Allah Hafiz...

After spending some time in central mall, I went towards the nearest metro station. I inquired about my destination station and boarded into metro. After having a 20 minutes metro ride, I started walking towards my next destination. My next destination was on walking distance from metro station as per GPS. Luckily I found a local guy who knew English. He helped me and directed towards the most probable direction.

After walking for more than 5 minutes, I thought of asking someone, but did not get much help as most of the people were either tourists or non-English speaking. Suddenly I found a shop with the name written Bollywood on it’s board. I entered into shop in hope of getting some help and asked the guy at the counter, 'Can you please help me...'. And the reply what I got was,'hanji, boliye kya madad ker sakta hun main aapki'. I think the guy had been controlling his thrust of speaking in Hindi, so he replied in Hindi even I asked him in English. He introduced himself as Kishan from Banaras and gave a 30 seconds little introduction,' Panch bhai aaye they hum yahan, bade bhai wapis chale gaye Banaras, baki hum yahan Barcelona me, upper wale ki dua se sab badiya chal reha hai'. That introduction was enough to tell me that he was not from Banaras, but just to make me feel comfortable, he said Kishan and Banaras. But for a guy who was not sure of where the way was heading towards and who entered into a shop just by looking at the Bollywood sign board, that Banaras connection was not an important thing until he would get some help. Kishan bhai was really helpful; he dialed the hostel number and came out of his shop just to show me the direction, 'Bus seedhe chalte jao, wo aage jake gali hai, hostels hain wahan pe 1-2'. I thanked Kishan bhai many times and he was just smiling,'koi baat ni ji'.

I headed towards the way which Kishan bhai showed me, but for my surprise soon found traffic lights exploring 4 different directions. I was looking for someone who can guide me and then thought of asking a young couple, who was just passing by me. The guy didn't help much, but girl understood English in bits and pieces. The girl pointed me towards another direction which was completely different than what Kishan bhai mentioned. I started walking towards the direction and stopped in front of a store.

I entered into store to get a water bottle and asked the lady sitting at the counter,'can I get 1 water bottle, please?'. My attempt of sophistication went into vein, when I get reply,'Aap, Pakistan se?' For a fraction of second, I thought whether water bottle is a code for something else which I used by mistake. 'Nahin Hindustan se', I was trying to control my laugh somewhere after using that heavyweight reference  'Hindustan se'. The very next moment  she offered a coke can and said,'thak gaye honge, pi lijiye' and my reply was too much pragmatic,'thanks, bus paani kafi hai'. In reply she opened the coke can and offered me and I again thanked her for the hospitality. 'Hindustan me kahan se?' lady said. 'Dilli se'...achha...'main ye address dhund reha hun,aapko pata hai'. The lady asked the helper in the store, who knew the address in bits and pieces and was very confident that he would find out the hostel. I asked for the bill and the lady started smiling,'koi ni, ho gaya', but after my so much insist she accepted bill from me.

Finally the helper guy’s Spanish, which he learned in that shop only, worked and I was at the reception of hostel. Kishan bhai was right, it was straight from his shop but the road, which was slanting at more than 30 degree angle, was creating confusion.  'koi sa bhi saman chahiye hoga, khana kuch bhi bus phone ker dena ', Fakhruddin said. Hola...hello...'so you are here to attend the marriage', the receptionist girl said. 'You are the third person, who asked me this marriage thing today, what is that?'. 'Ohh, you don't know, see here...it's a millionaire family from India', she said while pointing out to the monitor screen.  'Ok', I said with smile. Finally I took my room keys, had a shower and was ready to go out again. After wandering for another 3 hrs, I had a sleep. 

Next day after visiting Park Guell, I packed my bag and came to the store again. The lady was sitting at the counter, 'hello', I said. 'Aadaab', she said. 'Achha biscuits, cookies honge', I said. 'cookies jyada ache nahin hain, aap biscuits dekh lo, whan hain', she said. I picked up biscuits, water bottle and fruit juice. 'Kitna hua?' I said. She tagged discounted price for me,'aapke liye bus itna'. I paid my bill.

'Achha to fir chalta hun', I said. 'Ok, aate rehna fir, koi aur madad chahiye hogi batana', she said. 'Main ghoomne aaya tha, wapis jaa reha hun', I said. 'Kahan Dilli...mujhe laga aap padte ho yahan, kafi students aate hain yahan padhne', she said. 'Nahin...main France aaya tha, office ke kaam se... to do din ke liye yahan ghoomne aa gaya, wapis France jana hai', I said. 

'Ohho...achha, chalo fir, Allah Hafiz...'she said.

'Allah Hafiz...' I smiled...tightened  my grip on bag and started moving towards another destination...

              

Babloo and ...

