PLACE - Lucknow
People- A,B( I mean they had names...but the fact of the matter is .....they don't matter...
B : so..you're in lko for how long ??
A : ummm.....22..24. I mean it'll be 24 next summer.
B : kind of boring isn't it?? I mean 'one city- one life'....too monotonous
A ( trying to copy B's style) : well , I had a punch at Bareilly for 4 years but , umm...I usually del that stuff..you know its better off saying ,' been here all the time '.
B : and..you did there??
A : engg
B : eng-bly...bly-eng...sort of ...never heard a college there....you see!!!
A : yeah..there were no FRs ,PVRs..McDonalds...
B : nooo...no no no o..mac is not engg I mean look..its just..ok forget...........so you've been there McDonalds ..haan!!
A : well well..you know the problem with you NRIs...you think we Indians live on a tree top...and our roofs as vulnerable as a leaf...falling over..tripping over...well here's the news we are hosting this year's CWG ....Commonwealth Games...you see now??
B : OK OK..just cool it.will ya..and by the way my family ...its from lko.
A : and??
B : well my father got transferred.(to the US)
so where are we heading?
A: well we ought to go to FR ,have some burg..
B (scanning some paper..or map) : hey i wanna go this..H..U..S..S.AI..N
A : Husaainganj!!!! what for???
B : no no...something like that...its more vowely.
A: vowely??
B : ooh well vowels playing all around ...A B then A ....D.
A : Hussainabad....ok...but what for???
B : you don't know ..there's some place there..IMAM
A : k...Imambara..but today??
B : yeah...problems??
A : well that Ayodh. ok never mind let's go...
B : any problems??
A : no ..not at all..
B (gazing at the Imambara) : CHRIST!!!.....geese...look at that..you know what this is....you remember that dance judge on that dance show saying to that dancing guy.......stupendofantabulofantastic maan.
A guide in the backdrop : this was built by asifudduala at the time of the great famine...hindus and muslims built it....a source of providing people the money they didnt take otherwise.....was built in the morning..destroyed in the night....to give the money to all the citizens........tazia kept inside.....hindus used to built it........
B : wow!!! did you hear that
A : yeah..old story..famine one..oh yeah I've booked 2 seats at the barbecue nation at 4:00.
B : coool..hey what's that??
A : what??...ooh...Roomi Gate...c'mon lets move....
B (staring at a building) : wow..look at that,,thats what you call elegant, decent enough no?? That's what you call a Nawab's Inn..I mean I can relate it to a Nawab..is he still there??
A: what?? who??
B : the Nawab.
A : the Nawab??
B : this is the Nawab's residence no??
A (chuckling) : no no no no no...this is KGMC ...I mean CSMMU.
B : CS what ??
A : CSMMU ..chattrap...well they called it KGMC -King George's Medical College.
B : OK....so what about it....
A : what about what?? a medical college,,100 years old...a sometime great, one time best..and now a decent one. ooh by the way you see that gate(pointing towards the front gate)...there you get some great chole-bhatoore ..wanna have a bite(again copying some accent)
B : yeah yeah..why not??
They parked the car besides a filthy makeshift bookstore. there are some vintage novels lying there. among them lies a relatively political copy of The Communist Manifesto...and there is one more ...OSAMA..World War-3 .....just behind that bookstore there is an ignorable plaque.
plaque : In 1870, the Maharaja of Vijaynagaram first floated the idea of starting a medical college.......first batch started 1911......did a lot of service in World War-1 ...then in 2........
A : so ....how were they? (referring to the chole- bhatoore)
B : well a bit spi...
A : spicy,salty, unhygienic...haa....you always denigrate us ohh cmon u know...
B : yeah yeah..you are hosting the commonwealth games.
Both start laughing
A : what's the time ...2:00 ......perfect we'll be right at the barbecue's at 4:00...oh by the way its Residency ...........magnum opus ( pointing sideways).
B : well what's so special about that...... I mean 2 pillars lots of green grass......what ..... I mean this..a magnum opus....gimme a break.
A : No it is!!!!..oh c'mon the first great battle was faught here we lost though but know what we faught valiantly,,,,,we killed those british residents..those families.
B : you killed what ??
A : families!!!
B : of ??
A : Britishers!!
B : you said VALIANTLY....and you killed kids, families....residents..wha..what the...
A (confused) : well we killed the soldiers before ..or after...and by the way they treasoned against us and we built that thing so....we faught...killed.
B : killed before..killed after..but why kill the families...and building ..why demolish it???
A (now irritated) : I DON'T KNOW...I mean am not ASI....or IAS.....I know that the war started a great rebellion in 1857......leading us to '47 I mean this is the first thing we are taught at school.
B (looking at the other side) : hey!!!! whats that ???
A (looking for something at the dashboard) : The Shahid Smarak..in the memory of the first reb of independence.
B : being renovated ......haan!!!
A : what?? ohh no no.. actually it just got defaced by some Shiksha Mitras....you see they were having a strike here.
B : what ??
A : see..there were these guys ...ok....they got jobs for some education thing....right...now they weren't getting their share...haan....so these teachers...they got angry.....and demolished it....that was how it was....ok....
B (flabbergasted) : they broke it...the 4th of July mon..I mean the independence monument.....
A : yeah.....ooh c'mon it will be renovated anyhow!!!
B : but they were teac.....ooh,,hey they are giving away flowers.....and why so much crowd....and cops...some procession being held ??
A (looking for the date in his watch) : well..there is a judgement pending....you must have heard of Ayodhya....
B : what judgement and why bieng so hyper about that judgemet .....and what A Y O D H Y A.....
A : hey hey..watch out..that's abig judgemnt ....our government rests on it....our economy, our country, me , you -till the time you are here, believe it or not, quote- unquote depend on it.
B (serious, real serious) : why ??
A : hey we are getting late for barbec....
B : PLEEEEAASEEEEE !!!!!!
A : OK ....so Babar the Mughal king built this mosque and they are saying that he built it over a temple.....an ancient temple.
B : WHO???
A : The Hindus!!! now look..they say a temple has to be built here...much has happened in-between the years..i don't know much. That Babri Masjid got demolished anyways...blasts happened, riots....the government changed too......it all happened....
B (as if about to pull hairs....his or A's...don't know) : but..it's just one mosque...you are trying to prove after 400 years......I mean a small plot ..and the government changes..no..no way....
A : ooh ooh...hey..this is India ..not your damn Brooklyn....and yeah we are not that 'NO WAY' I mean after all...hey c'mon....
B (chuckling) : hey cmon...we are hosting the CommonWealth Gamed ...aren't we??
A (slightly offended) : ok ok.....now we are off to Barbecue Nation.....
B : fine ....somewhere near...
A : no way man..its a different place all together.....Shoppers Stop..Burger Kings.you'll like it there...
B : k...hey I am a bit thirsty..can you just drop in somewhere...I need a cola....
A drops B at a nearby shop. B rushes in for a cola. The shopkeepers television is tuned to Times Now and Times Now- COMMONWEALTH VILLAGE UNLIVABLE...WALES,ENGLAND THREATEN TO PULL OUT . A small strip rolls down that India nudging towards the 20,000 mark in the sensex, But B does not see that and he bursts out laughing. It is a strange combination of laugh,amazement,helplessness and a tinge of despair.
A also walks in, sees B ,then sees the TV ......he also misses the 20,000 story ....in the end giving away a wry smile.
P.S. Hours after writing this the babri masjid judgement got deferred till 28th sept.
