Same here ;-)

We use "Same here" every day - spares us the agony of repeating the other person's mannerisms or words all over again. We preserve our energy. Its almost like using a pronoun instead of a noun.

View this: Mohan had to go to Mohan's friend Sohan's birthday for which Mohan decided to buy Mohan's friend Sohan a beautiful umbrella!! [err... umbrella because I could not think of a better gift... brain jam, you know]. Anyone who has been to elementary English classes would know that use of pronouns would improve this sentence.

Now, view this: The use of "same here" or "same pinch" or "same to you" goes on similar lines. We wish someone Happy New Year and he/she replies... "Same to you". Yeah, right, it would have taken much more energy to say.. "Wish you too a lovely new year ahead" :-)

So, energy conservation is the order of the day. Personally I never liked "Same pinch". Oh come on why the hell would you want to pinch me only because I tried to wear a colorful shirt today and as luck would have it, you happened to wear the same color!! Then there would be a "New pinch"... why coz. I had made the mistake of wearing a new shirt as the old shirt was stinking already. I mean - Do you want me to stink even more by continuing with the same damned faded old shirt? :-D And not to mention -- "Ooh it hurts!" During the school days, people used to look for opportunities for "Same pinch" and "New pinch". If the opportunity was to pinch the guy who had complained about me to the teacher a week back, NOTHING LIKE IT!!! :-P :-P :-D

[don't think I did it... :-P :-D]

Now, back to the topic "Same here"... imagine the following conversation between two people...

A: How are you?

B: Good and you?

A: Same here.

B: You know something, I watched the movie "Gili gili foo" yesterday and absolutely loved it.

A: Same here. Lets go to the nearest coffee joint and sit and discuss. Need some coffee... had a hectic day today.

B: Yeah... same here.

A: Arreh I did not notice you are wearing the kurta I gave you on your last birthday!! New pinch!! **pinches B hard**

B (almost numb with the pain inflicted by now): Ahh.. yeah.. hmm.. ok..

Now... why do we need a same here, here? We could replace Same here with say, alpha. Only Oxford dictionary would need to define Alpha as :

Alpha(n/v): Implies 'same here'. When a person notices his emotional state or dress or belonging is same as the person to whom he or she is speaking. So, the same conversation would now look like:

A: How are you?

B: Good and you?

A: Alpha.

B: You know something, I watched the movie "Gili gili foo" yesterday and absolutely loved it.

A: Alpha. Lets go to the nearest coffee joint and sit and discuss. Need some coffee... had a hectic day today.

B: Yeah... Alpha.

A: Arreh I did not notice you are wearing the kurta I gave you on your last birthday!! New pinch!! **pinches B hard**

B (almost numb with the pain inflicted by now): Ahh.. yeah.. hmm.. ok..

However, in the good old days of 20th Century, when "same here" had not been invented (in all probability), the conversation would have gone in the following manner:

A: How are you, B?

B: I am doing good. How about you?

A: Yeah, I am doing all right too.

B: You know something, I watched the movie "Gili gili foo" yesterday and absolutely loved it.

A: Yes, "Gili gili foo" has a wonderful story. The acting and direction were simply top class. Lets go to the nearest coffee joint and sit and discuss. I badly need some coffee... had a hectic day today.

B: Yeah... it is terrible these days. The work pressure gets onto you and often, you find it difficult to handle.

A: Oh I had not noticed before. That's a new Kurta that you are wearing tonight. And how lovely! Is it not the one I had gifted you on your last birthday?

B: (with a mild smile) Yes, it is..

PS. The movie "Gili gili foo" does not have anything to do with Adam Gilchrist's retirement from Australian International Cricket! :-D

PPS. Let me tell you a secret. Someone once wished me "Happy Birthday" and I replied "Same to you" in the flow, although it was not his birthday that day! :-)

Note: If you thought this was an entirely useless post, well, you are not alone, I too think on similar lines. In fact, "Same here". :-D

Rakesh and Priya

...Rakesh was loving the feeling. He had a whale of a time with the girl he met online. Both seemed to like each other very much. She had something in her past which would not allow her to settle in the present. Memories seemed to haunt... haunt forever... yet whenever she visited Rakesh's awesome blog, his energetic posts, she felt rejuvenated. Priya had always been a bubbly chirpy girl. She could not keep feelings to herself. Feelings are to be shared - was her motto in life.

...blood... blood was spattered all around... darkness, melancholy, a deep sense of loneliness captured the scene. Priya woke up. Panting... deep breaths... tears in her eyes... oh.. what a nightmare... is it something that was inevitable... is it her past? ..her present? or her future?

After a moment taken to compose herself, she sat up straight on her bed, eyes set on the ticking wall clock... no, her present was happy.. she had happily forgotten her past... cast it into oblivion.. oh gosh, she was late. Again she would be late for her classes, but who cares. The same professor, the same blackboard, almost the same notes... She remembered Rakesh. Oh she likes his posts so much. The stories relate to her. It seems astonishing how one could write something where the protagonist of the story and the writer had never met and yet knew each other so well. Was she the protagonist herself or was the protagonist her clone? Rakesh would not reveal. She had only become addicted to his blog so much that each of his posts had to be commented on. She felt he was the only person in the world who could understand her... but alas, did he feel the same about her? She could not tell...

...there was a seminar in progress at the renowned Taj Hotels, Mumbai.. the speaker had so many charts and diagrams to present... but he could not concentrate. Why oh why had a girl occupied his mind? He thought he was immune to feelings.. Love was of course not for him. He empathized with the girl he had been interacting with daily. Her past was not the best. He tried to provide her with the cushion so that she may feel better.. that was it. But was that all? They had recently exchanged cell numbers as well. And the smses seemed to flow freely. He had so many female friends before. Is she different? No.. why the heck... he is happy in the corporate sector. He has his own gamut of friends.. he loves the life he lives... why should he get involved in something at this juncture in life? beep beep.. he looks at his cell phone.. one more message.. "Sweet heart, what are you doing? I loved that story you wrote.. related so much to me.." Rakesh's fingers automatically went to the "reply" button...

Time and tide wait for none... so this went on and on and on... till the time Priya felt - was this relation taking them anywhere? Is it only about blogging and commenting and chatting... would there be a culmination of this relation? is this infatuation? is this love? Yes, this is love... how would one otherwise define the ease with which both of them mingled... the understanding was profound... the intellects were shared... the likes and dislikes... no doubt she loved him... she loved him so much... passionately... but would he ever reciprocate? Was the "sweet heart" and "love" and hugs and kisses exchanged on messages only for the paper... was he so adept at flirting with girls? No.. not at all, he loved her... oh she was sure he loved her... but, wait how could she be so sure? Is there a difference between infatuation and love or flirtation and love? She needed him. She needed him to support her. Afterall he was the one who helped her come out of the deep emotional crisis she had before... he was the one who gave her the shoulder... who knows what she could have done, had he not been there... she would be indebted to him lifelong... but still, she wants to repay the debt... yes she wants to marry him... she wants to have a fulfillment that she had been longing for such a long time... will he? will he reciprocate? No, she won't propose him. Not at all. Let it be the way it is... every relationship does not have names... not every relationship needs names... let it be the way it is... let there be the soul connect that is there... for ever... and ever... and ever...