BackPunch

 That Could Be YOU!  It probably is heartening to see people smoke even after seeing a deadly image on the cigarette box. Well after another day in the office Roy sat in the cab just to realize a fact that this driver had an even better story of choosing life over death than the sleepless driver. (Refer: Sleepless Mornings). Roy just sinked into his seat. A Tavera. The AC was on. He saw a packet of Nicorette right behind the steering. “Kya aapne smoking chod diya( Have you quit smoking)?” Roy asked. “Nahi Bhai, kam ho gaya( No, but it has definitely reduced),” the driver, Suryakansh replied. Roy wondered. A chewing gum. He took the packet and just read through the words written on it. For people who continuously smoke, they require a flow of nicotine in their blood. This might help them. The rest of the conversation happened in Hindi which has been translated. “I mean how much did you smoke.” “3-4 packets. Now it has come down to 1 or 2 cigarettes. My lips had become black. I used...

She opened the door and saw Roy standing with a worried look. “Lakhan has been picked up by the police for reasons only the God can answer.”   Tantra was taken aback. Lakhan was from Bihar, a man who shifted to Pune to earn a living by ironing clothes. He had a handcart and lived in a makeshift tent on a barren land. He was true to his work. He used to come and collect clothes from Tantra, Roy and Tuffy. Wash them, iron them and deliver the next day. He had no one here. He used to send a major part of his money to his parents back home. Well Tantra had seen the police demanding money from Lakhan many a times. She always intervened. The police had a common answer that he isn’t a registered hand carter. Roy and Tantra rode to the police station and saw him behind bars all beaten up. When asked, the police replied, “Well let’s just say that all the robbery cases in your area have now been solved.” “Then where the fuck is all the stuff,” Roy shouted. The policeman protested saying ...

She lived a happy, single life. She never let loneliness captivate her. She had the best of friends, the best of hobbies like reading, listening to music and playing her PS3. The one thing which gave her a lot of joy was a smile. Smile from any random person would actually make her day. Tantra actually treasured those little drops of joy. When she rides her scooter behind a bus and the commuters getting down flash a smile onto her or when a truck driver driving through a waterlogged road, splashes water on her and smiles, she smiles back. She has no time for worries. She wants a life without complaints, without tension and obviously with a lot of joy. She visits orphanages during her off days, distributes chocolates, clothes, knowledge, etc. And in return she is overwhelmed by the happiness on the faces of the kids. That again makes her day. While she is riding across the city she always carries a box of chocolates with her. The only thing she gives to the children begging near the t...

                            NOT FOR SALE 2 STORY OF THE SOLD “Holy Crap!” Roy exclaimed. In rather shock. He had to go and pick up Tantra after the exams. Tantra had called him. He was on his bike. It became a missed call. He missed out checking the missed call. He missed the missed call. Funny. Tantra had given her Suzuki Access for servicing. The exam got over at 9pm. She called him. He missed it. They were just the best of friends and next door neighbours. Roy saw the missed call at 10pm. Here’s what Tantra did in that one hour wait. She came out of the exam hall, out of the gate, holding the phone, calling Roy. He didn’t answer. She thought he was on his way. She bid goodbye to her friends. They offered to drop her home. She pleasingly denied. She sat on a bench on the footpath. She saw a lady defecating on the footpath. The lady then came and sat on a newspaper about 10 metres away from the place where she def...

After a rather tiring week, Tantra woke up to a lazy Saturday morning. She switched on the TV and saw rather depressing news. Riots had broken out. The Ram Sena’s president had been beheaded. She lived in the heart of Pune, MG Road bang opposite to the slums where the ‘victim’ and the culprit lived. Apparently he was beheaded as he gave a speech demeaning the Muslims when he was invited to inaugurate an orphanage. Funny. She thought. She lived on the fifth floor. It was 11am. She could clearly see the events happening in the nearby slum from her balcony. The sun was venting out the anger too. A ray of lightning hit her face.  A young guy had taken out a sword. Its shine took Tantra by surprise. The shine was blinding. She really wondered as to what would happen. She realized the fact that her weekend was effectively ruined. She came in and sat in front of the TV again. She quickly made some coffee, sat on her couch, cosying onto her cushions with all eyes on the TV. Someone kno...

