(Short Story) The Girl who liked French Fries

The Girl who liked French Fries

By Mangesh Nadkarni (11/04/2010)

Sitting on seat number 36 while returning to Mumbai from one of my recent Pune trips, the bus halted at a food mall midway during the journey. I woke up from my partial doze. The headphones had gone misaligned, and my throat felt dry, which meant my mouth was open during my sleep. I cursed myself yet again for my embarrassment.

I didn’t get up although I felt the need of getting my face washed, to feel fresh. As a policy of my own I spend the first half sleeping and the next looking here and there. I avoid reading as I feel it is a primary catalyst for inducing sleep. Well the ‘real’ reason of not getting down the bus was this pretty girl who sat on the right corner of the two seats front of mine. Never mind I hadn’t drank much water and there was no real need to visit the loo, though sometimes we all do it for our ‘safety’. I sacrificed my ‘safety’ to have a look at her, when her boyfriend wasn’t around! “Mmmm..French Fries for me!” she wailed cutely at her boyfriend who proceeded to get down. I cried to myself why I wasn’t her McDonald.

She hadn’t streaked her straight hair, well that would look cute on her. Her ‘pinch able cheeks’ looked amazing on her not so chubby face. Mind you, the view was from her sideways. I never imagined how luscious one’s lips could look from that view. I cursed the caller who prompted her to pick up her mobile and talk, ruining my view. The call was short, presumably her boyfriend’s, asking “Do you want that extra cheese baby?” I never overheard that, but guessed it so, because of her obvious “no” to my ‘guessed’ extra cheese.

Tomorrow was Valentine’s Day and I so wanted her to be with me!! She looked outside the window and that wasn’t so good for my view. “Well let her look!” I said to myself in my mind. Then she picked up an Auto Car magazine and flipped few pages and threw it on the adjacent ‘boyfriend’s’ seat by force. It looked like she missed Femina or Cosmopolitan, oh sorry, Vanity Fair! Her bottle green top looked fabulous and I was lucky to admire her smooth hands. That was the closest my eyes could get thanks to the rift between two seats. My eyes were shamelessly (I thought about that afterwards!) fixed on her slim stable arm for a long time. Suddenly that fixation broke loose as her arm moved, as it grabbed a brown paper bag with McDonald’s logo. “Darn the delivery boy,” I said to myself.

The next thing I heard was a transition. Her cute voice had apparently gone for a vacation as she shouted, “You’re such a jerk!!” That was for her boyfriend. He had brought only one tiny sachet of ketchup. “You know I need more ketchup. Why do you always keep forgetting?” All other passengers had already occupied their seats and the bus left after the conductor’s checking.

And so the bus started on the conductor’s mark. After that it was all exercise for my neck and eyes. I thanked God for our fixed ears and wished for cat like ears. “Paani doge?” she asked her boyfriend. What followed after that question was lots of gunfire. He repented for having forgotten to buy the bottle. Twenty bucks could have suppressed her ire. Then after a brief silence she murmured, “You never take care of me…”, to which he replied, “I’m sorry Namrata…really I..” “Shut up!” she said in a stern voice, forgetting the fellow passengers around her. “Aah…Namrata” I said to myself looking at the expressway!

I was impressed by the guys coaxing and then began the dreaded public display of affection! They held each other’s hands, trying to find a perfect grip. I didn’t understand how I missed out the part where a fellow passenger uncle lent his water bottle to the guy to extinguish the fire. The chirping of the two sparrows was on and I could see her smile and laugh. “Why do you read such useless magazines?” she asked the guy, flinging the Autocar she picked up, at him.  “That’s because I love cars..” he replied back politely. “Typical of boys…all they like is unusual stuff, and forget about us, what we need” she said in a somewhat harsh tone, tauntingly referring the ‘untoward’ incident happened earlier. Mr. Boyfriend wore a dejected look on his face. “What’s the matter now? I’ve still allowed you to talk!” she pricked him. He kept quiet. “Brownie points for this guy for keeping his cool!” I said to myself!

We zipped past Panvel, Sion, and were now on the Western express highway. “Care to ask the conductor when is Andheri coming?” she irked the guy. Blinking his eyes forcibly, he went up to the conductor. “Few minutes…” he said to her, after coming back to his place. “How many minutes did he say?” asked Namrata. I won’t describe what followed next.

