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He
stared out blankly through the side window. The gloomy monsoon clouds have
painted the sky in patches of black and grey and the trees have put on their
humble tilt. A tiny droplet crashed on the glass window, ran sideways and
disappeared behind, breaking his brood and bringing him back to the vacant
backseat of the Indica cab. The driver changed a gear and looked out at the
starting rain. In a few seconds it should pour down heavily. The clouds have
been holding it for long trying to extend the inevitable embarrassment. He
struggled with the twitching muscles on his face . More drops started hitting
the glass. He bent down on his lap and covered his face with both hands.
2 days ago
Tintu peeped in from behind the bathroom door. His elder sister Mini was lying
in the tub with her donny duck swimming over her tummy. She had a tiny mirror in
her hand on which she was trying to see her face from all four corners- making
monkey faces and smiling and winking from each angle. Tintu had earlier taken
the beating for pulling out that tiny mirror from Indu aunty's handbag and now
to see his sister devouring herself with his hard earned price made him feel
sick.
Lately he had been noticing that she was no longer the girl whom he slept with
during night and played with during daytime. This girl who used to hold his palm
to school or wherever they went now starts walking so fast and tries to somehow
get him off her tail.
She has become over cautious of her looks. She would get very edgy about her
purple earrings being too large or her flesh colored top looking pink in room
light and she would never spare any chance to belittle her little brother. On
his 4th birthday she had insulted her in front of all his girl friend's when he
said he didn't know how flesh was different from pink. At 6, maybe she was
turning into a big lady. But he didn't care.
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Tintu
smirked as he opened the LCD display panel on his Sony Handy Cam.
It's payback time. He pushed the door slightly with the thumb of his toe and
poked the lens in. Mini was now examining the inside of her nose in the
mirror. Having not found any monsters inside she started examining her
mouth. Tintu pressed the zoom button to capture even the faintest
expressions of this proud lady.
PEEP PEEP PEEP Wrrrrrr was how Sony said "My tape is over?" and it said it
loud enough for Mini to hear and see Tintu. The chase had begun and as
always, Tintu was pinned down to the floor. As he stretched his hand as far
as he could trying to keep his valued possession safe, Tintu saw from the
corner of his eyes, the front door open.
"Daddy.. Catch" was all he said before tossing the cam up.
Sunil watched as 20000 Indian rupees scattered into 20000 pieces of plastic,
metal and glass. Sony Handy Cam was history in a second's fraction. Standing
behind the staircase railing was his son in a half torn T shirt and his
daughter in her blue underwear. Sunil wanted to get angry but was too tired
for that. He threw his laptop on the settee and rubbed his eyes as he
thought "I make 20K in 3 days". Opening his eyes, Sunil winked at them
bringing fresh smiles on their tense faces. |
Paatti amma
heard the sound from Kitchen and was ready with the broom. She gathered the bits
and pieces, dumped them in the trash can and took it back to the kitchen. Inside
the bin, a tiny piece of lens glittered in rainbow colors. Paatti took it out,
rubbed the dust with her pallu and buried it somewhere inside her waist. She
stared at the trash bin for a while unable to understand the value of the
strange looking items inside. After scratching her grey hair for a while trying
to think of what to do, Patti gathered the bright colored ones in a newspaper
and pushed it inside her plastic bag.
On her way home she planned to visit the 'Padmanabha electronic repairs'
20 Rs should fetch 1 milma packet, 1 pack Glucose biscuit and a bread for Ramu
Paatti washed herself and rushed to the pooja hall and started cleaning the
floor -her last chore for the day.
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1
month ago
Anantha Murthi took another sip of the chilled drink. He had quit drinking
in his college days but at 55 couldn't handle life alone. The past few
months had been tough and today was the culmination of his 30 years of
corporate love affair. The business pages of all newspapers had similar
headlines. "TechnoResolve in big trouble". TechnoResolve was indeed in big
trouble and Murthi knew it more than anyone else. They had taken a major hit
and everything started tumbling like dominos. He sipped another one .He had
been in pressure situations before but this was different. He was captaining
a ship which had lost direction and was running out of fuel. He had two
choices- Wait for the inevitable or call for outside help. Murthi had made
the decision a few hours ago. TechnoResolve and 50% of its employees will be
taken over by PCT. Murthi will retire to his Newyork apartment.50% of his
employees will have a job. Murthi looked at his glass. |
Was it half
full or half empty? He emptied it in one single gulp and slammed down the glass
hard on the table. The whiskey, somehow tasted like blood.
Today
I still remember the day I sat in the backseat of my cab and wept like a child,
unable to face the gory paths that lay ahead. I remember breaking down at the
thoughts of raising my children. I remember cursing myself for being selflessly
dedicated to my job. I remember being a loser ? a terrible gutless loser. But as
it turned out, every gutless
loser had his day- the day when you sit in the backseat of a cab and weep like a
child-the day when you get kicked on your butt and pulled out of your cozy
little lake to the
dreaded vastness of the ocean. I remember trying to paddle my way back to my
cozy little lake in vain. As I walked in and out of test centers and interview
rooms, I felt the
restlessness of someone within. Someone whom I had never known. As I paced
through busy highways, I had felt this someone taking control, leading me,
pushing me that
extra yard. And when I decided to sit down before my laptop and code, I had
finally met him. He was the invisible me that none ever saw. He was who I really
was. I have
already told you the rest of my story.
Today as I am writing these last few lines of my book, the website I wrote has
been rated as the most popular search engine for years on end, My little online
company is
growing at a stealthy pace, My employees are earning well above their friends
and my children are growing fast and smart. As I am writing these last few lines
of my book, I
still remember the day I wept like a child in the backseat of my cab and I can
never thank my lucky stars enough for putting me there
The car jerked a bit as the driver expertly avoided a crossing cow. Ramesh took
his eyes off the book. A slight gush of wind slithered in through the driver's
window. The pages fluttered and the book closed to reveal the front cover. It
said ?That Monsoon Evening- Sunil George?
Beside him, Amma was still sleeping tight. He had to spend a whole week
convincing her to come with him abroad. Ramesh smiled at his success. Not the
success of growing
up from the rags of Chenkalpettu colony to the riches of professional life but
the success of being able to take Patti Amma along with him- to show her how
well she had
raised him. Patti Amma was still sleeping. Outside ,the monsoon clouds were dark
as usual. But a bright bow had formed around them and it was glowing in rainbow
colors.
Contributing Writer:
Varun, I am a compute programmer with an awkward inclination towards story
typing. I maintain a blog www.unknownexceptions.blogspot.com which has a
visitors list
spanning across continents. (I am now in the UK and 3 of my friends live in
India). But hey, 4 is always greater than 1.
itsvarunm@gmail.com
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