Will Tomorrow be Better?

A Monday evening,Delhi

I was driving down from Vasant Vihar to Gurgaon.A fifteen minute drive that took me an hour.

I was heading client servicing in JWT,an ad agency.The money was fair,the job was okay and my boss was a bastard.I had a terrible day at work.

It started drizzling,making even Delhi’s pollution laded sky look uglier.

I reached home.

I opened the flat,switched on the living room’s air conditioner and was planning to take a shower.The air conditioner coughed,spluttered and died.I cursed it.My bad day was not turning around.

I left it and went to the washroom.

Before I could finish the shower,I heard the phone ringing.I ignored it.

I stepped out of the shower and took the phone.The Missed call showed “Maa”.I called her back.

For the next hour my mom overloaded my head with her problems-the newspaper boy coming late,the quality of Mother Diary’s milk,the neighbor’s loud fights,her falling hair..I wanted to tell her

“Maa Ms Kolkata has an upper age limit,you crossed it a couple of decades ago,so what if your hair falls?”

I did not.I never raised a question against my mom.Never.In fact no one in my locality did.She was that type.A friend of mine once had told me “Your Maa hides her third eye behind that red round bindi.Better to be in her good books, Ratna.”Even I had to agree.Maa had that Kali Maa aura.

Maa never spoke to me in minutes,it was an hour.At least.Today was no exception.I listened to her tirades,with a few smart hmms and the much abused Bengali “eesh”, somehow Bengali feels incomplete without it.

I switched on the TV (on mute) and lit a cigarette.

Maa finally got tired after abusing the phone(thank god Samsung makes batteries which heat up),I asked for my daughter Jinni.Mom told me that she is at her friend’s place doing her School project.She added “Ujjaini will never become a good student like you,Ratna”I knew that .We bid goodbyes.

Mom was not keen on addressing me by my nickname nor my daughter by her’s.Jinni was always Ujjaini to her.I was always Ratna.

I sighed and watched the TV scrolls “Severe depression around Delhi and NCR,thunderstorms and high rainfalls expected”,as if on cue I heard thunder roaring.

I opened the balcony to see the outside weather,I saw the winds were howling,dust and particles were flying around.It felt like a dry tsunami.

The small tea shop outside my building was winding up,they had no customers.I saw the small boy running after something.

I guess the word depression triggered a series of thoughts.

This was one of my worst days (I was having fewer and few good days).The day had started with an argument with my ex,Sunil.

Sunil was my neighbor from Kolkata.They had a small Udipi restaurant in Kolkata.I used to go there to pick up Mysore Masala Dosas,I got picked up by Sunil.

I used to drool at his looks.I used to get goosebumps when I used to receive his call.The first time he held my hand in a small cinema hall,my heart ran faster than Carl Lewis.After the movie he had to remove my hand from his’s.

We married and we moved to Delhi,life was good,till he went to sort something at his old restaurant in Kolkata.He never came back.He had settled for an Udipi beauty.To be honest I looked like the girl’s sidekick.She was a dozen years younger than me.Unfair competition.

Sunil wanted me to sign the divorce papers,I was stalling.His pleads had become aggressive now.I got an earful of abuses from my ex before he hung up.

Office was no better,first I scratched my car in the narrow parking.I cursed the lack of space.

My boss Arvind was a thaarki bastard.His claim to fame and the chair,was that he had assisted Mani Ratnam in a movie.He made sure everyone knew about it.

He was impossible.No creative,no tag lines,no mood boards, no copy was good enough for him.He could find fault in anything-even punctuations and pauses.

One of our clients,an E- Com was not happy with my work-all the Brand head said was “Majaa Nahin aaya” after seeing the trial of the ad.As if it explained everything.

Arvind went ballistic after that,I got screamed at,mood boards were thrown at me with Tam-lish abuses.When I was about to leave,he gave me a sleazy smile and said I looked “wantable” in the Sleeveless saree that I had worn.I was ready to puke on his T Shirt.

I got back to work with my creative designer,she was about 20,a true blue bimbo and her dresses were always a size smaller,than what fit her.Obviously Arvind had the hots for her,and she the stupid giggly bitch was reciprocating.They made me hate my work station.

