The Man, his Diary and a Story!

The alarm tore apart the silence in the room; starting off smoothly, slowly and steadily gaining pace and sound. The shade of a hand, rose in the darkness and started crawling in the surface; searching for something and in a few seconds it got hold of the alarm clock and killed the already loud tone. Hesitantly a figure rose on its knees, it was that of a nicely built man; he looked all around in the dim light, as if searching for something and switched on the lights by the bed side. The room was not as messed up as a young man’s, a bachelor’s room. There were quite a lot of books in the table and some clothes hung on his chair, the shelf was closed down and the room was pretty empty but for the table, the mattress, the study table and chair.

He opened the laptop lid and starred to the background wallpaper for a few seconds and opened the VOIP calling software in his laptop, and dialed a number from the contacts.

Tringg….Tringgg…Tringg…..Tringg…..

Hello Mamma…

Albertttt!!!..... You are so on time again, right at two! (Looking at the clock rear side) Where are you now baby?

I am way far off, Mamma… (Far away from you he whispered)…

Far?? So what time is it over there?

Time..? I just woke up now Mamma…

Why do you sound different? Have you caught cold or cough Alby?

No Mamma…I am fine…

You said far, are you in the Siberians? Should be pretty cold out there…

No Mamma…it’s not the cold! I said… I am fine…

Alby, it’s been three years now, when are you visiting me?

Soon Mamma, I gotta go now, next week…Mamma…

Oh… So soon again!! Love you Alby…

You to Mamma…take care!

He pressed the end call button and kept his eyes on the phone number and the magical letters beside it, ‘Mamma’. Several expressionless moments passed by and he got down from his bed and went to the far end of the room and opened the door by it, the bath room. He spent several moments in front of the mirror, running his hands through the scars and marks and acne’s in his face, again the silence prevailed. Closing the bathroom door behind him, he took a sip of water from the flask and sat beside the study table. He searched for something among the ocean of books, and soon had that thick covered elegant looking book in his hand and the hard cover read “Diary – 2008”.

Under the elegantly written “Diary – 2008” was a hand written phrase in a nasty way which read “ Call Registry – only for saturdays”.

He smiled and opened it and kissed his mothers photo which was right at the first page. He moved on to the bookmarked page and read it and the page before it and the one before it, the dates kept on changing, but not the writing. The same text kept on repeating as in one of those impositions you were made to write in your yester-year classes, only the handwriting changed, which kept swinging from impressive to un-readable, probably explaining the regular mood swings.

He took the pen and started scribbling.

Called Mamma today. Another week has gone by and another week is to come. Another 6 days and 23 hours and 50 minutes to go; the wait for the last week now goes down the lane, the lane of history and its almost 3 years now. I still find it d…

“Albert…Alberttt!!...”

There was a knock on the door and someone was calling out his name, he dropped the pen by and rushed to the door dragging the chair while he was getting off it and making the irritating high frequency sound of metals.

The elderly sounding voice from outside, that of a woman, continued,

“...oh…how many times have I told not to drag the chair Alby? And how many times, not to lock down the door always?? You never listen to me…”

A rare smile crossed Albert’s face and replied, opening the door…

“You know I love irritating you, Mrs. Haven…”

“You & your love!! It won’t be long before I take away that chair from your room. Alby… have Suzanne come with the medicine yet??” enquired the elderly lady.

“No Mrs. Haven…its just 3.20 now and today is Saturday; your memory is rusting Mrs. Haven”

“Oh…well,come and have your lunch now…right now!!” added the lady in a stern voice.

“Sure Mrs. Haven…I’ll be there in 10 minutes…”

She let a sigh and said “Okie!!”

Closing the door behind him, he went back to his diary. He ignored the bookmark and raced to the back cover of the diary and took the cross-folded sheet of paper, nicely written on the flip sides and appeared to have been folded over and again in the same manner. He opened and glanced through, wondering if his hand writing was the only thing that had improved over the 2 years since writing it. It read,

Dear Mamma…

I want to apologize to you Mamma and this surely is not the letter you would have wanted to read, after not hearing from me for so long. I am sure you will have the patience to read through these lines and … and I love you Mamma.

I have been lying to you for all these years Mamma, of being busy across borders and oceans, with some work. I have been in an asylum in Philadelphia all these years I was infected by a disease and I was no longer wanted by my company. I was coming down to meet you on your b’day several years back and I lost consciousness while in the subway. The people took me to hospital and they found out my disease and with no personal information and contact details, they were forced to send me to the asylum where I had been for all these days.

I was told by the doctors on how serious my situation was and having faced troubles from my work place and among my old friends, I decided to stay full time at the asylum under the supervision of Dr. Stevens and Mrs. Haven & our lovely care taker and nurse, Suzanne. The time here was peaceful, with every one of us, the inmates being in more or less the same situation. I never returned to you fearing how your friends might respond to my sickness. I never even had the heart and guts to visit you. I called up only once in a week, because i wanted you to get used to, living without me, and i called you every week because i owed you every second of my life, for the breath that i took in was all a mercy of yours.