'Babloo come here son', Mom smiled. 'Son...have you finished your homework', Mom asked. Babloo smiled in reply. 'I noticed everyday you are going too early on roof, what is special with these kites. You are not going for cycling now a days', Mom said. Babloo again smiled in reply. Babloo went onto roof top and was looking for something. Then suddenly there was a spark in his eyes and he sat on roof floor, just to smile again. Then he was looking into sky and sometimes in the direction where she was also looking towards sky. This girl was the reason why Babloo was too much into kites around those days. Next day he saw her on stationary shop Babloo smiled and she smiled back in reply. They used to pass smile everyday in evening when Babloo used to make his best attempts in kite flying. She used to smile on desperate attempts of Babloo, who really did not know much about kites. Babloo was a brilliant student with sharp memory and some extra sense of humor. 

On new year, Babloo passed a handmade colorful new year greeting card to her with his smile. She stopped Babloo, when he was trying to run from there. She opened card and said wow on beautiful drawing of Babloo. Babloo was there only for 3 seconds, he was so fast that even she did not get chance to wish him happy New Year. One day during kite session in evening she wove her hand, Babloo smiled and wove his hand in return. She asked him to meet at stationary shop, Babloo smiled again. Babloo wanted to see her, but somewhere, something stopped him. Next day weather was not good, it was raining outside. Babloo was looking outside impatiently; he was waiting for rain to stop. 'Babloo, what happened son... today no chance for kite. We will do drawing son, come and what about the drawing which you draw for me, last week you said you would show me', Mom said. Babloo didn't react, he was still looking outside of window. When rain stopped, it was dark outside, Babloo went to stationary shop for new pencil. 'Babloo, why don't you buy a box of pencil son. I noticed your pencils are breaking down quite frequently now days. What you are doing with those pencils', Mom asked. Babloo did not react and went to his room. That whole week weather was not so good, it rained heavily. Babloo was trying to go to roof even in rain, Mom stopped him. Babloo was too much sensitive towards cold and cough. Next week Babloo went on roof top in evening, he didn't touch the kite. His eyes were continuously looking into that direction. Mom came to see him when it was too much dark outside, 'Babloo, what happened son, come what you are doing here', Mom said. Exam days were approaching; soon evening break was going to cut down. The only break he used to take was for roof visit for 10 minutes and sometimes stationary shop visit.

After exam had finished, Babloo's roof visits became long even for 2 hours. Sometimes he used to stand in front of stationary shop for quite a long time without doing anything. That day his father came to stationary shop searching him when it was too late in night. Babloo did not have any school friend in his locality. His school was quite far and most of his schoolmates were from other parts of the town. 

Today when he was standing in front of stationary shop, the helper guy at the shop, who is friend of Babloo came to meet him. Babloo has so many friends from every age group. 'Hey Babloo, what's the matter, I noticed you are coming everyday here, but not coming to our shop ', the guy said. Babloo didn't react, but suddenly the thought came into his mind of asking the helper guy about her. Babloo's facial expression got changed suddenly in next 3 minutes. He ran away from shop straight to his house. 

He didn't say anything to Mom. He took his drawing and started drawing some faces. He broke his pencil; his hands were shaking, he broke his pencil again. He tore out some pages from drawing book and threw away. Mom entered into room. What happened son...Babloo was crying, tears were flooding out of his eyes. It is very rare to see the crying face of Babloo. Even Mom didn't see him crying like this.

Babloo is very smart; he doesn't know how to share his grief. Mom know that her son is in deep sorrow, but even she is not so smart to know the reason behind his tears. Babloo is dumb since birth. He doesn't speak our language. He only speaks language of smile, language of eyes, and language of love.

After exam she has left the town with her family, Golu has gone too far from Babloo, no one knows where.

First time in life Babloo is cursing himself, so far he was living in his own small world and spreading smiles with mom, colorful drawings and countless friends.

Today smile is lost, eyes are flooding and love...    

The Bank died...

Bhaiya...yes...'do you know, Madhav Joshi uncle died', Richa said to Vyom...'What ?' Vyom reacted.

'Arjun uncle called me yesterday; he was asking about you and told to inform you. He knows there are very few who shared laughs with Madhav Joshi uncle and you are one of them', Richa continued.

Vyom was silent for 3 seconds.' What happened to Madhav Joshi uncle?' Vyom asked casually. 'Arjun uncle was telling maybe heart attack,' Richa answered. 'What do you mean by may be, a person died and people don’t know why?'Vyom reacted. 'It was around afternoon and he was found dead lying at his office chair and you know what, there were around 2 Lacs Rupees cash in his Kurta’s pocket,' Richa said.

Vyom didn’t react much.

