Life in Progress

Disclaimer: This work is influenced by some old, hazy memories of self and others and thereafter flight into fantasy. This is my first attempt at writing a fiction and against the advice of my unofficial editors have decided to publish the story in several parts. And yes, absolutely not attempting to be a Chetan nor Chetali Bhagat. Just a challenge to self. 

 1

Sometime in April. Morning 10.10 am. A six year old short, willowy girl with a short crop and a heavy school bag is jostling around to get inside the crowded school bus, full with cankerous school kids. Finally when she manages to go further inside the bus, she finds even the last seat completely full.

Gingerly, as she tries to maintain her balance by holding tightly a seat handle, she feels someone tugging her skirt from behind. Looking behind she sees another girl of her same age, with almost similar features but having short fringes instead of just a short crop.

"Come. Sit here beside me. I think we both can fit in to this seat if we sit more tightly."

The girl very gladly takes up this unexpected offer and smiles at this new-found benefactor.

"What's you name?"

"I am Spri. "

"I am Cher."

 2

Three years later in August. Evening 5.15 pm. The same two willowy girls are sitting together in the second last two-seater seat. They still have the same hair style, only seems to have grown taller. One looks haggard, hair messy and the uniform dirty, while the other looks very concerned.

"Why did you have to fight with that boy? Don't you know that he always speaks nonsense?"

"He called me a pole!!"

"So what? He calls me a giraffe!! Do I get angry?"

"But why did he call me a pole?"

"He is an idiot! That's why! Who asked you to fight because of that?"

"I will fight!! I will fight a hundred times! He keeps on calling me a pole in front of every one and every one laughs at me!"

"Don't be silly! He is just a stupid boy. But who asked you to be equally stupid to fight in front of everyone in the school ground? If I had not pulled you out on time then you would have got beaten up badly!"

"Do you think I am afraid of getting beaten up? And on whose side are you? Why aint' you supporting me? If you had been my friend then you would have supported me! You are not my friend any more! Go! Katti, Katti, Katti!

"Fine! Go! Katti, Katti, Katti!"

3

Three years later. Sometime in October. Evening 4.45 pm. The final school bell rings in a shrieking tone. In few minutes a stream of students of different heights are seen rushing out of the class rooms and filling up the school ground. In the next fifteen minutes nothing else can be seen on the ground apart from heads of different sizes and heights. Almost everyone is either talking, or laughing or playing creating a cacophonous environment. Two girls are found away from the maddening crowd, talking something serious near the annex building. Both look worried as if something is eating them up from within.

" Have you shown the report card at home yet?"

"No. Have you?"

"No."

"So what are you planning? When will you show? This Friday is the last day of submitting the signed report cards to the Class Teacher. "

"I don't know!! My mother will kill me if she sees my Physical Science marks!"

"You have only Physical Science! My Physical Science and Sanskrit are both gone! And my mother has been asking me daily about the marks of both! And I am just giving excuses that both the subject copies have not been shown to us till now."

"I know. Same case. I don't know what to do. I had been thinking earlier of making the last digit of the Physical Science marks from 1 to 7 so that I am shown passed, get it signed and then change it back again. But the report card has come out in printed format, so can't change anything. It will be easily caught. I don't know what to do! I simply don't know what to do! Sometimes I feel like running away from home!"

"Me too! You know what I want? I want to write a letter to the police complaining them about how these teachers are torturing us and then run away. Then when I would be missing, the police will come and arrest all these teachers! I will be so happy!"

"You know we should do something like that! We should really run away! Then these people will get a nice lesson!"

"But how?"

"On Thursday when the school ends, instead of taking the school bus, we will quietly sneak out of the school gates and run away. We will carry some clothes in the school bag instead of so many books and change our dress in the public toilet. Nobody will suspect us."

"That's a great idea! Let's do that! Let's run away!"

"Yeah! Let's run away!"

