(A short long story based on not one but many true incidents)
“When you don’t have evidence, why try to refuse it?” argued
Ali, shrugging his shoulders and closing his lunch box.
Shekar gave him a cold stare and said, “Fine. I don’t have
evidence. But, do you have any evidence to prove that they exist, sir?”
Ali paused for a moment and snapping his fingers, shouted,
“Area 51!”
“Area 51? Seriously? Is that your evidence to make me
believe in extra-terrestrial beings?”, asked Shekar, shaking his head in
disbelief.
“Well.. You can’t say that the happenings there and the
reports about…” and Ali stopped abruptly. His eyes widened. Shekar asked him
why he had stopped. Ali signalled Shekar with his eyes to look behind. Shekar turned and saw Reshma standing by
their desk.
“Yes, Reshma! What is it?” asked Shekar. Reshma tilted her
head slightly and continued staring at Shekar without replying. Shekar looked
at her confused for a few moments before he remembered the text message she had
sent him last night. “The book review, right?” he asked, his eyes twinkling
with the joy of discovery. She nodded without answering.
Shekar quickly turned to Ali and asked for his English
assignment note. Ali, who had been looking at Reshma till then, quickly bent
down and fetched the note from his bag.
“Here Reshma!” said Shekar, handing her Ali’s assignment
note. “You will probably never come across a better review of a book. Ali is
the best when it comes to books. ” Shekar added.
Reshma smiled and looking at Ali, she said, “I will return
it in a day or two.” Ali nodded and quickly added, “No problem. Keep it as long
as you want.” Shekar turned towards Ali and glancing at him for a moment, he
turned to Reshma and said, “Yeah. You can probably even tear it to pieces after
you complete the review.”
Ali nudged him as
Reshma let out a chuckle. She opened her mouth to say a statement when the
hour-bell rang. She quickly turned and hurried off to her desk.
“Keep it as long as you want? So weak a romantic line?”
Shekar asked Ali after Reshma left. Ali stared at him plainly. “Why didn’t you
tell me that she had asked for it yesterday?” he asked Shekar. “If I had told
you, you would have jumped up and down in joy. But how could I let you be happy,
my dear?” asked Shekar, his eyebrow raised. Ali punched him in the stomach and
as Shekar raised his hand to hit Ali, entered the Physics teacher and everyone
in ‘XII -B’ classroom rose from their seats for greeting her.
****
“Did you notice the way she smiled when you said that I was
the best when it came to books?” Ali asked, a large smile spread over his face,
looking at the road below.
“Yeah! But I guess she smiled taking it as a joke.” snubbed
Shekar. Ali raised his head and gave Shekar a nasty look. “Are you going to
rejoice because she smiled when I said something about you?” asked Shekar, in a
bit serious tone. Ali remained silent.
“But it doesn’t matter much anyway, Ali. She already knows
that you like her.” said Shekar, in a very calm tone. Ali froze and stopped in
his track. Shekar kept walking forward not paying heed to Ali who had
stopped. Ali continued looking at Shekar
hoping that he would turn but as Shekar kept walking on, Ali quickly ran ahead
and stopped Shekar.
“Does she really know?” Ali asked, fear visible in his tone.
Shekar let out a hearty laugh, shaking his head in denial. “But we can actually
change that.” he added to Ali. Ali punched him on his shoulder and continued
walking.
They kept walking for a few steps, their footsteps the only
sound that could be heard on the 5th main street that led to their
homes.
And suddenly breaking the silence, came Ali’s statement. “I
want a good photograph, Shekar.”
Shekar looked at Ali confused. “Profile picture! I want to
change my profile picture.” Ali explained.
“Why suddenly?” asked Shekar. “I just felt like changing it.
Why? Can’t you take a photograph?” Ali asked him. Shekar smiled and a few steps
later, he suddenly stopped. “Reshma? Are you changing your profile picture for
Reshma?” he asked, a bit shocked. Ali did not answer. “Ali, this seems silly.
Do you seriously think that changing..” but his statement was stopped halfway
by Ali.
