31st July 2011:
“But I don’t like the place”, I said
“What do you mean? You have your duties for your sister. Ok I will only go. People will say what kind of son I am having, who sent his unwell mother for the work. Yes, I will only drag myself. God, why did you…… ”
“ok ok, I will go, I will go!!!”
A smile spread across my mother’s face.
This morning, when I came out of the shower, I heard I am going to Kolkata with my sister, as she has to register herself for the NSR (some shit every engineer has to do now). Its pretty pathetic when you come to know out of nowhere that you are going to a place you can’t bear at all. Kolkata has been a place where luck goes against me. God doesn’t want me to go over there and I want to obey him, but who would explain to my parents.
1st August 2011:
Morning 4.30, (train):-
“Khurram..Khurram!! Where are we??” My sister broke the beautiful dream of mine.
“How the hell that matters? The train is supposed to reach at 9.”
“Arre uncle is calling now. He wants us to tell where the train has reached”
“Lemme see… Train has stopped at Seetarampur, I guess near Asansol.”
This thing carried on for the next 7 hours, till the late train reached at about 12. My uncle called every quarter of hour to say the same things which he said 15 minutes back.
The place:
My first step on the platform out of the train was followed by a blast of hot humid environment meandering me. It felt someone wrapped my body in plastic sheet suffocating me to death. I came out of the station to see my uncle standing in the taxi line. Even though we were hungry, we wanted to finish the work. One of the offices was very close to the station or as said by my uncle.
We left the taxi queue, boarded the steamer and crossed the mammoth river. The beautiful Howrah bridge stood ostentatiously proud and strong.
“The office is nearby. Come we will walk.”
Holding the suitcase in one hand and a bag on my shoulders, we started walking on the streets of the Bengal capital. The heat and humidity was getting on my nerves. Even though the traffic in Kolkata is very dense, yet it is very fast and dangerous. If you intend to walk your jolly way within the city, beware, as it may not be so jolly. While crossing a road, suddenly the red signal turned green, and the rush of traffic came trying to crush our heads, as I pulled my sister out of the way. The bus driver was about to run over her. If the signal is clear, the ‘vehicle people’ won’t care the least whoever the hell is still trying to make his way to the other part of the street. We walked, we walked and we walked. Still we walked.
“what happened to your face?” I asked. Freckled red tinge were visible on my sister’s face. Her cheeks, forehead and chin were ready to burst like an underpressure tomato.
“What the hell! Can’t you see?” my uncle shouted as a car’s tyre made a mark on his sandal, breaking it, while coming out of the side parking.
“Sorry boss!! Couldn’t see!!”
“What sorry! You will kill me and then say sorry? Don’t you know how to drive? You were about to break my leg. You broke my new sandal. Sorry won’t fetch it!”
“What else can I do? I said sorry!”
“You know how much that sandal was for? Bloody hell………………….” If my uncle starts off, its very difficult to stop him. He says everything multiple times making it sound more rude than a zamindar to the untouchable. Irritated, the driver came smashing out of the car with metaphorical use of dirtiest slangs he knew. He was almost four times my size, and five times my uncle’s. I stood in between the two warriors, trying to control the situation. Before anything could happen, I was successful in sending him back to his car.
Climbing to the second floor office, with the heavy suitcase and bag when you are exhausted and hungry that you can eat kilos of vegetable you hate the most is inarticulate.
“Power failure! Sorry sir, there is no power since morning.”
We looked at each other’s faces. I wanted to break whatever was left of the office.
“Food!” I couldn’t hold it any longer.
“nearby is a good restaurant. Come we will walk”
We walked, we walked and we walked. Still we walked. The smell of biryani and roasted chicken with layers of garam masala hissing in the frying pan can make you run away in the hot weather, specially when all the fans you can see over there are not working and people are swarming in to get a piece of table.
“I want AC restaurant. Aapa’s gonna faint here”
“Its nearby. Come we will walk”
“No, we will take a taxi.” I could not stand more. Once in taxi, there are signals after every step you take in here. The number of signals here can be compared to the number of solar systems in the universe.
After having a fulfilling meal, we were ready to go to another office. A drop, two drops, third one and then a million spattered on the transparent glass wall of the restaurant. The day could not get worse. We couldn’t wait as time was limited. We walked sticking to the side of the shops to snatch pieces of shade from them, getting periodic splashes. We got a bus this time. I like roller coasters and have very good experiences with them. But this bus is not for people having weak heart. My sister clenched my shirt as she stood pulling and pushing me, while I held the support bar. A crack, and the support bar was in my hand.
After registering my irritated sister for the NSR, we were to go to my uncle’s house.
“its nearby, come we will walk.”
“Taxi!” I called.
The house was about 2 km from the place and no taxi driver was ready to go for such short distance. My uncle talked to the 15th one and we got in.
“Turn right”
“Right? But you told palm avenue.”
“You can go to palm from here, catch the next left.”
My uncle used his brain, lied to the taxi driver who dropped us about 200 metres away from the house and took the unsatisfying 30 Rupees. I never had felt such a desire for a shower ever in my life.
“Power failure!” No fan! I felt like crying. There was no water so we had to use the hand pump for filling a couple of buckets to satisfy the then desires of the body. A few hours of rest and then back to the station to get into the dragon venturing through the railway track. We looked at each other’s faces and smiled.
“But I don’t like the place” I said.
