Author: Sunny Jaiswal

Mumbai Diaries – Part 6(The One with the sisters)

Akriti and her sister were sitting on the couch, overlooking the rains through the windows.

A few moments before, they had this huge fight, over a phone call. Sukriti had informed Akriti about a phone call from a guy.

“I should never have taught you about changing voice on call in mobile phone.”, Akriti, still angry on her sister.

“But what difference does it make, you get calls like that every other day. Why is it any different.” Asked Sukriti.

That question left Akriti wondering for a bit. All her life, she had been avoiding getting close to anybody, because of her commitment issues and she should have been thankful to her sister.

But here she was, rebuking her sister. ‘Attraction works in mysterious ways’ she thought and proceeded to let go her anger or whatever it was.

Taking cue from her body language, Sukriti broke the ice.
“Do you know our college dance group is performing in a college fest, and I joined as well”, she informed Akriti.

“Ohh good, what are you performing on?” asked Akriti.

“We are depicting 8 songs on 8 different emotions with 8 different songs in 8 different languages.”

“Ohh thats….nice. Tell me one thing, does it also suck in 8 different ways?” Akriti joked.

“You wouldn’t even be able to do one step from it. You need flexible muscles for that”

“Atleast my funny bone will tickle while watching your dance.” said Akriti sarcasticly to end the topic so that she can talk about what she had in mind.

“Listen, the guy that you talked to; his name is Atush. Last week, he came into the video parlour to play Laser tag and…”

“What is that?” Sukriti said interrupting her.

“What is what?”

“Lasertag”

“You should really care atleast a little about what I do. It’s a game played among 2 teams, they each have a gun and they have to shoot their opponents to collect points”, Akriti explained.

“Okay got it….move ahead!” Sukriti said getting interested.

“So he has been my closest competitor so far, I thought I would lose to him, but somehow I won.”, continued.

“You are talking like you have never lost a game.”

“No, I haven’t and that is why I like my job”

“Don’t you think you are too obsessed with gaming? I am surprised you didn’t start to play that Pokemon Go game.”

“I would play it, but then I would have to go retard first. But anyways, I am not obsessed that much about gaming. I just like them a normal amount.”

“Oh yeah? Last night you were chanting ‘Go Go Go’ while you were asleep”

“Wow, that was a nice dream, I killed so many counter terrorists in my favourite map De Dust2.”

“Uff! Sometimes, I feel like I live with a boy.”

“I know you wish it sissy, but that is not happening in my flat.”

Sukriti shifts a little uncomfortably. But continues fighting with her.

“What’s wrong in bringing friends over?”

“Sissy, I fought with Papa to get you out of our small city, so that you can make a life here in Mumbai, and not ‘make a life’ here in Mumbai” Akriti joked.

“I love him, but I am not stupid. And I told you hundred times, that these talks make me uncomfortable.”

“Yes and that is why you can go live-in with ‘Whats his name’, but just don’t bring him in here. It creeps me out as well.” Akriti replied.

“His name is Rohan and yes, let me get a job and I will move out soon.” Sukriti said decidedly.

Both looked each other in the eye. They had nothing but respect for each other.

 

Karan’s place

Karan was playing FIFA in his laptop, when the phone rang. It was his dad. Karan immediately paused the game and started thinking about all the bad things he had done in the last week, that could come back to haunt him.

Surprisingly, we found nothing. So, he turned his thoughts to some bad news. After contemplating a lot, he heard from a distant corner of his brain, ‘Dude, it’s just Dad’s monthly call. Pick up!’

He picked up the phone.

“Hey! Hello Dad!” Karan started first.

“Hello Beta! How are you?”

“I am fine, dad! How about you?”

“I am also good. So, what’s new?”

“Nothing much!”

“Hmm…okay”

“What’s new in our city?”

“Well, nothing much. Same old things in same old city.”

“…”

“…”

Awkward silence was reaching its height, when a silver lining came to Karan.

