Anindita's Escapade Part 4 : The Girl with The Solution

 

“So that we are very sure what we are putting in front of the committee.” Naveen smiled. He was going to follow that up with a joke, Anindita thought. She had a sense about these things. She could feel jokes coming from a mile away. Even as it is being conceived in another’s brain. This has got to be the lamest superpower ever. She thought, smiling.

Sure enough, the joke followed. “Granted, for us to do that, we have to know what they want and thus they have to know what they want.  Which, sure as we are sitting here, they don’t and so we don’t.” Naveen chuckled. “Effing Morons!”. Riya snorted with laughter while sipping on her lemonade.

Mohit raised his glass with a “You said it Boss!” and let out a half laugh and half sigh. He knew in his bones that not knowing what people want generally translated into multiple rework requests on review decks.  

Anindita looked around for the waiter, maybe she should have another iced tea. It was going to be a long day. That’s when it happened again. She felt another prick in her right eye. Again she pushed at her eye ball from over her eyelid with one finger. Careful not to smudge her kajal. But this time the prickly feeling didn’t go away. It just turned into a constant feeling of irritation.

“Oh god! Its prickling me now” Anindita said out loud without really meaning to. “You and me both lady. You and me both!” murmured Naveen. “May be we should talk to them for some clarity” he went on.

“No! My eye. My eye is bothering me since a while ago and I am wearing lenses. Without which I am practically blind” Anindita explained.

“Just take them off and wear your glasses” Riya suggested. “Well, I don’t have my glasses, lens container or solution. So as you can see, I am totally in control of this situation. That seems to be our theme today”.  

“Stupid woman!” Riya said. “That’s fair” quipped Anindita. She excused herself with “I think I need to go look at it in the washroom”.  

Mohit started sniggering. “Oh! Grow up will you?!” barked Riya. “She is talking about her eye”.

“That wasn’t made clear” murmured Mohit.

Anindita made her way to the washroom. She expected a small albeit clean washroom as was typical to these traditional yet urban restaurant in Chanakyapuri, Delhi. On the way to the washroom, she crossed the maître d patiently explaining to a couple why that variant of a dish was not possible to be served at this time of the year. She crossed the bar and turned right for the washroom.

Two young ladies were standing in front of the closed washroom door chit chatting. Anindita put her hand over her eye and pressed on it for effect. Without saying so she wanted to get ahead of the line because hers was an emergency. The girls looked at her from top to bottom and resumed their tales. Anindita leaned against the wall and waited.

After what felt like an eternity, the washroom was finally available to her. She entered and found a somewhat clean washroom. She stood in front of the huge wall mirror leaning over the sink and tried to see what was going on in her eye. It had turned reddish from all the poking and pressing.

She had been using lenses for years now. She had gotten so good at it and had so little trouble with it that she never really carried any lens solution or spare glasses. She chided herself. You deserve it, she thought to herself. Why are you never prepared?!

As much as she was admonishing herself now, she knew she would carry on living the exact same way in the future. And that enraged her even more. You ARE stupid, Anindita. Stupid and incorrigible. I have to take the lens out now and I need some solution to put it back in. No tap water won’t do, she thought. She had learned that from experience.

She was in the middle of the self-admonishing exercise when the washroom door made a noise behind her as it opened. Anindita jumped and turned around with a start. A woman was standing looking at her, holding the door open.

“Hey! I am in here!” complained Anindita, loudly. “Hey! I am so sorry. I just saw that the door was opened and I.. I am sorry. I will wait here” the woman smiled.

“Ah.. no problem. I should have locked the door. Don’t worry about it.” Anindita heard herself saying gruffly while turning back to the mirror. Her mood slightly improved on hearing the woman apologize.  

She was still deciding whether to pull the lens out and spend the rest of the day seeing through one eye. Or alternatively, going back home to get her glasses or lens solution. Or may be a pharmacy nearby would help. That’s when she noticed in the mirror that the woman was still looking at her through the partially open door.    

Anindita turned around and said, “This washroom can only occupy one at a time, really.” What ever happened to privacy, she thought. The woman smiled and said, “Are you having trouble with your lenses?”. Anindita turned back to the mirror and said “Yup”, and I am not in the mood for chitchat, she thought. She wanted to close the door on the woman’s face but decided against it out of curtesy. Wait your turn lady, I waited mine.

“I have solution, do you want some?” the woman offered. Anindita spun around and stared at her blanky. She was suddenly out of words in the face of kindness from a stranger. She felt her lips were smiling. “You do? ‘Cause that would be God sent!”. Suddenly she felt bad about yelling at the woman.

