Avik's Story

A 60 years old gets slapped by slippers a whopping twenty-five times. His glass was broken, his shirt was torn, his psyche was traumatized forever and he was threatened to be thrown away from flight. But why? Because he was doing what he was supposed to do. He was a station manager and was pacifying a passenger. It was part of his job. Then? Well, he didn’t pay heed to the fact that the passenger was an M.P. People of India elected him so that he be pampered, worshipped and be considered as a demi-god. Sometimes, more than a god. Really? Of course. See what happened after the slipper-slap. The MP boasted about his hit before media, his beard shone like a winning gladiator from arena, and prospective politicians like him planned to do something similar next time. He’s now a god-damn role model. Did he apologize? Well, he tried. But, he’s from a party, which never apologizes. They force others to apologize. It’s just their party policy. And people...

A study says that it takes only a moment to transform the gloomy and sad faces of ours into gleaming and beaming ones, that can keep us up for the rest of the day. That’s the power of a moment. I was beyond grief. I was leaving my daughter, who became my partner-in-crime and playmate for the last one month; and my wife, whose claim to be immaculate and matured was repeatedly rubbished by me and proved to be true. She actually was no better than her two & half years old daughter. At airport, I paid 250 Mauritian bucks just for a glass of beer and a tiny bottle of water and sat across a trendy counter. I opened a Sashi Tharoor book and started browsing its pages, until the time came to proceed towards boarding gate. A long queue already formed. I could see people everywhere - happy from wonderful vacations in a wonderful land – chatting, laughing and holding hands. I was the single most down face in an ocean of cheering crowd. And then it started. My economy se...