NARROW-MAN POINT

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Churchgate! Was the first word whizzed into his ears when he came out of his high-rise office. The taxi-walas were trying to lure passengers for the station. It reminded him of his early days in Mumbai when he was doing internship with a firm in Nariman Point. Six years has passed but nothing has really changed in his life. The firm where he interned was just two blocks away and he often used to walk across the streets for fast food or just hanging out with friends. Once they took a buggy ride from there to marine drive, and then spent there 4 hours while chatting with friends. There were some good sandwich stalls, some bhelpuri-wala etc., who all were still there, but now-a-days he could hardly visit them. Suddenly his heart craved for such enjoyable moments. Now he could see the sea directly from his cabin in the office but could hardly feel it.

He was working for an investment bank in private equity and was usually loaded with assignments, commitments and appointments. He traveled across the world but his heart was still as earlier, quite but devoid of something he didn’t know. That day he was not in hurry to reach home. He saw a group of youngsters walking along the roadside towards the sea. He just thought of also going there and spending some time. Once, he used to enjoy the wide walls built along the coastline and sit there for long; doesn’t matter if he is alone or having some company.

He felt the cell phone pulsating in his pocket. Airtel was offering some discounted caller tune on Rs. 100 monthly rental. He got bit peeved by the message and deleted that. His thoughts raced and he was inadvertently calculating the expected number of song downloaders and as a result the returns to the company over the cost of acquiring the songs from the production company. Ridiculous! He cursed himself and marched along towards the sea.

What’s the time? Asked the middle-aged man in blazers, he wondered whether that man was really having no watch or equivalent. 8-40 he said and didn’t stop to acknowledge his thanksgiving. It was the usual time he used to leave the office. He thought of the village where he resided in childhood which was deprived of electricity and everyone used to go asleep by 8-30 in the evening. The children used to study in groups with a single kerosene-run lantern. The nearest high school was 1 kose (rural measure, equivalent to 1.6 Kms) far from village. However one good thing, there was no heavy baggage issue in these schools, one just needed to carry 3-4 books and 1-2 notebooks.

Now he was there on the seaside, found a relatively free place to sit quietly. He just remembered his old days, his family, friends and whatever raced through his mind. He felt at ease, after all he was there after at least a couple of years. He thought of his wife who was currently in Singapore for some official work and would be coming back the day after. He thought of the excitement they felt before the marriage and the consumerism evading their love, their life, everything. Both were at early stage of career and thus focused more on job than on each other to carve their niche in respective career. Lag jaa gale se ki phir...., sound came from his cell-phone. It was her call , she informed that she will stay there 2 days longer for some unexpected complexities, apologized and hung up.

He still sat there calmly watching the widespread sea. He suddenly felt like a child and remembered his mother. He felt like lying in his mother’s lap. The mom’s fingers trailing through the hair used to bestow much more coolness than any Daikin ceiling air conditioners. He felt little moist under his eyes, he just felt as if he had almost everything but still not happy. The emptiness did hit him hard and a stream of tears came out. He didn’t try to control that, it was making him feel better. He felt like smoking and picked a 555 from the packet. But, he noticed an elderly couple and didn’t light the cigarette. By this time he was quite calm and started recovering from the trance he was into. Now it was 9-30 in the night, he remembered about the invitation from Vikash, his friend cum colleague in the company, for dinner at his home. Vikash knew that he is alone and has arranged a small home-cocktail party for the two. He arrived there late at 10 hrs, and both ate, drank and talked for hours. He slept in his apartment only and left for office from there in the morning.

He again drove through the sealine and spotted the place he was sitting yesterday. A smile filled with varied emotions appeared on his face and he moved towards the office, again into the everyday life-tunnel.

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© Vikash Kumar

P.S.:

1. This is my first story, so all the readers are requested to send comments and suggestions on title and text.
2. It’s a work of fiction and not my real story.