The day where my presence made no difference to this day where my absence mattered!

The cold made me to pull up the blanket back. I crawled inside the warm blanket. After sometime when the morning bell rang I tried hard to open my lazy eyes and checked my phone. There was a text blinking “Check online”. The moment I switched on the data, the messages flooded into my phone. The employees had called for the national strike thus the college remained closed that Saturday. I rubbed my eyes, stretched my arms and looked at the big clock presented by my best friends which said it was 5:35. I stepped down the floor and realized how cold it was. I switched on the geyser meanwhile made some hot water for the fresh decoction. Splashing hot water on the face was the real feast.

I sat there in front of the little fireplace in a warm chair with a mug of fuming hot frothy coffee. I looked at the clock again.  It was 6:05. I felt sipping hot coffee, recollecting the memories is the best part on this gloomy day of the winter. It was the last Saturday I would spend here in this dainty studio house of mine. Since five years I lived in this city as a student and now I’m leaving the city as a young amateur entrepreneur.

I watched the clock again the pictures around it had life. I could hear the laughter, talks, cock fights, sarcasms. The first year where I sat alone with a book isolated to this day where I have so many friends around. The day where my presence made no difference to this day where my absence mattered.

Whenever I felt dejected Aabha said, “Their present may be your future; your present might have been their past”. When I almost failed in math, Mythri came early to the college just to teach me and the next exam I had scored thirty marks more! There were days where Thaara took me to temples to get tasty food. Rechal keeping us all entertained .The days where sharing a plate of food among five of us was a party. Fire flakes glowing before me had filled the room with the dusky light.

My neighbour Goura was my food hunting partner. I don’t know how many streets we have discovered, how many food corners we have visited, where Goura spoke the local language and helped in gaining their friendship and getting some special discounts or extra cheese! It is from her I learnt some secrets of this universe.

The young merchant Miss Carrin who ran a grocery shop in our locality had taught me how the world runs. Every week when I went there for shopping I observed how she spoke to people, the way she managed to get maximum customers even when there were so many super markets around.  I always admired her!

I never wanted to leave this city. It was so difficult to break all the strings and move to another city but I had no other go! There were so many lives around me making my life more meaningful. Kempi, a little kitten then to now a fat cat sitting next to me right now, my friends, Goura, Carrin, Ramu bhai the chai vendor, Radhakka the one who served food at the temple, Lakshmi Amma who invited me for all the festivals,…my eyes filled with tears the pendulum said its 7:00.

I closed the dairy, they all clapped. My heart had filled with joy of unspeakable. I was glad that even after a decade they all lived in the same city and a few who lived very far agreed to join. This winter morning was filled with warm memories that we all had. Everyone with fuming hot filter coffee sitting before the fireplace laughed again except Ramu  bhai as he had fuming hot Chai!