It was 8:45 am, time for Mr Dravid to head for the Sunday market to get some fresh fruits and vegetables. He was out, combed grey hair, dark blue t-shirt, shorts, clogs. He carried specs and a smile on his face. After all it was a beautiful morning, a day he had time for prolonged conversations, a day he had time to share a cup of tea along with words, a day he might end up inviting someone for the evening or get invited himself.
Mr Dravid walked across the apartment buildings all smiling, even humming a little before becoming aware and stopping. Everything was fine until two steps before something fell and broke, a few pieces of which even reached Mr Dravid’s legs. It was one of those 5-inch, loud mechanical alarm clocks, dark blue color. It was definitely broken beyond repair, and Mr Dravid wasn’t able to recall the last time when he had actually seen one but most importantly it could have landed on his head if Mr Dravid was right beneath it.
Mr Dravid took two steps sidewards and looked up at the windows of the apartment building. A man, stranger to Mr Dravid, paused while passing by and started looking up as well.
Mr Dravid looked at the man and answered his curiosity, “someone threw down an alarm clock”
The man looked at the broken clock at the ground and said, “people are becoming unruly, we need a change of government.”
“What?”, said Mr Dravid, “what does the government have to do with it?”
The man looked at Mr Dravid with a blank expression, then he looked at the broken alarm clock and then again at Mr Dravid before taking out his smartphone and quietly walking away. Mr Dravid did not think of it further and looked up once more and was almost frightened. A man almost around his age but with white long beard and long white hair was looking down the window of the apartment on the second floor. Mr Dravid could not identify him.
“Was that you?” Mr Dravid asked, pointing at the broken alarm clock
“My daughter, she thinks I am hard of hearing,” said the man and paused
“So? What does that have to do with this?” asked Mr Dravid
“But I am not hard of hearing, she should understand that,” said the man and paused again
“Did you throw this alarm clock?” Mr Dravid said in a loud voice this time thinking that the daughter might be right there
“Is it still working?”
“What?…. No, it is not, it is broken. Did you throw it?”
“I couldn’t find my spectacles and I have power in my eyes, good one,” said the man
“So, you tried to wear the clock as spectacles?” said Mr Dravid becoming annoyed at this point
“I thought I was throwing the clock at the wall,” said the man and paused
Mr Dravid wanted to say something but he decided not to, before the words would emerge with his voice. He looked in the direction of his path and quietly walked on to the Sunday market.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
One response to “Uneventful Meeting”
What a wonderfully quirky and amusing little story! 😊 I enjoyed the way the ordinary Sunday morning slowly turns into an unexpected comedy of misunderstandings. The broken alarm clock, the stranger’s completely unrelated political comment, and Mr Dravid’s increasingly exasperated questions create such a delightful sequence.
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