Do you Have a Radio in your House?

The day started off on a normal or rather let me say a routine note except that Ravi, my hubby did not drop me to the office shuttle pick-up point. He was fast asleep and I did not feel like waking him up. Honestly, my little one woke with a cough at 3am and did not go back to sleep and my hubby engaged him letting me catch-up on my sleep. How sweet! Good, I did not lose my cool, I had to rush the last few minutes and catch an auto to reach my pick-up point. Well, I did time manage well and reached about nearly 10 minutes early. What made me pen happenings of today’s morning will follow later (BTW, its still morning 9am now J).

I wait every day at this pick-up point for almost more than a year now in Malleswaram . It is surprising to note how other people’s timelines or every day routines that act a check point to my timelines and daily routine. For eg., The DPS North Bus that waits to pick-up 2 school children and leaves sharp at 7.20, the HP office shuttle at almost the same time, the doctor (my guess) probably a professor at Vaidehi College of Medical Sciences who boards the college bus at 7.20. His wife drops him in their Maroon Maruti and at times he comes by auto (probably his wife was busy J ), The Blue ‘Star Bus’, yeah that is what is written on it! Don’t know which company , but zooms past at 7.20, the person at the window with his collar neck in the 3rd seat (on the left) who is fast asleep, his specs at the end of his nose (blessed are those who can sleep in the office shuttle, I am one and know what a wonderful nap it is while commuting to and fro, though these days I don’t sleep, reason being busy talking to my friend/colleague Umi ). The list does not stop here, the 3 aunties (must be in their 60’s), returning from their morning walk. I must say, they are so graceful, neat, beautiful with their pastel colored sweaters or lovely chawls and oh the ‘Nike’ and ‘Adidas Shoes’. Probably their children are in the US!!!!!!! Yes, I have seen that most parents who have kids in the US take a liking to these branded stuff. I look forward everyday to smile and they return a warm smile. Haven’t spoken to them yet. Maybe one of these days I will get to talk to them J. The office manager, the lady who works at the famous Cardiologist’s clinic. She really has a long work day. From 7.30am through 7.30-8pm everyday!.......she walks very slowly, must be enjoying the morning cool air and noticing how the street transforms from a silent, cool morning to a busy rustling street when she returns home! I forgot to mention, the place where I board the bus has a couple of apartments around though it is in on a very busy street with other offices, clinic, playground, a school, few shops and hotel.

And now to the most interesting part and the very reason that made me write today……………….There is this old couple, yeah must be in their early or mid 70’s who also return from their morning walk everyday at the same time – 7.20am. They are very slow paced with both of them holding a walking stick in their hand. They are careful with every step, pushing the tiny stones in their way with their walking sticks and ensure that they place their feet firm. However, the old man walks slightly faster than the old lady and stops and waits for her to catch-up. At times, he is giving her a heads-up (ha ha our office language) and warns her about a bigger stone that will not move with a whack of their stick forcing them to go around it L, a small water /mud patch or a big vehicle coming behind her. She carefully follows his instructions and catches-up speed with him and after 2, 3 steps he walks faster and again she lags behind and the same sequence repeats until they reach the point where I wait for my shuttle. She looks-up and gives me one of the most warmest smiles I ever get or have ever seen. Well, it is so hard to see someone look into your eyes and smile these days! At office, in hallways there are a number of colleagues who definitely can exchange smiles with, but people are rather lost in their own world or do not want to make any eye contact!!!!!! This irritates me!....Smile please, it increases your face value J.

Again let me get on track, I can imagine that it is an honest and such a genuine and lovely gesture of this old lady. I will stick to calling her old lady until further. She puts in effort to do this every day given that she is concentrating on her steps, watching for vehicles, mud/water patches. She has to completely stop, place her walking stick on safe ground, ensure she is standing in a safe corner of the road and then lift her head and give me her best SMILE. It never occurred to me until today that she is putting in effort to just repeat this gesture. But today, somehow it did. She had never spoken to me until today. All that she did was Smile, take a minute’s rest and continue to reach her apartment about 50 steps away……. Today, everything until she smiled was the same, after that she did not walk by, she looked at me and asked me “Do you have a Radio in your house?”……Imagine, a complete stranger, no I don’t want to call her a stranger, I have seen her for months now. I said “Yes, I do have”, but then there was a huge rush of thoughts that flooded my mind (why is she asking me this? Does she mistake me for someone? and so on……………….). She continued, very softly, “Do you work on Saturday’s or do you work half day on Saturday’s? Again, to this I answered – “No, I don’t work on Saturday’s, ours is a 5 day week office” (I was blank and no clue why she was asking me these vague questions) and my shuttle would come in any minute, it was 7.22….. I was anxious and in a hurry to know what she really wanted to tell me………………..she said (all this was in Kannada) “I am so happy, you have an off tomorrow, can you keep a reminder (again my mind, reminder for what, pls?) to hear to a drama on the AIR Bangalore station at 2.30pm tmorrow, do you know the story was written by me some 25 years back. Please make time to listen to it and let your family and friends know about the program” and she continued “ Back then, I used to write a lot of dramas, stories, was into literature and in particular the drama that is being aired tomorrow was published as a weekly serial in one of the famous kannada weekly magazines those days”, “My name is Pankaja, I was known as N. Pankaja and only recently I have started writing my full name Nugenahalli Pankaja”….. I was awestruck! If she had not mentioned this to me today, I would have never known. I was touched when she further said “ I know that people don’t listen to Radio anymore these days, in fact I got myself a transistor yesterday! – request you to kindly listen to the drama, it is a fun drama and being directed by a famous dramatist – Yamuna Murthy”. All that I could reply to her was “ Sure Madam, it is an honour to meet someone like you, I shall definitely listen to the drama and I am more than happy and thank you so much for talking to me today”……….To this she said, “ You are a smart girl, I have been noticing you everyday (donno what smartness she saw in me J ), I always wanted to say hello to you, felt happy after talking to you, I am not the same energetic lady I used to be, I am recovering from a heart problem, I will look forward to your review and comments on my drama” and to this all I could tell her was “I do not have the knowledge, please madam you are so modest”…. By this time, her hubby was wondering why she did not move and was checking with the watchman of the flat…………………It was 7.25 and I could see my shuttle turn in the corner of the road and I asked her to go carefully once again thanking her and bidding her bye, take care…………………………………….

This indeed is one of the most beautiful way the day has started…………………Hundreds of other thoughts coming in. Will write again, after I listen to the drama and meet her…………………..

I am sorry, if I took too much of your time. Let me be honest, this is the first effort to write something, today I wanted to and more than treasure and save it!...................thank you for taking time to read this……………………Have a wonderful day!...................................G3


Folks, sorry for the delayed update. Apparently, I could not listen to the drama. but, I did meet Mrs. Pankaja and she mentioned that those who listened to her drama called back and said it was good. She did not sound convincing as the director was not successful in dramatizing the way Mrs. Pankaja would have! Well, I dont get to meet her these days (my shuttle route changed). But look forward to staying in touch with her...................