“What is mom doing?”, Karan leapt for it.

“Yeah, mom is right here. Wait! Let me give her the phone.”, Dad also breathed a sigh of relief. He gave the phone to mom and went to see the TV.

“Haan beta, How are you?.”

“I am good mom. I was just playing football in my laptop.”

“Still playing games. Should’t you be studying for CAT exams?” she asked.

“Oh mom! I am not a kid anymore. I know my priorities.”

“Yeah that’s true, now you have a job, you don’t need to listen to your mom.”

“Emotional blackmail? That came very early today in our conversation. Tell me what happened.”

“Nothing.”

“Mom”

“We found a girl for you.” Mom said happily.

“No No No” Karan managed to say, before getting in shock; a shock that every child has to go through once in his lifetime, at some stage.

To Be Continued…

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Once upon a time – Terror Tale

We had an office group and we planned for a trip to Matheran, a nearby hillstation decorated gracefully by nature. We had heard so much about its huge waterfall and its beauty in the rains. Everybody was excited about the trip and nearly everybody joined. The journey to the upper hills and the different points were fun, but the highlight of the trip was when we started to return.

Image Courtesy: Someone from the group.

We had visited all important points, did some trekking, clicked great photos and were enjoying the clouds at zenith. It was around 3 or 3.30 in the afternoon and time to return was upon us.

As soon as we started, the clouds started collecting, reducing the visibility and little drizzles also started pouring. It was a welcome change in the atmosphere.

We knew the path to return, but someone suggested a new path which would be shorter to return, so for obvious reasons, we took that path.

Little did we knew, that path will make us rewind all the scary movies we have seen in our lives.

We started on the path. On one side, we had this great view of the city kilometers below. If someone were to fall, he/she will have a mini experience of sky diving, before being shattered to pieces. On the other side, we had a hill where forests had taken over.

While walking, we could feel someone was following us and each one of us felt that. And we could listen to a constant sound, as if someone walking in the bushes from the right side of the hill.

At first everybody was joking and having fun, as it was a classic Bollywood(specifically Kaal type) situation. We were throwing small pebbles at each other feet’s and act like we know nothing, to scare them off.

Suddenly the clouds darkened and visibility reduced even further. It must have been around 4 pm, but the darkness corresponded to 7 ‘O clock evening time.

And then we saw the path on which we were travelling, it was laden with fog. So nothing could be seen of the path on which we were travelling. We couldn’t see what lay even 5 meters ahead.

We formed 2 groups and started walking when we came across an electrical pole half fallen on the ground.

It was bent as if wind knocked it over. We came close to realize it was not only knocked down, but it was twisted, as if some monster or devilish power had knocked it in half and then twisted it.

That part scared me the most, still sends chills down my spine when I think about devil work’s on that pole.

Anyways then we moved ahead, scared like Dobby is scared of his master.

We took around 30 minutes of walk and couldn’t see any soul apart from our group. In the whole area, that must have been spread around 5-10 kms, it was hard to believe that no humans were spotted.

We came across a crossing, from where 3 roads originated and we didn’t knew which to take.

Then we all got collected at the junction and sent one person to check on one of the paths.

He went ahead on the right sided path and crossed a curve on the road, so he wasn’t visible to us. After sometime, when he didn’t return, we started shouting for his name. He didn’t answer!

We had to send another person and he repeated the same.

And then we heard a loud thunder and it started raining heavily all of a sudden.

Everybody panicked and started taking out their umbrellas, while some ran for cover. I had to shout at them to stay together. We regrouped again with the exception of the 2 person that were missing.

The two persons later told us that when they started to explore the path, they had heard some sounds like someone watching a TV, so they had moved further away from us to find out the source of the sound. Hearing them come closer, a very old woman in her eighties, came towards them asking something in Marathi. She was wearing a white sari and living alone in that isolated place. She was indicating the direction with her hands and that was enough communication they needed from her. As soon as they understood the directions, they ran away from her.

