Contrast - Short Story #1

The sun was scorching, people were honking in traffic mindlessly somehow believing that that will help in clearing the traffic and roadside vendors were occupying half the street with a constant lookout for police. This was the normal city life and this happened on almost all of the major roads. One such is Grand Southern Trunk road. Popularly known as GST road or NH-45. Even though it connects Chennai, Trichy, Dindigul, and other areas, we are going to look only at Chennai and more specifically the route from Tambaram to Guindy.

Now entering the story…

There was a huge traffic jam. The chaos was on a massive scale that anyone stuck in it was sure of having a headache for the rest of the day. The horns were reaching an alarming decibel level and it felt like a competition for who can honk the loudest. The traffic police officer was trying to shoo a cow, which contributed to the traffic by sitting in the middle of the road and chewing its breakfast relaxedly in an almost yogic manner. After much hesitation, it got up and moved to the roadside where a garbage-can attracted its attention. The traffic police officer, sweating profusely, came back to his cabin and started getting instructions in his walkie-talkie.

Aakash, a boy of 12, was sitting inside his mother's sedan with AC turned full on. His mom was listening to the ramblings of the RJs and he was playing Temple Run on his tablet.

RJ was saying, "Good Morning Chennnaaii. Such a beautiful day to be outside and traveling. It looks like it might rain in the evening. Let us now see how our zodiac signs will be for today. Starting with Aries. You should avoid venturing out today. You should not be…"

"Hey, I reached a new high score", said Aakash beaming with pride. He took a screenshot of the score and wasted no time in putting it in the Whatsapp group consisting of him and his friends.

"Shh... I am listening to the radio. Can't you just shut up for a minute? Is it that hard?", said Sheela irritated.

She felt he always did this to her. That, whenever she's listening to something important on the radio or watching a turning point in a movie or a tv show, he interrupted in the middle spoiling the experience. Now that her zodiac sign Aries was over, she changed the radio channels, clearly annoyed because of not being able to listen to it fully.

They were stuck in traffic for the past half hour and she turned the engine off. Everyone had done the same and Silence was beginning to spread her hands across the surroundings. All you could hear were distant, insignificant sounds. A child wailing from a roadside shelter, crows cawing for their morning breakfast, the walkie-talkie voice of the traffic police, and such. Then the traffic started moving in the front row and the entire stretch of cars shuddered, the engines roaring to life. Chaos took over and the silence was dying at an alarming rate.

Now the traffic was moving with such pace as to compensate for the previous stalling. There was one car, which had not come to life and was beginning to face the fury of the other cars behind it. Sheela tried and tried but she could not turn the engine on. She was now causing her own traffic jam. The traffic police started coming towards her car. He called four more people from the side of the road and together they pushed the car to a corner so that other cars can carry on with their journey.

After watching the people move the car to the roadside, during which time Aakash didn't waste a single second and continued with his temple running, she called her husband to pick up the car and sent a request for a taxi in her app. Unfortunately, there were no taxis available in that area. She swore loudly, as she was getting late for the party that one of her colleagues was organizing, and went to the nearest bus stand with Aakash playing on his tablet all this time.

There was another mother-son duo in the bus stand waiting for the bus. Valliamma was checking with someone nearby, asking him when the bus to Kotturpuram will come. The bus came after a wait of 10 minutes and luckily had many seats empty. However, Valliamma, out of her habit, threw a towel she was holding inside the window on an empty seat. She and her son went inside and sat in the towel-reserved seat. Sheela and Aakash also boarded the same bus and got a seat before Valliamma and Ramu. Ramu, Valliamma's son who is almost of the same age as Aakash, was always fascinated with window seats, and after getting one sat excitedly. There was also a seller selling Kadalai Mittai, 3 packets for Rs.10, and Valliamma bought one from him.

