Avik's Story

My little car got some deep scratch on side door and it was in body-shop for last five days. I rode a paddle-rickshaw and the puller was a lean young chap, hardly crossed twenty. I had to catch metro, like old days and spend an hour among strangers, unchartered body-odours and tiny interesting stories. The rickshaw went straight, crossed the bazaar and turned the round island - structured recently and took the road towards metro station. I could see the station at distance, and all kinds of cars, e-rickshaws or paddle rickshaws lined up in front of the entry, and then suddenly the young rickshaw puller screamed, ‘look, look, Africans!’ It took me some time to get into what he was pointing at. I saw nothing except large apartments and a school at one side and a high risen metro line at another. I narrowed down further. I followed the gaze of the young chap, who was clearly amused, as his teeth were outside and eyes were fixed towards a group of people, who were buying milk from...

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...