Anyways, back to the story. Somehow we felt that the right side path is the one that we should take that would make us reach our destination, so we started for that together.

When we reached on the curved path where the two guys got lost, we saw them coming towards us, the smile on their faces indicating that we were okay. Another guy came with them to help us with the path.

We felt a sigh of relief to see another soul apart from us.

I looked back once on the cursed path that we had travelled and then continued our journey.

Though it was not a scary place per se, but the way nature conspired to get us scared was an experience in itself.

 

Mumbai Diaries – Part 5(The One where Nauman can’t talk)

“Are you using the m-indicator app that I provided, while travelling around Mumbai.” Nauman asked Jaya.
“Why would I roam around Mumbai? I hate travelling….” Jaya replied.
Jaya and Nauman met for a coffee date. The rains were expected in a few days and as always happened, every Mumbaikar was pretty excited about the coming rains. The rains brought with it, the comfort and relief, and accompanied by sun dresses, it was the most awaited event after the scorching summers.
This was the time when Mumbaikars, took time off and went on weekend trips to nearby locations. Some went to Lonavla, some to Matheran, some to Mahabaleshwar, while some planned and planned and eventually failed, cursing their group.
“….I just love to spend my weekends reading and cuddling my bed.” Jaya continued.
“Wow, you are a weirdo, stuck in a city like Mumbai”
“I don’t see it that way. Anyways do you know we have a place in Pune called Bhosari. I heard a joke about it, but couldn’t understand it.”
Nauman listened to the joke wide eyed, and he knew he had to change the topic.
“Hah, you don’t need to go far for silly names. Have you ever heard of Chembur?”
“Yeah, I hear about Chembur and my mind goes straight to Harry Potter and Chembur of secrets.”
“Harry Potter….more like the boy who was born in Mumbai. What would the first part be? Harry Potter and Santracruz to Sion?
“Lame.”
“I have a good one for Order of Phoenix…..Harry Potter and Order from Panvel.” Jaya continued.
“How about ‘Patient of Alzheimer’s’ for ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’?”
“That will work” Jaya said a little more awkwardly than she always does.
“What about ‘Goblet of Fire’?”
“It should be ‘Ghatkopar ki aag’?”
“This looks even lamer than RGV ki aag.”
“Haha, it certainly is.”
“Wow, this is awesome. We just made the whole franchise Mumbai based. They should put our conversation in the textbooks of Marathi children. They will learn about their city.”
 
“Give me credit as well, when producers line up at your doorstep.”
“Haha…sure. Anyways I should leave now, as I have an important meeting after this.”
Nauman was going to meet Gaurav to talk about the situation. Neither Gaurav nor Jaya was aware of the special situation that was brewing between them. Day after day, the guilt was getting heavy to carry for Nauman and so he had decided to talk with Gaurav first.
(1.5 hours and 2 local travels later)
 
