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Thursday 29 November 2007

five point someone...and a tale of upset stomach

I have known my husband for the last eleven years. A few months of friendship, six years of courtship and 5 years of marriage. I was always amazed at how he could finish reading exactly 18 pages (maximum 19), of any book that he bought. He loves reading books written by the so-called management gurus (the stuff in which they teach you to do everything, leading to nothing)... not that he doesn't now, but he has begun enjoying other literature too. Thanks to his best half for that.

Then began the saga of 'Five Point Someone' by an IITian called Chetan Bhagat. For the first time in life, my darling hubby could digest a whole book...due to the indigestive process in his stomach.

Yeah, thats true!!!

I'm sorry Chetan, if you are reading this. Well, it's not about the upset stomach that I am about to rave about, but your funny book. As usual, we both left home in the morning. He went for a fag as I waited outside the provision store, advising him about the ill-effects of smoking, hoping that it would have some effect. I had stopped mentioning the 'Boiling Frog Syndrome', maybe it didn't make much sense to smokers to know if the frog was boiled to death or not. Then, we proceeded to the clubhouse and got ourselves enrolled for the fitness programme. Thats when all the churning began. We rushed back home and decided to skip office for the day. For me, skipping office meant working from home as I had to meet deadlines. But my hubby could afford to relax, after all he was self-employed. He picked up 'Five Point Someone' and then what I heard were bouts of laughter.

Did the loosies travel the wrong direction? Did it get into his head? What was it?

Quietly opening the door, I peeped in. He was rolling on the bed, laughing hysterically. I realised that it was Venkat and Alok. They were responsible for the hysteria. They followed my husband to the loo several times. They accompanied him for a light lunch. They followed him for an afternoon nap. And finally they left. My hubby finished reading the book in a record-breaking three hours. Thanks to Chetan for writing a book that made for such an interesting read that someone like my sweetheart could read the whole book and not just 18 pages.

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