Train Friends

The sudden movement of the train jerked Shilpa out of her sleep. She glanced at her watch with sleepy eyes. There were seven more hours to go before the train reached Hyderabad. She dragged herself up to a vertical position on the train berth, pulled up her short hair with a hair band and picked up the mug to pour herself a cup of Complan from her white and green Milton flask. The co-passenger seated opposite her was a young girl probably in her early twenties, right about her age, occupied with some white headphones and a music playing device that she had never seen before. She was tall and dusky dressed in a jeans and white Nike jacket. She had shoulder length straight brown hair with bangs covering half her face, her kohl smeared eyes looking out, observing the sceneries of rural India framed by the rectangular glass windows. Shilpa offered her some Complan. The girl paused her music, took off her headphones and said, "I don't mind. Thanks".

"I am Shilpa. What is your name?", said Shilpa in her Telugu accented broken English.

"Good to meet you Shilpa. I am Joyita."

"Oh, very nice name. Never heard it before. Where are you from?"

"I am from Cal.. I mean Kolkata. Had gone home for vacations"

"You study in Hyderabad?"

"No am working there. I am a software engineer" 

"'I'ngineer?!", said Shilpa with amazement in her eyes. "You look very young to be working. You must be very intelligent"

"Ha ha, not really. You barely need to be intelligent to be software engineers these days. You just need to have an engineering degree", said Joyita sipping from the thermocol glass that Shilpa had handed to her.

"Really? I think you are very humble. The school in which I studied, only the first ranker got an engineering seat."

"Hmm that's strange. I thought in Hyderabad everyone studies engineering and then heads off to the US"

"I am not from Hyderabad.. I live in a small town close to Hyderabad. The place where we live the schools are very poor. If we clear our 12th standard exams it is almost as good as graduating"

"Ohh, that’s so not cool" , said Joyita frowning, beginning to lose interest in the conversation. She reached out to her backpack to take her laptop out.

"By the way what is that thing you were using to listen to music?", asked Shilpa pointing to the device she had not seen before.

"Ohh this?”, asked Joyita showing her nano. "It’s an iPod. You haven't seen this before?"

"No. I have seen disc man and I have a walk man in which I play cassettes. What do you put in the iPod? It’s so small. CDs or cassettes won't fit into it"

"He he", smiled Joyita, "You don't put anything into it physically. It has a hard drive to store music on it. You can store thousands of songs. Walkmans still exist? I thought they were extinct"

"Th..o..u..sands of songs? You must be joking"

"No really. It’s almost like a mini computer. You can put your songs, videos, photos. You can watch movies as well."

Shilpa was completely amazed. Her mouth was wide open. "Can you show me?"

"Yeah of course. Come here, let me show you", said Joyita offering her one of her headphones.

Shilpa moved to her berth and sat next to her sharing the headphones. 

"What songs do you like?", asked Joyita browsing through her playlists of Enigma, U2, ColdPlay and Nickelback hunting for something that Shilpa might like.

"Mmmmm.. do you have songs from Dhoom 2?", asked Shilpa in an excited voice.

"Oh Yeah ..I have the title song. Here you go", said Joyita selecting the song from her playlist titled “Bollywood Party Music”. 

As Joyita played the music she took off her earplug , put it into Shilpa's other ear and increased the volume. Shilpa was loving it. She instantly started shaking her head like a child. 

"The sound is sooooo clear", said an excited Shilpa in a loud voice, unaware of  her volume.

Joyita smiled and made signs indicating that she could keep listening to it for sometime. She taught her how to browse through the songs, to control the volume and pause and forward or rewind. When Shilpa was satisfied listening to a dozen songs, she wanted to see the videos. 

Joyita showed her a few music videos of hip hop numbers on the small screen of the device. Shilpa giggled while watching them asking several questions about who the singer was, who those girls in the background were, why were they all dark in complexion, what the lyrics meant, why they were talking about candies and lollipops etc etc. 

"Hey! I don't know all the details, babe. I just like dancing to these tunes", said Joyita after she had tried to answer several questions.

"Oh , you dance also? Wow! Do you have photos? And what is babe?"

"I don't dance dance.. you know what I mean?", said Joyi looking at Shilpa with a question mark on her face. "I mean, I just dance at parties with my friends. Not dance like dance in a performance or show"

"Ohh you mean in discos?"

"Yeah, clubs, discs , parties, raves..that kinda stuff"

"Ok .. I only know disco. Show me the photos na. And what was that you called me? Babe. What does that mean?"

