Anjay waited for the bus at the stand. He was returning from the marriage of a colleague. He along with some of his coworkers had headed there after work.
The bus arrived and there were more than usual people to tackle. Anjay had already let a bus go to avoid the peak of the crowd, if he missed another he would risk getting late.
The usual strategy for the situation was to keep his office bag in front and push through in order to get on the bus. There were still a few people getting down, but the tired and impatient crowd would much rather rush in and so did Anjay as he roughly brushed past a man with a traveller suitcase and he felt deep enough to turn and see the person even amidst the rush.
The conductor refused to let more people on as the seats were full and the bus moved on. Anjay sat down with a few calming breaths and then took out the bus pass for the approaching conductor. Then as he glanced at his watch, something silenced everything for him. The watch glass had a crack.
Anjay didn’t usually wear the watch, his regular watch was a smartwatch. He only wore this old analogue one on special occasions. This watch was a part of passed down family heritage that belonged to his grandfather, and his great grandfather before that. The leather straps had been changed a few times, but the rest had remained the same along with the scratches and natural discoloration on the steel part of the watch.
But now there was a crack on the watch glass.
‘When could it have happened,’ thought Anjay, ‘Was it at the marriage?’
Then Anjay remembered the man with the traveller suitcase. What was to be done now, should the glass be changed or should the watch be left as it was.
“Get it replaced,” said Chahna, Anjay’s wife, seeing him confused and worried over the matter at home, “It’s all in the mind, it will mellow down with time and even if the new glass bothers you, I am sure further down the line if you pass it on to someone one day, the watch would once again regain its charm.”
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 