Hey Dad! Meet My Mom (2 page)

I was sitting and working in my cubicle for over 3 hours now. I hadn’t even taken a pee break! There was still a lot of work to be done, but my body was denying going ahead anymore without taking a break. I closed the file and stretched my neck. The whole branch was looking like a fish market.

I was working in an SBI bank as a Branch Manager and for the whole day I had nothing to do except sitting in my glass-walled cabin and staring at either the file lying in front of me or the working of the branch, watching different customers and at times dealing with them as well.

Today the crowd was twice the normal because bank holidays were to start from tomorrow for three consecutive days.

The crowd was slowly getting impatient as the time for closing was approaching. I stole a glance at the wall clock; it was already 4:10 pm.
I better start working again.
Instantly I changed my focus from the outside to the inside of my cabin.
But wait!
There was something out there that needed to be watched. I felt a sudden, strong attraction and decided to give it a look.

She was standing at the entrance gate, looking perfect in her white denim and red top. A piece of cloth was covering her face, just the eyes were visible. I felt something unusual; that was a strong impulse of watching her. I desired her to remove that veil from her face and let me see the face of the owner of such beautiful and attractive eyes.

She looked a bit worried, maybe because of the large crowd out there. She kept moving around here and there for quite a long time and then approached an old guy; asked him something and finally joined a queue.

I kept on staring at that girl and while doing so, many customers noticed me gawking at her.
‘How cheap is this manager?’
is what most of them must’ve been wondering, as I could make out from their facial expressions. But nothing made me quit. One after another she kept on advancing in the queue. Several times I planned to come out and sit at the counter where the girl was standing, but dropped the idea each time, continuing to stare at her without blinking. That was the moment in my life when I forgot everything but that girl.

Finally, she could get her work done and was about to leave. I stood up from the chair, wanting to follow her. This was the first time in my life that I was getting so impatient for a girl. I reached the door of my cabin, opened it but finally gave up. I was almost frozen. I saw her removing the cloth and freeing her hair tucked inside it. Her back towards me, I saw each of her long hair strands dancing upon getting freed. They were appearing like small kids jumping on the air filled Mickey Mouse house. That was the moment when everything around me disappeared and instantly my heart called out to her and requested her to turn back; turn back for once and let her face brighten my life. But she didn’t listen. She moved out; but left a strange smile on my face.

Finally, she could get her work done and was about to leave. I stood up from the chair, wanting to follow her. This was the first time in my life that I was getting so impatient for a girl. I reached the door of my cabin, opened it but finally gave up. I was almost frozen. I saw her removing the cloth and freeing her hair tucked inside it. Her back towards me, I saw each of her long hair strands dancing upon getting freed. They were appearing like small kids jumping on the air filled Mickey Mouse house. That was the moment when everything around me disappeared and instantly my heart called out to her and requested her to turn back; turn back for once and let her face brighten my life. But she didn’t listen. She moved out; but left a strange smile on my face.

I exhaled and remained glued till I saw him. He was looking in my eyes and was smiling while licking his lollipop. He was looking familiar, but I couldn’t recognize him. He was a kid of about 10 years of age. There was a constant smile on his face, a smile of mischief. He had caught me in the whole act. He was lifting one of his eyebrows continuously as if asking me,
‘Huh! What was that, you dirty fellow?’
I felt embarrassed, so I rushed back to my chair. I acted as if I was busy, but the whole episode was still revolving in my head.
It was sheer stupidity.

I attempted to get a sneak peek outside the cabin to look at the kid once more. He was not there. I felt relieved.

I could see children playing in a field. I smiled at them but they didn’t respond. They started running away from me. I chased them. I saw them entering the graveyard. I followed them. They disappeared like smoke in open air. That day was a bit foggy. I could see someone sitting over a grave. I could see the blurred image of someone. A girl? Maybe. I don t know why but I went closer to her. I wanted to see her. The fog started to clear and so did her image. I was standing just behind her. I leaned a bit forward to see her face. Blood drained out from my face when I found that she had no face. I screamed. I turned back and wanted to rush back to where I had come from. But before I could turn back, she grabbed my hand. I looked at her again, at her faceless face. But this time she had her face back, she was that girl, that same girl.

“Please save me, Puneet. ” She pleaded and then screamed........

