Footprints

O liver   “Attention; Air India Flight 479 to London will begin boarding shortly. Passengers are advised to have your boarding pass and identification ready. The inconvenience is deeply regretted.”  Oliver gritted his teeth. That was the fourth time the exact same announcement was being made at the F2 boarding gate within the last hour. His patience was wearing thin. He’d never been late for a flight before, but this morning was different – he’d been feeling weird. His alarm didn’t go off, his coffee pot broke, his watch stopped working and his 4K Nike running shoes split from its quarter to the vamp! He wasn’t one of those who believed in the signs, but it was certainly too much of a coincidence – and he knew better than to ignore it.  His phone rang and he picked up immediately, “Ma?”  “ Beta ?” his mother’s voice was calming. “ Kahan pohunche ?” (transl.: “Son, where have you reached” in Hindi)  “Reached the airport over an hour ago Ma,” he said,...

  February 2018   She was scrolling through his profile again, clicking on his pictures, zooming in and out, not sure of why she was even doing it. A soft tap on her forehead made her look up from her phone. He pulled the covers off her face, plopped a pillow upright against the headboard and got into bed with her, laying against the pillow while she nestled into him.  “You’re cold,” she said.  “Am I?”  “No, I’m just warmer,” she smiled. He patted the top of her head with his right hand. “I can’t remember the last time you’ve been gone this long!” She was whining.  “I wanted to see what you would do,” he said. “Seems like I missed a lot eh?” he asked. She looked up at him. He was smiling but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.  “You’re disappointed.”  He shrugged his shoulders lightly, “I thought you would wait for me and hear my opinion and then decide.”  She didn’t take her eyes off him, “No, you just didn’t want to be here whe...

  He was smiling awkwardly.  His light blue shirt was now clinging to his slightly overweight torso but his black slender trousers looked comfortably snug.  He had a black bag that seemed heavy but looked light with the way he had it casually over his left shoulder. “Thanks!” she said to the man slightly taller than her.  He made a ‘swipe-left’ with his hand, “You don’t have to.”  “I don’t have to what?” she looked at him.  He looked away, “Pretend to have to talk to me just because of what happened back there.”  Confused, she blinked for a second, “I just wanted to know what made you do something; compared to the rest of the people on this train.”  He looked over at her and looked away again smiling, “My father says we should treat everyone like someone’s son or daughter.”  “Huh.” She raised her eyebrows, “So you’re saying that treating someone’s son involves stomping them on their feet?”  “Oh yes! Especially if you can...

 Running down the stairs – trying not to jump two at a time, she almost cursed under her breath. She was running late by half an hour.  “I’ll be here before 6pm Ma,” she’d said that morning while leaving for college.  “ Ji , aajana, warna tumhe saree pehenke Metro se aana padega!” (transl.: ‘you’d better, else you’ll have to ride the Metro wearing a saree’ in Hindi), her mother had told her and she’d been horrified. The Delhi Metro in the evening was not the best mode of transport to attend a family friend’s wedding reception.  At the queue, she checked her wrist-watch again – 6:35pm. The previous metro had been headed to Central Secretariat; and so was the next one. ‘Doesn’t matter,’ she thought, ‘I’ll just change in between.’ She breezed through the security check and entry gates and took the flight of stairs down to the platform. She made it just in time before the doors closed and she let out a gratified sigh. The pianist began playing his tune and she pi...

  “Ma, she’s running all over the place!” Jo was finding it hard to speak.  “What are you saying?” Jo’s mother was squinting and covering her ears, “I can’t hear you.”  “Wait, let this be over.” Jo tilted her head towards the window. Her mother nodded back. Then came a three second window and Jo all but shouted rapidly, “Ma, Ali is running all over the place, kya kare (transl.: ‘What to do’ in Hindi)?”  The feline was running from one corner to the other of the house, trying to stay away from the side where the most noise was coming from. “Let’s close the windows of that room and put her there,” Ma pointed towards the one room in the entire house that wasn’t habituated.  “But it’s too dark and she’ll get scared even more Ma,” Jo complained.  “Jo, whatever you say, she’s not getting into your bed tonight,” her mother paused before continuing, “and neither are you sleeping with her in that room.”  “But Ma, she’s frightened. Have you ever seen h...

 It had been a long, completely engaging day and she had just finished three lectures and four lab practical hours when Anita knocked on her hostel room door and pushed it in.  “Hi Ani!” Her seemingly-always-cheery roommate Rani looked up from her desk.  “Hey Akka! (transl.: ‘Elder sister’ in Tamil)”  “How was your day?”  Ani looked up at her almost-adopted-elder sister and smiled. She was from Kerala while Akka was a native of the neighboring state. They had only been together for the past nine months but it felt shorter every day as it went by. They were known as the ‘symbiotic sisters’ among most people but to friends, they were titled ‘partners-for-the-common-good’!  “You know you always make me smile as soon as I enter our room,” Ani walked up to Rani’s desk and gave her a hug from behind, “and that makes all the difference!”  “I just really like to see you smile.”  “Aww!” Ani grabbed her sister’s cheeks and pulled playfully....

 “ Akka (transl.: ‘Elder sister’ in Tamil) come quick,” the knocking at my hostel room’s door was becoming loud and impatient.  “Who is it?” I answered, pulling the covers off my legs. It was one of those lazy-Sunday-afternoons. I had finished off my weekend tasks, had a hearty lunch - courtesy of the ‘Biriyani Corner’, spoke to my mom about the Sunday service and was lying down to watch a movie.  “ Akka it’s me Shivi,” she answered back. I opened the door.  “What’s going on Shivi? Are you okay?” I looked my junior up and down.  “Can you come out?” she asked, “It’s important.” I raised my eyebrows, there goes my movie time!  When a junior comes to see you, it’s mostly because of some guy problem or some homework issue or some gossip-misunderstanding-trust-issue between best friends – so that’s what I expected Shivi to tell me. Instead, she’d taken me up to her third floor room and opened the door, asking me to go inside.  “Oh my God,” the w...