Here There and Everywhere Read online

  When I asked him about planning the details of the picnic, he said, ‘We can start at twelve in the afternoon. My friend owns a lodge so I can take you there. The next day, we can go to Amboli Falls. Then we can also go to Goa.’ Portado made a ten-day programme. But most of us could not afford a ten-day accommodation in a hotel, nor could we skip class for so many days. So the plan fizzled out. We thanked him and left. When I turned back and looked, Portado had closed the door and probably gone back to bed.

  Soon the final year came around. We all passed the examinations and parted ways. Some of us felt sad because we had become a big family in the last four years together. We did not know our destinations and knew that we may not meet again. Of course, as Portado said goodbye he told us, ‘If you are ever in Goa, please come to my house.’ But I seriously doubted that I would ever run into him again.

  Many decades passed. Once, I went to Dubai to give a lecture. After the lecture, people came up to talk to me but there was one person who waited until everybody had left. Then he walked over to where I was sitting and smiled. I recognized the smile but I did not remember where I had seen him. The man was bald, fat, had a big paunch and was dressed very ordinarily. I thought that he might be a mid-level manager in a construction company. I meet many people in my field and it is difficult to remember everybody.

  I asked him, ‘What can I do for you, sir? Are you waiting for me?’

  With a cracked voice, he said, ‘Yes, I have been waiting for you for a long time.’

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you were waiting. Do you have any work with me?’ I said.

  ‘Yes, I just wanted to tell you that you were right and I was wrong.’

  I was puzzled. What did he mean? I had never even met him before. I hardly came to Dubai since we did not even have an office there.

  ‘I didn’t get your name, sir. May I know your name, please?’ I asked.

  His laugh was bittersweet. He said, ‘I am Portado, your classmate.’

  I was very happy to see him and shook his hand. ‘Oh, Portado, I am seeing you after thirty-five years! It has been so long that I didn’t recognize you. Physically, both of us have changed so much. It is nice to meet you. Stay back. If you are here, come for dinner tonight. I want to catch up,’ I said.

  Sadly, Portado said, ‘Sorry, I don’t have much time. I am in the night shift. But I can have a cup of tea with you.’

  We went to the hotel restaurant and I ordered a cup of tea for him and juice for myself. I wanted to talk more. I started the conversation with great enthusiasm and could not hold my questions back. ‘Portado, where are you working now? How long have you been in Dubai? Are you married? How many children do you have? By the way, how are your networking friends? Do you ever come to India?’

  Portado stopped me. ‘I know your work involves computers but mine does not. You are too fast for me. Just like a computer. But I am in construction. So bear with me since I am slow. I have been in Dubai for the last five years. Before that, I was in India in several small places in different companies. Of course, I am married. I have two daughters.’

  I interrupted him. ‘You could have brought them today. I would have liked to meet them.’

  ‘Sorry, I can’t bring them because they are not here. I am in the lower level of management. So I cannot afford to bring my family here. My two daughters are studying in India and are doing engineering. I can’t even afford their education in this place.’

  I did not know what to say. I had never imagined Portado would end up like this.

  Now it was his turn to talk. ‘Do you remember, when I was in college, I used to make fun of all of you? I spent all my time in networking. After I finished engineering, I didn’t get a good job. The reason was very obvious. I did not have the knowledge or the ability to work hard. I looked down upon the two qualities that are the stepping stones to success. I knew that I wanted to go up and reach the top spot in a company but no one can just fly there. I knew what position I should be in but I did not know the route. I thought that a change of job would help, but instead it reduced my value in the market. None of my networking friends helped me. They dropped me like a hot potato. They thought that I was clinging on to them like a parasite. Some of them were like me and also looking for jobs. I always thought that I would come up with someone’s help. I never thought that I should take my own help. Now I am old. I am trying to learn new things and make up for lost time. But it is not easy. The market has become extremely competitive. Youngsters in college have more knowledge and quickness. They also have time on their side. I have told my daughters, you should study, get knowledge, learn skills and work hard.’

  Portado continued, ‘Do you remember who said this to me? It was you.’

  He looked at his watch and said, ‘My time is up. I must leave.’

  I wished him all the best.

  He walked a few steps, then came back and said, ‘That day, I called you a nerd. Today, I call you smart.’

  And he left.

  6

  A Life Unwritten

  It was the year 1943. My father was a young medical doctor posted at a small dispensary in a village known as Chandagad, located on the border of the two states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. It rained continuously for eight months there and the only activity during the remaining four months was tree cutting. It was a lesser-known and thinly populated village surrounded by a thick and enormous forest. Since British officers came to hunt in the jungle, a small clinic was set up there for their convenience. None of the villagers went there because they preferred using the local medicines and plants. So there was nobody in the clinic except my father.

  Within a week of his transfer there, my father started getting bored. He was uprooted from the lively city of Pune to this slow and silent village where there seemed to be no people at all! He had no contact with the outside world—his only companion was the calendar on the wall. Sometimes, he would go for a walk outside but when he heard the roar of the tigers in the jungle nearby, he would get scared and walk back to the clinic as fast as he could. It was no wonder then that he was too afraid to step out at night because of the snakes that were often seen slithering on the ground.

  One winter morning, he heard heavy breathing outside his main door and bravely decided to peep through the window. He saw a tigress stretching and yawning in the veranda with her cubs by her side. Paralysed with fear, my father did not open the door the entire day. On another day, he opened the window only to find snakes hanging from the roof in front of his house—almost like ropes.

  My father wondered if he was transferred to the village as a form of punishment for something he may have done. But there was nothing that he could do to change the situation.

  One night, he finished an early dinner and began reading a book by the light of a kerosene lamp. It was raining heavily outside.

  Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door. ‘Who could it be?’ he wondered.

  When he opened it, he saw four men wrapped in woollen rugs with sticks in their hands. They said to him in Marathi, ‘Doctor Sahib, take your bag and come with us immediately.’

  My father barely understood their rustic Marathi. He protested. ‘But the clinic is closed, and look at the time!’

  The men were in no mood to listen—they pushed him and loudly demanded that he accompany them. Quietly, my father picked up his bag and followed them like a lamb to the bullock cart waiting for them. The pouring rain and the moonless night disoriented him and while he didn’t know where they were taking him, he sensed that the drive might take some time.

  Using all the courage he had left, he asked, ‘Where are you taking me?’

  There was no reply.

  It was a few hours before they reached their destination and the bullock cart came to a complete halt. By the light of a kerosene lamp, somebody escorted them. My father noticed the paddy fields around him and in the middle of it all, he saw a house. The minute he set foot in the house, a female voice said, ‘Co