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RAMESH BABU

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What was the time ? around eleven. A sliver of a crescent moon hung in the late winter sky playing peekaboo with the tall highrises.Ramesh Babu sat on his plastic chair with a newspaper trying to make out the hazy black & white picture with his cataracted eyes. Dinner for the day was short menued with three handmade chapattis and a bowl of spicy cabbage curry from a nearby eatery. The old 25W bulb wasn't enough to read by yet Ramesh peered closely at the smudged picture and occasionally grazing his skinny palms over it.

Ramesh Babu felt bitter bile in his mouth and keeping the paper aside groped around for a piece of "patali gur" In doing so he clumsily upturned a tin of puffed rice. "Oh Kali Maa !!! how much you torment me !! when will my "prayashchit" be over and I can leave this world of despair and unwantedness" 

Only three days ago Ramesh Babu was reasonably happy ,that is, as happy as an 86 old man could be. His old wife for 56 years Mayna was excellent company despite her not approving of Ramesh Babu's traits and mannerisms. She shouted the whole day at the top of her shrill cracked voice until Ramesh Babu slipped out onto the narrow alley. But how much he missed her shouting & nagging now !!! Their sharing of some decent food or watching a film on television at a neighbours place together and talking about it late into the night was sheer bliss. Watching Mayna cook rice in the aluminium "handi" and Ramesh Babu enjoying the steamy fragrance on cold winter nights were nostalgic memories now.

The small transistor radio gathered dust in the corner on a dusty wooden rack. The radio somehow would not switch on after Mayna left a year ago on this very day following a road accident on her way back home from her employers house where she was a household maid."Oh God !!! why did you keep me alive ?!!" Ramesh Babus pillow was wet with tears as he dreamt of the good old days.