Jodhpur- A short story

I am sitting on the highest roof of a 500 year old halevi surrounded by light indigo everywhere, with a brilliant orange dot in pale greyish sky. I absorb everything around me as my husband and friends decide to sleep off the afternoon. We are all recovering from the long road trip we made from Pushkar to here in our own ways.

There is a nip in the air already. I can hear a dog barking somewhere, horns of vehicles on the streets close by, birds chirping and the Maulvi reminding people to pray. I have always loved these reminders. The Church bells, the sweet sound of azan or the soothing ringing of temple bells- they are enough for me to connect to God. I don't pray.

I can see the boundary wall of the fort and I am hoping to be served a piping hot cup of masala chai right here. I am obviously looking at other indigo roofs and balconies, I want to know what people are upto. I don't know them but that doesnt stop me from intruding into their lives. I see a girl standing on a roof close by. She is folding the clothes that have been drying in the sun and she is talking to someone.

'Why is she so shy while talking? Why do I feel that she is hiding, that she doesn't want to be caught talking to this...?' I don't know whom she is talking to, I can't see, even though she is really close to me. I can hear her. I shift a little. I want to see the person on other side of the conversation yet I have to be subtle. They can't know that I am spying. I still don't see but I hear.

Girl on the roof- Where were you for so long Sunil? I have been waiting here since almost 20 minutes. Do you know how painful it is to remove each bedcover taking 5 long minutes? 

Sunil- Sorry Parvati, I was trying to come but Prakash refused to help me. He said do your own job so I had to start what I had to do and I quickly came to say hello.

Parvati- Oh!!! that means you are going back?

Sunil- Sadly yes, as soon as the water boils. I have already added the ginger and sugar so that I have a few more minutes with you. I promise to come back at night, lets say 11.30?

Parvati- I have a lot to do at that time. tidying up the house, wash the utensils, clean the kitchen, check if Pallavi and Aarti's uniforms are ironed. I can't. Shall we meet in the morning? 4.30? on the way to the milk shop? 

Sunil- At the entrance of our lane, he says smilingly. And rushes back to his boiling water.

Parvati's heart is filled with the deep affection that she has for Sunil. She smiles back at him. I can see her smile and then she turns around to see if anyone else witnessed their rendezvous.  She obviously doesn't want to be caught. Before I could turn away she notices me and suddenly turns red. Her expression was more shock than embarrassment I notice. It was as if her eyes were confused if they should look away or open themselves as wide as possible.

I am confused too. I am very embarrassed at being caught spying but I am more confused. Why is she shocked? She could be angry, she could be embarrassed but why this expression, I wonder while I hear the clicking of a cup and saucer travelling on a tray. I am secretly thankful for the timing of the tea. I am a tourist so I can just turn around for tea and forget ever having sat through this conversation. I turn around with a purpose, I see a waiter carrying my tea and some cookies and relief fills me. The waiter bends to keep the tray on my table and my eyes fall on the tag on his shirt- Sunil Rathod it read.


Mallika Bhatia
Written- December 2011
Published- March 2017

I believe in angels

I have always believed that people are basically good, that all of us are always trying our best. Yet I have had issues with trusting people. I have been used, abused and re-used. I have been called names that I never could associate with myself and at such times I have questioned the existence of the good in this world.

A few years ago I asked the Universe, are there truly angels amongst us? I wasn't ready to let go off my belief about people being good but it was high time I got proof for it. So I asked for it and boy, am I happy I asked!!

The universe decided that instead of a simple tick to my multiple choice question, it will give me multiple experiences so that I can never doubt in the goodness again. Let me share two experiences where I really felt touched by an angel. They made sure that I never doubt in the goodness again, hope they help you too. 