Gaurav’s home
 
Gaurav was sitting at his home when Nauman comes in.
Nauman sits beside Gaurav somewhat awkwardly.
Gaurav was thinking something before Nauman had rang the doorbell. He tried recollecting but couldn’t.
Nauman knew that nobody would be there at home, so he thought it was good opportunity to talk to Gaurav. Though Gaurav was a localite of Mumbai, he used to live in a rented house, so as to be closer to workplace. It was a pretty common thing in Mumbai, for youngsters to live closer to workplace, for the obvious reasons, plus this also gave them the independence to enjoy night life of Mumbai.
“Bro, I need to talk to you” started Nauman.
“Yeah tell me.”
“Have you ever felt something inside you burning and you have to get it out before it eats you alive?”
Gaurav suddenly remembers what he was thinking.
“Oh yes, what a great coincidence. I was also thinking of similar lines before you came in.”
“Eh?”
“Yeah, you know you feel like that when you are about to puke”
“No I didn’t mean it like that. I mean…like when you have something to say but you don’t how to say”
“Are you in love bro? Because that shit happens only when this kind of shit happens”
“Kind of! Not exactly love…”
“Wow that will work as well. What a great coincidence, I was thinking for a reason to party, and now we have one.”
“You don’t understand what I am going through”
“We are gonna have whiskey today”
“Its such a big fear that is eating up my brain.”
“No beers today, only whiskeys.”
“I can’t seem to understand whether should I tell you or not?”
“Why tell me, go tell her. You know what I have been struggling with my drinking problem too much now. You don’t see me crying about it.”
“This is serious dude. This concerns you as well.”
“I am pretty sure you are concerned for me, but leaving it altogether is not a solution I fancy.”
Nauman understood that nothing is going to work today. So he decided to just roll with the flow.
“Yeah bro, we are concerned, please find something or someone worth leaving this hobby for. I would suggest Breezer, but looking at your current status, I think you would finish the drink along with the bottle.”
“I might.”
“Anyways, I should leave now. Thanks for the talk.” Nauman said sarcastically.
“Anytime mate!”, said Gaurav raising his bottle.
Nauman starts to leave, when Gaurav remembers something and calls Nauman.
“Do you know my sister?”
Nauman freezes to death. It was as if Gaurav was waiting for all the conversation to finish so that he can ask this question.

To Be Continued…

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Mumbai Diaries – Part 4(The One in the Office)

Nauman and Gaurav walked into the office to see Karan and Atush already taking coffee in the pantry area.

“Dude, I told you to wait for us”, Gaurav complained.

“Sorry bro, I have a call to attend, so had to rush early.” Atush explained.

“And you?” Nauman asked pointing to Karan.

“Nothing, I have a KT call to attend to, so that means I am free as a bird. I will join you too. Grab your mugs.” Karan replied winking.

“So, you are not liking your new project?”, Gaurav inquired.

“I must say its incredibly boring. I feel like starting MBA preparations again.”

“Well, as they say, ‘Life is what happens, when you are busy making plans’, I think instead of thinking, you better start doing something.” Gaurav said.

Karan folds his hands in a praying motion. “Please spare me the lecture, and go get your mugs”

Nauman and Gaurav went to get their mugs. Atush also joins them to attend his call. Nauman and Gaurav worked in the same project. While Atush was gaining momentum in his projects working on proposals, Karan had recently joined this office and project. He was taking knowledge transfer(KT) sessions from individuals in his projects to familiarize himself with the work.

Karan started thinking about what Gaurav had said and started searching for inspirations in his mind. A lot of people came; Gates, Jobs, Elon etc. He had to stop his chain of thoughts when Mia also came to his mind.

Meanwhile, Nauman and Gaurav came back.

Then they saw Atush coming with his coffee mug again. Apparently his call got cancelled due to a mild earthquake in Kolkata region. The recurring earthquakes in east India, were making Atush’s life difficult as the workload came to him in absence of the kolkata team. But this time, it returned to give Atush some much needed relief, that heightened his mood.

“Dude, I just saw two HR arm-wrestling over a holiday home.” Atush came running into the pantry area.

“What? Seriously?”, everyone asked puzzled.

“Nah re, just kidding. They were beat-boxing.”

“Oh please shut up and lets talk about something real.” Nauman said.

“Like?” Atush asked.

“Like” said Karan still thinking, “Did you call Akriti yet?”

“No bro, I don’t want to seem so eager. You all saw how different she is. I won’t be doing any standard thing here”

“This is why you should call her soon. Waiting for 3 days to call is the stereotype these days”

“But I don’t want to look needy.”

“Okay, making whole office think you and boss are a Romeo and Romero OR shattering those rumours by calling the girl?”

“I better call her.” He proceeds to dial her number. “By the way, Romero? Really? Is that all you could think of?”

“Go get your gamer Juliet, who kicks your ass.” Nauman was nearly shouting as Atush moves to a more private place to call.

Gaurav turns to Karan
“So, when is your MBA truck moving from thinking stage to doing stage?”