Mamma, I had AIDS and I am to be blamed for it. My actions are to be blamed and my care-less nature is to be blamed. I apologize to you for the discomfort this letter is causing you and I pray to god that you have the strength to overcome this. I’ve been regretting all my actions for the last years, knowing millions of hours of regret won’t let me rectify my moments in the past! I cry for another chance, for a wiser yesterday and a better tomorrow. I am sorry for leaving you all alone and by the time you read this, I would have closed my eyes for one last time.

Today is your birthday Mamma, a few years prior to when you will read this though. Happy Birthday Mom!!

Loving

Alby.

Oct 15, 2006

He was brought back to senses by Mrs. Haven’s loud thud on the door asking him to come over for lunch. He wiped the tears trickling down and moved on for lunch. At the dining hall he tiredly dragged the chair making the loud irritating metallic sound again.

“Alby, again how many times have I told you, not to drag the chair?”

He smiled and replied,

“You know I love irritating you, Mrs. Haven…”

 

AIDS not only kills you gradually but also kills your status in the society. People have their fear of being infected by working with or touching an infected person. Infected ones are hurt more by the way others behave to them rather than their bodies. This one’s a short story which was inspired by the Tom Hanks starrer Philadelphia in which he’s an infected men, who was thrown out of job on discovery of his disease. Various other films these days speak of the terrible diseases like AIDS and Cancer and the best thing one can do is to curtail one’s actions for a better tomorrow.

Lessons to learn!! From the 18th Century London to 21st Century Delhi.

I now recollect that day when I read news of India winning the bid to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, at Delhi. I don’t quite remember when this was, but I do remember to have felt awed at the thought of India hosting a mega event much like the Olympics, if not as big. Fast forward days, months & years, being at the juncture we are in right now, the awe has for long given way to anger, frustration and pity-ness towards the organizers who are responsible for all the current mess. There have been enough of filthy living areas, shameful corruption and the shocking failures to newly constructed structures like the bridge adjoining to the stadium.

I don’t think there is anything at all, that I can add about the already messed up event, all I can is wish and hope for a decent event which brings about at least a smile on the faces of those Indian and foreign athletes at the end of the 11 day ‘supposed-to-be-mega-event’. What I intend to spread by this post is a warning to the mega cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata & Chennai (the list doesn’t end here, just naming a few), and this would be a right time to work on it, I guess!

I recently found a friend of mine sharing a link in Twitter which was about the Top 10 filthy cities in the world and shockingly Mumbai headed the list. Delhi’s filthiness doesn’t require an explanation and the dirty environment in Chennai near the railway station and under the bridges, a few to name, is something I have seen quite a dozen times. Kolkata, the 4^th Indian metropolis, I have heard ain’t much different too.

India has been a place of diseases, even when the name and the viruses or bacteria’s causing it keeps changing, the end result have always been the same, wide spread panic and uncontrollable deaths. There has been the Chikungunya, the Dengue fever, the Rat fever, and the more recent H1N1 influenza. London has a story to tell us, let’s check what it is.

London as we know it is one of the best cities in the world and UK has set high standards as a nation for others to follow. I am sure one of those things that attracts anyone about London, either in the pictures or videos or movies, is the mere beauty of the places and the cleanliness and hygiene in the environment. This is the London we know off now, the world knows of now. There was a stage when thousands and ten-thousands died every year in each British city as a result of epidemics like Small Pox, Cholera, Tuberculosis and even fevers like Typhoid. Several websites point out that around 80000 people were killed by TB alone in the 18th and 19th century and other diseases were as dangerous too. Poverty was the most basic problem and unhygienic conditions and polluted & sewaged water bodies like the mighty River Thames, all contributed to these age old tragedies. It was then that the Europeans learnt of the necessity of a clean environment and the dangers a shabby place can cause. Since then, there has been no looking back and it has contributed to what we see as one of the cleanliest & wanna-be places in this planet earth.

To read further about the 18th Century London – Click Here.

Most Indian states receive huge rainfall every year and the Indian cities like Mumbai & Delhi are no exceptions. This year Delhi received the highest rainfall in 35 years and there is no real stopping for the flood water. I am sure almost everyone knows the adverse effects the waste water causes like the un-controllable breeding of mosquitoes, which are responsible for almost all these deadly fevers. W aste water is just an example and the list of those pollutants and wastes shall go on forever if I start naming them.

The current condition in present India may not be as bad as the old UK, but it must be remembered that it won’t take long for a epidemic to spread across a nation and considering the billion plus population, there can never be a bigger tragedy. As Prevention is always better than Cure; a few cautious steps won’t do us any harm, and is in fact the need & necessity of the hour.

It would be the best step forward to take a couple of lessons out of the London experience, and make efforts to clean our city as we do in our homes. Constructing big buildings and express roads do improve the outlook of any city and nation, but it must be remembered and understood that the form stating India as a developed nation cannot be submitted when the “Hygiene & Clean Environment” box remains unticked.

Commonwealth Games is sure to have taught us a lesson, and i wish this is the right time to re-construct our nation, for the sake of the billion people who take pride even at the thought of being an Indian.