Short Stories

Me, The Old Man and Hotel Ganga

I entered the crowded restaurant at about half past one.

I had just joined work and for some reason, did not want to carry lunch along for the first few days. There was a Hotel Ganga down the block where I decided to have my lunch. I would go on to have lunch there for the next one week,

The restaurant was crowded when I entered. One of the things I hate in local restaurants is that they make you sit with strangers. Not that I am a reserved kind of a guy; I like my privacy. I made my way to the only table which had a free seat. As I sat down, I noticed my neighbours. The couple sitting to my opposite were blissfully engaged in PDA inspite of the fact that they were not alone in the table. I was there and so was the old man to my right. Even as me and the old man placed orders, the couple paid their bill and left much to my relief and the despair of the man sitting in the next table.

My fried rice arrived and soon disappeared. I signaled the bearer for the bill when I suddenly I heard a loud burp very near to my ear drums that almost made me retch! I turned to have a look at the source of the sound and found it to be the old man sitting next to me.

I hated him. I frowned at him. He smiled back.

I got up, paid the bill and left the place for good.

**********************************************

It was the next day and it was the same restaurant.

The restaurant was relatively less crowded and I found a table all to myself. *Sigh of Relief*

I ordered a plate of dosa . Even as I was waiting for the food, i saw a vaguely similar figure entering the restaurant. The figure hesitated and scanned the crowd. Its eyes met my eyes and there shone in its eyes, a brilliance. It was a brilliance that lights up the eyes of a school kid when its eyes meet the eyes of his mother after school. I sulked.

The old man made his way to my table carefully avoiding the water on the floor spilt by a bearer just before I saw the brilliance in a pair of eyes, all along not removing his eyes from mine. I shuddered, but strangely kept my eyes fixed on his. He sat beside me still looking at me. I shifted my glance from his eyes to the empty table to our side and stared hard trying to instill into his brains that the next table was empty. He didnt budge and my dosa arrived. He ordered something while I stuffed myself fast so that I could move out as soon as possible.

“So, what do you do?”

I had dreaded this. I kept eating.

“Where do you work?”

Vigorous stuffing. i hated him.

His food arrived even as he asked me,”Quintegra Technologies?”

The bearer looked at me. I looked at him. He looked at the old man. The old man looked at me.

I replied,”No.”

“FIndNearYou.com?”

“Yes.”

“Oh Great! What do you work as?”

“Um..”

“Your profile?”

I looked at the bearer. He was still looking at me.

“Blog Analyst.”

“So, what exactly is your work?”

“Um… Coding, writing, marketing.”

“Good. So, you a computer science engineer?”

“Er.. No.”

“IT?”

“Well… ”

“MCA?”

“Mechanical Engineer.”

“Oh! Thats amazing! Did you learn programming?”

“I’m learning.”

“How come you are into this?”

I looked meekly at the bearer. He had the look of a Kinder Garden teacher looking at a truant school boy!

“I blog.”

I wanted to be as short as possible in my answers.

The bearer left with a look of triumph. I hated him too!

Before he could shoot the next question, I got up and signaled for the bill.

I left.

**********************************************

I was determined to take lunch from home the next day. unfortunately, mom was having a bout of migraine in the morning. Shit! I was determined to skip lunch today as the other nearest good restaurant, Murugan Idly Shop was quite far.

At thirty minutes past one, I found myself sitting at the corner table of Hotel Ganga. Corner table because, I hoped the old man would miss me. He didn’t.

Same ritual. Barrage of questions answered in mono-syllables.

What the hell did he want from me?

He soon started talking about himself.

“I am a widower. I stay at Kodambakkam.”

So?

“My kids are NRIs. They stay in the US of A.”

Got to see Mr.Seshadri after lunch regarding the database.

“They keep calling me to stay there with them, but I keep refusing.”

They are blessed.

“My elder son works for Google while my younger son is doing his PhD in Cornell.”