Joyita was beginning to get a little irritated with Shilpa's questions and intrusion into her privacy. But Shilpa's excitement was entertaining. 

"Ok,  I’ll show you some photos and videos on my laptop.. And babe is just another way of addressing a girl friend. Like you say yaar in Hindi, we say babe in English. It’s actually a shortened form of the word baby"

"Ohh from baby? I find that so silly. Why call big grown up girls babies?"

"Dude! I don't have answers to that, man", exclaimed Joyita thinking to herself how  her regular vocabulary was completely unknown to another girl of her age.

"Doodh (milk)?"

"Oh never mind! It’s not doodh with the Indian "d" it’s Dude with the English "d". It is also a way of saying yaar"

"So funny!", giggled Shilpa, "Babe, dude, baby hee heee heee"

"Yeah now that I explained it to you, it does sound funny!"

"Ok show show, please show your dancing photos. We can see all that on your computer?" Shilpa was amazed at what all the thin white book like computer could do. She imagined computers to be office equipment. Watching videos and listening to music on it was beyond her imagination. It was a whole new experience for her.

"Yeah you can see everything on the laptop", said Joyita. She continued to explain the concept of multimedia, internet and search engines in lay man’s terms. “These videos, however, can be scandalizing”, she said as she hit play on one of her videos at a party. 

The video showed a loud, noisy gathering with many youngsters. It was quite dark but she could see Joyita and a few other girls and boys dancing in a straight row, very close to each other, with glasses in their hands , screaming out some song that ended with "It’s your birthday".

"Ohhh my God. You wear clothes just like film stars.", said Shilpa looking at Joyita's short sexy backless dress. "You look like Bipasha Basu in this video. But why are you dancing with all the boys? Shouldn't you dance only with your boyfriend?"

"Ha ha! They are all my friends, so I dance with all of them"

"So closely?"

"Dude, It’s just dancing. I am not... never mind!"

"Which one is your boyfriend?", asked Shilpa.

"I was single during this party. That guy you see in this photo with the tattoo on his arm, he is my ex-boyfriend"

"Ohh that tattoo is nice. I know tattoos.. Saif Ali Khan also got a tattoo of Kareena's name on his hand. But your ex boyfriend doesn't look as good as you. You should be with that guy in the other photo. He looks like Hrithik Roshan.", said Shilpa in an assertive tone.

"Yeah you are right. That’s why I ditched him. But yeah, Mr.Hrithik Roshan is cute and he is an awesome dancer. Dancing with a super tall guy like him is so sexy”, said Joyita pointing to a photo where she was dancing with the cute guy they were talking about. He was indeed tall. She barely reached his shoulders. “But the sad part is Mr. Hrithik Roshan doesn’t like me. What to do?", said Joyita curling her lips downward to make a sad face.

"Why? You are prettier than all the other girls", asked Shilpa totally confident that Joyita was the only one who deserved Mr. Hrithik Roshan. 

Joyita smiled at Shilpa's simplicity. None of her girl friends would ever openly admit that. "It’s not about just being pretty. The personalities should match also, right? He is too simple for me."

The train halted at a station and disrupted their conversation.

"Lets go get some food from the station. .. Babe", said Shilpa, happy that she had used the new trendy word.

"Nah! I don't eat all that junk. It’s not good for health. Plus I don't wanna leave my laptop and gadgets here and get off"

"Nothing will happen. Don't be spoilt. We live on all this food. As for your stuff - Aunty will take care of them", said Shilpa pointing to the lady seated in the adjacent berth. "Aunty, can you look after these things while we are gone?", asked Shilpa in Telugu. The old lady occupied in peeling and eating oranges nodded her head and said "Ok, Ok , Ma"

Joyita got up, took her jacket off and tied it around her waist revealing her flat chiseled lower waist bound by her ultra low dark blue jeans.

"Don't take the jacket off. People will look at you. You look sexy that way. Or what do you say... hot"

"Ok meri maaa! (my mother). I won't look hot, I’ll look cool. Now lets go", said Joyi putting her jacket back on as they walked out of the train towards the dosa vendor on the platform. 

"Tell me something Joyita.. how are you so good in studies and an engineer when you have boyfriends and you go to parties and even drink?", asked Shilpa.

"What does that have to do with studies? You can do all that and still do well in your career you know. And all those people you saw in the photos and videos, they are all engineers, doctors, MBAs", replied Joyita.

