Frogs

I am a complete nature lover, would love to be left alone in a jungle… well… OK, maybe not alone!
I love animals, all of them; and I hate reptiles, all of them.
And I hate frogs.

But this post is not about animals or frogs… it’s about people.

I meet many people. And I remember each one of them, even the bartender who served me that extra Tequila shot (on the house) in a particular pub, when I was already 7 down. And the scary part is – he remembers me too. I smiled at him when I visited the same night club the following week, and he smiled back and said, “how you doing, Mridula?” I never went back again.

Back to the original plot – I remember each one of those I meet or see. And I love to observe them. I can broadly classify people into 4 categories:

1. Those I love / admire / respect (and I let them know)
2. Those I hate (and I let them know too)
3. Those who are too insignificant for me to make a mental note
4. Those whom I write off completely from my life (while still making a mental note to pretend that they fall under 3)

Now various people will fall under various categories and I do not claim to be the best judge of people; but my observations have seldom proven me wrong. And I cautiously choose the word ‘seldom’. There have been times, when I have made mistakes and learnt the bitter way, and then shifted someone from 1 to 2 to 4. We all make mistakes and grow wiser.

This post is about this “someone” that I have known for quite sometime now, but still haven’t managed to decide whether to put him under 1 or 2 or 4. The fact that I am thinking about where to place him, automatically rules out 3.

So this someone - lets call him Mr. X for now (he is THAT mysterious!!)
After knowing him for more than 6 months, I still can’t claim to know him. And whatever I know of him scares me!
Mr. X reminds me of a ‘frog’. No, he is not ugly looking. He doesn’t LOOK like a frog, but he still reminds me of one.

- I am told that frogs were hopping around, even when the planet was ruled by dinosaurs. They have survived millions of years. Mr. X seems to be around for ages.
- Frogs can adapt themselves to any environment. Mr. X can, to ANY environment.
- Frogs use camouflage as a defence mechanism. Mr. X sure changes colours before you know it.
- Frogs pop up from anywhere and everywhere, when it’s their season. Mr. X pops up out of nowhere, and when he is around, you know it’s for a reason.
- Frogs have a skeleton, but still appear spineless. Mr. X IS spineless.
- Frogs are slimy. Mr X is, too.
- Frogs croak louder than their sizes. Mr. X talks bigger than he can do.
- Frogs scare the shit of me. Knowing Mr. X scares me equally.
I try to ensure that my interaction with Mr. X is only limited to absolute necessity, but it’s not the case always. And as long as he is talking, he seems to be making sense, ONLY if you don’t read between the lines.

I don’t know whether I like Mr. X or I hate him. But the fact remains that he drove me to dedicate a post to him – an honour limited to a few men!!!

I think the bitchy ‘myself’ is slowly and steadily taking over the good ‘me’ (ref: me, myself and MJS). And I am not imagining things. Lately I have been feeling very strongly about this. Not that I was the “nice” nice ever (I was born the mean bitch); but I always felt that there was something in me that wasn’t so hopeless after all (whatever little goodness I could manage to pretend all this while).

I still can’t decide where Mr. X belongs – 1, 2 or 4. Any suggestions???