Then got to call up Sandhya and remind her about the review.

“I get my breakfast daily from a local mess. Lunch is done here….”

…while you bore unsuspecting youngsters to death

“….and I mostly skip dinner.”

Ah! That saves innocent youngsters!

I finished the lunch and left.

**********************************************

Next day, I strangely found myself refusing when my mom asked me if I wanted lunch.

Same Hotel Ganga. Same table. Same old man. Same eyes.

I found myself listening to him and answering his questions, quite willingly. We spoke about the weather, T-20, Euro 2008, traffic, US economy and Tata’s of acquisition of Jaguar. He seemed intellectual. He burped. I didnt seem to mind it! We even exchanged phone numbers and email ids.

**********************************************

Next day. Same Hotel. Same table.

He was nowhere in sight. It didn’t feel good to me. I ate slowly looking at the doorway every now and then willing him to appear. He didn’t.

**********************************************

I went to the same hotel for the next few days, but he never turned up. I missed him. A lot. I soon started bringing lunch from home and never went back to the hotel. He didn’t appear sick or something when I met him. I somehow had a bad feeling about his sudden failure to turn up for lunch. One possibility was that he could have gone to the US of A, but again there was no logic. He simply didn’t want to. Moreover, even if son forced him to leave India, he couldn’t have done suddenly. Even if he had flown away suddenly, he would have called me up or mailed me. I went through obituary columns daily in newspapers expecting something about the old man.

Shit! I didn’t even know his name!

**********************************************

It was exactly twenty days since I joined work at FindNearYou.com and I was reading The Hindu when I saw them. The same pair of eyes. I quickly went through it and found his name to be Subramaniam Iyer. Sad.

I felt the next line willing me to see it even as I wiped the single tear off my cheek and murmured a quick prayer. The next line struck me like a blow on the face! It said Third Anniversary!

I spent the rest of the day in bed and didn’t go to office for the remaining week.

**********************************************

Yesterday, it was exactly a month since I joined work. Mom was having another bout of migraine. I had a bittersweet feeling as I had to have lunch at Hotel Ganga. I entered the restaurant and was engulfed with mixed emotions.

Even as I, choked with tears made my was slowly to the only empty table in the restaurant, I heard a loud familiar voice,”Oh there you are! Where have you been for the past few weeks?”

==================================================================

The Patriots

It was only in movies that one gets to sit opposite a beautiful girl in a train. And Raj couldn’t believe his eyes when this happened to him.

He had walked into his compartment to find this stunning girl sitting opposite his seat and was overjoyed to find that the other seats in the vicinity were unoccupied.

Years of military training had taken its toll on Raj as he found it difficult to even start a talk with the girl. The train chugged out of Agra station and soon was sending in a steady breeze from the open fields even as Raj couldn’t concentrate in the latest edition of Bike India he was ‘trying’ to read. He finally decided to cut the ice.

“Raj.”, said Raj as he shifted forward with a smile.

“Huh?”

“I am Raj.”, he repeated awkwardly.

“Oh! I am Komal.” She replied with a smile.

Raj was overjoyed as he half expected this response.

“Going on vacation?” asked Raj suddenly realizing that vacations were just over. He cursed himself for goofing up. But Komal didn’t seem to mind.

“No. Just got over with it. You?”

“Well… me too.” smiled back Raj.

Raj looked out of the window not knowing how to continue the conversation. He stole a look at Komal to find her reading Whiteout by Ken Follet. He tried to recall the plot and could vaguely remember a female doctor or something as the main character. Something told him that neither Komal could concentrate on her book. Something told him that she was blushing. And Raj was extremely gratified when he saw that she indeed was blushing!

Was it due to him?

He found a radiance in her which he couldn’t resist? Thoughts played havoc in his mind. He surely couldn’t be falling to a stranger in a train. He had read many stories of women seducing men during journeys and then relieving them of everything. But Komal didn’t look like that.