4

Two months later. A cold December evening. 7.00 pm. A small two-storey house with a green gate. A pack of school students are seen waiting outside the gate, while a group of mothers are seen furiously comparing the efficacy of two Maths tutors. At sharp 7.05 pm the green gate opens and one-by-one a group of students start trickling down from inside the house and those who were waiting outside the house start rushing in. About 200 metres away from this hustle and bustle there is a medical store on top of which there is a small, dimly lit, modest Chinese restaurant called 'Golden China', though there is nothing golden about the interiors, just red, bright red. Two girls are sitting on one corner of the restaurant, overlooking a window giving a complete view of the main road, and giggling and fighting over a plate of American Chopsuey, .

"Look! There's the first batch coming out! So it's 7.05 pm."

"Do you want to go? We can still finish the food quickly and join the class. We can always say that we were late."

"Do you? I don't think I wanna go. I hate going there. It's like going for another class in the school, only it's outside the school. I counted in the last class that including us there are 36 students. And you know how DKC teaches. It's like he is in a hurry to catch a train! How can anybody understand physics like this? Everything he teaches goes right over my head! I think I will have to carry a potent antenna to catch all his lessons effectively!!"

"Hahaha. You are so right! Even I doze off in his classes. That's why I always ask you to poke me in his classes. I hate coming for the classes. It's just, you know na, Mum believes that the only way I can pass Physics if I attend his classes. Apparently he gives really good suggestions for the exam and if you write his notes then for sure you will get good marks!"

"Why not? After all he teaches in our school! But I cannot mug up notes like a complete idiot without understanding the concept!"

"Me too! But seriously, do you think we should go? It's still 7.10 pm."

" Nah! We will go in the next class. Till then, let's just enjoy the Chopsuey."

"Yeah. This is really fun! We should do it some more. But next time please order Chicken Momo. I don't like Chopsuey."

"Ok deal! But then you will have to finish the clear soup. I don't like it at all!"

"Deal!

5

One year later. A sultry June evening. 7.45 pm. An open terrace on the 4th floor of an apartment. It's a cloudy sky with few stars scattered here and there. No breeze is blowing. Occasionally one can hear the din of the city life - horns of vehicles been blown, bus conductors calling out the names of the stoppage, people asking for goods in different  stores, a group of young lads sitting on the wall of an under constructed building and discussing football. Two girls are seen lying on the floor of that open terrace and singing a popular English song. 

"I think I am in love with Leo!"

"What? Seriously? Hahahaha!"

"Hey don't mock my love for him! I really love him. Nobody loves him more than me!"

"Ok fine. You love Jack and nobody loves him more than you! Now what? He stays in US and you stay in here. How will you go to him? Have you thought about that?"

"It doesn't really matter. So what, if there is physical distance between us. Our love will conquer all distance!"

"Don't be silly! Accha, how will he even know that you love him?"

"I will send him a letter professing my love for him. I am quite sure that he will come for me here once he gets to know how much I love him! Even if he doesn't come I will wait for him till eternity."

"Oooh! Someone has become very romantic!"

"Why? Don't you feel romantic about any one?"

"Of course I do silly! But unlike you I am much more practical!"

"Really!! You never told me! Who is he? Tell me na!"

"It's Shahrukh!"

"What! Shahrukh! Eww!!"

"Shut up! What eww? I love Shahrukh and unlike you idiot I already have made a solid plan of getting him."

"Really? How?"

"See, my aunt stays in Bombay. So, I will ask Mum to let me visit my aunt's place during the Puja vacation. And once I reach Bombay I will definitely find a way to visit him and then.."

"You silly, but he is already married! How will you get him?"

"Uff! It's simple. When I will go to visit him, I will make sure he falls in love with me and then I will ask him to leave that ugly wife and marry me. Of course he won't be able to say no!"

"That's a great plan!"

"I told you I am far more practical than you even in romance."

"I agree, I agree. Listen na, if you marry Shahrukh then you will become very rich. Can you send me a ticket to US then? I can go to US and marry Leo."