# Incident 1

Me and my husband decided to move to Europe a few years ago. It was an opportunity for us to travel this part of the world while getting paid for it. It sounded perfect so we jumped at it. The residence permit required many documents including my original birth certificate. Now I don't know if many of you will identify with this but back in the days I was born and where I was born, a little slip of paper was enough or so thought my parents. I was born in the Army cantonment hospital in Bathinda, Punjab, India. The hospital just issued a peice of paper to my parents which said a girl child was born on 04.05.82 at 04.30.a.m. weighing xyz kilos. That was my birth certificate, period. No name, no reference to anyone. 

I am sure no one thought that 30 years later I would decide to travel to another continent and hence would need a proper birth certificate. I am actually surprised that I survived without needing it all this while. We were worried and stuck and had no clue what to do.How does one fetch a birth certificate of a 30 year old? By now the birth certificates were issued by the local municipal (or were they always?) So new rules, strange place(had never been there after my birth), no local contact and no direction. 

A friend suggested that he had an ex-colleague who was from my birth place so he would connect us and we could take help from him/his parents. We thought we had a direction to follow not realizing that we had been just introduced to a real life Angel. Dr. Anil Goyal did not know us from adams, he did not even know of our existence but he decided not only to help us but to almost take over all our worries. 

I called him and told him my history and he told me to mail him the originals and he would do the rest. I was in two minds about sending a stranger the only document we had so sent him a scanned copy instead. After a week when we called him and told him that me and my husband plan to come to Bathinda to get things done he told us that there was no need. We waited another week and went anyway. We reached there only to almost just pick up the certificate and even be treated to an amazing lunch by him and his wife.

He had done all the running around, all the calling up people, taking appointments, all paperwork-everything without knowing nothing more about me than my name and what I needed- without anything to gain from it. NOTHING!!!! We literally could not believe that someone would put in so much of effort and spend so much of their time only to help a total stranger, that too when he is a practicing psychiatrists with a busy schedule. All I know in the end is that I was touched by an Angel with a huge heart. 

# Incidence 2 

By now we were settled in Munich and were waiting for our baby girl to come into our lives. Like all expecting parents we had a list of things we wanted to buy for our baby. We were buying some of the things second hand. I had gone to pick up a bottle sterilizer from a lady's home. As I entered her home, she was apologetic about the mess and all the suitcases around. I obviously said it did not matter and I stood there waiting to get my stuff so that I could go back home (pregnancy does get you tired pretty soon). She told me to sit in the living room while I waited, which I did. Soon an older lady dressed in a salwar kameez came out to greet me. She had a plate with laddoos(Indian sweet) in her hands. 

I love food and pregnancy made sure I became greedier than I anyway was. I saw her plate and said LADDOOOOS with all the excitement I felt. She generously offered me to take the whole box home which I obviously declined. Me and aunty sat and spoke about our roots and places of origin. We spoke about food, I took my stuff and left. the entire visit was just about 15 minutes or less.

A week down the line I get a message from Sonali,the lady whose home I had visited to pick up the sterilizer. In the message she had invited me home for lunch and said that her mother would like to cook for me. She said that her mom realizes that I am pregnant in a foreign country where there is no way for my food cravings to be fulfilled. I did not know what to say or feel. I was surprised at her thoughtfulness, I was touched by her idea to make a pregnant woman feel special and I was sure that I could not go. I wrote to her and conveyed how much I appreciated her thought but I can presumably can't let them put in that much effort and waste their precious time on someone they did not even know. They were inviting a complete stranger to their place to have a meal only because they thought that the pregnant stranger would feel special. They were planning to spend hours cooking for a girl they had met just for 15 minutes.

Luckily for me they insisted till I agreed and I am so glad I did. I had the best chicken chettinad and I made sure that I finish all the neer dosas she made. I truly felt like a greedy pig, rather a pampered and loved greedy pregnant pig.


Now my daughter is two and a half years old and I still bless Mrs. Prabhu every time I think of her just like I thank and bless Dr. Goyal without whom I would have never traveled the world the way I have. They are 2 angels out of many that I have been touched by, the few who helped me restore faith in humanity. They taught me that there is more to life than to just to think about ourselves, that a simple act of kindness can truly change someone's perspective and that Angels actually disguise themselves as humans..