"Really? Even the boys with the tattoos?"

"Yeah .. " , Joyi couldn't help but laugh at her questions.

"We all study and work really hard when we need to. Sometimes we have to stay at work till 11 in the night. Then when we get a chance to enjoy we party, we hang out"

"Hang what?", asked Shilpa, eager to expand her trendy dictionary. 

"Hang out.. I mean go to places, sit , eat , drink, chat etc. Like go to coffee shops, malls and all"

"Ohh so lucky. Malls are sooo expensive for me. Once I went to the mall with my father because I wanted to buy a pair of shoes. Sneakers for my training. They said 5000 rupees. 5000 rupees is my father's one month's salary. We run our household with 5000 rupees. I felt very bad and told him I will never want to shop at the mall again. I will earn my own money and then buy shoes"

"Hmmm yeah, I agree. Malls are usually more expensive than ordinary stores. I am sure you can find a good pair of sneakers elsewhere.", consoled Joyi patting Shilpa on her back. "But what training were you talking about?"

"Ohh I didn't tell you. I am training for my first possible international race this year. I am an athlete. I run"

"No way! An athlete! Wow!”, said Joyita almost not believing the fact that Shilpa could be an athlete. “This is the first time I am meeting a professional Indian athlete. That's totally cool, Dude. I thought you had an athletic body but never imagined that you could be doing that for a living"

"It’s not so cool you know. Lots of hard work and very little pay. No one cares for us. They think I am talented so I am in it. I am doing it because I will get scholarship from sports quota to study. Then I can get a job at a call center and then I can be like you all. Hang out and go to discs and buy iPods"

"What? Why would you want to be like us? There are so many software engineers but athletes are so few in this country"

"Because ultimately you are the ones making our country prosperous. You are the ones earning lots of money and living good lives. Not us. We still listen to cassettes on broken tape recorders and have roadside filter coffee and get enough money to barely make ends meet. We are only a few but those many big malls are still unreachable for us. You don't run but you wear Reebok shoes and Nike jackets and have iPods to listen to music from. Look at my shoes" , said Shilpa pointing to her old pair of old white sneaker like keds.

"But Shilpa that’s not the right attitude. You should do what you are talented at and work hard. Anyone can be a call center employee but only one or two can go to Olympics and win medals for the country"

"Olympics is a long way to go. I am not even aiming for that. Do you aim to be  Narayan Murthy just because you are in software? No. You do your regular job and you can still do all the things you want at my age. Your one year's salary is probably equal to my life time saving. I don't want to be this way forever. I don't even have the basic necessities, I can't keep dreaming of being PT Usha. Chak De India doesn't happen in real life, you know. Anyway lets hurry, the train will leave in 10 minutes"

They bought some masala dosa and munched on it together and talked some more about their lives. About mobile phones and shared landlines that went dead every other week due to rains, automatic cars and cycle rickshaws, abroad trips and life in a small town, boyfriends and girlfriends, Indian software and Indian sports, about call center employees and government employees, about life here and life there. 

Back on the train Joyita checked her belongings to ensure everything was still there. She thanked the aunty for taking care of the stuff while they were gone. The two new friends chatted for some more time, saw some more videos and photos, played some games and laughed a lot. For both of them the conversations were a learning and teaching experience. Joyita was surprised to discover that all the things that she took for granted were luxuries for a huge population of Indian girls like Shilpa. "You mean you get water for only a certain time during the day? Man, that can be so hard.”

“In your grandmother's village they still don't have electricity? Like not even light and fan?"

“I can’t believe that you have never seen a real pizza or eaten one”

"You guys still pay dowry, really? That's crazy. During your marriage if the boy's family asks for dowry just give me a call. I'll straighten them out with the help of my lawyer friends"

 

Shilpa on the other hand was amazed at the kind of lifestyle that girls her age or even younger led in cities. "You can come home with a boy when your parents are there and seat him in your room? Wow!"

"You pay 100 rupees for a coffee??!! Aiyoo! And 10,000 rupees for the iPod?!"

"You can talk to anyone across the world free of cost? Your hang out costs must be making up for all the free calls!", giggled Shilpa.

Hours passed in such discussions interleaved with music hearing sessions on the iPod. It was almost time for the train to reach its destination. Joyita gave Shilpa her mobile number and asked her to get in touch with her whenever she was in Hyderabad. "One thing I'll say again, Shilpa. Don't give up on your dreams. I know you want good things in life, but those are material things, they don't last forever. They are definitely not worth giving up your talents for. Don't join the herd, create your own path, babe!"

