Exam

"what happened?"

"it is done."

"how much?"

"affordable. don't worry"

"thank you"

"just make sure its put to good use"

................................................................

"please sign here. Please show me your hall ticket"

"here"

"hmm you seem familiar. which year are you from"

"second year"

"no, i remember you are from fourth year"

"please mam, lets talk this over"

..................................................................

"i was caught"

"What? no no no..."

"I am sorry"

"You told me you will give me a fresh start. look at this. i was going to loose a year at college. now i will be debarred. and married off. fucker"

"what about me?"

"what about you?"

...............................................................

"remind me how long its been"

" 4 years"

"how have you been?"

"i am, ok. you?"

" well i am married now."

"i have my own bushiness now"

"good. what do you do?"

"i dont know what i am doing. but i know what i did. i was going to go to mumbai to join a job, in my final year. and i saw this second year bengali girl. and she asked me write her arrears for me. and i thought whats cement and civil engineering have to do with IT? so i agreed. it was money. i was caught. i tried to do things within the system. dint work. so i used my world talents. i sold owls, old coins, antiques. used the camera to click good image, edit and mask them to look good. put it on the net and sell to fanatic foreigners. then i smuggled a device for a pharma r&d, through the nepal border. and i made a lot of money. there is an old man in guntur. he keeps secret rooms at secret places. and he lets you keep your secrets there. he doesn't care what you keep in there. just pay him. i put my money there. and here i am trying to act like i am doing something and slowly spending it away. the girl is marries and asked me 'what about you?'"

.............................................................

" where are you going?"

" i forgot my hall ticket madam, going to hostel to get it"

" ok hurry up"

....................

" why hasnt he come yet?"

"dont know mam"

" poor kid must have lost it and must be searching for it"

virtually real

While my extensive experience as an Indian Cinema viewer has lead me to a disdain for flash backs and flash forwards, and all such tricksy gimmicks, I believer that if you, dear reader, can extend your patience for just a moment, you fill there is a method to this tale of madness. A Kind of retrospective reflection of the past that all just comes together, just for you , just in one moment, just the kind which will make you, dear reader, to agree with me. I presume so..

I was looking at my dried, but once not-so-dried mashed potatoes, sitting right on a nice wooden plate. The cabbage was floating in the air, burnt into the wind, light in light and heavy in smell. I never knew a full piece of beans, which is just boiled with salt, could taste so good. Yes, not as good as that parupusili cut-beans, which are conjured by mylapore witches. (Yes they do come with the broom, but they use it to whack you). The cabbage. Yes, cheap leaves of a flower so large. If, cabbage had been small like say a jasmine, would it have been eaten like it is now? i checked the time.

"one last question"

"yes?"

"hmmm.. would you know where to score in mumbai?"

"what do you want to score?"

"the halfling's leaves, you know"

"no"

"ok, so where do you get"

"i think a person in my office smokes, i can ask"

"can you ask now?"

"now?"

"Yes, right now. i need to have one right now. Also can you tell me where in this dirty big city, can i sit, roll around and sleep?"

"i do not know"

"oh, back home we had that beach and the small road along it. stop any where. roll around. sleep. no problem. and then in the other city, there was a 6th century Muslim ruler tomb, some famous ruler who i can not recollect now. and a big wood and lake near it. we used to roll there as well. there's got to be a place in this city, some where"

"i can ask the same person you know"

"ok, thanks"

"well the person says, the leaves grow in the person's house. You can go there, i can take you. You stand on the road, i will go and get it from the person"

"that will do. and the place?"

"the person denies the existence of such a place"

"ouch. can i smoke in this said person's house?"

"no, the person does not want to you to know who the person really is"

"ok. all i need is 5 minutes and am gone, i have work to do"

"in that case you can come to my place, my room mate is away"

"cool"

"your place is cool.way too clean"

"you are here on the annual clean your room day. you are lucky. so here it is"

"ok thanks. btw will you join as well?"

"me? i got some small office work to do"

"so do i. and i enjoy working after this"

"ok i can try. i have did this before, just that i have this work"

"yeah dont worry. i do it all the time"

"ok this feels weird"

"woah, have you actually done this before?"

"yes, but it felt weird the last time as well"

"ok, no problem. this is your place"

"yes, but i got the work. my boss would kill me"

"ok i actually have no where to go and i have work to do. i was going to sit in the park opposite,  the king's park. So you can bring your laptop with me and work"

"oh no i cant come out. need papers"

"ok then let me sit here and i will work. that way you will feel like working as well. I will be gone in some 20 mins, once you get working. then you wont stop"

"ok thanks"

"you were right. it felt good to do it, right now. like this"

" i told you"

"and the music was good"

"yes, just the kind of music that was needed. nothing more. simple songs. you seem to read a lot"

"yeah, but i have not managed to read a lot of late. i work a lot"

"ah yes, the old i started to work and don't have time. you are just lazy"

"no, i am actually exhausted"

"then it might not be actually love"

"get out. right now. get out"

free