A Stranger in the street

‘Hello dear,’ someone patted my back.

I turned around.

The thinly built man with a bright smile on his face seemed to be only of my age.

‘Familiar?’ He frowned by distorting his face funnily.

I was still dumb as I couldn’t make the head or tail of him.

‘Hi Bro,’ he nudged me hard. ‘Why you look so dull and blank?’

‘Sorry,’ I fumbled to complete my sentence. ‘I can’t locate you.’

‘Never mind.’ Said the stranger. ‘It happens even among thick pals.’

‘But we are not pals.’ I objected. ‘I don’t know you.’

‘If I say we spent eight long years together, shared many exciting and memorable moments together….’ His smile became broader with twinkling of the eyes.

‘You are mistaken.’ I tried to rectify him. ‘I never studied in an institution at a stretch for eight years.’

‘I never told you that we were class-mates. Did I?’

‘Then?’ I was surprised. ‘I thought you mistook me as your old-time class-mate.’

‘The problem is I never visited a school in my life.’ Said the man. ‘Neither a college or university! And I am fully aware of that.’

‘Still….’ I tried to make myself free from this absurd conversation. ‘It doesn’t make any difference. We are strangers and will remain to be.’

‘Bro,’ he encircled my back with his hand to display an accustomed intimacy. ‘If you press your memory a bit hard, I am sure you will find me there. Just make a try.’

I got totally confused. I just couldn’t recognise this man.

Not spotting a well-known face of the past might only escalate the embarrassment.

I was feeling equally embarrassed.

‘Can you give me at least a clue or hint?’ I said in a surrendering voice. ‘I mean the years and places we spent our time together?’

He pressed my shoulder and said affectionately, ‘So you couldn’t catch me, right?’

I nodded my head like a moron.

‘Ok,’ as if he was enjoying every moment of my helplessness. ‘Let me disclose my name first. My name is Macha alias Vinod.’

I stirred my mind for a while to find out the name and its association with my life.

Then I almost bumped into the man to lock him in tight cuddle. ‘You bloody Macha! Bustard! M**********r! After such a long time! What the f**k brought you here?’

‘So you got me now!’

‘Of course,’ I grasped his lean shoulders to give a strong jolt. ‘I am meeting you after decades M**********r! Where the f**k were you so long?’

‘Your mouth remains as filthy as before.’ He commented.

‘My mouth loves to discharge s***s to the good, old friends. Just like an old screwing up habit of a w***e like you! I can’t escape that!’ I burst in sudden, loud laughter.

‘What do you mean?’ Macha frowned again but in a different way now.

‘How could you forget so fast?’

‘Forget what? Tell me!’ He sounded irked.

‘How many times I saved your skin? Forgotten?’

‘You saved my skin?’ He rounded his eyes in big surprise.

‘So many times you got caught while teasing the girls in the street and I saved you from public thrashing by playing some kind of tricks. Once you peeped through my neighbor’s bathroom to have a glimpse of their sexy girl’s hot bathing scene. Didn’t you remember what happened to you that day? Had I been not there you would have been lynched by my neighbors.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Macha couldn’t help expressing his growing surprises.

‘I somehow managed to put my sun-glass on your eyes and told the people that you are blind. They couldn’t bash you after that as they believed me. Macha, you son of a b***h, how come your memory has become so short-lived?’

‘Please, please…..’ he raised his hand to stop me. ‘I think you got me totally wrong. I am not that Macha you are thinking about. Your old friend Macha and I are different persons.’

‘You are such a dirty, f*****g swine!’ I patted his back much harder than he did to me minutes back. ‘Don’t try to save your face after such a long time like this. It’s ok. We were all prank-stars on our heydays. Nothing to be ashamed of that.  I am sure you won’t repeat those nuisances now. So what’s the problem? Let’s go down the memory line to enjoy them for a while with some fun. We met after years after all!’

The man‘s smile took no time vanish. He looked at me straight for some time and uttered in a serious tone, ‘Sorry, it was my mistake. I spotted you totally wrong. But now I am sure that we were never friends though Macha is definitely my name. I always remained a decent and sober guy from the beginning and I was never related anyway to your eve-teasing or peeping Tom friend. It’s so disgusting to be labelled with that stupid friend of yours!’

He left without giving me the chance to speak back.

I saw him swiftly crossing the road and mingling fast with the dense crowd of Connaught place.

The joker won’t make fun of the pedestrians at least for some good number of days by putting them into the puzzle of old acquaintance on a fake, known identity after this unprecedented character molestation.

I was damn sure about that. 

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A wild story written. I felt the anger. You create a situation of re-birthing a bad memory. I liked the directness and honest tone. Thank you my friend for sharing your words and thoughts.
Coyote

[APOORVA]

interesting way of expression.

[Sami Khalil]

Very interesting conversation and take on this prankster. Got a taste of his medicine, I guess. I like the puzzling theme...Excellent...:)...........

[Leslie Philibert]

I like Sugata`s work. This is very good, could use more background, this uses dialogue a tick too much at the start..