Corporate connection

We have this custom where in you go to some Swami ji and get branded with the blessed marks of chakra and shanka.Yes I said 'branded'. A long rod with a stamp of the blessed symbols is heated to red hot temp and then the Swami gets to brand us all. And to top it all, it is on the day of ekadasi, a day of fasting.
Does it hurt ? Yes it does but only for a minute or two, and a day or two of irritation lingers on. But the version my friends have heard involves searing skin and burns that hurt for a whole month or two. ;-)
Any way today was the celebrated branding day and I promptly missed it. :) Mom and Dad left early to the matha to get it done ( they've stopped expecting me to go along with this).
As usual(at least for the hols) ,got up late.
Weren't we all meeting today at coll??So I dropped off messages to B and Ab. Ab called me up and told me no one was coming ecxept him and so I dropped the idea too.But then as I hung up, B calls me and tells me that we are supposed to meet up at around 10 30 and go watch 'Corporate'. "Sharp 1030 man",he insists. As usual I got late reading the paper and rushed through breakfast (much to the expected chagrin of granny) and left around 9 45 riding dad's activa.
Along the way near Hebbal, the much hated Mama was on a spree booking hapless offenders and I realised my LL had expired a week back and 'renew LL' has been on my todo list for quite some time now. So I kept a steady pace and was about to rush past the mama when he smelt the offender in me and promptly pulled me over. I put on a 'you caught poor law abing yours truly??!' look and when he told me my LL had expired appeared to be shocked; asked him to let me go .. of course it doesnt work unless you are a girl,,,and so the mama asked me to pay up 200 bucks and after much persuasion settled for 100 ( shit 100 hard earned freshly out of the ATM bucks!!).
Bad day?? Wait there's more. Reached coll at about 10 45 and found that I was the only one stupid enough to be there .. Msgs wnt flying to B and Ab again. Ab calls me and finds the whole situation totally funny and he hasnt heard of any plans of watching a movie; banda promises to be in coll in twenty mins.Fortunately, minchu's open. I login into my gmail a/c and voila! Wonder of wonders guess who's online ?? B!! And apparently most of the gang's cooling their heels at home..Su's online too, and tells me he convinced people to stay at home!!
Are yaar!!
Forty minutes later , B and Aks arrive.They collect their Course completion cert..We are off to GP to have lunch... Mean while Ab insists he wont come ...So four of us Aks,P,B and me are off to Vaibhav to watch 'Corporate'.
Well the theatre was fine but what a movie!!
Going by the promos you expect Bipasha to head a small company and take on the big behemoths and come out trumps..Turns out this one's a rip off of the cola wars with the pesticide issue and a PSU thrown in .. and as the cliche goes the abala and bholi nari (read Bips) bears the brunt; only Bips isnt as bholi as she seems.
After sitting/sleeping/yawning thru the movie we are off to coll again..Drop B and head back home ... Hungry like hell
At home mom and dad have come back with the mudres(the branding ka result) .. Mom teaches me the nuances of makingmaggi .. which I master :) .. I must say I am better at eating though..
Having eaten it like an ogre go out wid Chungi and Koli ...C and K seem to view me as a strategic investment .. More on that later..Koli takes us around in his car... Stayed at his place till 9 30 ... came home, watched OC in spite of granny shouting herself hoarse "SLEEP!!SLEEP!!" and slept...
Whew man ..
PS: Actually the branding does hurt.