The Break-Up

Yes, it's true. I finally broke up with her. I never ever thought that this day would come, but it has. (I really wanted to write the cliched '... sadly it has', but come to think of it, I'm not really sad either.) But the signs were there for the last couple of months, especially the last few weeks. We would see less and less of each other. If we did, it was just the cursory glance. A few minutes with each other, and then a courteous good-bye. I never thought that one day I would part with her. After all, we had stuck together through thick and thin for almost four years now. My first acquaintance with her was when I was a grad student in the Institute of Insane Technologists (which other less geeky people know as the haloed IIT-Bombay). I flirted with others during those heady days, but she was head-and-shoulders above them all, quite literally and figuratively. She was pretty, and she was nimble. She evolved over time, else I'd have got bored of her. After a long courtship, she moved in with me. (What, this is the age of live-in relationships! Did you think we would've got married or anything?!) Then through all those years, she got better and better. I once thought that she is someone who's really, really on par with the other thing (oops, sorry, it's too bad to call that great pleasure - wine - a 'thing'). Both get better and better with time, adding flavours as they age. And both are to be tasted to be experienced. A second-hand experience will not do. No, Sir. Well, the years together were like a honeymoon. I scarcely glanced at others. Well, OK, I did steal a glance at one other (that goes by the name... hmm, no.. no names here!). But that was just a flirtatious glance, nothing more, I assure you. Yes, we did have a few times, when she would clam up, and then I'd have no option but to retreat. But otherwise, it was heaven.

And then there waltzed into my life, 'The Other'. She was BEAUTIFUL, right from the word go. I still remember how I stayed up late in the night to catch a glimpse of her, sometime back in September. The geek that I am, I'd relied on technology to be up to date with when she'd be unveiled. And then, it was love at first site (oops, sorry... sight. I'm getting way too geekish, me thinks). But we (the one I just broke up with) were still a couple. It would certainly take more than a young ballerina for me to switch loyalty. But she definitely had the G-factor (or the X-factor, take your pic). And so I discreetly found out more about her, and then, gradually started dating her. The dating phase quickly turned into a courtship, and courtship into a romance. And all this while, I was paying less and less attention to my long-time partner. Heck, I was supposed to feel guilty about ignoring her, but the fact of the matter is that I didn't. My new companion offered me almost all that my partner had offered. And she was pretty and fast. Really, really fast. You just had to drop a hint, and she'd know what it was. And get it done. Pronto. Quickly. It was awesome. And then the young ballerina flowered from a dainty girl, a teenager, into a woman. She added flavours, learnt all the tricks that my old companion could do. Well, there are still a few things she can't manage. But I can live with that. It happened so fast, I did not realize how time had flown in the past few months. That was when the germ of a thought came to my mind. But I wanted to delay the inevitable. More because it was still going to be painful. But finally, today, I mustered the courage and went ahead with it. "Is it the other woman?" my long-time partner asked. "Yes, it is. I do not know what to say," I managed. "It's OK," she said. "You do not have to say anything. I know you'll come back to me. And I'll wait." she said, rather matter-of-factly. Well, I thought about that for a while.  

Well, it may be true. It may be not. One thing is for sure. In politics, and in browsers, there are no permanent friends or enemies. But Firefox was definitely the longest in the race. And I just uninstalled Firefox, and switched to Google Chrome as my default browser. Change is the name of the game. Not just in the White House, mate!