Soliloquy unleashed

"Are bhai rukiye na,kaahe albalaye hue hain. ek ek k karke na milega tikatwa sabko" I could hear the ticket collector for the bus plying from Jamshedpur to Ranchi vent out his frustration as various 100 rupee notes tried to poke into his nose. I could not help but smile at the words ,the dialect ,the place. I knew I was back to the land I had started from. And for some reason it gave me an innate sense of relief. So I went ahead and shamelessly joined the crowd in poking a 100 rupee note into the ticket collector's nose."Ek ticket idhar dena bhaiya; Aage ka seat dena". For the moment I had forgotten the more civilised method of getting things done by queing up or the luxuries of online reservation system I was so used to.I knew my land and how to get things done here. This 'poking the 'thing' into the nose' tactic was ingeniuosly brought to use by us in college days when we had to get our "NO DUES" done before every semester. When there...

Scene I, Ranchi: “Promise me , You’ll have two boiled eggs everyday for breakfast before leaving for the plant.” My mother was virtually in tears as she stuffed my travel bag with almost everything edible she could find. On earlier occasions I would audit the packing she would carry out religiously and do away with superfluous eatables.” Less luggage, more comfort” I am a firm believer…Unfortunately my mother isn’t. This time she was not even ready to let me have a look, leave alone the screening. And she had reasons strong enough. I was leaving for Pune after two months of medical leave at home and somehow the doctor had managed to convince my parents that the reason for my prolonged ailment was my carelessness towards diet. So I had been through long sessions on what to eat ,how to cook etc. Unfortunately this time around my mother had the support of everyone else in the family. And I had to abide by. Scene II, Pune: Day-Thursday, Time:11 am. I am off my bed wandering in my apartment...

“Hmm”….The doctor gave a gentle nod as he scanned the anatomy of my lungs which lay glowing in front of him thanks to William Roentgen. I looked on helplessly as a student dreading to hear the word “FAIL” from his class teacher. The doctor put down the spectacles on the table and began – “Seems you have been enjoying your freedom over here too much, too much of smoking and drinking going on?” I was caught unaware at such a stark remark but then the Hindi film dialogue echoed in my ears “You should never lie to your doctor and lawyer”. I confessed sheepishly and the doctor carried on. “You have asthmic bronchitis and you need to quit smoking immediately. I am writing you some medicines. Have them for a week and then we will meet to see the improvement.” I nodded gently and as I started to open the door the doctor intervened with his fat finger wagging at me “Remember, NO SMOKING”. “Yeah Yeah NO SMOKING “ I tried to imitate, much to the surprise of the secretary who sat outside for the b...