Was her name really Komal?

His mind went into a trance as he suddenly saw Maya sitting in front of him. She was smiling at him and he was smiling back. He remembered how they both had loved each other while in school. Then Maya’s dad had got transferred to some other place and that was the last he saw of her though they both had promised to keep in touch.

—

“I certainly cant be falling for a stranger I meet in train.”, thought Naseema.

“Moreover”, she thought sadly,” I can’t afford it.”

She was surprised at her feeling sad. She was more shocked than surprised. She felt ashamed. She had seen Raj earlier at the station and had wished that they both be seated together. And when this happened, she couldn’t believe it and when he spoke to her, she was on the top of the world. Suddenly she felt she should not be doing this as she had something else important to do.

She looked him briefly and found him smiling to himself. She herself was blushing. She couldn’t believe it.

—

Raj was jolted back to the present by a jerk in the train and he noticed Komal looking at him with a blush in her face. He couldn’t believe it. As Komal realized that he was looking at her, she looked away.

Raj was suddenly reminded of his parents. How proud they had been at his induction into the Indian Army. He still could remember the proud look on his parents face. He remembered how he loved his country. And he remembered the name their parents had in the society; a society that still looked at ‘love-marriage’ as something unacceptable. It was a split second decision made that he would not succumb to the charms of this stranger woman.

Moreover he did not believe in the concept of Love at first sight.

He tried to think of the work that the next few days had in store for him. He was going on bandobust assignment as a part of a special security to a rally where the Prime Minister was going to speak.

His thoughts came back to this angel sitting in front of him.

—

She thought of her family. She had seen her father being burnt alive and her mother being gang-raped in the infamous Bombay riots in 1993. She was left to fend for herself and was ultimately rescued by the local mosque and raised at the house of a Muslim man. She remembered her hatred towards the country for what it had done to her. She was barely eight when she was inducted into a league of freedom fighters. That day onwards all she was taught was about how their land was occupied by crooks and to this day she had lived for freedom: freedom of their land.

She thought of her final goal assigned to her by her saviors and the freedom fighters.

“You will attain martyrdom!”, the Mullah had proclaimed.

“You will be called Shaheed Naseema!”, said another.

Her job was simple. She was to wear the explosive belt beneath her dress and detonate it as the Prime Minister walked past the crowd at the coming rally. In simpler terms, she was a suicide bomber.

She remembered how she loved his country.

She was proud.

Also, she did not believe in what the movies projected as Love at first sight.

—

The train had come to a halt at the New Delhi station and now they both awkwardly faced each other outside the train.

“Well…”, said Raj.

“Well?”, asked Komal.

“I guess we have to leave…”

“I guess so too”

“Will we meet again?”

“If destiny wishes, we meet again!” replied Komal suddenly feeling sad.

“We will meet again. Something says so!” replied an equally sad Raj.

They walked together till the station exit and went their separate ways from there. Suddenly Raj realized he had not asked for her phone number or even address. He rushed back to the station, but couldn’t find her anywhere. He was dejected.

He remembered her last words to him. If destiny wishes, we meet again!

He thought with a mix of emotions, “We will meet again Komal; we will.”

===================================================================

Kaleidoscope

——-

“Ma! I am off to college!”

“Here is your breakfast! Eat and go!”

“No time ma! Bye”

Raj started his bike even as he finished the sentence. He shifted the bike into first gear and released the clutch. He looked at the opposite house’s balcony to check if the girl occupying the flat was there. She was not. Raj sighed and and zoomed off into the street.

“Raj! Here is your helmet…”, his mother came running to find her son gone. She sighed and closed the front gate.

Raj drove the modified Yamaha through the narrow streets with great skill. He was fair and a six footer and had a week old stubble. He approached the main road.

“Hmm… What have I forgotten?”

The signal showed red

“Have I taken the assignment? Hmm… Yes. I have”

The signal was still red.

