Life in My City

'Get ready, Tarun, our train to the city is just within the hour. We should get moving now,' my uncle, Barun said at one go, himself carrying our luggage. I had completed my class twelve in the village school. As there was no college, so my Barun uncle proposed to my parents that I move to the city with him where he was working. So that I could study and do some part time job to pay my way through college.

The train journey was good, though crowded, but I was lucky to get a window seat. I sat undisturbed for almost half a day. Before sunset we entered the city. I was spell bound by it's magnificence. Life just moved like a whirlwind in front of my eyes. Barun uncle held my hand tightly in his, lest we get separated in the melee.

'You must keep your eyes and ears open while walking on the city roads, Tarun,' a word of caution from my uncle. I just heard his caution casually but kept my eyes focused on the lovely cars and bikes that were zooming past. They were new thing to me. Then I heard the sound of bell chime followed by heavy metal clanging and then saw in front of me a train like object with only two compartments. 'This is called tram,' my uncle educated me. I was just mesmerised.

My uncle took me to his quarters, a humble, one room apartment. So little space in the room I was amazed to see it in contrast to our spacious rooms in the village. ' You must get used to stay in such little space unlike our village house,' uncle spoke glumly. 'You have to get used to pay for everything you enjoy here,' uncle continued with his sermon.

So my life in the city began.

Next morning Barun uncle left home after preparing food for ourselves. He took his with him and left mine covered in a bowl. 'Take your lunch timely and don't leave the room at any cost. I'll be back by evening then we'll go out somewhere, my uncle's encouraging words made me happy.

Slowly the city life entered my' system '. I began to eat, drink and sleep with the city. My uncle admitted me to an evening college for my undergraduate course. During the day I got a job at the grocery store where I did odd jobs of labour and a clerk writing books and customer relationship staff attending to orders. The amount I earned was sufficient for my college fees and I could save some for my mummy at home.

After two years my uncle moved on leaving me behind at his shanty apartment saying that I must learn things the hard way. In between I visited my native place and gave my mummy a handful of cash. She was overjoyed and my younger sister too.

When I was left alone, I realized how challenging life in the city could be. The very next day my uncle left, the landlord of the shack came and spoke to me in the tone that is the way with them. In his idiosyncratic threatening style, he told me to clear the dues on the first day of every month or he will throw me and my belongings out there and then immediately.

My college is over now, and I was looking for some other work after my grocery work was done. I was not getting along with the grocer so I was looking for another paying job. I took up writing sign boards and other billboards. The work order was given by a woman whom I disliked but I couldn't refuse as it was good pay. The woman came at odd hours and had a loud way of talking with pan spitting from her mouth always. But she was good at making timely payments.

The monthly rent was generally taken care of by my uncle but when he failed, I made up from the money saved by me. Once when my uncle did not pay, the landlord sent a woman to come collect the money. This was a young woman who was recklessly rude and of a seductive type. Her behavior was appalling and abhorrent testing the tolerance levels. Somehow I managed to get her out timely otherwise the locals of the slum would have thrown me out for outraging the modesty of a woman.

I was shaken up by this incident and I spoke to the landlord at length regarding the matter with the woman. His reaction was just a loud laughter.

I spoke to my uncle about this and he assured me that he would speak to the landlord.

On the flip side, my stay in the slums opened up a slew of opportunities for me. My billboard painting was drawing good wealthy clients and I was getting other painting jobs. For once now my income jumped many fold and I no longer had to depend on my uncle. Now I thought of renting a new apartment in a good middle-class locality and bringing my mother and sister. My father however regularly visited me.

But before I could take any concrete decision regarding the above I unwillingly got involved in an ugly incident with a local goon. He was the lord of the slums and everyone gave him protection money. But I refused. So he schemed a plan to humiliate and embarrass me and tried to influence the Police by framing a case against me.

By now, I had become well-versed in the underbelly of the city. I took the help of another goon who was his anti. Though it was unethical I had no choice. A false case of a fight between two rival groups took place so the Police attention was diverted away from me. I paid the necessary fee for this deal and left the slum for good. I bid farewell to my first place of stay in my city.

Then I moved to an upper middle class locality through my business partner. I was now a business partner in a consultancy firm dealing in interior decoration.

 My business partner was a lady named Sharmila who was an architect. She liked my painting job and other works of art. With her help, I learned the intricacies of interior decoration. She liked me and my work and I believed she trusted me also. Because she let me handle her finances and allowed me to join her in her bank account. She was a more experienced woman and she could understand men much better than me. I never bothered her about her past but I felt she must have been jilted in love sometime before. I also felt confident in her company. After five years of togetherness, we had even taken a holiday together. But I never had the courage to tell her that I liked her.

But she never gave me the opportunity to open up to her about my liking. Before I could take any step, Sharmila had already played the dice. ' I seem to like you, Tarun, and I feel you also feel the same about me, isn't it? So why don't we marry and settle down,' Sharmila said one day at a hill station where we had gone. I let her hold my hand and awkwardly I drew her close to me. Before I could take any further step she was already holding me confidently in her tight embrace and then we were one in each other's warm company.

We soon got married and I brought my family from our village. Sharmila welcomed them with an open heart. Sharmila came from a wealthy family and she was the only child of her parents. But she never let me stay forcefully with her parents. We built our own house and my parents and sister came to live with me. Sharmila stayed with us and with her parents alternately.

My life in the city had now come full circle.