knows. And then we all get Sherlocky and figure out. If ONLY VIMAL knows, the whole of his ‘Postcard’ knows!!

Sorry guys, I'm coming to the blog after a long break and as I scroll down I see lots of Happy Birthdays have gone by. So here's wishing all the Birthday boys and girls many more to come. May you grow younger every day and may you keep blogging :-}