“Please. I felt like changing it. Let alone the reasons.” he said. “Could
you possibly take one today?” he asked, a minute later. Shekar nodded. Ali’s
face brightened up.
”You know.. I have always wanted a photograph with the sun-setting-orange-sky
as the background. The beauty it brings about is something amazing. Especially,
the sky with the sun slowly.. ” Shekar placed his palm on Ali’s mouth. “I will
take care of the setting. Walk quietly.” he told Ali.
About half an hour later, Ali was adjusting his hair for the
fourth time as Shekar stood patiently, holding his camera. They had come over
to a small pond that lay at a five minute walk’s distance from Shekar’s house.
“Do you think that my
shirt colour would match with the background? Shall I perhaps rush to my home
and change my shirt?” Ali asked with a sheepish smile on his face.
“Yeah. Please proceed to your home.” Shekar said bluntly.
Ali quickly sprinted ahead. “You bloody fool! Do you think the sun is going to
keep waiting for you to change your shirt?” shouted Shekar at Ali. Ali stopped
immediately and slowly returned back to the spot where Shekar had told him to
stand. He dragged his shirt a bit down and adjusting his collar, he pulled his
stomach in. He then showed a thumbs-up signal to Shekar who removed the
lens-cap and bent down a bit, holding the camera near his eye. He slowly
adjusted the aperture setting and as he tuned the ISO, he lowered his camera.
“Why are you holding your breath trying to keep your stomach
in?” he asked Ali. Ali let out the breath he was so difficultly holding and as his
tummy came out protruding, he slowly moved his hand over it. He then looked at
Shekar asking for some compassion.
“If you are going to be your normal self, I will go ahead
with taking your photo. If not, I am leaving.” he warned Ali.
“Shekar, please! Just see how big this fellow is!” Ali
pleaded, shaking his tummy.
“If you are going to hold your breath, I am not taking your
photograph.” iterated Shekar. Ali remained silent for a moment. “Fine. Let’s do
this. One photograph with the stomach in for my sake and one with the normal
self for your satisfaction. How about it?” he asked Shekar.
Shekar opened his mouth again to argue but he looked at the
sky. He was already losing the lighting required for the photograph. So, he
agreed and asked Ali to stand with his head lowered a bit.
He then started clicking the capture button, slightly
lowering and raising the camera angle with every photograph. “Two is enough,
Shekar” shouted Ali from his spot. “Stand quietly.” shouted back Shekar and
continued snapping photographs. A few clicks later, he slowly lowered the
camera and pressing the play button, he looked at the photos that had been
captured. Ali quickly rushed to join him and watched the photos along with him.
As the photos went by one after the other, stopped Shekar at a photograph and
handed the camera to Ali. “I guess this one’s the best” he told Ali.
Ali took the camera from him and looked at the screen. On it
was seen a beautiful photograph of Ali, till his waist level with a bleak smile
on his face, at the left corner with a blurred background of the pond and a
magnificent orange sun, occupying a majority of the top-right corner. “It’s
fantastic Shekar” Ali delighted in joy. Shekar nodded and asked back the
camera.
“Wait for a few minutes. I need to take some photographs” he
told Ali and walked towards the pond. Ali walked behind him. Shekar wore the camera’s
strap around his neck and sat down on the ground. He then picked a peculiar
looking stone and placed it at the edge of the pond. He searched around for a
bit and at some distance, he found what he was looking for. He looked at Ali
who was standing nearby and asked him to fetch a dried-up yellowish leaf that
lay a few feet away. Ali quickly brought him the leaf. Shekar placed the leaf resting on the top of
the stone and moving the stone a few inches more to the edge of the pond, he
removed the camera from around his neck.
“Move back a bit” he said to Ali and as Ali moved back, Shekar
prostrated himself on the ground. Adjusting the aperture setting, he focused on
the leaf resting on the stone and started clicking a few photographs. “Why did
Sheela aunty take a break from photography, Shekar?” asked Ali suddenly. Shekar
gave him an angry stare and Ali quickly placed his hand over his mouth.