Instead of a bottle of solution, she pulled out a pack of disposable lens that was stored in solution and handed it to Anindita. “You can just take the solution and throw out the lens.”

“Umm..” Anindita was even more baffled than before. “That will cost you. Can I please pay you for the lens then?” she offered. “Arre.. just fix your eye first. It’s nothing.” the woman smiled.

“Thank you so much.. I really don’t have words to thank you.” Anindita turned around feeling grateful and ripped the lens case open. There was just enough solution there to help her eye.

Once done, she turned and opened the washroom door to thank the woman again and may be insist on buying her a drink. But there was no one there. She stepped out and looked around, but she couldn’t spot her. Riya had spotted her though and yelled across the floor, “what’s going on? You, okay?”. Anindita nodded a yes, distractedly.

She thought about asking the maître d if the tall stylish looking woman who was just standing here was seated on another floor but it looked like he had his own problems.

She walked back to her table. “I am fine now, thanks to this lady who offered some kindness, but she just vanished”.

“A lady offered some kindness in the washroom?” smirked Naveen.

“These things happen to Anindita only.” Mohit said jokingly.

“Never has this kind of thing happened to me ever. I never expect kindness from strangers in Delhi at least” said Anindita. “Well never is a strong word, but still. This is certainly rare.”

“Well what do we do about the review deck then?” Riya asked.

“I think we should just sit across the table with them and listen to them with some understanding and kindness. That will tell us where to go from here”. Anindita replied feeling calm and wise.

Everyone at the table looked at her in unison. “Mata Anindita, what happened in the washroom?” asked Naveen.

Anindita smiled.      

To Human is Beauty

Beauty so pure figures in fear;

As lust takes your hand in pleasure and desire;

When the heart really listens

To the agony of the ticking clock;

Or in the freedom of a poem

That does not have to rhyme;

When the flame licks the candle wet;

And a farmer's family cries in debt;

When silence is all that has remained

Of a union prolonged in vain;

When the poetess rapes the poem and makes it rhyme;

In a tattered book with stains and tea rings;

In a battleship, broken, run down;

To human is beauty..

The Seven Ways of Words

They traded in hands and lips
And legs and hips.
We had but words and eyes
And a thousand smiles.. 

They thought us dead and cold
But we had those words..
Words to build or yield,
Words that glare and bare,
Words of night and might,
Words that hit the crescendo..

Word merchants we aren't
We have nothing and yet..
You keep coming back

For the world today
Sell dust away
But when you come home
You want but words and eyes
And a thousand smiles..

Let Go..

Conform, submit

Crawl in bit by bit

To the hollow soul pit

Sink into defeat

Drag in a rugged breath

Choke on the threat

Let hatred bathe

Body in slimy faith

Then the bottom gives way

To hell fire and dismay

Breeds rage, no pain allay

It’s a shame if you stay

Crawl out, come out

From man’s human bouts

Fall though the purging route

Let go the damning clout

Unburden, unarm

Let them spin harm

Charm, disarm

Never return to the anger farm

We Die Together

Tonight they say is The Final Battle
A silence profound does rattle
From a hundred men away
I am bound to you without sway

So if we die, we die together

Stepped out the door on a winding road
Seeking glory, a seat in the board
Holding a locket and a letter
As the only home ward tether

So if we mourn, we mourn together

Many came and many left
Along the days and nights bereft
Some that called me brother
We are still together

So if we die, we die together.

We ate the mountains and drank the seas
We lit the caves and moved debris
We all miss our mothers
We are still together

So if we die, we die together.

I see the fire that swallowed your King
He chose merchants’ fights over soldier rings
So much will burn tonight
Under the starry light

So if we burn, we burn together.

You are my father, captain and king
Each arrow wound, each sword swing
Noble in death, glory in loss
Hardened by icy winds and ocean toss

So if we drown, we drown together.
If we mourn, we mourn together.
If we burn, we burn together.
If we die, we die together..

The Unsung Hero

Freedom is overrated.

It isn’t life or death any more

There is no land to fight for

Mundane lives with settled drives

People leave behind

To live another night

Never turning back

Nothing bottled on the rack

This is what you sing of?

This is what you yearn for?

What about the Unsung Hero

Who keeps the furnace alive?

Like a wall he stands there

Forgotten, forbidden to move

Do you think he could nt leave?

Freedom he can’t conceive?

Well he chooses to be the wall

So you could scale it and jump

To the other side and run free

And he smiles to see you happy

He is forgotten still

A man of resolute will

He keeps the furnace alive

Come see the passion in his eyes..