“Ajay would have taken delivery of his new bike. Great! Should ride that today!”

Raj smiled as he sped towards the signal.

“Its Hema’s birthday. Should wish her the first thing in college.”

The junction was empty. Raj decided to jump the signal. He crossed the signal.

A loud horn blared and the last thing Raj remembered was the grill of a truck that was barely a couple of meters his left. His eyes widened as he was hit by a storm.

Then everything went dark.

——-

It was a bad day for Velu. His wife had been nagging the entire night and he discovered in the morning that his truck had a flat tyre. It took him half an hour to mend it and he was running late. He skipped his breakfast and rushed.

Something felt wrong in him

It was green as he approached the main junction. He depressed the accelarator and sped down the road. It was still green when he crossed the road. He could see a bike speed into the road out of the corner of his eyes and even before he could think, he knew what was happening. He pressed the horn and the brake together, but his worst fears came true.

——-

Salim was running late.

He was a junior technician in a leading electrical components factory and didn’t want to lose a half day’s salary.

Even as he approached the junction, a traffic cop flagged him down. He stopped, muttering curses under his breath as he realized he was not wearing his helmet.

The cop went on rattling and all Salim did was answer back in monosyllables. Half a day’s salary was running at the back of his head.

He dug his hands into his pocket and retrieved his wallet even as he saw the cop smiling. He felt disgusted. He fished out a fifty rupee note, something which was a big amount to him. Before he could hand the cop his bribe, they both were startled by loud honking followed by a crash. An accident. It was a truck and a bike. The cop walked away leaving Salim behind.

Sensing the opportunity, Salim quietly mounted his bike and left the scene.

——-

Sundaram was having a tough time.

Everyone this morning was wearing a helmet. And even those whom he flagged down randomly had their papers in order. And then he spotted the helmet-less biker. He smiled as he flagged him down.

“Why are you not wearing helmet?”

“Well… I….”

“Where is you licence?”

“Here…”

“Tell me. Where is your helmet?”

“Sir.. I…”

“Do you know that the fine in the court is five hundred rupees?”

“I… Um…”

The victim was now fishing out his wallet. Sundaram smiled. This takes care of his breakfast!

Even as he was taking out a fifty rupee note, they heard a loud honk and a crash. Sundaram turned and saw an accident involving a truck and a bike. He couldn’t believe his luck! This takes care of his lunch too!

He walked away and didn’t notice the helmet-less man slip away.

——-

Rahul was getting on Ramya’s nerves.

The single mother was getting her son ready for school and the school bus would arrive anytime at the bus stop.

She locked the apartment and took her son along the road leading to the main road. As she was crossing a road, she heard loud honking and a crash nearby. She turned and saw a grotesque scene. A biker lying on the road with a pool of blood forming beneath his head.

She felt nauseated as she hurried forward.

——-

Dr. Ramesh was sitting in his car waiting for the signal to turn green as he saw a madman on a bike jump the signal. He saw the biker crash into a truck. He was about to get out to help out when he was reminded of the local media that would be at his clinic to interview him. He stayed back in the car.

He felt guilty.

——-

Velu was shocked.

“My God…”

–

Salim was happy.

“God bless the poor biker…”

–

Sundaram was happy too.

“What luck…”

–

Rahul thought,”Wow! Is this an accident?”

Ramya thought,”Poor lad”

–

Dr.Ramesh soon overcame the guilt.

“He can wait. The interview wont.”

–

Raj’s mom thought,”Poor Raj. Doesnt even have time for breakfast…..”

–

The assignment. Ajay’s new bike. Hema’s birthday. These thoughts were ringing in his ears as he grimaced in pain.

The pain reached an unbearable level.

Then everything was peaceful.

——-

This post is dedicated to Ravishankar, my friend in college who died in a bike accident recently. Unlike Raj, Ravi was hit from behind by a speeding truck and he was wearing a helmet. May his soul rest in peace.