500/-

500/-

It was monday and and my mom looked eager to wake me up, Frustrated, somehow i located the watch.. it was around noon, time to wake up all right but there was still some reluctance... not due to the sleepiness but just because of an envelope in my mom's hand..... Not another girl ... I thought but to my surprise and dismay (Cant help it even after all that reluctance in the first place) It had no details about any girl.....

I was just amazed to see a letter from VJTI about the returning the security deposit of rs. 500/-... After 3 years past my graduation, they found me worthy enough to give me back my deposit but do i really have to waste my precious sleep for 500 bucks.... I grabbed the pillow again but my mom wasn't taking any no for an answer.... So I had no choice but to present my argument.... "It's just 500 buck mom..." Me still trying to hide under the pillow.... but there was no escape from my mom... "Well then you can give it to your poor mom".... "By no means you are poor mom".... "I still understand the importance of 500 bucks.. and do you know what my poor students have to go through to earn those 500 bucks...".... teachers can never forget their students, can they?... even after retirement....and I just hate it when she leaves me speechless... And I am most effective against my mom when am half asleep but that argument snatched even the half sleep I was relying on.....

So here i was just on the way to VJTI just to collect the cheque of 500/- and my moms argument reminded me of a video i "Liked" on facebook but completely forgot about... here's the video....



When I reached college, I was damn sure that my half hearted enthusiasm to retrieve that deposit from college was no match to the bureaucracy of the clerks sitting in the accounts dep.... and when i reached college, clerks started giving vague directions from where to collect the cheque ... Change is only thing missing here, i thought.... people here have the clear role sand responsibilities defined and some responsibilities are not at all defined.. Helping is one of such responsibility.... Anyways somehow I found my way to the correct window.... after ignoring me for a while, he finally gave up.... but after a couple of lines of conversation he actually looked curious about my job and looked happy when I said I am paid enough.... We always think ourselves as the Underpaid and others as outrageously overpaid for their work... but somehow I end up replying enough....

Enough was not enough for that day, i guess cause when i got my cheque only to find a spelling mistake in my name the double D in my name was gone missing...I wasn't ready to accept a single D.... I thought all the efforts from home to office are in vain.... but that clerk really decided to surprise me.... clerk left all his work and started explaining me the workarounds to clear the cheque.... he even left his personal mobile no just in case the cheque is not cleared and promised to post me a corrected cheque if i am too busy to come back to college.... accounts dep. has finally changed.... Is it the water, air, renovation or the fear of director caused all this.... I had no clue... still change somehow felt good...

Finally I got the cheque and returned home... while returning I could hear all those conversations which had 500 in them.... really do i still understand the value of those 500 bucks?? so i decided to donate those 500 bucks to my mom's students...to those who understand it... But my mom had other plans in her mind.... "Now add some of your money to it and you can get a nice gift for your sister for this Rakshabandhan" .... I tried to mutter my plans for those 500 bucks but I know my mom she would again leave me speechless with some other argument like may be "I am rich enough to take care of my on students..."

So I simply kept my plans to myself and found myself on the way to a mall.....

Local Conversation......

After so many days I went to VJTI and met some old friends.... while coming back I had the privilege to travel in a local @ the peak time... This is one privilege I am very much scared of these days but That's how Mumbai works..... You have to bury all your fears to survive in this city only to find in the end that it's one of the safest cities in the world

Anyways from Bandra station somehow I made it in the second class compartment at around 7 PM..... Just when i entered, I found a delhite in the compartment boasting about city Delhi.... Everyone in the compartment was listening and noone dared to object.... May be the whole day @ work drained out all the energy or They just did not want to be Against North on any subject.... Even that can be a breaking news in Indian Media these days.... Neways So here we were on the mercy of a delhite trying to teach us "How to live our Life..." and on other hand we thinking How to make him leave our common lives...


Just then on the next station a Sardarji entered the train ... Now the delhite suddenly got a boost.... He got an ally to a battle he was fighting alone till now..... So here what happened next....

Delhite : "Mumbai me sab bheed bhad hai.... asli sheher to dilli hai"
Sardarji : "Maaf karna bhaisahab, par aisa hota itne log yahan kya zhak marne aaye hain..."
D : "App kuch bhi bolo Indiaka pet yahan hai par Dil to Dilli me hi hai"
S : "Dil ki to tab yaad aayegi na jab Pet bhara ho...."

And then there was a huge roar.... Even i couldn't help to smile.... Delhite suddenly got the urge to get off at Vile Parle.... may be he'll be on the next flight to delhi....

Sometimes I feel it has become a fashion to curse mumbai..... when there is nothing to show on a news channel, they show mumbai ... They must be disappointed about the lack of spice in the news from mumbai these days.... and of course delhi is proving worthy contender with Commonwealth games looming large....

Sometimes i feel that the media in India is the most negetive media.... when i watched US media one year back I suddenly felt the difference.... No crap "Breaking News" No "Super Villians" trying to destroy the whole society....They actually discussed a common meagre issue in american life most of the times..... and that made them boring of course... But for Indian media the definition of the Breaking is the negative news....

For a person living outside mumbai, it's the worst place to live.... and News channels, Bollywood or even Hollywood does not help much either... It's only the difference of perspective... that's what's wrong in most of the cases....

after all, If you stand in the middle of India facing delhi then Mumbai can never be on the right side .... Right?? you just have to face it only to find it near your heart......