As the glowing billboard moves away, the breath that I was holding in a few minutes earlier is released. My throat eases up, and turn my eyes towards my mother, Vaami, who is gazing at the glowing billboard noting down the name of the coaching centre in the diary she carries around in hopes of encountering anything worth noting down.
And this is one of those special times, and then she closes it with a beautiful smile, and then turns to me without saying anything.
A few minutes pass in the comfortable silence of the interior of the cab, before she starts to talk, asking only for my confirmation.
"Are you sure? Look, I don't want to impose a decision upon you, just like I and your father did during the past, so do you want to go there truly?" She whispers, her tone barely audible, and I realise that she didn't want to make the driver know about Abhijit sir as she didn't want to embarrass me.
Such a sweet mother, is she not?
"Of course ma, don't worry. After all I do need to step out of my comfort zone, how many years will I waste in such a fickle emotion known as depression? I need to move on" I say, almost as if I am giving a religious speech, and my mother blinked. She is astounded, at my practical words, and then she shrugs.
"You are far too mature for your age, Agastya.....I am sorry, son, I couldn't give you the childhood all little boys enjoy. You grew up too fast" She tells me with a warm embrace, and as I place my nose against her shoulder, I feel that I am in heaven.
Finally, in hopes of achieving you, I am achieving the lost embrace of my mother too. You truly are my ray of light, you are the sunshine of my darkness that illuminates my heart.
"Hey, ma! Don't get too emotional, you and papa, are the best giving me freedom and independence which only few parents grant to their child. So tuck in those tears, yaar (friend)" With a light slap on the right shoulder, I separate with a soothing smile, judging by how my mother relaxed.
"Madam, we have reached your destination." The driver suddenly turns to the back, and calls out, breaking the lovey-dovey atmosphere that we had created with our embrace.
"How much, dada (elder brother)?" My mother asks, as we step out of the car and now stand in front of the driver's window, who is too busy calculating the fare in his mind.
His brows clench and then relaxed, as he turns with a smile that shows pride in calculating the supposedly right fare.
"Well you see, madam, you need to give me about ₹130." He extends his dark hand out wiggling his fingers with excitement at collecting the sum of his hard work. Mother takes out her purse from her hand-bag and looks at the cash with the photo of Gandhi.
And then she gives it to him, he checks the bundle before nodding at her.
"Thank you madam" Quite respectful, almost like a salesman, and then he leaves, making me cough slightly at the rich smoke that leaves the exhaust.
This is why I like Tesla, though I do see the value of the roars, makes one feel as if he is riding a horse to the war of his lifetime.
We cross the road over to the other side and come in front of a dimly lit book-store, with cobwebs on the side of the neon storefront signage.
[Verma's Dust Land]
A quite catchy name. Indeed. I mean sure, I could have found another name, but hey you do you. Everyone is free to live with their own decisions and I am not someone who would like to interfere with anyone's dimly lit sparsely decorated bookstore.
And I hate it that they don't carry any good fiction books, you don't like to read that's ok. But I do! I mean I am currently an aspiring writer for godsakes.....Anyways I can't get mad, can I? I mean mother and I are here for study books, not books of fantasy nor love stories, online selling exists for that.
The door opens, courtesy of my mother, and I step in right after. Immediately being hit by the smell of incense sticks for the idols of the gods of our religion, and the sound of the running fan gives almost a vintage feeling to the shop.
"Vaami! What a pleasant surprise....It's been years, my child. What brings you to this part of town, huh? And is that your child, what a handsome young man!"
Ok, whoever the voice belongs to, you need to breathe! I mean are you sure you are not dead yet? Are you sure you are not some nomad, who loves to dive and stay in deep waters, like a goddamn mermaid!
Return back to Atlantis, ok fine, sorry. The high pitched voice just irritates me, a lot..... Even in my past life, my intuition told me never to trust someone like you, or maybe I am just too distrusting about elder strangers? Any one, it could be.
My eyes turn, and I see my mother and the owner of the voice, talking with each other almost as if they were twins who were separated by islands drifting away and now they are reunited.
The owner of the bookstore is a woman, and her name is Shreya Verma. A miss, with a shrewd face, with her lean jaw matching that of a pencil and sharp-grey eyes. She wears a green designer saree that fills her watermelon of a body nicely and no I am not body-shaming, I am just saying what she looks like.
If I correctly remember, this woman is the daughter of Anish Verma, a man that owned the bookstore, when my mother was young and had her first boyfriend. Through the father, my mother made friendship with Shreya.
That is the entire story, if I can remember correctly.
"Son, do you remember of that old friend, I tell you about?"
"Of course, ma. Shreya Aunty, right? Mother always mentions you, I have heard that you are quite knowledgeable? If that's true, I would really love, if you could one day visit our home and help me with my studies a little"
Shreya blushes at my praise and nods, "Ha? Really, wow Vaami, I didn't know that you held me in so high regards"
My mother chuckles and judging by her face, she is confused. I may or may not have stretched the truth a little bit. Ok.... Indeed, I have stretched the truth, a lot.
Sometimes, you gotta do this whole lying thing. It helps to make allies, and also make old relationships rekindle.
"Young man, why don't you go to the back? My daughter is present there and I am sure she will be happy to see someone of her age.
While I and your mother catch up on the good times of our youth"
"Yes son, go and make some friends. Prove that man wrong and show that you also can be a social butterfly!"
Their words went right over my head, as I stare at my mother's eyes with shock and confusion. Shreya has a DAUGHTER?!
That never happened in my past life, wasn't her daughter murdered while coming back home? What the hell!?
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Author's note: Short Chapter, the next one will be long, like extremely long. Anyways have a great day.