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‘True. Anyway, I like evenings more.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I met you for the first time one evening.’

‘Try something new some time. Uninspired films seem to have taken a toll on you. We met at fifteen past twelve in the afternoon.’

‘I like evenings because that’s when I get free.’

‘And that’s relevant because?’

‘Because I come home when I get free.’

‘You come home, so?’

‘I get to look at you comfortably in the evenings only; mornings are busy with the office rush.’

Chandar and Sudha’s conversations were becoming exactly like all conversations become after a certain point. After a point, conversations lose their meaning, and people talk not so much to converse as to bide their time. The world hasn’t looked for new conversations for years; only the people on the different sides of the conversations keep changing.

Whatever there was worth feeling in this world, the first couple on the face of the earth felt it; the last one will, too. Life is a secret that every generation keeps passing on without getting to know too much about it.

C for Corner Seat

Sudha hated watching movies at night. Both of them often watched the Sunday morning show. She had a really absurd reason for watching morning shows.

‘You can spot new lovebirds during a morning show.’

‘But we are here to watch the movie, not to spot new lovebirds, and what is this “new love” business? Love is love, period.’

‘Tell me, what’s the difference between a married and an unmarried couple?’

‘What?’

‘Married couples don’t get upset if they don’t get a corner seat in the movie hall. But you do.’

‘Yeah, I do. You forget that we aren’t married yet.’

‘I feel like we should let the corner seats be, for some unmarried couple.’

‘We can, if we get married.’

‘I can’t get married to you.’

‘Why? I’m well educated; people at work think I am smart. I look decent enough, earn well. I know all your likes and dislikes. I am good in bed. I have known you for almost six months now. What’s the problem? Why can’t we get married?’

‘Because you know everything about me.’

‘That should be the reason to definitely go ahead, so what’s the issue here?’

‘People don’t get to know each other to such an extent in a marriage, you know me too much. That’s why we can’t get married.’

‘Give me some other reason for not getting married.’

‘You are boring. You have never actually said, “I love you” and here you are, jumping straight to marriage.’

‘It feels so cheap, saying, “I love you”.’

‘What is cheap about that?’