Disclaimer: This post is not against the working women It was the last 30 minutes in school for that day and he knew he had to walk back home and face a locked door. He was in his sixth standard and it was a totally different phase for him. His mom was working in a bank and returned home only by 6pm. Nihar reached home by 3pm. As he was the only son he expected his mother to be waiting near the door to see her son come back home from school. He never wanted school to get over. He just wanted to be at school. The bell rang. It was 2:45. In another 15 minutes he would reach home. He knocked on the neighbour’s door, took the keys, unloceked and got in. The food was waiting for him. He removed his uniform, sat on a dining table, meant to be for a family, all alone. He switched on the TV and watched SWAT KATS which was his form of entertainment during lunch. He kept the plate in the sink and slid into his room to unpack his school bag. He started getting ready for his tuitions. At ...

Based on an idea by Tushar Kathuria (Tuffy) He woke up to a rather serene Monday morning. Perhaps knowing the fact that he has to resign today. He was rather upset with his 9-6 job and wanted to do something he would get satisfaction with. Money never mattered for him. Tuffy Singh had the best of friends and loved spending time with them. That kept him so busy that he never had time for a girlfriend. He never wanted one. Tuffy was an occasional drinker. He used to go out with his friends to a pub probably to vent out his frustration at work. He sat on the lounge sipping his beer and munching the chips. He had been to ‘The Spirits’ with his office friends yesterday on a chilled Sunday evening. Kinjal was also a part of those friends. He knew she had a crush on him but he never showed any kind of attraction from his side. He just sat on his seat and watch all of them dance. He was a terrible dancer. The only thing he could do was head banging but the pub never played rock. Kinjal...

                                                      Co-Written with Ameya Dusane If anyone decided to script a movie on my life I am sure it would be one of   those typical Bollywood movies. Love, broken dreams, betrayal, murder, gun chases with a lot of melodrama. My life story is no Bollywood movie. I was being interviewed by a journalist. Some questions start haunting me for example when he asked me as to what would I do after I am set free from the jail? It’s almost been a decade I have spent in jail away from guns, away from fights, away from the world of hide and seek, and more importantly away from the world of death. I just reply “Haven’t decided yet”. The journalist moves on to the next question and a qu...

The Ancestral Damage 2 Youth for Equality-Say NO To Reservations Panic galored throughout the neighborhood when Tantra cut her wrist after she missed out on getting a seat in one of the IIM’s by a whisker. Blood flowing out. She lived with her room mates and was rather in a silent mode after the results were declared. Roy being her next door neighbor and one of her best friends rushed her to the hospital. He wasn’t sad but rather disturbed with Tantra’s sudden move. He knew the way she toiled to pass out of the IIT, Powai with flying colours. All close to her believed that Tantra getting into the IIM was a rather easy task. She didn’t.  Her friends were in more of a shock than her when the results were declared. Merit got blasted once again. Thanks to the great Arjun Singh who had done the damage before he relocated to hell. Tantra had to sacrifice her seat for people who scored less than half of what she did.  Tantra belonged to the not much hyped about Open Category. Sh...

                                  Based on a true Story “Woah,” Tuffy yelled out after drinking his wine. He had added 3 drops of LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) into his red wine which Roy gifted him while he came back from Goa. Tuffy was 26 years old. He started smoking when he was 18. He learnt it from his neighbor who used to smoke bidis. The complex he had in him forced him to smoke cigarettes. He literally felt heaven on earth when he made smoking a habit and that went on for 2 years till he met his Ganja smoking friend whilst working in a software giant. He hated the smell but he said it gave him a feeling of a naked headless chicken free from all the tensions of the world. Roy was taken aback by witnessing the confessions of his drugaholic friend. All this came out after Tuffy uttered the WOAH word post the LSD effect. He ne...

                                           Based on a travel by Ajith Aravind Haven’t we seen a number of books which have depicted Mumbai in a beautiful way? Maximum City by Suketu Mehta, Vikram Chandra’s Sacred Games and probably the best amongst the lot being Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram. The similarities to all these books were its links to the underworld. These books forced Roy to visit Mumbai-The City of Dreams. He visited in September 2011. ‘Crowded’ that’s what came to his mind when he reached. Surprisingly Roy didn’t find any beauty at all in Mumbai or probably because he didn’t care enough to notice it. He found hope on the face of every Mumbaikar as this city has much to offer. How true is it? He isn’t sure. Roy found it rather tough to cope up with the conge...