Gawd! It's happening - I'm gonna pay for my wierd role-play... and as you read some of you will be going "I told you so!" It happened in my Cosmo avtaar like I worried! I was sporting a pink hush puppies top and hoop ear-rings and flip-flops...

BTW I'd been seeing pink in my dreams nowadays and was on the brink of relapsing full-time to my shabby-chic self! As I lounged wondering if the tiles in the neighbouring house was turning pink  - the object of my attention, my current experiment and the only hope for romance in my unemployed times - that is otherwise used in sending resumes out to cyberland - saunters out of his building with a purposeful look on his face.

Cosmo-cool was melting and shabby-chic self and innate goofiness is taking over. I almost tumbled out from the hammock and the flip-flops flew in the air. Ah... lucky he was crossing the road and did not see the err... mishap! Deep breath 1-2-3 and there he was striding right below to my balcony!

"Hey!" That was him and I tried to remember the line I had practised a few times for our first meeting... I had settled for "I can hear the music you play swinging in my hammock"- but all I could manage was a peep out over the banister and nod furiously very self-like! "I'm Jeev from across the road and I think I know you!"

"Squak!" I said and hearing the squak myself I swallowed hard to find the voice I once had and came up with a super clever - "Huh". "You're Saakshee right?" I could feel my head nodding in acknowledgement. "At first I thought it was Shweta then when I saw you in the INXS T-shirt I realised you must be her kid sister" !

Squak! Anger, jealousy and hatred welled up inside me against my sister no:2 and there I was exposed once again - all riled up to snap at the harbinger of visions of my Amazonian sister! "Well tell her `hi' from me - we went to college together... it's been ages! Do you have her e-mail or cell no." 

I was thinking... he's not that cute up-close and anyway he likes the cosmo avtaar and that's a big sign that he falls for really smart girls who pretend they are stupid to snag a guy! "Shweta's touring Europe and she has an international number but I don't know it. As for e-mail she's really slow with computers and so dates a techie guy now to perfect that imperfect side of her!"

I mumbled a curt "bye" and saw him look up in bewilderment as I did some fast back-arching and some snappy head-snapping and nose-upping all cosmo-woman-scorned-style and sashayed in to the comforts of my home!

So there it is I'm cured of the Cosmo stuff and embrace my own avtaar with all happiness. Nothing cures me faster than when I'm mistaken for one of my older fancy-schmancy sisters! Three cheers to my old self... Even though it took two whole days for me to recover from the shock!