A minute later, Shekar got up and seated himself before the
pond. He then slowly took the peculiar looking stone and threw it inside the
pond, very close to its edge. As the stone fell inside, started spreading
ripples and he quickly threw the dried-up yellowish leaf into the pond. The
leaf flew in the breeze and landed on one of the ripples getting carried away.
Shekar quickly rested his camera on the ground and focusing on the ripples, he
slightly adjusted the aperture setting to bring the leaf into focus and a moment
later, he got the ideal image that he was looking for which he photographed.
“Why did Sheela aunty
take a break from photography?” asked Ali again, as Shekar stood up dusting off
the mud from his shirt and pants. Shekar looked at Ali for a moment. “Why this
question suddenly?” asked Shekar, continuing to dust off the mud.
“The last time I visited your home, I noticed the ‘India
Today’ cover photograph that aunty had taken hanging on the wall. I thought of
asking about the photograph and as to why she had taken a break then but for
some reason, I didn’t. I suddenly felt like asking now seeing you engaged in
photography” Ali explained.
Shekar hung the camera around his neck and signalling Ali to
proceed, started walking towards his home. “It was that photograph which you
saw hanging on the wall that caused the break” Shekar said, as they had taken a
few steps. Ali looked at Shekar. “Do you remember the photograph?” Shekar asked
him.
“Yeah. A little girl smiling from inside an overflowing
garbage bin. It kind of shook me a bit” Ali said.
Shekar nodded and explained, “It shook my mom more than a
bit. She had managed to capture the photograph easily. But when she saw her
photograph on the ‘India Today’ cover, she broke down. She ran to her room and
smashed two camera lenses that came to her reach. She then grabbed this
camera..” Shekar pointed to the camera around his neck and continued, “.. and
was about to smash it too. But my dad hurried in and snatched it from my mom.
It took him more than a week to completely console her. She felt ashamed for
having taken the photograph of the girl inside the garbage bin and told my
father that she was never ever returning back to photography. ” Shekar ended.
A minute of silence prevailed as the two of them kept
walking towards Shekar’s home.
“Why then hang the photograph on the wall?” asked Ali
slowly, looking at Shekar. “To remind herself not to get back to this” Shekar
said, pointing again at the camera that hung around his neck.
A minute later, they reached Shekar’s home. “So, does she
never even touch the camera?” asked Ali, still pondering over Shekar’s mom’s
break. “It’s not so. She does teach me a few techniques about lighting and
camera angles. But it’s been about two years now since she captured a
photograph.” said Shekar.
“Not even a selfie?” asked Ali, smiling.
Shekar raised his eyebrows in anger at Ali’s comment and as
Ali’s smile slowly disappeared, he let out a hearty laugh and slapped Ali’s
back.
****
Ali refreshed his Facebook page again. It had been more than an hour since he had
changed his profile picture. He had got only 6 likes.
He clicked the tab that lay nearby the current tab on his
browser. He had opened Reshma’s profile picture on it. He looked at her photo –
a simple image of her standing by a tree – and as he scrolled down, his heart
sank a bit. 231 likes.
He banged his head on his computer table. A set of novels
that lay at the edge of the table tumbled and fell below. Ali let out a sigh
and got up from his chair. He picked up the novels and set them on the table.
On his way to returning to his chair, he passed the full-sized mirror that lay
attached to the wall. He stopped and turned towards the mirror. He walked
towards it. As he stood a few inches away from it, he looked closely at his
reflection on the mirror. He then turned to his left and looked at his sideways
reflection on the mirror.
He slowly moved his hand over his protruding stomach. He
then slowly pulled it in. Pulling it inside to the fullest, he looked at the
mirror. He kept staring at his image having a flat stomach and he slowly moved
his hand over the reflection’s stomach. As he kept moving his hand, his body
couldn’t take it anymore and his stomach came back to its normal self. He
abruptly stopped moving his hand and dragged it back from the mirror.
He then slowly walked back to his chair and seating himself
on it, looked at the screen. It had Reshma’s photo on it and the likes had gone
to 240. He moved his mouse pointer and returned to the nearby tab that had his
profile. He closed his eyes as he clicked the tab and slowly leaning forward,
he opened them. The same 6 likes.
