'Reach' and 'Settle'

So finally hit the gym today...cudnt see myself getting out of shape...
I think if you cant find time for your own health and body and if work eats up your time so much that it starts affecting your being...well...what exactly are you living for then?

After an hour of work out with my office mate...we settled ourselves at the juice bar...
As we waited for the health drinks to reach us...I looked around looking at the setup....checking out the place...while Shafi seemed to be lost and confused...as if something was troubling him...

I saw his eyes...they seemed a bit moist...mostly tired....and I asked him what was it that suddenly got him into that mood (I thought we did "work out" well...for the first day i mean...nothing seemed that sad to be soo depressed about...!)

"Nothing man...Just remembered old days...gyming back home...friends...that life...that phase...seems lost...", He said.
And he did not really wait for me to react...
"Where did those days go...that free life...when all that mattered...was where are we hanging out tomorrow...and when and which lectures to bunk...and where am I meeting her in the evening..."

This was coming from a guy who had spent 3 days in coma...after a serious accident...and...after loss of health and body mass...had come back to the gym to gain weight and be back in shape...

I went blank..I thought it was better I did not say anything...The man had a point after all...

I paused. The juices were served.

I guess I thought that a joke was the call for the moment...to light things up...I mean...the main reason we had joined the gym after work...was to relax our mind more than our muscles...

So...in a very filmy tone....I put my palm on his shoulder and said, " Shafi...dost...Yeh lamhaa yaad rakhnaa...5 years down the line....you will think about this too and have moist eyes..."
He smiled.

"You can only remember the past...you live in the present...and your present will be a memory for the future...moments like these"

We drank. (Funny tho...it was no alcohol...just 2 glasses of "health" high protein drinks! )

As the music charged...I thought it was better we talked about something else...

ME: " You know...I have read somewhere...In any relationship...there is always a Reacher and a Settler...like...there are never "equal" matches...thats why you always see a hot girl with a geeky guy...or a smart guy with a plump girl....If you take that case...Who do you think is the reacher and the settler in your relationship with Farzana?"

Like a obedient boy friend he said, " I am the reacher of course...I could have never got someone better...she could have any day got anyone better! She has made me the person I am today.."

And then a thought ran through my mind...a girl/guy can really change your life for good...it is just a matter of whether you want to be the 'settler' or the 'reacher'

"What about you...what catergory are you...the reacher or the settler?"

I looked at him with a raised glass of protein shake (as if it was a symbol of muscle power or something....)
"I guess the problem with me is that I want to be the 'reacher'...be with a better girl who can change the lost and confused soul that I am...but i guess the girl I like just doesnt want to 'settle' with me...ahh...if only i was a bit more geeky...i bet i could have got her!!"

We laughed. We drank. We left.