“So what are we doing tomorrow?” she asked him. He kept quiet and looked engrossed in some thought. After a brief moment of silence, she asked him gently, “Would you be my Valentine this year honey?”

“Nope”, we replied. The guy hadn’t uttered anything. Namrata and the guy sprung their necks, looking at me. In spontaneity, I had responded in a low tone, but I tried figuring it out who else shared my opinion. I found myself staring at a pretty girl at the window, sitting next to me!!

Slumber (a short story)

Slumber

‘You know something strange happened to me yesterday,’ he said to his friend. ‘What?’ his friend asked, keeping aside his phone, with which he was preoccupied with.

‘Well yesterday morning, I took my office bus as usual. It was running a little late, which is quite normal. The colleagues whom I see each day at the stop too boarded the bus along with me. The bus was quite packed, more than usual. I looked around for a seat, got one and sat.’

‘Was it a window seat?’ the friend asked.

‘No,’ he replied firmly. ‘I don’t like to sit beside the window. Dust, pollution, you know.’

Continuing his story he said, ‘so then I got settled, drank some water as per my habit. I saw the group of young boys and girls, frolicking and cracking jokes and patting each other candidly. They quite regularly board this bus. It is a very jovial group, but I don’t like the chaos they make.’

‘I hadn’t slept the night before and tiredness crept into my eyes. I don’t usually take a nap in the bus, but since the journey is about 2 hours, I thought it was a good idea to rest.’

‘The bus was pacing fast as there seemed less traffic than usual that day. I saw out of the window. Those underwear advertising hoardings that I see every day appeared. I find them awkward. The guy next to me was wearing dark glasses, which I found unusual as it was cloudy that day. He had placed his bag on his lap. On top of his bag he had placed his left palm, and had put his elbow next to it. His index finger pressed against his lips. It looked like he was in deep thought. But he also had his earphones on, so I think he might be engrossed in some audio book or some thought inducing music.’

‘My eyes began to heavily droop. Sleep was overtaking me; still my eyes were set outside the window, even as the bus sped fast, as if the driver was on some mission. I saw two cars coming out of a crematorium. Suddenly the thought of death and dead people struck me. I felt bad for those people in those cars. Then I thought about circle of life.’

‘My mind was going blank as overcoming sleep was almost impossible to me. The last thing I remember what I saw before my eyes shut down, was traffic signals, which surprisingly green each time; quite unusual for this time of the day. I could hear the laughing from the chaotic jovial group, faintly. It was airy. The thinker guy beside me was still deep in thought, looking outside. Then…I went dark. I felt completely comatose. I felt dog-tired. I felt as if I hadn’t slept for many days and I was covering up this huge sleep deficit. I was lost in sleep. But I was still feeling the wind gushing on my face. I did feel the bus was in motion, thanks to the potholes.’

‘I was in my siesta, but a strange feeling overcame me. Our bus has pretty good suspension, but as the bus sped more, the jerks became lesser. I suddenly didn’t feel a thing. Not even the blanket of gushing wind on my face. Feeling recharged, I opened my eyes, but the strong sunlight hurt my eyes and I closed them immediately. Then slowly I opened my eyes.’

‘I looked straight at the right seat ahead of me. It was empty. I remember, a girl from the chaotic jovial group occupying it. Hurriedly, I saw to my left. The thinker was nowhere to be found. I looked to my right. No one. I got up from my seat and to my amazement the bus was empty and still. My heart stared beating faster. Composing myself, quick thoughts came to me. It must have slept till the end and everybody must have got out of the bus and gone to office, but no one must have woken me up. I have seen that happen with some people in the bus, but why would anyone have not woke me up till now? Quickly I started getting down from the bus, with my back pack.’

‘What followed next was bizarre to me. The bus had stood still. There was no sign of the driver. Outside the entrance door of the bus I saw overgrown grass. I was looking at a land covered with thick grass and dense trees and leafy plants around me. I was in shock. Then I touched the bus, to get a grip of reality. I indeed feel the coldness of the metal. But still I saw the grassy land lay ahead of me. Ants and insects started creeping on my feet which was unprotected as I was wearing sandals. I ran towards the back of the bus and looked around. It looked as if I was alone with the bus in a jungle.’