“The driver of the truck has abandoned the truck because of bad

Image Courtesy: Google Images

road conditions.”

“Don’t worry dude, ache din are coming. Your roads would be fine soon”

“Abe what can Modi do, when the truck is shit and….” Karan had to stop as Atush had returned.

He looked distraught and consternated.

Everyone asked him what had happened.

“Some boy answered the phone and said the number doesn’t belong to any Akriti.”

To Be Continued…

Click Here for the next part.

 

 

Mumbai Diaries – Part 3(The One where they Meet)

Few hours before…

“BC, is that my station?”

Nauman tried to decode what Gaurav might have said.

While he was trying to make sense of it all, his eyes set upon a set of eyes even more restless than his. He kind of wished her eyes would rest on him, but ofcourse this was real life, so nothing of that sort happened.

Nauman stood thinking of all the pickup lines as he had mugged up during his desperation days. But he kind of knew that pickup lines won’t be necessary on this girl, not in a ‘him like a casanova and its going to be easy’ kind of a way, but in a way where being genuine would easily work.

He approached her making as concerned face as possible.

“You look lost.”

“Can you tell me which train number will go to Churchgate?” she asked.

“What? Trains don’t have numbers here…”

“Ofcourse they have, how else they will distinguish one from the another?”

“Well that’s true, but…..wait a minute….are you travelling in a local for the first time?”

She nodded embarrassingly.

“Can you help here? Just tell me the train number…I will find out the rest”

“Ohh, enough with the train number. You will need to wait on Platform 3, the Churchgate train leaves from there. This is platform 1.
And you see that train going…that is leaving for Churchgate. So you have solid 20 mins before another one comes.”

“Okay” she said feeling a little relieved.

 “So, first time huh? Did you move to Mumbai yesterday?” he asked hoping to use these 20 minutes effectively.

“Nah, I have been born and brought up in Mumbai only.”

 “Huh…weird”

“Nothing weird, have you seen the rush here.” she explained her predicament.

 “So why now?”

“Just a bet to get a gift.”

 “Care to explain?”

“I will get a new phone if I get a selfie with the Churchgate station.”

 “What kind of competition is this?”

Before she could answer, they were interrupted by a sea of passengers trying to get on the train. They moved to a more central spot on the platform.

 “Do you live here? Weren’t you waiting for that train?” she inquired.

“Ohh, actually I am waiting for my friend, who will be coming shortly here. He just got victimized to the passenger love and couldn’t de-board.”

 “Ohh that’s scary.”

“So please board the ladies coach only. And which reminds me that you should install ‘m-indicator’ into your phone.”

 “Give me your number, I will text you the link to download the cracked version.”

She gave her number with a wry smile and proceeded to uninstall ‘m-indicator’ from her phone.

 “You know once I was on the beach and drew a heart on the sand with my name on it…and the next I know is 7 boy’s names written inside the heart. Please don’t be one of those boys.”
Image Courtesy: Google Images

“No I am not, I am Nauman, by the way”

 “Ooh, I already like your name. Nauman, as in Roadies wala Nauman?”

“Yeah”

 “My name is Jaya, by the way. I should leave now. And yeah don’t forget to text the link, you don’t want me to be lost in Mumbai”.

“Sure”

 They parted ways. He saw the confused girl bumping into people, asking for directions to her train.

…Back to Present

“Did you call her yet?” Nauman asked Atush.

After being flustered in the laser tag game, they were back to the pub, enjoying last few moments of their weekend.

“No dude, let me get home atleast. I have tomorrow’s go live to look for. I have my boss hanging on me like a clingy girlfriend already.”

“Oho, so we have a triangle here.”

“I can bet I will receive a message in next 10 mins regarding his concern over the developed code.”

Everyone looked at Atush’s screen. A notification sound did came, but it was on Gaurav’s phone.

“Shit, its my sister. I have got to buy a new phone now.”

To be Continued…

Click Here for the next part.