Page 33 - You Only Live Once [BooksLD]
P. 33

adds.

                   ‘He is a guy,’ her father chuckles. I look at his chappal s. They’re the
                ones you get from roadside hawkers in Mumbai for peanuts. It reads the
                logo of Facebook .
                   ‘What brand is that?’ I interrupt him as I sip my glass of cutting chai.

                   ‘Facebook  ,’  he  says  with  confidence,  still  puzzled  over  what  my
                question has to do with his chappal s, and of course him.

                   ‘Facebook’s COO was a woman who recently quit to pay more attention
                to her own initiative.’
                   There’s pin-drop silence. While the girl smiles as she approves of me, the
                rest  of  them  now  notice  my  colored  fringes  and  unconventional  features

                with a distasteful glance. Indians judge you left, right, and centre. Wearing
                traditional  clothes  gives  you  an  upper  edge.  Knowing  the  local  language
                gives you a faster promotion. These are just a few things to begin with.

                   A shady guy with unkempt hair on the top berth looks over the entire
                scene as if he is going to make a feature film on the same. He is probably
                travelling  without  a  legit  ticket.  You  can  tell  these  people  apart  by  their
                faces. See? I judged him. I am an Indian too!
                   A  book  hawker  selling  pirated  copies  of  bestselling  books  passes  by.

                ‘Bhaiya , which book sells the most?’ I ask. He points to a title which reads
                ‘Become  a  Millionaire  Overnight!’  We’re  a  population  of  1.3  billion,
                struggling hard to make it big, and most of us want to become millionaires
                overnight. Especially me. If I could pay off that education loan, I would be
                free to do anything!

                   ‘Do you want any?’
                   ‘Yeah. Become a Millionaire Overnight ,’ I say as I hand him a 100-rupee
                note.

                   In  the  compartment  next  to  mine  is  a  family  on  route  to  a  wedding.  I
                assume  that  they  will  probably  play  Antakshari  all  the  way  to  Goa.
                Destination weddings are the new ‘in-thing’ in India. November is the peak

                of  the  wedding  season.  Their  children  are  all  over  the  place,  they  would
                keep going up and down on the berths and keep creating a nuisance.
                   Where do I get ideas for my script? Well, it’s all around me. All I have to
                do is listen.
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