Chapter 2

Just once I want to clasp her.
Just once I want her to appear.
Just once I want her name whispered.
Oh! You angel, I want you to conquer.

S
itting alone on the last corner seat, next to the glass window, which, from the outside read ‘Maya Cafe Coffee Day’, continuously stirring my freshly prepared (or you can say freshly ordered) coffee, was my favorite time pass. After a hectic day at the bank, I was in true need of this coffee.

Maya, the owner of this coffee shop was my sole female-friend. I could have just stated that she was my girlfriend, but then things would strike a little odd because of her age. She was about my mother’s age, but nobody would dare call her ‘Aunty’. She always said that she was as fresh as her coffee. She was the only one who knew me more than I knew myself. I had been a regular customer of her coffee for over 5 years and it was not only because of the coffee but also because she had been my partner in loneliness. She was the only one who always understood my dilemma. She too was unmarried and said that she enjoyed her “single” status a lot. According to her, marrying without love was like pouring sugar in the cup of coffee for a customer suffering from diabetes. Well frankly, I never understood her choice of examples and reasoning, but yes, I could see the main motive and grasp the moral of the story.

Now getting back to that special day, I was still busy stirring the spoon in my cup and was remembering the whole girl and the boy act. It was really....... ah.... ummm.....

“Disgusting?”

I was surprised after hearing the word. I instantly turned my gaze from the coffee cup to the boy sitting in front of me.
‘How could he have read my mind? And what the hell was he doing here?’

He was the same ‘lollipop’ kid I had seen in the bank. He was in his school uniform. I don’t know whether that lollipop was permanently stuck in his mouth because he was licking it again. His clothes, his mouth and even some parts of his hair had gotten sticky. It was disgusting.
Disgusting!

I needed to ask him something, but couldn’t frame the apt question in my brain.

“Hey Dad!” He said and again started licking, of course, his lollipop, what else?

Excuse me, what had he just said?
Dad!?!
Truly! I believed he had mistaken me with somebody else. These kids, I tell you! When I was in the 10th standard, I used to give tuition to about 30 students of his age and I knew exactly how naughty they could be!

“OK, big boy What are you doing here and what’s so disgusting?” I narrowed my eyes and attempted to sound a little friendlier.

“Actually ” he was spitting out while trying to talk so I had to pull that sucker out of his mouth and then let him go on, “I am here for my dad and what I found disgusting was his manner of dealing with girls”, he finished and that sounded a bit mature for a 10 year old, lollipop sucking boy.

“So where’s your dad?” I asked, leaning forward on the table.

“Here!” he said, copying me in leaning forward and my gestures.

I turned around and found a man sitting alone and continuously looking back and smiling. I realized that this must be the boy’s father. So the ‘lollipop boy’ must have had a conflict with his father.

“So you bunked your classes?” I asked to further continue our conversation. I didn’t know why, but I liked the kid.

“No, I got expelled.”

“So is that why you had a fight with your father?”

He said nothing.

“Listen... What’s your name?”

“Rishi”, he said and something hit me. I remembered the name. I exhaled and tried to forget what I almost thought of. There are some chapters in the book of our lives which are better buried deep in our memories, so deep that even we can’t dig them back out.

“So Rishi, do you know there are some people in life that we sometimes identify as villains? They talk like villains, they act like villains, and they do all sort of unimaginable things, but the enigma lies in the way they execute these affairs. Because if they don’t mismanage things, how would ‘the hero’ get the chance to do the right thing? For turning you into a champion, your father tries to be a scoundrel. That’s the basic principle.” I had got so excited in my own theory that I hadn’t noticed that the whole coffee shop was now staring at me and the boy had a puzzled expression on his face.

“So if I were you, I would patch up with my dad.” I finally managed to conclude
‘my speech’.

“That’s what I am doing.”

“What?” I didn’t get what he wanted to convey with those words.

“I mean.... ah... that...” He was trying to speak out something when I saw her again through the window glass. She was there, just outside the cafe. I was looking at her and she was busy having a fight over the phone. Once again, I could only see her back. I wished that she would turn, just this once. I wanted to see her, adore her beauty, carry her face to my dreams and talk to her for hours.

I was lost in her when someone shook me. It was the boy, Rishi, again.

“What?” I demanded in defeat.

“If I were you, I would have followed her and not just wished for her to turn.” He said and started licking his lollipop again which he snatched from my hand and departed. She too, left at the same time.