Frustrated, he removed the photo from his Facebook profile
and switched off his system. He then leaned back on his chair and began staring
at the black screen of the computer, slowly punching his stomach.
****
“Who the hell told you that a girl is going to be impressed
by the likes you get on a Facebook page?” Shekar asked angrily, as he opened
his lunchbox. Ali did not reply. He sat staring at his unopened lunchbox.
“Are you not going to open it?” Shekar asked. There was no
reply. Shekar dragged Ali’s lunchbox closer to him and opened it. Arranged
neatly inside were 5 chappathis, rolled
and stuffed with potato curry. “Wow! My favourite! Are you going to have one or
not?” asked Shekar, holding the lunchbox to Ali in one hand whilst biting a
large piece off a chappathi roll held in the other. Ali remained silent
staring still at the spot the lunchbox had been before.
“Fine.” said Shekar bluntly and placed the lunchbox by his
side. As he completed one chappathi
roll, he took out another and started eating it. Ali, still staring at the same
spot slowly moved his hand towards his lunchbox. Shekar, seeing this, moved the
lunchbox a bit further from Ali’s reach. Ali stretched out his hand a bit
further. Shekar moved the lunchbox a bit more and Ali eventually turned and
looked at Shekar. Shekar slowly dragged the lunchbox back and pushed it to Ali’s
side. Ali got hold of a chappathi roll
from the lunchbox and started munching it.
“So, tell now, my dear. Who the hell told you that the likes
you get for your profile picture would impress a girl?” Shekar asked, smiling.
“Nobody” said Ali bluntly. Shekar smiled a bit more. “Why do
you care if she gets 240 or 250 likes? It just means that there are those many jobless people in her friend list.” he told in a sarcastic tone.
Ali let out a chuckle, spitting out a bit of the chappathi roll.
“A profile picture is after all just an identifier, right? People
need your profile picture to help them recognize you. Why the hell has it been
made into a tool to measure your attractiveness? Does 240 likes mean you are
handsome and does 5 likes mean you are ugly? ” Shekar asked, the last statement
in an anger filled tone.
“Actually, it was 6 likes.” corrected Ali, still munching at
his roll.
Shekar let out a hearty laugh. “Idiot!” he exclaimed,
laughing. “By tomorrow morning, I want to see your photo back as the profile
picture. If it doesn’t get even a single more like, I don’t care. I like you
the way you are. I like your tummy. I like the entire 90 kilos of you. Be happy
and proud of who you are and how you are, Ali. And I will kill you if you lay
your hand on the last roll!” he finished, hitting Ali’s hand that had reached
for his lunch box.
“You were saying something very seriously. So, I thought you
might not notice” Ali said, laughing.
“You are important to me. Fine. But the chappathi roll is, on any day, more important” said Shekar,
mocking. Ali let out a laugh and a moment later, his laugh abruptly stopped.
Shekar asked him what it was. Ali signalled with his eyes to look behind. As
Shekar turned, he saw Reshma standing.
“Ali, I completed my review last night. But I have given your assignment note to Kavya. She said that she would definitely return it by Monday. Hope you don’t
mind” she said, looking at Ali.
Ali shook his head furiously, signifying a no, trying to
swallow hastily the food inside his mouth.
“And I also wanted to say that your review was fantastic. I
have not even heard of the book – The Reluctant
Fundamentalist. But you had reviewed it so well that I felt like I had read
the book after finishing your review. Really great, Ali! ” she said, smiling.
Ali kept looking at her, his eyes widened. He wanted to thank her but he could
not bring about his mouth to say it.
“Ali becomes a statue when someone praises him. I thank you
on his behalf.” quickly added Shekar, smiling, looking at Ali. Ali nudged him
but he still couldn’t bring himself about to thank her. “It’s fine. I should
only thank you” said Reshma to Ali and turned to leave.
“Ask her which book she chose” whispered Ali to Shekar,
hurriedly. “So, which book did you choose, Reshma?” asked Shekar, making Reshma
turn.
“Twilight. I chose
Twilight.” she said, smiling and
walked away.
