Hey Ram why isn't this line working ?.....Ram check line 22 ?.....Ram why is there so much distortion in the line ?
Hi my name is Ram Manohar Joshi a back office Jr. Technical asistant. My job title is more dignified than what my job is,they might as well put the title as "The telephone repair man" atleast this wont make me look like an imposter.Well the crux of the matter is basically I am a nobody, a non entity and I preffer it that way. I have this inherent belief that "things are the way they are and I really cant affect anything". This has been a self imposed doctrine.
My work shift is from 10 at night till 4 in morning. Daily an office cab comes to pick me up at 9 and drops me back at 4:30.
Hail,storm or snow this had been my daily routine for 2 years. But since past 2 months it had been different it had turned for the better.
It was that insanely cold december night I was waiting near the bus stand waiting for my cab. A cold wave had swept over the city bringing along a thick dense cover of fog reducing the visibility to a few meters.Standingthere and waiting in those frigid conditions Oh! how I longed for a nice piping hot cup of tea...It was then I saw a small flickering light just across the road. Judging by its penumbra It looked like a tea stall I advanced towards it in order to validate my guess. As I moved closer the light became more distinct and so did its source it was indeed a tea stall thanking heavens I moved forward to ask the attendent who was busy washing glasses and stacking them neatly in a wooden cabinet just beside the stove humming a tune of the latest bollywood hit number, he was probably closing for the day so imprudently I asked him "Bhaiya,Dukan band kar rahan hain kya".Stratled by my voice he looked up at me glaringly as if I had comitted a felony by disrupting him. He then curtly replyed "saahab yeh 24 ghante chalta hain". Without any further delay I asked the attendent for a cup of hot tea, to which he obliged, as the tea was beeing made I patiently waited for my cab to arrive,the tea when made was served. Cupping the disposable glass in both my hands at first I relished the warmth emanating from piping hot tea, then savoured the delicious smelling tea.....It was ambrosial. I wanted to tell him what a commendable job he had done,but was stopped by the horn of my cab which had come quickly I finished my tea paid the attendent in change and rushed to my cab as we were already running pretty late. All throught my shift I kept wondering about that shanty tea stall and the divine tea they served and made a mental note of going back there as soon as the shift ended.
At 4 in the morning the shift ended, by 4:30 I was back at the place where the cab had picked me up, I crossed the road and towards the the sun was'nt up yet and also the street light was'nt working so it was pretty dark if poetically expressed it appeared as if "the robe of darkness trying to engulf the humble abode of weary workers" as I approached the tea stall the attendent recognized me and greeted me with a nod and I reciprocated although no words were exchanged he immediately poured me a cup of tea. As I sipped away with pleasure,I noticed the hoarding of the tea stall it said in blaring bright red color "TCC" expanded below it in dark blue "TAJ CHAI CORNER". I simpered at the irony which I think the owner would not have thought of that was "TAJ MAHAL" the celestial structure and the Tea at that stall scrumptuous. The owner probably on seeing me smirking asked if there was something wrong with the tea? seizing the opportunity I tried to strike up a conversation with him......within 20 minutes and 2 cups of tea,we talked as if we had known each other for many years. Finally the rigours of my morbid job caught up to me as my mind started giving into my bodies siestic needs. So grogy eyed I parted company with my new old friend and started trudge toward home,with nothing but thoughts of warm bed with even warmer quilt.
Next day I was woken up by the clanger of the utensils, my mother was busy doing what she does best house hold chores....I never really understood women and there extreme proclivity towards 'cleanliness'everything should be in order, in perfect ship shape, Alas! they are women if we understood them would'nt we be Gods. On that thought I got out of the quilt, greeted my parents picked up the newspaper the headlines were filled with common wealth games budget fiasco and some other scams pretty much what the usuall Indian daily chronical would have, the heading was amusing though "COMMON WEALTH ATTACKS ON COMMON MANS WEALTH". I was never really the kind of person who would sit down and actually read the paper as though I had an exam(my Father does read like that). The only thing that got me intrested in the paper were the last 4 pages "sports section". After getting my daily update of the sports scneario around the globe. I poured my self a cup tea kept in the kettle I sat down on the couch switched on the Telivision set trying to savour that 1 day in a week that every white collared proffesional will look forward to "SUNDAY".
I took the cup and sipped....ugh it was'nt even close to what I had last night, suddenly I had this urge to go out and have that divine tea again. I asked my mother to close the door behind me. On the way to TCC, I tried to recollect the owners name and all I could come up with was a blank, I thought probably I never asked him his name. On approaching the bus stand.......
