Mr Jamwal was feeling a little sedentary lately. He was spending a lot of time on the chair with his tablet. He had thought replacing his smartphone with a tablet would help him reduce his screen time but it had the opposite effect.
Now, after work Mr Jamwal would find every excuse to sit or lie down with his tablet for the usual reason of being too tired. Ever since his son, Anil had grown quite capable of doing things, Mr Jamwal took a comfortable back seat.
But children do grow up ready to find more to their role in the world, in short Anil found a job and those initial years of grind are brutal, everyone likes to make the new employee work late.
Mr Jamwal one day sat enjoying his favourite show with earphones placed in, when one of the earphones was pulled out and Mr Jamwal looked up at a visibly irritated Mrs Jamwal.
Mrs Jamwal handed Mr Jamwal a shopping bag and a list of items to bring. This was new, it had been a while.
‘Anil needs to stand up to his seniors and get out on time,’ realised Mr Jamwal, but no one knew if that would happen or not but right now, he was supposed to get the things on the shopping list.
Mr Jamwal decided to head for the supermarket, his wife refused to let him take the car and thus Mr Jamwal set out on foot.
It was a bit tiring, and embarrassing as he looked around at all the people who were out for their late evening walks, some of them his own age looking much healthier than him, one who knew Mr Jamwal even mocked him for ‘today must be a special day, Mr Jamwal walks among the everyday people out in the world’.
Mr Jamwal could feel every bit of it, the long walk without the car, the air conditioner in the supermarket felt like it had just saved a life. But there was another stretch of walk to be made, more difficult than the previous one. This one had the weight of the things from the supermarket and it was quite heavy. Mrs Jamwal may have underestimated how much her husband would have to carry.
I met Mr Jamwal at the tea stall where he stopped for a cup of tea but more for resting on one of the chairs. He smiled on seeing me but was still catching his breath. He used to come here before, and as he looked around, he looked like he somehow connected to that feeling. Looking at the world passing by, with a few familiar faces, maybe someone would stop to exchange a word or two.
I now often see Mr Jamwal on the road not only going to the market but also taking his dog for a walk. The dog is a recent addition to his family and I think it is all for the greater good.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 