At 24, as the cold wind wafts towards you, its coldness gently touches the parched skin and quenches its daylong thirst. As it colonizes your skin, it takes a plunge – it sinks into your skin and slowly calms that nerve in your brain that calms the rest gradually.
At 22, the coldness caresses each scale of the body and slowly makes you surrender to all the comforts around. At 22, you remember the coldness of that drunken night when friends filled the air with their fervour and stars gleamed at you throughout the night.
At 20, the drunk waves remind you of a Christmas evening when thick woollen clothes basked everyone in the warmth of the celebration. When hiding inside a thick blanket was a reason to escape the cold chills than to play a game of hide-n-seek.
At 18, your bare limbs command attention. The cold waves turn careless like a teen at 18 – it ceases to compromise, giving chills to everyone in the room. It swiftly dries the sweat, turns you cold, and instantly makes you reach for the remote control.
At last, at 17, when the temperature dips below than expected, the gusts of cold waves turn your room into a cold storage. Its harsh chill brings crispness to the air; it stiffens your joints and exposes your natural disposition – laziness, quite naturally.
At 17, the air conditioner turns your skin into a frozen paper.
Somewhere amidst a bed of fallen leaves and broken twigs, she stood in an amber-green dress like a budding tree about to touch the skies, a living illustration of seasons. Her slender arm flowed over her curved hip like tendrils of a climber and her long thin legs hanged from her hip like a delicate stem. Her hair unfurled in the direction of her waving dress and her neck bent on the same side; made her a dramatic irony amongst the crestfallen leaves.
She stood as a symbol of life in the lifeless foliage.
Her other uploads were – she standing behind the Eiffel tower, she looking from an infinity pool, she showing-off her golden sneakers, she exhibiting a grumpy face, she holding a Starbucks coffee mug, she with her friends, she with a kitten, she wearing a gown, she wearing a paithani, she with friends wearing paithanis, she with a nose ring, she with her friends wearing nose rings and many more with her friends in places that were tagged below the photo, but Ganesh was stuck on one – she standing amidst the dead foliage. Every day he stared at that photo for 10 - 12 minutes and wondered what would it be to spend life with her. As a friend, a girlfriend and a husband.
Thoughts of sending her a friend request crossed his mind but how will she react to an unknown friend and a random request? Will she block him immediately or ignore him outright? Will she complain to her friends or inform them? Are such requests regular for her? Questions pirouetted in his mind every day but answers never changed.
There were times when he wrote:
I long to meet you,
but in my longingness
I meet you more
than you could meet me.
He had written many such couplets but he could never gather the courage to send it to her. Perhaps, it was nervousness or perhaps, fear but both came from the way he was raised, in a community of boys.
Ganesh stayed with his father and mother in one of Lower Parel’s chawls, infamous for its branching cracks and ‘this-building-is-breathing-its-last’ remarks from the neighbourhood. Ganesh’s father, now old and tired, worked as a security guard in one of the nearby shopping malls. His full-time job as a mill worker came to an end with the closing down of the mills. After many years now, he had started working again to make ends meet. Ganesh’s mother supported the family by cooking and supplying dabbas to the households and to the young migrants of the city who worked in these mills turned business centres of Lower Parel. Ganesh, their only son and bastion of their hope, had just started his first job.
Like any guy coming of age, Ganesh sensed the need for a special someone missing in his life. Apart from the many friends that he had earned, he realized that he needed a special someone whom he could talk to any time, who would cradle his thoughts and, who could accompany him for movies and coffees.
He began to look out for her, sometimes in people known to him, sometimes, in people unknown to him. Sometimes, on Facebook, sometimes face-to-face reading books. Sometimes on Instagram and, sometimes on Tinder. It was only after hours of intensive search that he had found ‘her.’
Ganesh spent hours seeing her photos than spending hours at work. He worked as a delivery boy in a food delivery company. During work hours, he went an extra mile to search for her near her residence. At times, he waited for an hour after his delivery to catch a glimpse of her but Ganesh always went back home miserable.
One day, when Ganesh came for a delivery near her home, he saw her. Just for a few seconds. She got out of a cab and walked hastily into her building. She was crying but all that Ganesh could notice were her thick hair falling on her pink cheeks. At first, Ganesh was nervous but later, it was her tears that made him also feel worried for her. The joy of seeing her for the first time was taken away by the misery on her face. He thought about this that night.
Next morning, just after a food delivery, Ganesh stood at the same place waiting for her. Luck favoured him again, this time he saw her walking with her friends, laughing merrily at the thought of something. Her cheeks turned red every time she laughed. She looked fairer than her photos uploaded online. Ganesh’s mixed emotions of the previous night calmed down after seeing her.
One day, he walked up to her house and left a bouquet of wild orchids at her door. She was happy to receive it. She posted a picture of that bouquet on her wall and wrote about it. Ganesh read it; his happiness knew no bounds that day. In just a few days, he had struck a conversation with her. Muted, but a conversation for sure! He wanted to take this conversation ahead but how could he?
