4

My Brother.. My Friend!


Growing up, I knew I always had a great friend in my brother. He is the one with whom I played the most, wrestled the most, squabbled the most and of course enjoyed the most. In the company of my brother, childhood was rather a celebration! He is such an adorable thing!! :) Looking back.. memories bring loads of smiles; but in some corner of my heart, it has left a tinge of sadness too. Time has taken us far too forward.. there is no more childhood left in the journey of life!  

My brother and I have an unending tradition of never letting the other forget the calamities that accidentally occurred between us during our childhood. Those include him “accidentally” chasing screaming me around the house with a long stick in his hand, swinging wildly in the air. But will it be fair, if I don’t give him anything in return? The smartest thing I could do would be to puncture his bicycle tyre! He gives it back to me again.. by crumbling my silly art work or hiding the TV remote when he goes out to play! The cycle of mishaps keeps continuing..!!!!

But, I am only proud to admit that any day he is better than me. He is not only a better human being.. also better in studies, art, music, ....anything under the sun! :) 

If I am to list down our adventures which was part of growing up together, I would go on and on..!!


If you ask what he does during his free time, anybody who knows him well undoubtedly will only have to say, “Rahul is sleeping!” He sleeps while he sleeps, while he reads, while he eats, while he sits, while he plays, while he studies, while he does anything! He sleeps at home, in classroom, in train, in car, in airplane, …and he sleeps everywhere! :) :)

Now, this happened few years ago.

In an engineering classroom, there were these 2 bench mates - Anish & Visan! The teacher who was teaching Instrumentation theories, suddenly stopped the class, while the students were wondering why???!!! Anish and Visan meanwhile felt little restless cos they thought the teacher's stare through her specs was focused at them. Even then.. nobody knew what exactly has interrupted the class. When the teacher pointed at Anish, not knowing why.. he stood up! She said, "Not you!!.. The next person!!!" Visan too stood up! "Not you either.. Wake up the person who is in b/w both of u!" 

There lies a poor little fellow in between, with his head almost resting on the floor.. who is in the middle of a good afternoon nap.. not knowing where he is! Anish found it hard to obey his teacher, cos he should also try to not put his friend in an embarrassing situation. Anish murmured slowly, tapping his friend's feet, "Mam is calling you.. Get up, u dumbo!!" 

Hero suddenly emerged from the underground, staring sharply at Anish's face.. then turned at Visan, making his expression slightly more sharper! Our (poor little) hero who got disturbed, got wild and hence roared at Anish, "Grrr.... Why the hell do you trouble me, while I am searching for my attendance??!!!!"

The little hero is none other than my sweet tall brother! :)

2

Red Bus Adventures


Yeah… I have got back to my routine of traveling by Volvo bus, which I call “The Red Bus” :) Unlike an ordinary bus, ‘my red bus’ is more peaceful and entertaining. And believe me, it is the fastest way to get to your destination.

While in the bus, I love to observe people – people of different sizes, different odors, different make up, different quirk and different personalities. If I am not reading a book or newspaper, I gaze at other passengers, listening to their conversation (though I know it is not a good habit ;) and scrutinizing their body language.

Yesterday, it took more than an hour to get to office; but never did I realize that the bus was moving at a snail’s pace! My ears got sharpened by itself and were carefully recording all the whispers around me.

I couldn’t take my eyes off from the pretty girl who sat right in front of me. She wore a lovely blue salwar, whose dupatta was carelessly draped around her neck. It was very cute to see her play with her hair as she spoke on the phone, looking at a distance through the window. She was lost in her own world. Though the conversation was in Kannada, at times she used English words and phrases, which helped me, understand better. Most of the time she blushed, while she only said, “Uhhh…. Na! Na! Naaa…!!” Her mobile phone was almost in her mouth, as her tone and expressions kept changing. Looking at her face, I concluded that the person at the other end is either her fiancee or boy friend. I couldn’t hold back my laughter, when I heard her saying, “Early in the morning, what is wrong with you? I cannot give it now, cos I am in the bus.” Her face became cuter and her cheeks turned red. I figured out, “Hmm... naughty boy is demanding a kiss! But…are kisses usually denied in the morning?!!” ;)


The person who sat beside me was dressed in formals; a suffocating tie also was a part of his clothes. It was however, a comfort for my eyes to see the person who stood next to him in a cotton kurta. “A tie too.. in this scorching summer?”, I thought. “May be he is a medical representative!”, I gave myself a satisfactory answer. Isn't it amusing to watch each of us closely, who are forced to undress self-being and wear a mask of make belief? While taking my thought process to undefined heights, I saw this man take out his laptop. Oh My God… Why does a med-rep need a laptop, that too such a sexy, apple laptop? Though I was very curious to know what he is up to, I did not want to poke my nose into his business!

I heard this little boy ask the same question to his mother, for the nth time, “Mamma.. At what time will we reach Britto Uncle’s house?” His mother, who was immersed in Women’s Era magazine, without even looking at the boy’s face, kept repeating, “In a while betta…!!”  In fact, I wanted to intrupt and correct her, “Darling.. you will take ages to get there!”

I have observed that people speak in controlled volume while they converse in English; but loudly and excitedly in their native language. Does that mean English is meant to be spoken softly? ;) Or among Indians, is that a naturally cultivated habit? It is interesting to listen to Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Oriya, Coorgi, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam together, though at times, I find it distracting if I am reading a book. 

To me, each face is a story teller, whom I encounter in a bus. There will be expressionless faces staring into air, teenagers smiling at themselves while listening to music on iPod, people cribbing about work, manager, friends, house-maid, children, celebrities, movies, country, traffic, politicians, food, health, and list of endless things goes on.. endlessly!

So, are you motivated to commute by “My Red Bus”?

 

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