Friends,
A chance encounter with someone rocked my equilibrium for no particular reason, opening a tiny window in my mind catapulting me several years back in time. While I was briskly walking across the market in Priya Complex in Delhi, a bold voice claimed my attention, ‘auntyji’. I wasn’t sure if I was the recipient of the attention since the face that met my eyes wasn’t in the least familiar. I quirked my brows in form of enquiry in an attempt to discern the reason for this intrusion. A tentative smile crossed the other youthful face and she asked me to guess who she was. Since I’m too impatient for these games, my irritation percolated through my false smile. She made no mistake in reading the signal and instantly embarked on enlightening me .
She transported me way back in time when I was a resident of Vasant Vihar and took a particular route everyday to work. Almost everyday I used to cross her path. She was a scruffy cheerful girl of non descript age, anything between 10 and 13 waiting for her mother to come out of the house where she used to work. From there she was dropped to the neighbourhood MCD school by her mother.
Our meetings were quite regular, followed by an exchange of pleasantries regarding her homework, her siblings and punishments she received at school. We had almost fallen into a pattern, she would hop, skip and jump till end of the lane chatting me up and then run back to her vigil outside the house. Unconsciously I had begun to look out for her as she was a source of entertainment in the otherwise boring stretch.
One day her mother had a day off from work and caught her gossiping with me. She caught up with us and regaled me with the stories of some Memsahib’s residing there and their idiosyncracies. It was an easygoing conversation. Next day, when I came across her, I stopped as usual to allow her to adjust with my pace. For the first time I saw a shadow cross her face and an indecisive look. Being in a hurry I asked her what the issue was. It usually revolved around poor amenities in her school. After a brief pause she abruptly said ,’Ma keh rahi hai ki apke pas koi frock or saris hain to kal le kar aana’.
The request stopped me in my tracks. It was not unusual to be asked to part with clothes but it was unexpected from this quarter. I was both upset and irritated. I couldn’t fathom the reason for this annoyance. From that day onward, I changed my route and altered the time slightly as to be able to avoid the duo.
I didn’t see them after that. I rationalised the issue within and grappled with it and then let it be. It wasn’t that important. I think we had developed a relation of two equals where we shared a slice of our life which was not imbued with any motive. This one request had shifted the delicate balance forever . The equation we shared, no longer existed. The relation held no charm for me now.
Today as she stood there, a young woman, I was taken aback. She no longer wanted anything. She was only trying to rekindle what was left of the relation in her memory. It must have left an indelible mark on her, to have been able to recognise me after such a time gap.
The question was still unspoken, the answer unformed. I hurriedly spoke some inane meaningless words expressing both surprise and joy at seeing her. The words fell out false and shameless. The memory was now consigned to it’s place. The ghosts laid to rest.
meerabhardwaj28 