Sailing Over Lives- Absence

Iti didn’t remember when she met Neil for the first time. She thought she knew him from the day she was born. And it might be true too since they were just two days apart. He was her family. She vividly remembers the time when both of them were about 6, they had gone to a nearby church to get married when nobody was in their. And they did get married. Only their wedding vows were different. Till the time Iti was 15, her life revolved around Neil and cooking up stories about their possible future together. But the possibilities came crashing down when she saw him kissing a girl of her class.

Soon the whole school was talking about Neil and his girlfriend. He was not the most handsome boy around but definitely the most charming one. The one who would make a puppy face and get away with a murder. Iti began to see less of Neil and drowned herself into her world of books. For several weeks she cried herself to sleep imagining Neil with the other girl and Neil completely forgot about her existence until one day when he came running down her room.

“We are moving to turkey within a fortnight. Dad has been transferred” Neil exclaimed. He sounded excited.

“When are you leaving?” Iti asked trying hard to control her tears.

“After few days may be.”

Iti stood up and left for her lawn tennis practice without asking anything else further. Down the road she again tried hard to stop the tears rolling down her cheeks but nothing would stop them. She skipped her lawn tennis practice, went to a nearby park and cried for more than an hour.

When she came back, the house was quiet and the only sounds were of cutting of vegetables. She went into her room to find Neil still waiting for her. He stood up and handed her a envelope and left without saying another word. Iti tore the envelope within seconds and sat on the floor with it. It contained several of their photographs. The ones she always wanted to have but Neil would never give them to her. She now had them all but happiness of acquiring them eluded her.

“Madam Airport”, Auto driver said loudly.

Iti was woken up from her thoughts. She paid the driver and made her way to the airport.

Sailing Over Lives: This is How It Is

The sun was shining hard on her head. The partly cloudy sky did nothing to sieve the heat. Iti laughed at her judgemental self after recognizing the events of the morning. The moment she met Shiv, she was clear and she knew what lay ahead of her. But here she was; walking back astonished and amazed and shamed at her outlook towards the less privileged people than her. Lost in her thoughts she continued to walk. Walking without knowing the destination was something new. A part of her was enjoying it and another part was sceptical.

And she was listening to none.

Iti spotted a Costa Coffee outlet and made it her momentary destination. Although she often complained about it being brutally expensive, she loved their outlets, the pristine white cutlery, the cappuccino mug kept at off centre in the saucer served with a cookie, and their policy of employing deaf and dumb people. She somehow felt as if she herself is contributing to their well being after paying for a highly over priced coffee.

The café was sparsely crowded. Iti was seated on the table next to the window. She always preferred to sit and watch the world go by. And she suddenly realised she was doing this after a long time. Whenever she needed a coffee outside her home, her laptop accompanied her and she too was smitten by his loyalty that she never deprived him of her attention. But today she had ditched him.

And she was not guilty.

The coffee arrived precisely after 15 minutes. The rich aroma was soothing to her senses. She poured half the packed of brown sugar into the cup and sipped the coffee and her phone rang. “It might be from the office”, Iti thought. She fumbled for few minutes in her larger than life bag before getting stuck to its screen.

“Neil calling”

The screen flashed the name. Iti gazed at the screen in excitement and horror and despair. Her last few years of life ran in her mind in mere seconds.

She pressed the ‘Accept’ button without even knowing.

“Hello? Am I speaking to Iti?

“Yes Neil you are”

“So you have not deleted my phone number?”

“What do you want?”

“I want you to meet me?”

“Why?”

“I need you here.”

“Where are you?”

“In Gangtok.

“What the hell are you doing there? Are you alright?”

“Yes I am all fine here. Can you come here?”

“When do you want me there?”

“Now!”

“Are you nuts?”

“Yes I am! I want you to take the next possible flight and come here.”

“Fine I am coming.”

“Call me after you have booked your tickets. Bye”

Call disconnected.

The last time they have met, she had vowed never to see his face again. And now was she was ready to fly miles just because he needs her. Perhaps he was the only one who ever needed her.

Iti took an auto and headed to the airport. Her morning became hazy and melted into the physical form of Neil. Perhaps this is what life is. She just was living it.

P.S those who are new to the series find  the earlier parts  here
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Sailing over lives: I Am No Mother Teresa

Walking into the lanes of the slum dwellers haven, Iti felt an unusual ache in her heart. Often she had thought about these people and sighed and pitied at their animal like existence. She was not sure what she was feeling today, the happy faces and cheerful demeanour contradicted her opinion. Kids playing on the dirty streets flanked by garbage, open gutters, shit and everything despicable evoked trivial guilt into her being. Why are they happy? The question hovered over.

Between her thoughts, Shiv interrupted her to show her his dwelling. Tot her surprise the dwelling was a lot cleaner and habitable than any other she had stumbled upon before. Bare brick walls covered with a tin roof. There were no doors and entrance was through opening covered by an old rug. She hesitated to enter, waiting for some to come out and give her the permission to invade someone’s private territory. But Shiv quietly led her inside. His mother was nowhere to be seen. The place was cleaner and organised to clichéd description of a slum dwelling. A 21” T.V in one corner, an old double bed, a rack neatly stacked with few clothes, one racking holding the utensils atop it a gas burner. Everything hinted towards a poor yet dignified existence.

Shiv took out a folding chair from beneath the bed and offered her to sit. Why was she here? What can she offer this family? What has dragged her to come here? She was no Mother Teresa. Neither can she pretend to be one. She began to rehearse how will she start a conversation with Shiv’s mother and before she could make up anything, his mother appeared.

"Namaste", mother gently greeted Iti.

Iti to her own amazement froze in her seat; the woman was partially covered with burn marks. Iti stood up and reciprocated. "Namaste"

“Your son was roaming on the roads in the morning. I though I should bring him back here”, Iti initiated.

“Oh, thank you but you need not have bothered he is doing this for many days now, thinks he can find his good for nothing father and bring him back but I don’t stop him. He will realise it himself one day and get back to his senses.”

“But he is just 5 and you should stop him. He needs to go to school; also he might get hurt while roaming around”

Shiv’s mother remained silent for a moment and began speaking again.

“I am running this house for 10 years. Shiv’s father used to work in a garment factory. He was paid well to feed the family but his desires of earning big money led to his demise. Now here I am running this house alone and taking care of three kids. You cannot meet them now. I sent them to the village to study just after their father died as it is difficult to raise children in this big city. We don’t have much in the village also but enough to make the ends meet and give them a good life.”

“Will you be sending him also?”

"I thought of sending him too but I need someone here with me. I will live in the city for one more year and then both of us will go back to our village. I have saved about one lakh in the past 5 years and I will use to start a new life."

Iti looked puzzled.

“Oh, you must be thinking how a poor woman like me can save so much money. But I am working as a house maid for so many years. Initially I used to spend everything on the house but one day I stopped. I took some help from my employer and got a bank account. Never told his father about this though. He would have grown suspicious. I stopped taking any diwali or holi gifts from madam and asked her to instead deposit money of the value in my account.”

“You should be an economist. You can run the country”

“I am illiterate. I can’t even read or write, but I know to read money.” She laughed.

 

Iti was speechless. And she thought she would help this poor kid and his family. She rose and asked to leave. She didn’t know what to talk more. Words refused to form a way with her and she willingly gave in.