meeting clifton...

Yes, i was a bit uneasy about my private life, the sacred 5/6th of the iceberg, becoming viewable by others. But then again, its one of those beautiful things that happen in your life which you want to tell to the whole wide world by climbing atop your roof and shouting at the top of your lungs

I had proposed meeting after ramadan, in the hopes that an Eid japhee would be in the offing. However, clifton pressed on meeting NOW. And so here I was in a cafe in SoHo, where as per clifton's latest text message she awaited me.

After running my eyes over various tables, I spotted a sloe-eyed classy girl sitting nonchalantly at a corner table. She turned out to be clifton. Months of virtual courtship dance and songs had come down to this moment - I stood in front of clifton! In deference to Ramadan, she was wearing pinkish full sleeved kurta, a fitted long black skirt, and the print of henna on her hands from a wedding she had attended a couple of weeks back. On my part, in deference to clifton, I had tucked in my shirt.

Initially I was somewhat overwhelmed by clifton's elegant presence and her manner of looking at me with a slight smile, as if studying me. "So this is atif!", she let out as she reclined back in her chair, her glossed lips gradually stretching into an astonishingly beautiful smile. "So this is clifton!", I matched her comment. "I guess finally we can see the people attached to the 2 pairs of feet we have been seeing for so long on chowk", she said, and we both laughed out loud. No ice breakers were needed now. We chatted, we laughed, we ordered and re-ordered tea late into the night. The only interruption was a call I received from Babar in Boston, who I had tasked to check on me around 11:00 p.m., just in case a spying mirzaee or hindoo had decided to show up at the cafe, requiring necessary and measured violence on my part, and hence some bail money.

From what I have learned of clifton in person, I have found that behind that enlightened facade, clifton is a girl brimming with compassion. She talked about her desire to one day join the charity organization, Doctors Without Borders, to help the poor in poor countries. She sure has the outer shell and demeanor of a khandani for societal and status reasons, but in her chest beats the heart of a mazaara.

It is not possible to finish off a story in one post when that story is just starting...