1
Samir and Sameer were childhood friends. Conditions of both lied somewhere around the mean of affluence and destitution. Their precarious position in the social strata provided them with the luxury of indulging in frivolous palavers. Both valued their flippant discourse as a mark of intellectual prowess. From rational viewpoints to personal invectives, topics ranged from mundane matters like cricket, girl, movie etc. to deep philosophical domains like life, reality, theology, politics etc. Both tried to get the better of the other.
Once during their usual confabulation, they digressed into the domain of religion and nation and their relationship. Extremely acerbic remarks were exchanged. Both accused each other's community of same charges. You receive pampering and patronage and we get the raw deal. Things rarely went this far. Finally both sides agreed to a solution. It was decided that both would spend a month in each other's locality. And, then it would be decided that who are appeased and who are second grade citizens.
2
Samir informed his family members about his one month absence. He cited college internship as a reason. With minimal of belongings, he left for Sameer's locality. Sameer's locality was better planned. Less clustered houses and even lesser clustered roads. A couple of good public schools operated in the locality. Samir still remembered his initial days in his own locality. How he had to rummage through his locality for a good school. It was really agonizing. No school was beyond class X in his area. And, it was Sameer's father who helped him get admission in a school located in the adjoining locality. Memory of which filled Samir with a sense of gratitude. Vagrant thoughts slowed him down, yet he kept sauntering down the street. The scrambling eyes located a signboard with words 'TO-LET' written over it. Samir knocked at the door. A rotund man in his mid-40s opened the door. Samir-"I saw your signboard.". The houseowner interjected and in a welcoming manner asked Samir to take a look of the room. The room was located in the back and was in a decrepit condition, bearing a telltale signature of its long time abandonement. Meanwhile Samir faced a barrage of questions related to purpose of stay and native place etc. However, revelation of full name led to the moment of brief lull. The houseowner then tactfully refused and asked Samir to look for some other room. Samir reasoned hard, but the houseowner did not budge.
Samir was again on the road, mulling about the little lie he should have told. In a fix, he weighed intention versus action and finally decided to play with little guile. And, thanks to appellative tweaking, Samir got the room.
3
Sameer convinced his family about his one month break mentioning college excursion. He packed his belongings and moved out. After much haggling he managed to get the auto and reached the locality. Samir's locality was a ghetto. Jostling crowd, clustered houses, narrow streets and profusion of eating joints and restaurants. Rich oily smell was wafting through the air. The locality was clumsily designed with complete disregard for human habitation. With a handful of schools and that too sub-standard, Sameer was dismayed by the wretchedness of the place. He grew weary of the dwellers. People engrossed with palatal pursuit with scant appreciation for education and other uplifting institutions, pondered Sameer. Lost in mental derision, Sameer was ambling down the street with eyes scouring the possible signs of tenancy. Luckily, he found one. He knocked at the door. A corpulent man with dull disposition greeted Sameer. With face all puffed up, it was hard to discern the emotional content-if any-of his expressions. Sameer enquired about the available room. The houseowner without uttering a word gestured Sameer to follow him. The house from inside was well furnished, neat and uncluttered. It was a big respite from the menacingly chaotic outside. This wide difference in orderliness between inside and outside confounded Sameer. Meanwhile, Sameer was asked some questions to which Sameer responded with adequate satisfaction of the owner. In the end the owner asked Sameer to submit ID proof. The owner said ruefully about the perilous time we live in. "Every new tenant in this locality has to do this. "Signs of end times - you have to carry certificate for being human." He sighed lugubriously.
Sameer was bit flustered, since in all these conversations, he had not revealed his surname. Sameer nodded in appreciation and promised to submit it later. The owner handed Sameer the key and a brief sermon on do's and dont's.
4
Within a matter of one week, both found there quest to be flagging. Few days of solitude had debilitated these loquacious creatures. They spent most of the time sleeping. While awaken they both longed for their gregarious lives. Even in their soliloquy, they conversed with their own past rather than with the society they had come to comprehend. They found all these exercise boring. Truth, they realized, is best concealed and undeclared. Truth, in itself, is so banal and trite that it has to build a facade of myths and tales. Valorizing and demonizing is a part of this construct. Culture, society are all contraptions devised to bring liveliness in otherwise, vapid human existence. The truth exists in myriad yet simple forms. All we need to do is to choose one and believe in one. However, conclusions were more due to bereftment. So identical was their disposition that both had similar epiphanies in around same time. They called each other and decided to call this whole thing off.
5
Both prepared themselves to leave. It was their last evening in their temporary neighbourhoods. At around same time a bomb exploded somewhere in the city. Fear, gloom and panic spread inexorably. Everywhere people were glued to the newschannels, wilfully magnifying their fear and unknowingly becoming accomplice to these dastardly acts. With publicity even failed acts can terrorize.
Sameer's ghetto bore a deserted look. All eating joints closed down. Street wore a deserted look. Fear was reigning supreme. Sameer observed a different fear, a fear to which he was oblivious so far. Fear of being wrongly accused and mistreated. These acts victimized these population both directly and indirectly, Sameer mused. The police was patrolling the locality. An uneasy lull prevailed in Sameer. Their fragile and malleable reputation made Sameer feel sorry for them.
Meanwhile, Samir's locality was draped in dejection. There were some fringe elements who tried to exploit the conditions by their vitroilic rants but the people remain indifferent to such overtures. They maintained a remarkable degree of calm and resilience exigent of such situations. The police was vigilant on the street.
Next day police were verifying the antecedents of tenants in both the localities.
Sameer so far had not submitted his ID proof. His houseowner was visibly upset. Policemen interrogated a great deal of him for such laxity. Sameer was finally taken to the police station.
At around same time, Samir too was in trouble over his fake name. Samir was also taken to the same police station.
Both when saw each other, could not resist a smile The policemen observed the connection and enquired " Do you both know each other?" Both nodded affirmatively. The cops somehow thought of cracking the case. Both were kept inside the jail and preliminary investigation on their identity was initiated.
Inside the jail, in the company of one another, they found their lost freedom. Breaking the week long layer of taciturnity, both began to relish their usual jabbering.
I was also in the same cell. I was locked up here for the charges of obscenity in my writings. Indifferent to my presence, they both continued their callow chit-chat. I too had grown weary of facing obscenity charges and spending a night or two in the police station. The tag of 'threat to morality' was becoming unbearable. So, I decided to write about the puerile blabbering of these two individuals. I asked for pen and paper. The cops jeered at me and tauntingly remarked "Ab kya likhogey Mastram". Ignoring their gibe I began to write: Samir and Sameer were childhood friends. Conditions of both.......
