Writing practice

I was in the suburban train. He came and sat diagonally opposite to me and smiled a wan smile. He took off his slipper and with some effort, he lifted his leg and kept his leg on the opposite seat (my side). I took a glance and looked away - it looked swollen. Without any prompt he showed how his foot was swollen and began to say something. Though I was a bit unsure on why he wanted to say, I proceeded to show interest and listened. He began to say something - in the noise of the train, I did not quite hear what he said except that he pointed at his feet and showed... Do you understand Marathi he asked. I nodded. He said he was working as a security guard and standing for 12 hours has made the foot swollen. I asked him, if it pained? He said, a bit. And is it curable? I asked him He said, yes. I have shown a doctor and he charged me 800 rupees for medicine. So, it will get cured. Thats all we spoke. The train reached the next station - it was flooded with passenger...

I met Viral the other day while trekking. He caught up with me as I walking on the main road barefoot - my floater and my foot were not getting along well. I wanted to reach the base camp fast and he came up near me and started walking and talking. Since he was walking at my speed, I did not mind. Viral is a 20 year old and as he walked he told me his story. Viral is engaged to Neelam - also 20 years old. Like any good Gujarati - they get married young. But thats not the story.  Viral is no great looker. He does not have a great body. He is just your boy next door - studying homeopathy - aspiring to become a doctor and setting up his own practice. He is an active kid - plays football, cycles and often does treks. Viral said, Neelam loves to trek, play tennis and stay active. She also, hold your breath, loves snakes.  He said, they know each other since they were 5 years old, studied together, played together and fell in love - proposed, spoke to their parents ...

Gaurav had come home.  The year was 1997. VSNL was giving student internet accounts. After filling a few forms, getting them rubber stamped in triplicate, a train and a bus journey and a walk later, I reached the hallowed precincts of VSNL somewhere in Dadar to get an internet account. There was a counter - Student account - and a surprisingly friendly person at the counter.  And a few days, an envelope in the mail announced that we were indeed eligble for a student account with the heavenly mail id of something@giasbm01.vsnl.co.in. And thats why Gaurav was here. To help us get to the internet. Gaurav was the geek in my brothers class - who could make any gadget do anything, my brother claimed. And he got his own modem, you know, just in case our modem did not work and had a few screwdrivers handy as well. We watched from the side as Gaurav typed on the keyboard with the rapidity of a rat scurrying away from the neighbourhood cat into a black and white screen (which ...

I remember having names for the water fell. If the water from the tap fell in agitated manner it had a name (that of a grand uncle I was scared of), if the water fell in a calm manner it had a different name (that of a cousin I liked). I had my own words for certain things - which I did not had a name. For instance - the smaller of the windows on the rear of a bus had a name. The heel of a shoe had a name.  I could see peoples faces for vehicles. For instance, a long distance train looked like a person with droopy eyelids (it resembled an old lady in our building). The front windows of the top deck of a double deck looked like someone else (I forget who). I used to win caption contests (not a lot). I could think out of the box when it came to solving some small problem (most often the solution was useless or impractical or both).  I would make tons of things on paper, using old train card tickets, papier mache... I thought i was zero in creativity. Negati...

It was one of those lazy afternoons. Third semester of engineering. I was sleeping. Suddenly amma woke me up. Meet Neeraj she said. I washed my face and made my way to the front of our 1BHK. Who was Neeraj? Why did she want me to meet him? Why did she wake me up? Groggily I sat in front of him.  Neeraj was a smartly dressed guy, doing door to door surveys. He had of course smooth talked amma into taking some 45 minute survey. Turned out Amma took the survey and then asked him who are you. He said I am a college student doing surveys during my vacation (and earning money). Amma had an evil glint in her eyes I presume. She told him, there is a student here also. Wait.  Thus I sat face to face with Neeraj. I don't recollect much of the conversation after that but the next day I was in a bus to meet this company. They recruited me right away and the day after that I found myself armed with forms walking door to door conducting a survey in various localities of Mu...

I had to collect jewellery over the weekend. Morning when she replied to my message, I responded Willl be there in 5 minutes I messaged her.  It was early in the morning and I did not expect the lil one to be awake. I thought i would collect the jewellery, 30 seconds and go off. We reached the place. Kids said, expecting an affirmative, can we stay in the car. I said yes, 30 seconds.  I went. The grandmother opened the door. Murali said hi. Charu appeared with the lil one and handed over the jewellery. the lil one knows me. she saw me. Took a few seconds for her RAM to register. She smiled, went into her mother with shyness as all children react, did that once more. What she did after that surprised me. She leaned towards me, as if to say, carry me with so much smiles…Now, who can say no to that and why? So much excitement to see me - my god…was i in seventh heaven? So I happily took her with me, walked around a bit and came back. When Charu called - she refused...

From the hotel to office is a short distance. Walkable. It's a 15 minute walk. Rickshaws refused to go yesterday. The walk is not a problem. It never is. But the road is dirty and puddled. Having struggled yesterday I did not want a repeat today. I also had a suitcase with me. I checked with the hotel if they can drop me. Vehiclenotavailablesir, they told me. I walked out, a little miffed. Found a rickshaw waiting. The driver was middle aged, balding, small frame. He was reading his newspaper and folded it just as I asked him, “Wakdewadi?". I began to explain how the place is really nearby at Wakdewadi, will be drop me. He smiled a wry smile possibly thinking why is this guy offering so much explanations. I told him, well, yesterday, people refused to come…He said, sit... We went off. I have been wanting to eat Street Poha in Pune since I reached here yesterday. Hesitantly I asked him, have you had breakfast? He said no. I asked him will you have? He said, n...