"Thanks for the advice but it’s easier for you to say all that since you are not in my shoes.", said Shilpa stretching her legs straight and raising it up so Joyita could see her shoes. "Literally", smiled Shilpa and they both laughed.

The station arrived. Joyita was going to get off at Hyderabad and Shilpa was to continue a few more stations down to her town. She helped Joyita get off the train with her luggage. "Bye babe. Thanks for teaching me so many things! And yes, think about Hrithik Roshan, he is nice", said Shilpa hugging Joyi. "Thanks to you too! Many things you said are an eye opener for me. And if Mr.Roshan ever works out, you'll be the first person to know. Anyway take care and call me. Bye!"

The train began to move. Shilpa returned to her seat and sat down looking out of the window watching Joyi walk off with her backpack and luggage. When the train had pulled out of Hyderabad station, Shilpa looked around and then reached into her pocket. Out came a shiny black iPod nano with white headphones. She had managed to keep Joyi's iPod for herself. She looked at it and smiled with admiring eyes, like it was her catch of the day. She put the headphones on and started listening to it on full volume. The sound was loud enough to reach the old aunty. She looked up from her stitching and stared at the new iPod owner for sometime. The new iPod owner was immersed in the sound with closed eyes, shaking her head to the rhythm.

Joyita had just stepped out of the station and gotten into a cab. Once settled she reached into her pocket to take her iPod out. She looked in the other pockets. It wasn't there. She frantically checked her purse. It wasn't there. She remembered distinctly that she had it in her jacket's pocket before stepping off the train. Her phone rang. It was her roommate. "Hey Nidhi.."

"Hi Babe, did you get a cab or should I come to pick you up?"

"No am fine. But I think I just lost my iPod"

"What? How? You spoke to me a few minutes back, did you have it then?"

"I don't know. I think I dropped it somewhere cause I am sure I had it in my pocket till I got off the train. Someone could have easily lifted it from my pocket at the station also. It was pretty crowded."

"Do you want to go back and check at the station?"

"Hmmm thinking...Actually chuck it. You know Nids, thinking of it I think it’s God's way of telling me that I can now buy the iPhone that I have been eying for so long"

"Good heavens, babe. I think it’s God's way of telling you to be more careful!"

The train had reached Shilpa's town. She got off with her white headphones still plugged to her ears and kept the sleek new device in her hands to attract attention. She was excited about going for her practice with it. She had seen photos of Joyita working out with the iPod tied to her upper arm. As she walked imagining all the stuff she would do with this new loot, suddenly it stopped playing music. She took out the device, pressed all buttons but it would not turn on. "The batteries must have died. I'll go home and replace them.", thought Shilpa looking for a place to put the batteries in. She didn't find anything. "Maybe this needs small batteries like watches", she thought. She saw a wide outlet which did not make much sense to her. She couldn't figure out what went wrong. No one in her small town would know how to fix it either. She would have to wait to go to Hyderabad to get it repaired. She felt disappointed that after all her efforts to stealthily cheat a friend, she wouldn't be able to use it. She continued to fiddle with it trying to do something to turn it on as she crossed the road. Suddenly a small boy riding a cycle bumped into her. The sudden contact shook her and threw the iPod off her hands on the road and before she could pick it up the boy rode the cycle on it shattering the small device into pieces. Shilpa screamed at the boy and knelt down on the road, tears rolling down her cheeks. Gathering the iPod shards in her hands she remembered Joyi's words "I know you want good things in life, but those are material things, they don't last forever"

Bedrock

It was the spring of 2016, exactly ten years since I married Ishaan and three years since Zoya was born. I woke up to my regular 6 am alarm and got out of bed drudgingly. First thing I checked my calendar on the phone to see what time my first meeting starts and what was on the agenda for the day. I scrolled through the list, Market Strategy discussion on new product launch, Campaign feedback and analysis, one on one with VP, Client meeting on Feedback etc, pick up Zoya from day care, Play date with Natalie, yoga. I ran through my mind all the to-dos I needed to take care of in addition to what was on the calendar. I stepped into the restroom to brush my teeth. I felt extra tired today to the point of fatigue. I had no energy to do anything, not even pick up the toothbrush. The entire week had been tough – a new product launch had kept me in office late,  Zoya had an ear infection and Ishaan had been traveling. The only person who I felt comfortable asking for