Problems with Chuck

You know something that’s really pissing me off? Chuck has this habit of pulling my legs. He continually alleges that I’m a careless guy. It started off somewhere around the time when I discontinued going for jogging with him. Now, there have been a few instances where I mess up things. And those times, he just pulls my leg. About a week back, I purchased a couple of Hindustani instrumental CDs intended to be played during his wedding reception via my sister who was visiting me.

On that topic, I should clarify a lot of things.

• I consider that all Hindustani musicians are tremendously hot. They are old, they are distinguished and they are sexy in appearance.
  
• I consider the Santoor and Flute as the sexiest instruments.
  
• I could give head to Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia any time of the day.
  

Actually, it was Chuck’s idea to get a Hindustani classical instrumental CD for the purpose. Someone had suggested Jal Tarang as the best option. I, being the audiophile that I claim to be, suggested the Santoor because of the fact that I think it is more sexy and apt for the occasion. My sister one CD each of Jal Tarang and Santoor when she came.

Being a good friend, I thought I will play them and check if they are good. One of them, a Santoor recital in Fm was skipping on my Sony Hi-Fi. Two bad things to note here. One, an easy one for the music connoisseur, is that the key (Fm) is not exactly suitable for pleasant occasion such as a marriage reception. Despite that fact, the CD, when it was playing properly, was so sexy sounding. Therefore, I had to make it play somehow.

Immediately, I decided to inform Chuck. I explained that the CD might very well play on his CD player and on some more advanced CD players. I also promised him that I would try to burn it on my computer so that some recording error that might have been there might be resolved. To do just that, I put the CD on the CD tray on my puter and tried playing it. No problems there. I was relieved.

Later on that evening, I had to go out with my sister. I happened to go via Chuck’s place. I took the CDs along with me. Or so I thought. I had forgotten the CD on my puter and just took the case instead. When I visited his home, Chuck had gone out. I gave the CD cases to his folks. In the night, when Chuck realized this, he called me up and ridiculed me for my stupid deed that day. I felt bad.

Of course, someone can just put aside this matter as if it was insignificant. But I can’t. I couldn’t rather. And since I’m the one getting affected, it was significant.

Similarly, he doesn’t trust me for turning up on time for stuff. I, in general, am good at keeping times. Last year, we had gone for a tour. We had to catch a bus for that. To make sure that I arrived, he informed me that the bus’ starting time was half an hour before the actual starting time. I reached 10 minutes before the time he told me. I waited for 25 minutes at the waiting area and called him. When I asked him where he was, he said he had just started from his home. I was shocked. When he turned up, I asked him if he had intended to lie to me. He said yes but simply shrugged it off.

Cut to today afternoon. Due to the big mess that I was in (with the press conference and all), I was not at home when he had called to confirm plans. He told my mother that he would start by 12.30 pm from his home and asked our group to wait for the bus by 12.45 on the main road. When I came back from the conference, it was 12.10 pm. I asked my Mom and she informed me about Chuck’s phone call.

Since I wanted to badly not mess up things, I made everyone hurry to get ready by 12.30. I thought that since Chuck had called an hour back, he wouldn’t vary his plans. I decided to not call him up because I thought that it is not necessary to unnecessarily bother him.

Take a look at what happened. We waited for about 30 minutes in sweltering heat of the mid afternoon sun before I decided to call Chuck to see if everything is alright. He coolly said that he was about to start from home soon. I know most people would have just bursted out at Chuck had they been in my place. But I couldn’t. I had lost his camera. I wanted his appreciation. I want to get accepted by him. I want to remain chums with him so badly, I have a bias towards him.

Cut to a tea break during our trip – we were enjoying some snacks at a really shitty restaurant. I went up to Chuck and asked him if everything was alright. The same Chuck who was smiling and joking with everyone seemed to turn serious. He said everything was okay. During that conversation somewhere, he said this – ‘Now that you have lost the camera, you don’t have any defense against my claim of your stupidity.’

Of course I felt bad. I don’t know why. Sometimes I feel that I deserve this. Sometimes I feel that I don’t.