After she had gone a few steps, Shekar burst into a hearty
laughter. He started banging the desk, unable to control his laughter. A minute
later, still laughing, he slowly turned to Ali. Ali was still reeling from the
shock.
“Hey! Your face seems to have become as pale as the Edward’s
face described in Twilight.” exclaimed
Shekar and started laughing even more. Ali landed a hard punch on his back and told
him to stop laughing. But Shekar was able to control it only after about two
minutes.
“What an irony! Of all the books in the world, your dream
girl chose the one book – the only book – that you hate. I really feel
sorry for you Ali” said Shekar, beginning to laugh again.
Ali was silent for a minute and then he said something which
made Shekar laugh even more.
“The first thing I am doing after reaching home is keeping
my photo back as the profile picture.”
****
Shekar looked at the clock. It was 8am. He wondered for a
minute as to why he woke up early on Sundays when he found it extremely difficult
to wake up on the working days of school.
He switched on his desktop computer and shouted out, “Mom! A
drinkable coffee please!”
There was no reply for a few moments. He slowly peeped out
of his room, sitting on his chair. A moment later, his mom came out of the
kitchen and gave an angry look. “It would take at least 20 minutes. After all,
I need to make it drinkable, right?” she smirked. Shekar grinned widely and
nodded. His mom returned back inside.
Shekar opened the web browser and logged into his Facebook
account.
The earlier day, Ali had been constantly whining about
Reshma’s like for Twilight but by
evening, he had come to a phase where he had started saying that everyone had a
few negatives and it wasn’t a big issue. Shekar had become afraid that Ali
might get back again to feeling sorry for his profile picture and had lied to
him that Reshma, during a conversation with Shekar the earlier night, had
mentioned that she had felt that Ali’s photo had looked good and had asked
Shekar why Ali had removed it. Ali had not believed it but Shekar had threatened
him that he would call Reshma right then and make her say that she liked the
photo and so eventually, Ali had agreed.
Shekar had decided to ask Reshma, if she came online, to ‘like’
Ali’s photo. Shekar had told her a few months back about how much Ali liked her
and so he knew that Reshma wouldn’t mind liking Ali’s photo. She, though did
not like Ali in the complete sense, had considerable respect for him.
But as soon as he logged in, Shekar saw that he had received
a message. It was from Ali. As Shekar opened the message, he couldn’t believe
his eyes.
Ali had sent him a screenshot. It showed a Facebook notification,
from Ali’s profile, which said: “Reshma Saravanan likes your photo”.
Shekar was overjoyed. He wanted to congratulate Ali and as
he glanced at the left bottom corner of the page for the list of people online,
he could see that Ali’s name had a green dot accompanying it. As Shekar began typing,
he noticed that Ali was also typing something and Shekar stopped.
A moment later blinked the message: “This is going to be a
lengthy message. Please bear with me. I need to tell you this :P ”
Shekar was a bit confused on seeing the message but he
waited patiently, expecting a long-winding message about Reshma.
And then came the lengthy message bit by bit.
“Kavya messaged me yesterday on Facebook. She had messaged
to let me know that she was having my English assignment note :D”
“She told me that my review on the book was great. She
admitted to have read only 3 books in her life and asked me how many books I
have read so far. I shamelessly admitted as to have read about 300 books :P I also told her to read more books and
suggested a few good ones :D ”
Shekar smiled as he read the message. Ali was the only guy
he knew who would type entire sentences instead of using short phrases even on
Facebook.
“But here is the main part :D She told me that my profile
picture looked good :D I thanked her and only then looked at her profile
picture. It was a photograph of a small child. I asked her why she had not kept
her photo as the profile picture.”
“And the reply that she sent made me feel really bad. She
sent this – ‘LOL :P If I keep my
photograph as the profile picture, I would probably not get any more friend requests
:P :D’. I really felt very bad, Shekar. And you should not scold me for
what I did after this :P ”
Shekar started imagining all kinds of possibilities as to
what Ali would have done when appeared the next message.
“I sent her the following message – ‘The profile picture is just an identifier. Why do you say such stuff?
