What should I do? was the main question. In the movie, three friends embark on a journey to Spain for celebrating a bachelor's party and in retrospect, learn something about themselves. Can I think of something similar to that, for me, and for my wonderful friends? For a few days I couldn't get enough sleep and finally I came up on the idea: How about going for a vacation to Spain with my friends, for my 40th birthday (this October)? That sounded like a plan. Thanks to the U.S passports, all we have to do is to book the flight tickets, reserve a beach house and voila! We would be there in no time!
Trust me, in doing the math it does not appear to be as expensive as the Vegas party we had last Spring. Sorry Monica (at the blackjack table), no offense to you. Sorry Veronica (at the roulette table), no offense to you, too. Sorry Jess... (ssh! Whatever happened in Vegas, should stay in Vegas.)
I don't think I will have a problem in luring my friends in to this. If their significant others (assuming it would be their wives) rebel, I have drawn up a list of excuses for everybody.
For example,
1) Cisco has an off-site meeting for the executives in Madrid about the possible cost cutting measures, and they have to do it outside of US mainly to keep the Wall Street folks in not knowing about it.
2) During the semester break Wharton expects its MBA students to learn about the efficiency of the management styles in the European countries, preferably in the countries where nobody works after 3 PM on a weekday.
3) Seeing your own friends jump off from the plane (sky diving, as in the movie) that you fly is something worth remembering.
4) What better place in the world to practice "Sudharshan Kriya"! On the sandy beach, under clear blue skies, and the warm water of the Mediterranean splashing on you, you will have absolute control of everything IN YOU and AROUND YOU!
Just like the great MLK Jr. envisioned, I do have a dream. Yes, I do have. Yes, I ...
(I am in dream mode now.)
We go to the coastal Spain, and rent a wonderful beach house. After enjoying the water activities -- sorry, no Katrina Kaif for us -- we then go to the southern Spain to see the Moorish architecture. It is just five of us, as Ram is busy on a Cisco off-site meeting and is expected to join us only in Pampalona. Gunna couldn't make the trip as he is expecting his second child.
On the way, when we stop at Bunol for the tomatina festival, I see Vamsee shying away from the frenzied tomato throwing crowd.
"What is your problem, dude?" I ask.
He goes, "Are they organic?" (Thanks to buying groceries only from WholeFoods with his beloved, the impact in him has been trans-atlantic.)
"Organic? Why so?" I ask. Being a Costco shopper I see no point in arguing with the Trader Joe's/ Whole Foods brethren and I just leave the scene.
Meanwhile, I look for others and I see Beebs trying to make a "Bloody Mary" out of the tomato juice. "Vodka! Vodka! Does anybody have Vodka?" he is seen shouting. He then imitates the British accent and approaches a girl saying, "Bloody Mary...do you have some Vodka for my 'Bloody Mary'?" and laughs with her. Interestingly, she thinks he is very funny and charming.
"Where is Ravi, man? Where is he?" I ask.
Sharma points to a corner on the road, and in there, amidst the chaos happening around him I see him doing the Vipasana! Clarity in Chaos! Salute to the master!
"What are you doing, dude? Don't you want to jump in and get splashed?" I ask Sharma.
"I am waiting for Siri to join. I can't do anything without her by my side."
"Dude, this is a guys only trip. That is not going to happen." My heart starts palpitating hearing his determined words. His words mean only one thing...that is...
"Here she comes," Sharma screams! The blush due to the sudden rush of blood to his face in seeing her makes him look more red than the pile of tomato splashed slush all around.
Sharma looks at Siri and she smiles. Sensing their love, in the background of my head, the urdu poetry of Javed Aktar plays on...