The bus started and Ramu began eating the Kadalai Mittai looking out the window at the roadside scenes. He was 11 years old, hailing from the district of Salem and they had come to Chennai to stay in their Uncle's house for summer. He had been to Chennai only once before and was thoroughly enjoying the journey to Chennai.

Meanwhile, the charge was low on Aakash's tablet and he was complaining because he was on the verge of getting another high score.

"Mom! Give me the power bank. Quick! I'm going to get a new high score"

Sheela taking the headphones out of her ear sockets said, "What?"

"I said give me the power bank."

"I left it in the car"

Getting thoroughly irritated Aakash paused the game to continue it at a later point and switched off the tablet. He was now asking his mom if she has the potato chips at least or had she left that also in the car. She took the zero cholesterol, trans-fat free, hands-free machine-made potato chips packet from her handbag and handed it to Aakash. He survived on this particular brand of chips daily. He started eating it while looking out the window.

The conductor of the bus was sweating profusely and after issuing tickets to everyone, came to his seat. He started sleeping and there was an alcoholic next to him who made sure that he does not get his nap. He was arguing with the conductor if the bus would drop him right outside his house. After some time, the conductor agreed just to shut him up, but even that did not satisfy him. He repeatedly asked the same set of questions. Then he spat twice through the window. This seemed to satisfy him as he went to sleep after this. The conductor was whistling for the next stop. After loading another set of passengers, the bus started moving again.

All this time, Ramu was looking at the alcoholic and giggling at his behavior. He understood that the alcoholic was talking in Tamil, but the way he talked seemed funny to him. After he went to sleep, Ramu's attention turned to sightseeing from the window again. The bus was crossing Officers Training Academy now and his jaw dropped at the sight of the humongous army vehicle right outside the academy. He shrieked, turned his mom's face, and pointed the army vehicle to her.

"Amma, Look there. Is it real? Will it shoot? What will they do if somebody tries to use it at night? Can we get down here? I want to go near and touch it…"

It was a flurry of questions and even Valliamma did not know the answer to some of them.

"Why don't you ask your uncle?" She said with a smile and beaming with pride. Her brother was a retired military sergeant to whose house they were visiting for summer.

Ramu made a mental note to check with his uncle.

They crossed Meenambakkam and Ramu saw a flight take off.

He said, "Whoa! Look at that. Once I earn enough, we will go for a ride on the world's biggest plane. You and I.

Valliamma smiled acknowledging him and enjoying the look and fascination on his face.

Looking at the plane, Aakash turned to his mom, suddenly reminded of something.

"You promised me that we will go on a Europe tour soon. When are we going?"

As though annoyed she said, "As soon as you get good marks. So I guess not any time soon". Then she laughed at her joke.

Aakash jerked his face back to look at the window again muttering under his breath, "Just wait till I grow up. Then I can go to Europe to pursue my higher studies and I can settle there. I don't have to put up with anyone".

The bus then crossed Anna University where some of the students who were chattering loudly on the bus got down.

Ramu thought to himself, "This is where I've to come to study once I grow up."

They crossed the Adyar Cancer Institute and Valliamma was reminded of her father whom she had lost in pancreatic cancer. She just could not afford the cost of treatment and had not crossed her village border in her entire life. Because of a lack of awareness, she had lost her father. Her brother was in the military at that time. They were not able to reach him also. She thought to herself, "If only I had known about this hospital then…", and tears welled up her eyes.

They got down at Kotturpuram and Ramu's uncle was waiting for them at the bus stop. He hugged Ramu so tightly that Ramu started screaming with delight at having seen his uncle after a long time.

For a fleeting second, Ramu and Aakash just exchanged looks, one looking from the bus, the other from the roadside. Ramu smiled and waved at Aakash. Aakash's heart was giving birth to a sense of longing and the longing was so powerful that his breath caught in his throat. He longed for the uncle whom he never visited, for the mother who appreciated him, for the family who loved him no matter what the circumstances are.

The bus continued on its journey.