ক্ষতি নেই মিথ্যে বলায়/ ভালো আছি

Remember those one liners, you do not know how strong you are unless/until being strong is the only option you have. Or something like that. I do not know if surviving= strength. I would like to think it is. I would also like to think the Gods would be fair someday. Someday? Okay so the tales.

Character intro needed? Okay!
Piya was always the heart of the group, “Bachcha” as they called her, actually had the heart of a child. No, she was not stupid but she sincerely lacked the grey mindset. She thought and reacted in binary, either a yes or a no, either full or zero. I have always believed that there is a LOT to learn from this girl.

It was her first anniversary of living away from home, the City of Joy. All of us who had lived and experienced this city, know, how much it can spoil you with its ever so generous self. After a lot of turmoil and ups and downs, she was wondering how much life had changed or has it not? The long weekend that would start all alone, because everyone else was too busy with themselves, appeared all the more gloomy because the love of the life of course was at his indifferent best. Only therapy: watching Queen for the umpteenth time. Because? ‘Ami eka ekai khushi thakbo’. Told you, there’s a lot to learn from this kid.

So,
10:30pm and the lanes and sub lanes of Magarpatta are not exactly the best combo for a young girl, especially when you HAVE to step out of your flat alone to buy a tampon on your second day of menstrual cycle. So why 10:30 and why alone? Because Piya works hard at Pune, travels far, so obviously reaches Magarpatta late, and did not have the luxury of the boyfriend travelling to her from a different city three times a month for company or whatever it is, or the luxury of having roommates (because everyone went home) for company before the long Easter weekend. So, she was all by herself, in her pyjamas and a dupatta of course because, you know, too much testosterone all around at night. Now if you live at Kormangla with friends or at Ballygunge with “friends” and compare the 10:30pm with Magarpatta, well dear reader, IQ how much?

Therefore on the one year completion of being independent literally, at 11pm, she returned to an empty ‘home’ at Magarpatta, with tampon and to the half watched ‘Queen’, after getting it from the shop wali aunty and facing a group of men who probably were wondering what she is carrying or they knew. Not a Nobel winning performance this most certainly but then, now her grandchildren will have one more story to be heard. Well actually, two more.

Character intro needed? You won’t get.

So,
8:30pm on a Friday night at Marathalli. The entire Bangalore either rushes towards Kormangla-IndiraNagar or towards KalyanNagar-Hebbal for the weekend booze dose and Marathalli being the connecting road to both these places, gets ALL the cars that there can be. Now about this part of Bangalore, you must never NEVER wait for cars to stop to cross the road, they won’t. You cross the road when you want and the cars would stop. Clear? Except for Fridays when cars would never stop and road crossing needs you to be flash quick.

So she crossed the left service road, the left main road and was catching her breadth on the central divider before crossing the right main road and right service road on one such Friday night. And? She tripped on the divider right at the right footstep and that very moment God decided to let her live a few days more. Result? The chappal (non-branded from Commercial footpath) got torn and she fell on the divider itself and not on the road.

Now what? Yes, Thank You to the Gods for letting her live but now? Chappal torn and the possibility of limping with the torn chappal on the main road Friday crossing, is like giving away the life that has just been saved, in gift wrap to the Gods. So, the pampered girl who had never known what it is to wear a chappal which does not match the top, threw both the chappals on divider and walked bare foot. Crossed right main road, crossed right service road, got glances, walked alone for 5 minutes right to the Bangalore shelter.

Now if you are extremely used to being picked and dropped in daddy’s car or taxi, or have never worn anything other than branded sandals, you won’t understand my ‘princess’. This again was not a Nobel winning performance but then, to do this and a lot more, ALL by yourself is not as easy as it seems, especially when your confidence has become the size of a half peanut, all thanks to all the buggers you love so dear.

Cheers to? Happy pretensions and Independence :)