Ik baat honton tak hai jo aayi nahin
Bas ankhon say hai jhaankti
Tumse kabhi, mujhse kabhi
Kuch lafz hain woh maangti
Jinko pehanke honton tak aa jaaye woh
…Aawaaz ki baahon mein baahein daalke ithlaye woh
Lekin jo yeh ik baat hai
Ahsas hi ahsas hai
Khushboo si hai jaise hawa mein tairti
Khushboo jo be-aawaaz hai
Jiska pata tumko bhi hai
Jiski khabar mujhko bhi hai
Duniya se bhi chupta nahin
Yeh jaane kaisa raaz hai
"How come?" I ask, totally confused.
"Well, she was in the back row of our plane -- in disguise."
In that moment, I remember a traditionally dressed Indian woman on our plane, but not realizing that it was her all along. "Should have known. I should have known. She seemed too authentic to be true." I curse myself.
"Where is she staying?" I ask with a deep sigh in my tone. Too late.
"Just a block down from where we stay."
Accepting the reality of loosing the charm of "guys only trip", we spend the rest of the day and take off to Pampalona the following day to feel the rush of the "Bull run".
[Day of the Bull run, in Pampalona]
Me, Beebs, Vamsee and Sharma wake up early to face the raging bulls. Ravi is not interested as he sees no point in getting chased by the bulls.
"Yesterday's Vipasana has given me a lot of clarity. I am going to work on some research docs. I want to chase the Wall Street Bulls. Not these. See you folks in the evening," he says and slams his room door.
When we are about to leave our hotel, we get a phone call. It is from Ram.
"My flight got delayed. You may all proceed. I will join you later. By the way, what is the dress code?" he asks, and ends the call.
"Guys, it is just the four of us. Hopefully, Ram will join us later," I say. "Do you think all of us would make it till the evening?" I ask, struggling to put a smile on my face to hide my nervousness.
We are all dressed up in white shirts, white shorts and a red scarf around our neck: just like the real matadors.
"Stay put! Pathi dev garu. Stay put!"
The high crescendo of a female voice gets echoed in the nearby haciendas and we look in the direction the voice came from. It is Siri. She is dressed in a saree and has a 'Aarthi' plate with a lighted lamp on it. She rushes down a flight of stairs in that open courtyard and the kumkum on the plate raises up and creates a 'reddish halo' around her. She comes closer to Sharma, takes a bit of kumkum from the plate to keep it as a blessing on his forehead. Just then a loud horn sounds and in a sudden shock she looses the plate she has in her hand. The plate tumbles and all the kumkum gets splashed on Sharma's shirt and shorts.
White shirt. White shorts. Kumkum all over. Red! Red! Nothing but red!
"Oh, no!" she cries. She turns her face away, keeps one of her hands on her forehead, holds Sharma with her other hand and laments, "No! Pathi Deva! No! Don't go! This is a bad sign."
Seeing his beloved in pain, Sharma drops out of the bull run.
"So, it is just the 3 of us, I guess," Beebs smiles.
Me, Beebs and Vamsee go to the starting point of the Bull run. The announcer makes jokes in Spanish. Everybody laughs. So also us.
"GENTLEMEN! THE GATES ARE GOING TO OPEN! BE READY TO GET CHASED!" The announcer says in Spanish.
Even in that noisy surrounding, we heard each other's heart beats. Are we doing the right thing? What if, if we get gored by those bulls? Would it feel painful than the decade of marriage?
We see the gates open and bulls charging out. All of a sudden all the bulls go in to spasm as if their medula oblangata has been jammed.
"What is going on? What is going on? Why are the bulls acting crazy?" Everybody wonders.
The bulls are seen shaking their heads vigorously. Some drop down as if they are having an epileptic seizure.
"I know what is happening," Vamsee says.
"YOU KNOW?" Me and Beebs ask in unison. "Did you drug them?" Beebs jokes.
Vamsee flashes his signature smile, walks over to the side and gets a smart phone from one of the bystanders. Still smiling, he opens an IM and sends a message: "Honey! Are you there?"
By the time he hits the send button, he sees the response: "Yes, I am. How are you?"
Tap...Tap...Tap... He types a lot faster.
"Are you doing pooja?"
"How come you know?"
"Could you stop the "jing jing swing" of your Mangal Sutra?"
