Uno

"Hey man. Busy?"

"Nope. Jobless. What's up?"

"Bored to death. Random conversation over Uno?"

"Deal, I say."

"I watched Fight Club the other day. Sheer brilliance, that's what it is. You know, you watch that movie at night, and you need fresh air to clear your thoughts. It takes you down to the gritty drains of American society, to the screwed up psyche of one, literally on the edge of reason. The movie takes your brain, throws it down a tunnel, plays ping-pong with it, and feeds it stuff that you're sure, is not going to leave for a long,long while. Dude, you've got to watch ..."

"Uno, aaand Done."

"Ah Crap. All right, deal again. So yeah, I'm telling you, you've got to watch it."

"Dude, Chill, I've seen it. I know it's a good movie, but I think you've taken it a bit too seriously. Get this - it's a MOO-VEE. And that's America. Maybe the characters are not just works of fiction, but gruesome reflections of people walking in the shadows, living in the shadows, waiting to be something more, in , AMERICA. Where are we?"

"All right, all right. I get it. But you know what? There are equally screwed up people in our country too. It's just that we're too proud to bring it out in the open. Or scared rather. God forbid the Shiv Sena or the Ram Sene or any other they-can-kiss-my-ass Sene do something about it. Still, that apart. I know it's a movie, and I know it shows people from the U.S. Even then, what does the movie show? It shows the impatient, neurotic, grandiose fabric of human beings, puppets working for other puppets, resolving to larger than life alter egos. Don't tell me that's true for human beings in AMERICA and not INDIA. Ok, I'll give you another example. Which is your favourite comic?"

"I know where this is going, but I'll let you take it there. All right, it's Calvin and Hobbes."

"Ah-ha. There you go. You love Calvin, and you love Hobbes. Hobbes is nothing but a stuffed toy. But to Calvin and to us through Calvin, he talks, and has got a brain of his own. He is what? Calvin's alter ego. What I'm trying to say is, Calvin and Hobbes transcends geographical boundaries, does it not? Why does it do so? For in Calvin, you see every 8 year old boy, the world every 8 year old boy creates for himself, and every 8 year old boy's partner-in-crime. Hey you didn't say "uno" ! Ha! Pick up 4 cards, my man."

"Yeah, yeah. One, two, three, four. There. Happy?"

"Yo. So Whatever. Fight Club is awesome. Period."

"Whatever makes you happy. "

"Hey how's it going with the dame by the way?"

"Well it's only been about a month and a half. It's good, it's fun. But once the "where is this going" questions start, I won't know what to say. I mean, what? I'm 20 years old. I don't know where I'm going, how can I tell her where WE're going? How long have we been going out anyway, you know? I don't get..."

"Stop freaking out! She hasn't asked you yet has she? Take it as it comes. Do the conversation Ross style. If it comes up at all, that is. She seems pretty cool."

"Yeah. She does actually. Anyway, so done studying for the internals tomorrow?"

"Naah. I'll take a micro or something."