Anindita's Escapade Part 1 : Soul Corruption

Anindita walked up to the girl standing in front of the ATM, involuntarily humming one of the latest tacky numbers that the FM fed her. She stood in line behind the girl and wondered if the girl had heard her song and was judging her.  She would stop if she could. But no respite.

The girl was now waiting in anticipation. Instead of cash, a slip came out. ‘She is checking her balance, this will take a while’, thought Anindita followed by ‘excellent deduction, Sherlock!’

That’s when it happened. The girl picked up the slip, looked at it and let it fly. The slip landed on the otherwise clean floor, some inches from the trash can. The song in Anindita’s head stopped and was instantaneously replaced with an all consuming rage. Her mouth flew open to say something utterly nasty but nothing came out. Like so many times before, whenever she wanted to yell at people or at least say something rude her brain went on verbal lockdown. ‘Great’ she thought, ‘now I won’t be able to say anything, because you know, be nice! ’

But even if her vocals had decided to elude her, she was not going to let that girl just walk out of there. Anindita silently bent over, picked up the slip and put it in the bin. This had caught the attention of the girl who was now pulling money out of the machine. She looked at Anindita, who passed her a pleasant smile and stood up straight. The girl did not reciprocate the smile but she crumpled the next slip that came out of the ATM and stuffed it in her pocket, turned around and left without a word.

After Anindita’s consultation with the ATM and doing a minor damage to the available balance, the machine asked her to have a nice day. “Thank you Miss” said Anindita. “Frankly you are much nicer than some people I have the privilege of being around. You come with simple instructions, slip out money, say nice things and well what do you know, I am talking to myself again!”

  

She turned around to find another guy standing behind her, looking at her quizzically. “Cats are nice, have a good day” said Anindita. With a roaring laughter inside her head she wondered if he would ever relate cats to being light footed and go ‘Oooh’.

Anindita turned the corner, went and sat on one of the empty food court tables. She pulled out her book to avoid looking at the mall she was in. She hated malls. They all looked the same to her. She resigned herself to a long wait for her religiously never on time friend.

The words “How’s the Royal Subject?” floated on to her phone’s locked screen.

“Not bad, My Lord. How’s your side of the planet?” she typed out and hit send, smiling.

“Good. Well what is she doing?” asked her phone.

“You know, good deeds, clean thoughts, the usual”.

“We can’t have that now, can we?”

“Why? What did you have in mind?” Anindita tried to relax her jaw in the fear that she might creep someone out on the nearby tables. Since when was not smiling so hard?

The phone said, “a little conversation with The Devil so that I could check ‘Soul Corruption’ off my list for today.”  

“One would think The Devil would need some rest after all that soul corruption from last night. In fact, was n’t it well past 4am when you finally typed ‘Gunnyt Ani’?” inquired Anindita. “Plus, I am at this food court table smiling like the mentally unstable Joker, thinning the crowd around here. Not good for business.”

“Smiling is good. The smile can work wonders, you know.”

“For whom, smile-er or smile-ee?” asked Anindita.

“Haha… for the good hearted, Little Miss.”

“Lol.. yeah, nothing’s little here” said Anindita

“You shall have to substantiate that with evidence.”

“How does one give evidence of a big heart?” Anindita hoped her friend would be indefinitely delayed.

“You have a very nice ‘heart’ from what I recall, would not call it big.”

“Well everyone’s entitled to their opinion. By the way, when I say heart, I mean heart. Don’t go drifting with the quotes” Anindita shot back.

“Damn! I always thought ‘heart’ was a euphemism” the phone replied.

  Anindita proclaimed, “You are going to the dogs! There's your euphemism.”

“And I always thought it was best described as an idiom.”

Anindita Googled ‘euphemism’ and then typed out. “Euphemism : The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt or offensive. Thus, 'going to the dogs' substituting 'a pervert' is as good a euphemism as any in my books”. Then she hit ‘Send’.

“Alright, alright, you have a big heart. Happy?”

Just when Anindita typed out “Very” with a smiley and sent it, she was brought back to the mall by a voice that said, “I can’t believe you are so late! It’s been hours since I have been sitting here waiting for you! Time is money my friend, haven’t you heard?”

Anindita just stared at her friend and smiled, “I am extremely sorry for your loss, Chiti. How can I make it up to you?”

Chiti took the chair opposite Anindita, clearly bemused at the lack of an expected outburst.

“You are shamelessly happy! Who were you talking to?” asked Chiti comprehension slowly dawning in her mind.

Anindita locked her phone and slid it into her purse, “No one”.