Madhav Joshi, kind of a bank for some people in a small town somewhere in hills, got a big property in inheritance.  Vyom never heard Madhav bhaisaab, Joshi G or Madhav uncle from anyone; it was always Madhav Joshi, apart from ‘papa’ from Jahnavi didi. 

Vyom was sitting silently; he was not able to recollect what he used to call Madhav Joshi in his childhood. Vyom doesn’t forget things easily, but still he was not able to recall. What he recalled were some voices...hey Neo...ullu ke pathhe...uncle what does this mean ? hahaha bachhe gaali hoti hai ye and then he repeated with his childish voice ullu ke patte...hahaha bachhe gandi baat...don’t repeat this...come we will play Cricket. Just call to Chetan bhaiya, I got a new bat for him. Hey uncle where do Chetan bhaiya live, why doesn’t he live here? Bete Chetan bhaiya lives in his school. What... in school, how come it's possible? How someone can live in school, everyone leaves school after final bell. Hahaha bete Chetan bhaiya goes to a better school and he lives in hostel with other students. Now a days it’s summer vacation in his school, so he is here with us. Uncle what does better school mean. Neo... you ask so many questions, It’s cricket time now, call to Chetan bhaiya. OK. It was a kind of routine for some years, then one day Vyom left the town and moved to another town with his parents, may be for better school. 

After that, once in a year whenever Vyom visited Arjun uncle’s place, he used to go to Madhav Joshi’s place. But Vyom never got a chance to meet Madhav uncle, he was always in his office, busy in meetings or on phone call. Madhav Joshi had a office in his house only and first time Vyom saw trunk dialing phone in his office only. Vyom used to play with those rings on phone with Jahnavi didi. 

Last year, during his visit Vyom was walking on the roof-top of Arjun uncle’s house, Madhav Joshi saw him from his roof-top and he send a guy to Arjun uncle’s place.

'Are you Neo?' The guy said...yes...Madhav Joshi  send me here, he invited you to his place'. 'Ok, I will come in some time,' Vyom said.

'Hey Neo, son...you are looking like a hero , where are you, how are your parents and simmy,'Madhav Joshi said . Vyom greeted Madhav uncle. 'I am good , I am in Delhi,' Vyom said. 'Your name is still Neo or something else? I think it was Neo only when you were here in school,' Madhav Joshi asked. 'No, I discontinued Neo in new school, it’s Vyom now,' Vyom answered. 'Good... Vyom Pratap Singh, but for me you are always Neo,' Madav Joshi said. 'Yes, here everyone calls me Neo only,' Vyom said. 'OK son...come we will have tea,' Madav Joshi said. They had tea in Madhav joshi’s office. 'So, what about your parents, simmy and your younger brother. He looks exactly like you, last year he came here with your mother, I thought it was you. Son what about the future plan, when you are planning to get married, at least I will get a chance to meet your father, he is a gentleman. Do you have visiting card, give me your phone number. Chetan is also there in Delhi, visit him sometimes,' Madhav Joshi continued like a child who doesn’t bother whether someone is listening to him or not. 'I am not carrying my visiting card, but I will write my number for you,' Vyom said. 'Yes, I will call you, it has been a long time to speak with your father,' Madhav Joshi said. In past few years Madhav Joshi got changed a lot, he was a lone person in his own world. His son doesn’t talk to him, his daughter has been through unsuccessful marriage. His eyes were red and wet, the bank was looking so week, not from his structure but from his eyes.

'Ok, I have to go,' Vyom said. 'No, how can you go like that, you will have dinner with us, I will call to Arjun,' Madhav Joshi said. 'No it’s fine, I came today only and will be leaving tomorrow most probably, they have already prepared dinner for me,' Vyom said. 'OK, son...as you wish, convey my regards to your parents, I will call at your number will speak with your father,' Madhav Joshi said.

Ok uncle, bye...bbye...take care son...

After 3 days Vyom got a call on his phone, hello...hey son it’s Madahv Joshi here. Hey uncle sorry, can I call you back in sometime, I am on my way in metro, just reached Delhi...no problem son, I wanted to talk to your father. Take care son...                  

That was the last time when Vyom spoke with Madhav Joshi. 

There was a time when Vyom used to ask silly questions to Madhav uncle, he used to play with him and Chetan bhaiya . That time he was not aware of the fact that Madhav uncle is a bank, but soon after some years he came to know the fact why whole town knows him as Madhav Joshi. Gradually with some years, bank went through bankruptcy, the bank who did not realize the meaning of relations, lost his son long back when he stopped talking to him.

The bank died last week and left so many questions unanswered, all the questions look simple but he ignored them just because they were simple and he was busy in dealing with the other questions. The tragedy is even at the time of his death, the Bank had some pieces of paper, which had some questions written, in his pocket.

from the diary of an air hostess...

