An Interesting Morning

Everything about this morning seemed to be strange. My PG owner did not open the gates of the hell at 5 AM as he usually does. I never used to care about the time he opens the gate. I have always been interested and worried about the time the gates close i.e. 11 PM. But today, it was a different case altogether. Adi has stayed over in my room last night and he had to rush home as he had forgotten his Admit card for the exam. I thought of accompanying Adi along till ISBT Sec 17. I thought of it as a fruitful endeavour as this trip could also serve as an impromptu morning walk for me. A morning walk is one thing that I have always dreaded of. I had always thought of it as an utter waste of time. I always felt that how could walking for miles and miles, which actually drains out all the energy of the body, serve the purpose of being responsible for a freshened up day. So, there I was, walking all over from sec 21 to sec 17 ISBT[Not too far though], my earphones plugged in n fingers searching for that perfect song in my cell which could help brighten up my day in some way or the other. As I was looking out for potential songs, I came up to U ME AUR HUM [male version]. Though this track has always been amongst my favourites, there was something about the track which kept me going and going. I replayed the track over and over again and kept walking even after I had dropped Adi. After some time, fatigue took over me and I stopped for a cup of tea. When I ordered tea, I noticed that there were half fried eggs up for offering. Being a big time foodie, I just couldn’t resist the temptation of ordering a plate of half fried eggs. While he was preparing the eggs, I kept on enjoying the tracks on my phone. Next up was the COKE STUDIO version of MORA SAIYAN. A beautiful composition in Raag Khamaj, this was another way of ensuring that my day was going in the best possible direction. Meanwhile, I just interacted with the Chai Wallah who was busy reciting shayaris to one of the other customers. I asked him if he knew whose composition it was. He very casually replied, “Kya bhaiya, itna pade likhe kahan hai ke bade shayar logo ka likha pad ke yaad karenge. Yeh toh maine khud likha hai”. I was dumb struck. He was hardly of the age of 15-16 and his couplets were so intensely woven that if they were compiled and put up on a blog, it would fetch the highest no of followers of shayaris. I was really amazed by his literary skills and felt pity for his condition. Meanwhile, the fried eggs were ready and I started gorging on them. The fried eggs reminded me of my home where I would cook fried eggs while mom and dad went to their offices. I felt nostalgic and called up home. Mind you it was 6 AM in the morning and dad must have been getting ready for office. My mom got worried since I called up so early in the morning. In the next 10 minutes I talked to her, she must have asked me for about 15 times if I was all right. Moms are so worried about their kids, don’t they? Just when I was about to finish off my eggs, I saw a wonderful site. The Chai Wallah was packing up an omelette for a customer in an old newspaper. To my astonishment, the newspaper read “Rocking engineers” in Hindi and had a picture of SURYODAYA, my band. Yes, it was the same newspaper article which shaida wrote about the rock scene in Chandigarh which featured a large picture of us. While packing up the omelette, the chai wallah somehow managed to recognise me in the pic and immediately asked me if it was me in the pic. I answered in the affirmative and found himself smiling and in a very happy mood. When I was paying him for the stuff, he very proudly replied, “Apse paisa thode hi lenge sirji, bas jaake taareef kar dena apne photo wale bando me meri dukaan ki, Hero log aayenge toh dukaan ka naam ho jayega aur galla acha chalega”. I was so amazed by his words and told him that I would certainly do that and gave him the money he truly deserved. It is really amazing to know what a media appearance can do to a person. The chai wallah had the notion that I was one of the most important customers he had while for me, it was a heart warming experience where I was considered as a celebrity despite not being one by leaps and bounds. Thank you lord for staring my day on such a smiling note and hope the rest of the day will be as exciting and interesting as it began.