"Of course! I will ask Shahrukh to buy tickets for both of us, so that we both can go. After all who is going to take care of you if you faint after seeing your Leo!"

"That's so cool! You are my best friend!"

"I know!"

To be continued.....

Conversations with my Friend

Bon jour my Friend!
How have you been?
Did you have any difficulty in finding my place?
How has been your health and the journey so far?
The work, the pay, the family and everything?

Are you tired?
Would you like to have some coffee?
Are you in a hurry?
Or can we sit and chat for some time?
We can catch up on the years gone by.

We meet after such a long time, isn't my Friend?
Can you remember the first time we met?

It was many years ago
I was young, free and without a care for anything.
It was you who met me at the threshold
And gave me the final push to be pulled into a new orbit.

Do you remember how scared I was?
I cried when you told me "it's time to go".
I thought you would be there to hold my hand
But I was wrong
As I got lost into the melee of strangers.

Slowly I found my way in the chaos
Learnt my lessons diligently and not so diligently sometimes.
I laughed, I cried, I screamed with the others
Reached heights of ecstasy and depths of desperation in the same lifetime.

In all that commotion I forgot all about you somehow
Didn't know you were watching me from your secret window.
Even at times if you would come in front of me
You would always come in the guise of dark robe and sceptre.

I slowly started believing with the others,
May be that is what you are
Dark and cruel and the fearsome one.
Forgot that you are in fact the same as me and the rest.
But you forgave my folly
Maybe that's what true friends are for!

Now the time has come
And I know it for sure,
For today is my graduation day
And that's what your dark robes today are for.

I don't care about any GPA scores any more
Nor how my certificate looks like.
All that I know I have to keep on moving
For you will push me again
For yet another journey of a lifetime.

Merci my Friend
It was nice talking to you.
Hope to catch up with you some other time.
Maybe when we do next, you will tell me your stories
Au revoir, until we meet again.

চুপ কর! কথা বলিস্ নে!

১

এত ঔদ্ধত্য সে কোথা থেকে পায়?

আজ মুখের সামনে হাততালি মেরে

কাল ক্লাসে তারই নোটস্ টুকতে চায়?

২
নীল সাদা রঙ ছিল তার বড়ই প্রিয়।
যে কোনো রঙের হওয়া আজ বিষম দায়
তাই সে নানা রঙে রঙিনদের ছেড়ে রঙহীনদের দলে নাম লেখায়।

৩
আমি আজ দেখতে পেরেও অন্ধ,
শুনতে পেয়েও কালা,
বলতে পেরেও বোবা,
বুঝতে পেরেও বোকা।
কিন্তু কলমের কালি আজ রুখবে কে?

It's all in my head

"There's something wrong with your thoughts!"
The voices whispered in the corridor -
Or so I thought.

But how do I explain?
The life behind these bars
Looks greyly surreal!

Everyday I see You going on with life
Like automated dolls in unison routine;
Nothingness attached in an absolute random way
Without any reason or rhyme.

So I procreate a new life inside my head
Painfully sever the umbilical cord between You and I

My hand trembles but I make the urgent cut
Nine months nine days it cannot wait.

"You are wrong, your thoughts are wrong!"
The voices call for filing a big claim case.

Now I don't fight, but smile back at them

As your world dissolves 

And becomes an atom in mine.

সহ্যের রাজনীতি

কিছু মনে করিস না তুই,

রাজনীতির উর্ধ্বে কেউ কিছু না.

রাজনীতির জন্য সব ছাড়া যায় 

কোনো কিছুই রাজনীতির জন্য ছাড়া যায় না.

তাই তোর অপমান তুই দাঁত  চেঁপে সহ্য করে যা. 

এই মৃত শহরে

আরেক মৃত তুই ভিড় বাড়াস না

প্রতিবাদের শব্দ আর করিস না -

তোর অপমান তুই দাঁত  চেঁপে সহ্য করে যা.