‘I took out my cell phone which had no network coverage. I asked myself, what should I do now? Should I shout? Call out for help? What was happening to me? I got inside the bus again. It was still empty. I was puzzled and my mind was shattered. The only option was to keep walking and getting out of this place. But this thing was unexplainable. Why would I be stranded in a jungle with a bus. Where was everyone? Had there been an accident? These thoughts came to me as I took on a direction and kept walking.’

‘I kept walking on for some 15 minutes and my heart was pounding at a faster rate. Suddenly out of nowhere, I saw a short fence. It too was covered with grass as the path throughout. Then to add to the list of strange events happening to me that day, I saw people sneaking through that fence, which had an opening, deliberately made my some to break into. A bald guy with a back pack was making his move to sneak in. In a flash I caught him and asked where were all these people going? He coldly replied to me, the name of my office!’ I was aghast. My office! How could that be? In this jungle? I thought it was probably better not to question anyone now and I quickly sneaked in with others and followed them.’

‘The trail of about 3 minutes ended. I saw my office building; the exact same building which I go into every day. I turned opposite, to see the jungle from where I came from. I went to my desk in a state of shock. There were the regular people whom I work with on the floor.’

‘So, this is what happened to me yesterday. It’s completely unexplainable isn’t it?,’ he asked his friend. Strangely now, there was no one in front of him.

Mangesh Nadkarni, 15-08-14

MultiDataTrigger : Handle OR condition

Building on my previous post on MultiDataTrigger, we saw that MultiDataTrigger generally works for AND conditions (all conditions should be true to fire the trigger to update the property)

What would you do to handle OR condition?

<Style x:Key="pricestyle" TargetType="TextBox">
            <Setter Property="Visibility" Value="Collapsed"/>
            <Style.Triggers>
                <MultiDataTrigger>
                    <MultiDataTrigger.Conditions>
                        <Condition Binding="{Binding AllowCheck}" Value="True"/>
                    </MultiDataTrigger.Conditions>
                        <Setter Property="Visibility" Value="Visible"/>
                </MultiDataTrigger>
                <MultiDataTrigger>
                <MultiDataTrigger.Conditions>
                        <Condition Binding="{Binding Action}" Value="SELL"/>
                    </MultiDataTrigger.Conditions>
                        <Setter Property="Visibility" Value="Visible"/>
                </MultiDataTrigger>
            </Style.Triggers>
        </Style>

Effectively you would need to write 2 multi data triggers to get this working.

Side notes (not related to this post topic)
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17598200/datatrigger-binding-in-wpf-style
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15814639/consolidating-common-wpf-styles

MultiDataTrigger in WPF: an example

Here is the XAML
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:diag="clr-namespace:System.Diagnostics;assembly=WindowsBase"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
<Window.Resources>
<Style x:Key="pricestyle" TargetType="TextBox">
<Setter Property="Visibility" Value="Collapsed"/>
<Style.Triggers>
<MultiDataTrigger>
<MultiDataTrigger.Conditions>
<Condition Binding="{Binding AllowCheck}" Value="True"/>
<Condition Binding="{Binding Action}" Value="SELL"/>
</MultiDataTrigger.Conditions>
<MultiDataTrigger.Setters>
<Setter Property="Visibility" Value="Visible"/>
</MultiDataTrigger.Setters>
</MultiDataTrigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style>
</Window.Resources>
<Grid>
<StackPanel Margin="20" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
<Label Content="Action" Margin="0,3,0,0"></Label>
<ComboBox Width="100" ItemsSource="{Binding Actions}" SelectedItem="{Binding Action, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"></ComboBox>
<Label Content="Price" Margin="0,3,0,0"></Label>
<TextBox Width="100" Margin="0,3,0,0" Style="{StaticResource ResourceKey=pricestyle}"></TextBox>
<CheckBox x:Name="dd" Content="Allow" IsChecked="{Binding AllowCheck, Mode=TwoWay,UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"></CheckBox>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Window>

On acceptable values defined in the trigger (highlighted in blue colour), on selection of Allow checkbox and SELL from action combo box, the trigger gets fired and the price textbox gets visible.

One important thing to note here (which may get missed out). Note the text in red colour. It's important to set a default state of the property for which you want the trigger to be applied on (in our example, its Visibility property of the textbox)