Take me, for example. I have a huge tummy. I weigh 90 kilos. But I love my
tummy. I love the entire 90 kilos that is me. Be happy and proud of who you are
and how you are :D And sorry if I had said anything wrong :) ’. I know what
you would be thinking after reading it but like I said, please don’t scold me
:D ”
Shekar let out a hearty laugh reading the message. It was
stuff like this that made him love Ali.
“And do you know what Kavya replied? She sent me this – ‘ No aplogies please :) No one has ever shared such things with me.
Thanks a lot. I guess this book review has not just given me a book to read but
also a great friend :) ’. And she actually changed her profile picture – it
now has her photo :D ”
Shekar smiled reading it.
“All of this happened only because of you :D Be it Reshma :D
Be it my photo :D Be it the advice that led to Kavya becoming friends with me
:D I will somehow beg my mom and bring chappathi
rolls tomorrow also :D Thank you my friend :D ”
The last message made Shekar smile even more. This was another
characteristic of Ali’s which he loved. Ali never hesitated to express his
gratitude even for the smallest of things. But Shekar knew that this time, he
didn’t deserve Ali’s gratitude. He typed:
“ Congrats on Reshma’s like – I told you yesterday na? :D And
hats off with Kavya – you have made a girl feel proud of herself :D Seriously
super :D And stop thanking me. Everything happened only because of your book
review :D Realize that and thank yourself :D And please Ali, somehow make your
mom agree to the chappathi rolls :D”
And he sent it to Ali. He got back a “Definitely :D” from Ali
after which Ali went offline.
Shekar read the messages that Ali had sent him one more
time. As he read Ali’s thank-you message again, he experienced an overwhelming
feeling of happiness but this time it was tinged with a slight guilt.
He recalled all the statements he had said to Ali the
previous day about profile pictures. He looked at Ali’s message again and he
couldn’t help feeling bad. He moved his mouse pointer to the top of his profile
and clicked on his profile picture.
It was a photograph of a butterfly rested atop a torn shoe
that Shekar had taken.
He kept staring at the picture for a few moments and began
scrolling through his earlier profile pictures – a bird perched on a railway
track, a line of water droplets about to fall from a clothesline, a lonely
hibiscus flower that lay fallen on a long empty road, a dog resting on a bench
with its one eye open, a caterpillar crawling across a leaf – all of them
captured by Shekar.
He recalled the instance when Ali had asked him, a few
months ago, as to why he never kept his photograph as his profile picture.
Shekar had smartly answered him that he wanted people to recognize him by his ‘photographs’ and not by ‘his’ photographs.
But now, as he kept looking at the photographs he had
assigned as his profile pictures, he felt sad. He knew the real reason as to why he
had not kept his photo as the profile picture.
He did not consider a picture of himself worthy.
He slowly got up from his chair. He
walked to the balcony and looked out at the sky. The sun was at its most
powerful, shining brightly.
As he kept staring at the sky, he recalled Ali’s message. He
also recalled Kavya’s message that Ali had sent him.
As his eyes became blinded by the sun’s rays, it slowly
dawned on him.
He decided that he would no longer be a hypocrite and turned
to enter his room. He saw his mom standing by his computer table with the
coffee cup in her hand.
And his heart skipped a beat.
As he looked at her standing there, he recalled all the
hours he had spent with his mom learning about photography. He had, on a lot of
occasions, asked her to photograph various images that had caught his eye but
she had refused outright on every single occasion.
He now remembered the one thing he had never asked her to
photograph.
And he entered the room quickly. He took the coffee cup from
her hands and placed it down on the table. He held her hand and dragged her to
the balcony. He told her to stand near the entrance of the balcony and entered
the room again. He grabbed the camera th and came back to the balcony. He told his
mom not to move and hung the camera’s strap around her neck. She tried to lift
the strap off but Shekar told her to wait for a moment.
He then walked towards the edge of the balcony. Looking at
the sky and the sun for a moment, he positioned himself at a place where the
sunlight bathed one half of his body while the other remained dark. He looked
at his mom.
She was grasping the strap of the camera, ready to remove
it.
Shekar looked at her eyes and bringing about a smile on his
face, he slowly asked her,
“Mom, would you take a photograph of me?”
*****
