Scene – 1
:Day: February 26, 2011
Exactly a month after…
Rahul was standing alone at the balcony. He was looking at the mobile phone which was held rather nonchalantly in his right hand. It was still warm, from Rahul’s own body temperature. He was clasping it tight to his right ear, just a few moments ago. He was taking a call, a call that brought some good news to him.
Rahul looked up, at the small piece of greenery at a distance, yet-to-be-engulfed by the hungry concrete monster of the present day civilization. Dusk; and its yellow hue along with the long extended shadows had a mesmerizing effect on Rahul. This is an especially beautiful evening, thought Rahul. Is it this beautiful everyday? Or is there something special today? Or is it just that Rahul is happy again? Is this happiness with a lot of compromises?
Yes, and Rahul looked back at the phone. The last phone call had brought good news across to him; and with that it took a lot of pressure off Rahul. Names do not matter now. So, no more names this time. It was from one of the team members from Rahul’s team, the youngest member in his project. And the person whom Rahul had personally vouched for during his recruitment a year back. He had to make a few persuasions on both sides before he found the new member on board, and in his own project team.
So when he got the news about the fact that this person had received a good job offer from a company in Delhi, Rahul had the feeling of seeing the full circle on more than one counts. One viewpoint was seeing the full circle of recruitment – retrenchment – placed again. But more importantly, today the phone call confirmed Rahul that each and every member of Rahul’s team has a new job today, exactly a month after the terrible storm that struck them. Rahul felt proud of his team; and a bit proud for himself as well. Just one month, after they got the news that their office will be no more; and they were virtually jobless. These things happened; happened quite often around the world, especially after the economic meltdown But they had no idea that they too would experience the same turbulence in their lives. You will never know how difficult it is to whether the might of the storm unless you yourself had to face it. And today Rahul knew he has at least done it. Tasted the success of staying afloat, and help others swim as well, till each reached the shore.
The last month had been really terrible. He went back to the moments exactly after their management decision revealing meeting on the 26th, a month earlier. The first feeling that everybody had was of numbness, which generally arises out of a deep sense of loss; when you get too stunned to react. Rahul was in this state for a couple of hours though, but for a few others it lasted for almost a week. This was followed by a sudden rage of restlessness; exactly not knowing what to want, what to ask for and what and where to look. Then after sometime, you tend to feel the light at the end of the tunnel; and you redirect yourself on that account, you reroute your energy, your attention in that direction.
By the end of the first week, things started to look brighter, as now they started to get interview calls, and even verbal job offers. And things began to look more upbeat as getting and retaining a job was more important to all than staying in Kolkata. The need of the hour was more primal, more vital. But each of them survived the test; and that had made this moment all the more important to Rahul, who was still gazing at his mobile phone which was clutched between the fingers of his right hand.
Rahul looked up, looked out in to the small patch of greenery beyond. A small group of children were gathered there playing amongst themselves. A couple of them were flying a kite. Rahul’s vision left the group of children there and climbed up the string in to the sky. It was a black kite with a yellow marking. The children below were controlling the kite very well; but sudden gushes of wind made it to change directions, and fly out-of-control quite frequently. But, the children below were able to redirect the kite quite ably, so that it aligns well with the direction of the wind, and it reroutes itself to soar to greater heights.
Rahul continued to gape beyond the patch of greenery, up in the sky.
Scene – 2:Day: March 14, 2011
45 days after…
Rahul was standing on his balcony, and was looking back in to his room; empty room. Emptiness engulfed the whole space in front of him. Down below, just beside the green patch was a truck load of packing boxes and large cartons. How can you pack a home in boxes? And then take it away from you?
It had been a hectic day, and may be that’s the reason Rahul was unable to think properly. Not only today, the last few days have been quite frenzied, so as to say. It is not always that you have to shift homes! And from morning today, his house was totally taken over by a bunch of people, chaos and commotion reigned supreme. Yet, a semblance orderliness was there. And by mid afternoon, it was all organized, his home arranged in a pile of boxes.
A couple of hours later, everything was shifted on to the truck. And it was that time of the day again. The time when the day meets with night. Dusk, they call it. And yellow hue, with a tinge of darkness in it making the mood melancholy. May be an indication of things to come. Uncertainty and darkness go hand in hand.
A puff of smoke bellowed out from the exhaust pipe, followed by another and a couple more. The Machine was alive. As it roared to life, it belched out a few more puffs of smoke, before it started moving, as it rolled forward. Rahul’s home moved along as well, rerouted to its new destination, in search of a new address to settle in.
Scene – 3:
Day: March 26, 2011
Two months after…
The patch of green ahead was gradually coming closer to Rahul; and along with it all the other things around as well. The yellow dusk hue was adding to the aroma of the milieu of the ground below. A sense of uncertainty, but with a hope of new beginning waiting for you around the corner.
Rahul looked down for the last time to the earth below as it came faster and faster towards him, and then he settled back in his seat. His plane was about to land in a few moments time; and his life was ready to take a new route from now on.
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