"Why? Anything wrong? I am just praying for your safety."
"The bulls are convulsing here. The run is stopped due to your "swing" power. Could you
stop it, please!"
"I can't, if you are still in the field. I can't. I just can't..."
Vamsee sees the bulls in very bad condition.
"I am dropping out. Promise."
Suddenly, all the bulls get up and look around. They look at each other and wonder what the hell just happened to them.
Vamsee goes towards the bystander, hands him his phone, and says, "I am off, guys! I am off! It is going to be just the two of you."
Beebs looks at me and asks, "What happened to Ram?"
By that time, the bulls are back in action and the run starts. All the men who are there to experience the thrill of their life run helter skelter when the bulls start charging towards them. Just after myself and Beebs make the first turn on that small lane, we see Ram jumping in across the fence that is set to separate the participants from the bystanders.
This is where he shows his class once again: Neatly combed hair, designer red color scarf around his neck -- possibly from Armani, neatly ironed Louis Vuitton shirts and shorts with the visible creases, and not to mention the El Matador Pro Keds Hi Top shoes on his feet. He has the latest model of the Timex Pro watch, with the GPS that gives the precise location of where he is -- not only on the face of the earth but also in the distant planets -- not to mention with more features such as the time zones of 50 different countries, a heart rate monitor, a blood sugar monitor, an antacid monitor, and a radar to sense the speed of the raging bull, and an executive members only edition satellite link to stream the latest updates from the tech ventures in the Silicon Valley.
Seeing his Armani scarf I hide my 5 for 10$ scarf from Costco, that I bought for the whole group. We nod each other and start running.
It is just me, Beebs and Ram. Ram seems to be in very good shape and he jets ahead. Seeing him up in the front, a couple of bulls do a special charge at him. One more turn to go, and a few yards later it is the end of the run. The bulls are giving a good chase at Ram. At the turn, the centripetal force on him outbalances the centrifugal force and he slips, but manages to save himself from falling down by pushing himself off the surface -- thanks to the special Matador gloves. Ram realizes that he should have gone for the El Matador "Super" Hi Top shoes and not the regular Hi Top shoes. The regular Hi Top shoes only handle turns up to 45 degrees, but the Super Hi Top handle a lot more.
Still the bulls catch up to him. We want to do something, but we are also being chased. The honed horns of the bulls are inches away from Ram's back. Me and Beebs look at the scene in terror. Just then, one of the bulls that is chasing Ram goes too close to the separator fence and accidentally locks its horn on to a bystander's hand bag. The bag is a women's hand bag -- the new baroque edition from Prada -- and it masks the whole face of the bull. Unable to see, the bull shakes its head vigorously and the hand bag gets loose and flies up in the air. The loose bag flies across the statue of San Fermin.
In slow motion, things start to happen. As the Prada hand bag flies past the face of San Fermin's statue, the bulls see some strange light coming from the direction of the statue.
Prada bag...San Fermin...strange light.
Prada...San Fermin...light.
The bulls get scared that some divine force is not happy in them chasing Ram and give up their chase on him. But, when they see me and Beebs making that final turn, with a renewed strength and anger they start chasing us.
Few more yards to go and we will done. The bulls are chasing. I look at Beebs, and he laughs. He knew that there would be no kind of "jing jing swing" power to save us.
Just our heartbeats and the sound of the bulls' foot steps. Thad...Thad...trap...trap
THAD!! THAD!! "DID YOU SEE WHAT TIME IT IS?"
I was woken up from my dream. It was Shree shouting at the wee hours in the morning. I slowly yawned and got up to face my day thinking about the barren landscape of the industrial Fremont across Solyndra, and the fate of seeing nobody good looking but only some "Dho Bacchoan ki Ma" types at any of the fast food places in Mission Blvd.
Still, I enjoyed my dream. I don't know what happened to me and Beebs. I want to go in real to see it. Don't you all want to know?
It's simple. Just send us to Spain, then.