So, he continued doing what mattered to him the most - being a secret admirer. Some days, he left a bundle of roses at her door, some days, a small teddy, at times a book, or maybe balloons. Every time she received a gift, she posted it on her wall with a thank you note. Ganesh was happy with the progress that he had made with his conversations.
Soon Ganesh began following her everywhere – at bus stops, at cafés, at malls, at multiplexes. Whenever he got a chance, he’d sneak up on her conversations to understand her better.
Simple gifts now took a meaningful turn. Whatever she would speak about online, would materialize in days to come. Movie tickets, jewellery accessories, clutches, vanity kits and many such things awaited her at her door. Ganesh’s muted conversations had now turned personal. It was time to unmute these conversations.
One evening, just after finishing work, Ganesh walked up to her house. The door was open but the safety-door was locked. He peeked inside but no one was around So, he passed by the door like anyone else would but the thought of returning home without seeing her made him return to the door and ring the bell.
A warm smile greeted him. It was she, as he had hoped. He froze. He couldn’t notice anything else apart from her. He was overwhelmed by seeing her at such a close distance.
Click. Click. Click.
A loud snap fell into his ears and it was only then that the doors of his ears opened. Should he run away? Fear gripped his senses. As he turned to run, she opened the door for him. She invited him in and rambled on for a long time, pointing towards an air-conditioner.
She had mistaken him for an AC service repairman. She shouted at him for not carrying anything for repairs and complained about how necessary the AC was for her existence. She continued her lamentations for long, but Ganesh stood there silently, admiring her beauty. Today, Ganesh was at her house, standing so close to her. How close he had come!
Oblivious to how an AC worked, he managed to press a few buttons of the remote control, checked the AC connection and promised to fix it in the coming next few days. That night, Ganesh had made a remarkable progress. He had overcome his fear. For the next few days, the same scene played on repeat every night in his head.
Ganesh thought about her and her way of life now. He realized the chasm between the class that she belonged to and the one that he came from. To impress her, he would have to dismiss the class differences first. And that would begin by installing an AC, he concluded.
Ganesh started working two shifts a day to afford an AC. He asked for help from his family, he made them understand the comforts of an AC but they looked unconvinced. His parents, his neighbours and his relatives explained to him the importance of money to run a house than to run an AC, but Ganesh was adamant. He was in another world and that had her in it.
Ganesh visited various shops in the city to know more about the ACs. He found out about the best AC brands and their prices. He learnt about the tonnage of an AC to buy, the star ratings, the season to buy, which brand to buy and from where to buy. Ads inadvertently caught his attention –
20% discount on India ka AC
Make the coolest choice this summer
The most silent AC in the noisiest city
The one-touch AC
AC that can be controlled from anywhere
AC that purifies the air
AC with 5-year compressor warranty
AC with wind-free technology
India ka All-weather AC
Ganesh started finding relief in the coldness that an AC could provide. His obsession increased so much that he chose a new job in a café, making coffees. Twice she had visited the café but never recognized Ganesh. Gift uploads ensued the conversation but once in two weeks now. Long hours of daily shifts did not allow him to gift her as often as he would have wanted to.
After three months of penny-pinching and extra hours of work, Ganesh finally booked an AC for his house. Almost everyone, including his parents, turned cold. Neighbours concluded that he was doing it for the good of his family, that he cared for his family but the reality was a different story.
Ganesh bought a one tonne, 5 rating AC, and installed it in the living room of his house. Not that his house had a bedroom but they preferred to call their living room their bedroom at night.
That night, Ganesh slept peacefully. A sense of accomplishment enveloped his mind. Lying next to him, his mother and father slept in a blanket, with a sense of unease. The purchase of an AC installed a new confidence within him. The class divide wall could be broken anytime soon if he continued working hard.
Next morning, like any regular day, Ganesh went to his work. Today, Ganesh had planned to drop a hamper of imported chocolates and a greeting card at her door. He left from work at his regular timing and waited near her building to see her.
After waiting for an hour, Ganesh, saw her getting out of a car. She looked happy and cheerful. While entering the gate of the building, she must have passed by Ganesh; he smiled at her. And she had smiled back.
Few minutes later, Ganesh went up and left the hamper at her door. He knew she would acknowledge his gifts in her social upload.
She did, as he expected. She wrote a note, uploaded the photo but this time, tagged a friend in the picture, and thanked him for the months of surprises that he had kept delivering at her door. She thanked him for everything that Ganesh had given her so far.
That night, she announced her engagement dates on social media.
In the coldness of 17 degrees, in his bedroom, a drop of water glided down from the corner of his eye. Ganesh sighed, “Wrong delivery!” and switched off the AC.
Issue 85 (May-Jun 2019)