এই ধূসর দুনিয়ায় 

রঙ ছাড়া কোনো পরিচয়পত্র পাবে না

তোর রঙহীন পরিচয় তাই আমার কাছে মূল্য পাবে না -

তোর অপমান তুই দাঁত  চেঁপে সহ্য করে যা.

Auction

The auction will now begin for Humanity - the 'rarest amongst the rare'.

Bid will start at one tear drop. 

Do we hear one tear drop from the gentleman in first row?

One tear drop and one sigh!

Anyone ready to bid more than one tear drop and one sigh?

One tear drop and one sigh going once, 

One tear drop and one sigh going twice,

One tear drop and one sigh going final bid.

And Sold! Humanity sold in one tear drop and one sigh to the gentleman in Judge's cloak!

Please head over to the Government to complete your purchase.

Post Mortem

Cause of Death?

Resistance.

She should not have resisted it Aye!

We were just teaching her a lesson

For stepping out at night with a male friend.

Isn't that a crime?

We are responsible citizens -

Responsible enough to teach that ungrateful girl

Life's most important lesson -

You are a Girl,

You should never Resist!

Cause of Attack?

Refusal.

She should not have refused me Aye!

After all I said I loved her.

But she was too much engrossed in her beauty

Vain indeed, to turn me down!

I had to teach her a lesson about love -

If you cannot be mine

You can be nobody else's.

So what if the lesson came doused with acid -

You refuse,

I disfigure you for life!

Refraction

Theist
Atheist.

Sadist
Masochist.

Capitalist
Socialist.

Fascist
Idealist.

Populist
Anarchist.

Materialist
Nihilist.

Lost in the refraction by the Prism of all the 'Ism's
I forgot to believe in 'Me' first.

Amusing

What is more amusing?

How years of memories can be packed into boxes and sealed 

Or the boxes being marked 'Fragile'?

Selfie

Duck Faced Selfie .

Cute Selfie.

Naughty Selfie.

Pet Selfie.

Gym Selfie.

Just woke up Selfie.

Had great fun Selfie.

Ate great food Selfie.

'Self' got lost amongst the crowd of Selfies.

History

History repeats itself.

Heart never was a good Historian.

Surprise me

I say 'Yes',

You say 'No'.

I propose, 

You dispose.

I promise,
You break.

I remember,
You forget.

You are so Predictable
In being 'Unpredictable'
That I want to cry out loud,
" Surprise me!"

Honestly

Honestly, shall I tell you honestly?
I do not even know whether I'm honest or not.

Sometimes I would like to believe 
This is what I am,
These are my thoughts,
My dreams, my feelings..

But honestly I do not know whether I can call them mine
Or are they someone else's reflected glory?
Or a fragment of some illusion
Created my favourite Illusionist,
That is Me.

I honestly seek for a reply
Yet I know not how honest I am about that.

Coffee Mug

Many moons back you had gifted me a coffee mug, with a personalized message on it. Every evening it became my daily routine to drink my cup of coffee in it and silently read the newspaper.

Few moons back, it had fallen from the careless hand and a huge crack appeared on it. It looked ugly, but I still continued having my coffee in it, after all there was no seepage and it was a special coffee mug!

But before long, with casual overuse the crack started to widen more and more. The coffee started seeping out first in a trickle and then gushing out like water coming out from an unmanageable hosepipe.

So I stopped using it, but still couldn't throw it away, don't know why, perhaps as it was the sole remaining witness of something special, but long forgotten.

Sometimes it's easy to forget the face, but difficult to dissociate from the memorabilia.

Accusation

"Where were you when I needed you?"

Accusations.
Counter Accusations.

Followed by Silence of Guilt,
Ends in Uncontrollable Laughter.

P.S. Inspired by a recent conversation

Deadly

Your indifference and silence

Are deadlier than your lies.

Delete thread

Fiddling with the phone.
Check messages.
Read messages.
Delete thread.
Okay.

Wish the mind had been a smart phone instead
With some memories easy to delete.