One of the greatest anomalies of life is that sometimes, certain people appear in your life from nowhere and then dissappear equally into oblivion.And often these people steer the direction of your life without realising it for themselves.
And for vagabonds it is just the norm of life. You meet new people everyday, you make memories that last forever but then you part ways like no big deal with a cow boy walk into the sunset.
But thanks to social networking, you can look up anyone now and re connect. As they say old faces, old memories all ...just a click away!
I recently got back in touch with a childhood friend and I recoiled into a rather nice space and time of my childhood.
Memories are strange things, you never know when they might
walk into your life. Without showing the courtesy to knock- The audacity of the
uninvited guest I suppose! I have found myself in the oddest of moments opening
doors to the dark grim strger with a leaking bag of rags in his shoulder
smelling of a familiar scent from the past. And I have asked who are you like
umpteen times, but with no respect the
stranger just pushes me aside and enters like he owns the place…no
introduction, no explanations- what can I say, but the audacity speaks for
itself again.
The other day I was fretting at my desk to meet a deadline,
and without a warning, without a sign, in came the stranger again! And this
time the scent was that of a five rupee note…
Long back, and I mean, long back, when I was in my primary
school in Punjab, I had stumbled upon this five rupee note on the floor on our
way home from school. One must remember this was an era when after school street snacking was a big NO-NO at home, when pocket money as rationed.
Coming back to the note, it was slightly wet and the green
of the note was almost deepened by the rain and Mr Gandhi tilted his head and
grinned at me through his glasses. My first impulse was to tell my friends who
enticed me to the corner snack shop , that I was going to buy them all
‘Kachalu’ – which was semi cooked potato dipped in a spicy tangy sauce (might not sound much but man o' man nothing like it on a summer evening...) At the time, to me Kachalu
was the best food in the world, simply due to the ‘No Street Snack’ policy of
parents.
I looked at the note again, tattered and wet, it wreaked a
strange scent. On the little white portion by Mr Smiling Gandhi was a faint
scribbling in blue ink , smudged all over. It read- Vicky Loves Reeta…;-) !Amused, at the prospect of trading this epic monument of
love for Kachalu I began walking to the shop with my friends. As we were about
to cross I saw my classmate Swetha, crying her eyes out outside the gates. We rushed to
her and enquired. As luck would have it, it turned out she had lost all her
money and had nothing left for the rickshaw…
Now I clenched my newly found five rupee note inside my palm
so tight that , I almost suffocated our Baapuji! Patting her shoulder I was
saying ok, hoping that someone would offer her the money and wouldn’t put me in
the awkward position of having to part with mine. But as luck would have it
again, my best friend Anoop (the Messiah of people in Distress :-)) steps in as and
says,” I have an idea…Shwetha, you are so lucky that I am here now, you better
pay me back for this….”All of us looked at Anoop bewildered and in anticipation. Her
fair face, shot to a brilliant red colour and her eyes widened …
She said " Anju has just found
lost five rupee note and we were about to get Kachalu….but clearly since
your ‘Situation’ is more urgent, Anju please give it to her…."
Now all eyes turn to me ...some narrowing their eyes judgementally. I looked at
each of them hoping to hear something that would encourage me to keep it.
Everyone else seemed to have been cursed into icy stone by Anoop who stood
there playing with ponytails , looking at me in a tone of 'Come on, you heard
me! Give it to her or I will throw you in the drain and break your bones!!’
The thought was enough to scare the living daylights out of
me..I was a tiny fragile little thing and Anoop was a strong ‘hatti-ghatti’
Punjabi lass with strong arms , a strong grip and a mind that doesn’t think
twice!
I opened my palm and looked at the note again. Bappu was
still grinning at me from behind his glasses. I stared at him for a while.
Slowly, the ‘Rupees 5 ‘was fading away and all I could see was a brighter
bigger Bappu. Something about his expression told me to do the 'right thing'. I looked up at Shwetha, smiled and handed over the note to
her. She smiled, her face wet with tears and said Thank you. And that made my day!
I turned away and started to walk home with a smile on my
face. Behind me, I could hear Anoop say to Shwetha’ Yaar, see I told you na! Now
you owe me a treat, come on you only need 2 Rs to go home….with the rest you
can treat me to Kachalu’.
Now with the enterprising nature that Anoop had since then,I would have surely expected her to claw her way up the corporate ladder and be a CEO by now.But I found her after nearly 20 years and she is a doctor by profession and a lovely mother to twin children. She has grown into a beautiful human being and continues helping people in distress and pain just like good old days.
I wonder if she still thinks of the kachalu stalls.
And me well...I am alright too.
Bappuji still smiles back at me from the Indian rupee notes and then I end up giving it to people.
