THE MISTAKE
It was the same old morning as usual, nothing was too good about it. I don’t understand how people describe a silly situation so dramatically!
I mean I was waked up by a song ( a ghazal actually) which said “ Today, the sun is brighter, the air is fresher and the blah blah blah!!! ”.
How come the sun be brighter? Has it been extra charged today? Or the guy singing the ghazal planted 5 new trees in his garden to make the air fresher!
“Ufff !, silly world and silly people.”, said I.
I got up to have a shower, I was already late. And there ringed my cell with the coolest ringtone on earth.
“Hey, dude!”, said I.
“What the… You are still in bed, aren’t you?”, said Roshan from his not so cool cell phone.
“No, I am not.” , said I.
“If you are late this time, you are screwd man!”. Roshan sound disgusting whenever he opens his mouth.
“Dude, I’ll be there on time!”
“Fine, we are outside, PVR’s”.
“Cool, see you there”, said I and slided down my phone.
“Raghu chacha!”, I hate it when my things are not in order.
“Chacha, are you listening? What the hell is this?” said I.
“What’s the matter, baba?”
“You call this t-shirt an ironed one? Can’t you see the millions of wrinkles all over it?” said I.
“ Baba, it must be…”
“Shut up!, you know I hate my things not being in order”.
“I will have it ironed...”.
“No, thanks, I am already late”.
“Sorry, baba.”.
“Keep the sorry with you, rush and have the breakfast ready”.
“Yes, baba” and Raghu chacha left.
I took another Armani shirt and wore it, I really look good in Armani. And there it goes, the cell rang again.
“Where the hell are you, man?” this time it was Chetan.
“On the way, Chetan”.
“Listen, we don’t wanna miss the beginning of this amazing movie, got that!”.
“Relax, yaar, there’s still 15 minutes to the movie!”.
“Yeah, but ….”.
“Okey, okey.. just 5 more mins.. bi”.
I thought for a while if I should skip the breakfast as I was already late, but then I felt my stomach was aching for food.
“There you are, baba, your favourite ‘Dalia’.” said chacha.
I took a sip of my all time favorite ‘dalia’ and here comes the worst day of my life.
“What the …. Shit!”.
“What happened?”said chacha.
“What what? There isn’t any salt in it” shouted I.
“But I did added… might be…”
“You know what chacha! Because mom pays you more than others you are going nuts!”.
“No, baba…”.
“You are fired!” ordered I.
“No, please I… I am sorry… I was not feeling very well, today..”.
“Yeah, you should stay at home and rest for lifetime”.
“But, beta…”.
“Get lost, I’ll say dad why I fired you, just get lost, you have already spoilt my day!”
The cell ranged again, but this time I refused to attend the call.
I rushed out with the keys of my all new Suzuki x500. But you know what when things start going wrong then it just doesn’t stop.
Guess what! My brother took my bike without asking me with the other keys, wow, what a great starting of a Sunday!
I called Chetan,” Dude, I am not coming”.
“Hey, why ? Whats wrong?”.
“Everything is in a mess, from morning… er.. forget it… I don’t have my bike.”
“But… Okey, catch a taxi, man!”
“You must be kidding, I had never been in a taxi… its so cheap!”
“What cheap! Just be here in another 5 mins, please, man!”
“Okey.. lemme see.”
I can never imagine myself in a taxi, now where the hell I get a taxi? Mom and dad took there cars and my bro took my Suzuki… fuck, everything is screwed up.
I was on the 2nd street now, and there wasn’t any taxi in sight.
“Excuse me.. There isn’t any taxi on the roads..i had to..”
“New in the city or what? Don’t you know today is taxi’s strike?”said he,”These youngsters never read newspapers,”he murmured.
“Take an auto from the next street” said he.
“Okey, thanks” he turned an rushed away as I never existed.
Now, this is the limit. But I had already came, half my way, so it would be better to catch the auto. I was on the way, when a kid of some 5 or 6 years old came to me and started begging.
“ I didn’t eat anything from two days” said he.
“What?”
“I’m very hungry, sir.”
The guy clearly looked malnourished , his ribs were as clear as a fresh x-ray report. His skin was attached to the bones as if there was nothing named muscles in his body, it were just skin and bones. His tears were
all tired of coming out of his eyes again and again. But his eyes were still glittering and shouted in my eardrums ”HELP!”.
“Why… all right, come with me” said I.
I was searching for a good resturant if I can feed him, he suddenly asked “What are looking for?”
“Huh!... eh… a restaurant!”
“Please give me some money instead of the food, if you do, my father will not beat me today.” His eyes were still stone cold and glittered.
“What? Your dad beats you.. are you… come with me, your father can’t do that… my dad knows the commissioner ,I ll…”
“No,thank you,sir”.
“What, I want to help you”.
“Sure, help me with the money, I don’t want to see my dad in jail, whenever he goes to jail we stay hungry for weeks, one time my younger sister died of starving when my father went to jail” said he.
“Are you… here… “ I handed him a 500 rupee note.
He was too shocked to say anything, his face shined as if he found a gold mine. I wondered if just a 500 rupee note can make someone so happy! And he ranned away shouting something which faded as I passed by the street.
This kind of thing never happened to me ever. Chetan and Roshan called me another 17 times but I didn’t attended the call and then switched of my cell. I was thinking about the ‘dalia’ which I thrown today. The one bowl of dalia might have gave the boy the world of happiness. I never knew there is a world like that, where people don’t even get to eat! Forget the cell phone, tv, dvd’s and those billions of things. I didn’t went to movie that day.
In the evening when I was home,
I asked mom ”Where’s Raghu Chacha?” And then I thought if Raghu Chacha also had a small boy like the one whom I met! Mom reminded me that I had said Raghu Chacha to get lost,I had fired him.
I remained silent.
