Unconventional friendships - Atif Aslam

A Generation Gap

Atif Aslam was not a new name in the industry. A decade of multiple contributions to the music industry had passed. Yet he wasn't very IN the industry. Yes musicians and actors had lesser interactions but not as few as Atif had. Salman himself had hired him a handful of times yet he had never actually talked more than 10 minutes with the man. He had intially not given it much thought marking it off as professionalism and efficiency of the guy. Some people only spoke the necessary at work, that was fine.
Now that he had still not managed to engage him in a conversation about him that lasted more than 10 minutes, he was beginning to think that Atif really couldn't talk about himself. He simply lacked the ability to talk about himself unless repeatedly prompted and preferred to guide the conversation towards the other person instead. He was quite skilled at that.
Salman had not realized just how much he had geeked out about farming until they reached the end of an hour long path.
Hoping to fix his "brief" geek moment he had asked about Atif's hobbies instead. The following conversation was more awkward than the time he had met Shah Rukh while they were still in the middle of a fight.
He gleaned a couple of things, one that Atif needed a better schedule. If he was in different countries round the year, god knows what tatters his sleep cycle was in.
Second somebody should tell the guy to work less because currently he was feeling guilty for having him work right after his last gig was done. And the project they were working on would need 3-4 months of work atleast, Atif would have to make many trips. A month or so would go in the making of the album which was entirely Atif's arena, Salman would only be listening and approving. The next few months Salman had to bring together the kind of production he wanted. They would have to come up with motifs etc... Anyway it was a long job. Third he must be getting old because he did not get why the younger generation found sad things FUNNY?
Salman is a family man through and through, Atif's casual dismissal of his family's behavior towards him was doing things to him. And he felt old.
He was very glad for the abrupt topic change because how do you even respond to that. But now he was feeling very nosy, somewhat guilty and debating whether he should bring it up or not. He hadn't known Atif for long and though that had never stopped him from intervening in people's lives when he thought he should, the guy was very hard to understand and he really didn't know how to approach the issue. So he let it be... Till breakfast next morning.

Salman was an early riser when he stayed at the farmhouse. When he was younger he couldn't sit still long enough to appreciate what he had. Now though, he liked peace. He liked stillness, he liked early mornings outside the city, watching everything stir itself alive. He made it clear whenever he invited people, which was a lot, that they weren't required to follow his timings. So Atif getting up to join him at mealtimes despite looking obviously not adjusted to normal time; was not a surprise actually,  the man was peculiar; but pleasant nonetheless.

"Assalam alaikum"
"Walaikum assalam. You look much better today, had a good night's sleep?"
Atif blushed and nodded "yes thank you".
He thought it was sweet that Salman asked about his sleep. But it also was sort of embarrassing that the biggest superstar across the subcontinent had witnessed Atif's horrible sleeping habits. He almost never managed to sleep for long in his bed, always waking up in a few hours. But anywhere else? He will fall asleep and deeply so. Apart from the staircase incident, Atif had so far fallen asleep on the porsche (Salman had invited him for a walk and Atif had fallen asleep waiting, yes it was embarrassing, no he had not acknowledged such a thing happened), the dining table and in the living room.
He dug into the food. On tour, Atif ended up mostly eating sandwiches and the refreshments sent by organizers whenever he got time for a bite. It was hard to look for halal restaurants when you were there for barely a day and he had lots of things to get done before the concert. So yeah, the fresh parathas and sabzi were a welcome change.

"I was thinking of starting on the lyrics, themes, motifs and all today".
Salman hmmed. After a moment he replied "How about you take a day off. I would like to be there for the process and I am going to pick up my brothers tonight. We will continue tomorrow, themes, motifs and all. Plenty of days left before you leave".
Atif shrugged, " Fine by me".

They sat in comfortable silence for a while. Tai brought them their drinks and Salman watched with mild horror, the way he did everyday, Atif inhale coffee. In two days the only thing he knew completely about the man was that Atif consumed an unholy amount of teas and coffee throughout the day.
"You know that's really unhealthy right?"
Atif looked up mid gulp.
"Coffee is not unhealthy", he said indignantly.
"The amount you drink is. It causes insomnia, headache, dizziness, anxiety, bp issues".
"All of which I have with or without coffee" Atif grinned as if he had just proven a point.
Salman resisted the urge to face palm, "You know that that's a problem right?"
"It be like that sometimes"
Salman did face palm this time, " What is wrong with your generation, you gotta stop doing that"
Atif stared at him confused.
"I mean the entire joking about serious problems in your life".
Atif winced, he had been hoping to avoid any mention of yesterday night's conversation. Salman continued ranting.
" If you have all those problems and a caffeine addiction you probably need to see a damn doctor buddy. It DON'T be like that sometimes. Also you can't just casually joke about your family basically throwing you out. That's worrying. That's horrifying. You need therapy. Why are you joking? This freaking generation I swear".
Atif was staring at him half sheepish, half amused. Salman sighed.
"Sorry"
"It's fine"
"You aren't gonna say anything else? "
"I am not addicted to coffee"
He sighed again. Atif quickly defended himself, "No really. I drink tea more than coffee. It's mostly when I am on the job, cuz otherwise it's hard to not sleep the entire day away you know".
" You aren't on the job right now"
Atif raised an eye brow at him.
"I mean you have no obligation here. Yes I want to do a project with you but I try to get to know the people I work with, that's why I called you here. We haven't begun anything yet, and we don't have to. So if you want to sleep the day away you can"
It was Atif's turn to sigh. He couldn't quite put it in words why he really would  rather finish his work and go back home, especially when a literal superstar told him that he is trying to get to know him (no that did not at all trigger his introverted ass, he totally was not having a fight or flight instinct going haywire inside him). It was at times like these he really understood why Omer insisted to lead the interactions. Atif sucked at it.
"I would rather not sleep all day".
Silence once again took over as they each sat there contemplating each other.