Akul did not have a friendly face because of the expression of seriousness that he usually carried. Yes, the one that makes you think that a person was in a bad mood.
It was not something recent but rather from his school days. One can say immersing himself in all those violent games had not done him well. He had a critical opinion about several things in life.
But there was another side to him as well. A personality completely made up, one with more smiles and less seriousness it was basically to avoid that awkward silence. But it was to no good end though, because eventually who you are is what decides what you like and what you don’t.
In that smiling pretense Akul met Prahas, older to him by five years. They went to the same evening computer class. Akul was at the end of his high school back then. Prahas was like the elder brother Akul never had. Even after the computer classes were over, they kept in touch and met occasionally.
Prahas was living with his relative here to complete his education. A few years later, he married and went back to his hometown with his wife. Yet the contact did not break, although it lost most of its regularity as more than ten years went by. Prahas had two children and Atul ended up marrying as well.
Social media has spread wide with smiling faces of people across the world and a smile is still enough belief in itself. Akul had a few smiling photos there as well.
One day as Atul stood near a food stall getting an order packed from home. In his mind he was angering himself over a recent action of a politician whom he believed to be corrupt. His eyes for a second fell on the grocery shop and there he felt he saw a familiar face, he took a moment to think then he was sure. It was Prahas and while Atul went over the thought of whether he should go and say something, Prahas saw Atul for less than a second and there was no expression of familiar recognition there, the eyes passed away as they passed over a stranger.
Atul waited and the second time as well, it was the same. He could not understand whether it was about the change through the years or the lack of the usual smile of pretense, had Atul gone so far from Prahas’s mind that the hint of familiarity had completely missed his eyes. Atul let the moment pass by and things remained as they were.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 
One response to “The Passing Familiarity”
This is a beautifully introspective and quietly powerful piece.
What stands out most is the subtle exploration of identity—the contrast between who Akul (and later Atul) truly is and the version he presents to the world. That tension between authenticity and pretense is something many people experience, and you’ve captured it with great sensitivity.
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