It got worse by noon,I got a call from my bank on a rejection of my loan.I needed a PL for Jinni.She wanted to do a Europe trip.I had to tell Jinni.Face Jinni’s tantrums and rants.

The second half was no better,a client had bounced a cheque,the market had crashed,even Infosys shares had dipped.I lost some of my meagre resources.Where were “Achche Din” my bloody lying PM?

I was going to put the cigarette in the ashtray when my TV’s connection failed.

I was aghast,I wanted another cigarette,I opened my handbag which I tore in the zeal to get to the cigarette.The box was empty.My five figure Hidesign bag was torn because of a Five buck smoke.

I cried.I was tired of my life.I hated my Single Woman Tag.

I had lost my husband to a woman a decade younger,my boss was a lerch,my mom was a cranky interfering woman,my daughter was demanding,whimsical and I had not even been kissed in like a century.

Life sucked.Big time.

The rain was now pouring.I saw the small tea shop.

I recalled the chat I had with the tea shop owner,her name was Nausheen.She had come down from a place called Sonamarg in Kashmir.Apparently that place received 18 ft of snow in winter.

Nausheen,her son who was about 10 and her brother ran the small shop.She was beautiful.If Arvind had seen her he would have sacked me and given my chair to her.All she needed was to wear a Sleeveless.

They specialized in Kaava,a Kashmiri tea which was extremely refreshing.The tea was made without milk,had kesar,elaichi,pepper and honey.The taste was quite something.It smelled divine.

They lived inside the tea shop.It was about 120 square feet.

She had 2 more children back in Kashmir.

I left my flat with an umbrella,I needed some nicotine in my system.I opened it to check it.It snapped.I abused my luck.I was going to be drenched.What a fucked up day.

I saw them from my gate.

The wind rose with the gale,it swept off the polythene roof of the shop.The boy ran to bring it up.They were exposed to the elements.

A young boy of ten running behind his roof,fully wet.A beautiful woman and her brother trying to protect their meagre belongings.The scene looked surreal.I saw the boy catch up with the polythene roof.He came back with the roof and a smile like that of a Cheshire cat.

I had a lump in my throat.My problems looked insignificant.

I went up to her.She smiled.

I asked her to come up with me.She refused.I convinced them.

I took them into my flat,gave them towels and gave Jinni’s old T shirt to the boy.I saw his eyes,they looked like the Kashmiri sky.Blue,with a tinge of white.

I made them Maggi,omlettes and Coffee.

The TV came back to life.I scrolled to a news channel.It was again about the troubles in Kashmir.I muted it.

They ate and drank in silence.

I was happy now.My mental state was elevated.

I was miserable when I had so many reasons to be happy,they lived in a temporary shop which had no roof,i lived in a plush 2 BHK in Gurgaon.They earned lesser than Jinni’s pocket money,the angelic little boy was wasting his life without a school,my daughter was throwing a ruckus about a trip to Europe.I was complaining about a bad boss whereas this family did not know what they would earn tomorrow.I was cribbing about an air conditioner,when they had no roof.

I saw them holding the coffee for warmth,the smile on the boy was struck on his cute face.Nausheen looked at me with her doe eyes.She had a calmness about her.I could sense her gratitude.Her brother had his focus on the Maggi.He was a looker,tall,fantastic features,a hot body,a sexy beard and ravishing hair.Here,I was upset about a silly colleague when a family in front of me had not eaten properly.Maybe for days.Here i was trying to hold on to a man who did not love me,and here was this woman who lived away from the man she loved so obviously.For a meagre sustenance.

I was delighted with myself,life looked so much more beautiful now.I also felt pride in my own behaviour and act.A complete turnaround from a depressing day.We human beings should become compassionate-that’s the way to forget your small troubles.My own problems were so small in front of what Nausheen had.I was ready to take on the world.

A better tomorrow was around.

I cleared the table,I saw Nausheen getting up to help me.Her eyes had the halo of tears.I had tears when I took the dishes to the kitchen.I could not stop them.I wanted to hug her.They had not left anything on the plate.Nausheen followed me like my chaperone.

She never saw Nausheen coming behind her and slitting her throat.Her final vision was of the light eyes of the boy.His smile,it was beatific.

The tomorrow was better for Nausheen and her family.