Today I am so sad. I don’t want to put any date for today. I am not sure if I will write something again. I am not sure if I will read this diary again. I am lost...

I don’t know why I am going into these flashbacks again and again, why again into those  starting days of my career. I was so fascinated about everything; airports, pilots, watching whole city from the top and the sophisticated business class people. That day when I took snap with Leonardo DiCaprio, somehow I was controlling my excitement. And it went on with so many celebrities from around the globe. I was the luckiest girl according to my friends. Every day I was meeting high class business executives. My friends were feeling jealous of me when I started dating the young dynamic trader from London. And the string of jealousy continued for another 6 years. Then suddenly one day I decided to switch from long hectic flights. That time I was not clear where I would go and suddenly I picked Paris to Nice flight just to give myself excuse that every day I would see beautiful Alps.

My excuse gave me a reason to smile when I got some smiles in return of my plastic smile. Most of those were from kids who smile all the time and from the old ones who were generous. But there was one odd smile from someone who certainly belonged to business class. It was very rare to find that kind of people without goggles. There was some mystery in his smile, that’s why I found it odd on the first time. Then I met the same smile on the next day and somewhere I was happy when I found that smile on the next week as well. Most of the people of his class return back plastic smile but his smile was giving me a reason to smile deep inside. Once I thought of asking Carla about the guy but, then I decided not to. I was asking myself why I am behaving again like that shy school girl, where is the smart air hostess who dated so many business class guys in past.

Around after 1 month, I was standing in front of him while he was reading ‘Sherlock Holmes’. “Sir I know our coffee is not better than your book, but still you would like to have”, I said. “Oh please don’t give me so respect, I need to write 1 book like this to get the respected title, you can call me Brendan”, he said with smile. “Sugar sir?” I said. “Please no sir, yes extra sugar”, Brendan said. “How is the book sir, err... Brendan, you found it interesting”, I said. “Yes, it’s interesting of course from a Sir and your coffee is also good”, Brendan said. The announcement inside plane was telling me that there are other people as well who need coffee. I was so happy after a while. I came back from work, searched my diary and wrote down my random thoughts. What was happening to me, Brendan’s blue eyes were in front of me all the time. Every day I used to stand in front of mirror just to see my smile. I wanted to say the whole world “see, I do smile as well, it’s not plastic smile. I don’t care, if you don’t know; Brendan knows this.” 

 

That day I collected all my courage and asked him for coffee. Next day we had coffee and my diary was filled up with poetic thoughts.  I used to read those pages again and again. I was curiously waiting for the next coffee. We had the next coffee in beautiful Nice. That fine blue color of sea was looking so damp in front of Brendan’s eyes. I wanted to stop the time just to lose inside those deep blue eyes. We walked through the pedestrian beside the sea line. Some movie kind of thing was happening with me and it was only the sound from sea coming into my ears. I was just watching his lip moments and lost deep inside his blue eyes. We continued to roam around and started to talk more openly with each other. We talked about love, life, religion, art and so many other things. We had dinner and after dinner decided to go somewhere else for coffee. Suddenly his cell phone started ringing. Brendan got an urgent call and our date was coming to end. But the good thing was, we shared our phone numbers. We did not set the next date, I thought next time I would give a surprise call to Brendan. My diary again filled with my random poetic thoughts. Somewhere inside I was thinking if it’s real or some kind of dream. Next week I prepared some cookies and gave 1 box of cookies to him. Next day I got my box filled with Belgium’s fine chocolates. Now I was waiting for the perfect day. Eiffel was calling me to lock my love with Brendan. I was remembering my first visit to Eiffel. It was my first day in Paris, I went alone to Eiffel. I took so many snaps of city from Eiffel. I saw  2 locks tied to the net wall of Eiffel and decided that one day I would lock my love with someone. Brendan was giving me reason to visit Eiffel again.

Last Monday I was waiting curiously to see the blue eyed guy, but he didn’t come. I thought of calling him if everything is fine, but did not call. Every day was same in the week, every day I thought of calling him but did not. Finally I went to Nice and called him. His phone was switched off. I tried again and again but every time got the switched off reply from other side. I messaged him, in hope to get reply in message. I was losing my control; I called again, messaged again but no reply. Next day I got so many message delivery failed messages in my phone, I again forwarded those messages. I have sent many messages but did not receive delivery failed message for all. What happened to other messages, have they reached? 

It’s Sunday, no its Monday now, its 1:25 AM. I really don’t want to remember this day. No, I really don’t want to remember this whole week. No, I don’t want to remember anything. So many thoughts are coming into my mind, but...

Amelie is lost; don’t know if she will write this diary again...