Rohit Sharma

Not showcasing a fantasy travel. Today I sit at a bus station in a Tier 4 town and await my bus, while also keeping a track of the work. It's different than sitting inside the AC office. In the Indian ground, you sweat, & get dusty. You also see the interior landscapes, greenery, gray clouds scattered over the horizon, rivers & people. People, as I said, they humble you sometimes. I boarded a public bus and I am accompanied by an underweight looking woman. She is carrying a naked baby on her hands and in a while started breastfeeding him. She has two other kids clasping around her. Their feet are dusty and they look tired. One of them has spots in her skin. They are traveling from Bengal & coming to her husband who is ill. She looks desperate for reaching destination and keeps asking me the remaining distance.. Bus started and in some time I got a kind request from the person sitting behind me. She has covered her face with a white cloth, and also wearing bl...

Portraying a salon hair dressing center, situated at a lesser known thin lane, somewhere at a dense colony of the city of Pune. It's cloudy outside. It's mid afternoon. Dark clouds hovering overhead. Not too many customers are arriving today. It's Saturday and also the religious tune of Saawan plays an important role. Many devote this period to Lord Shiva & Maa Parvati. They avoid certain things like not eating non-vegetarian food, avoiding cutting nails & body hair. The salon is run by three gentlemen. Together they have hired the space and run in cognizance. They are good friends. All belong to the village native towards North India. Among themselves, they talk in awadhi language. When there is no customer they discuss all kind of topics. They are easy going. There is a wooden bench inside the room. When there is no customer, they sit there casually, and even not talking for brief, filling the space with comfortable silence. One of them could play a so...

My grand father lives in the village back at my native. Thanks to the mobile phones, I keep hearing his voice and at times, we also video call. Whenever he calls, he talks in louder empathetic voice. He is always excited to talk. Doctor has advised him to keep away from the phones. There is something with his heart. Our conversation would be small. He would quickly enquire about my work & good health. He would ask if everything is 'truly' alright! Back some time when I had to quit job for pursuing studies, he would sneak peek to ask, if I need financial support. He would say to not to hesitate with him and be frank. There is nothing like those lines. It would bring cheers to me. Anyway, our native is at the central of India. It comes under the state of Madhya Pradesh. Unlike the part of India where I am living, it is comparatively much lesser developed. There are socio economic issues, marred with the growing environmental factors. I have a vivid memory of my ch...

It's morning. He woke up disgruntled after an eight hour sleep. The reality was before him. His mind was awake, his eyes wide open & dreams died a while ago. Sitting upclose near the bed, he listened to the chatter of the neighbors next door, the honking of vehicles downstreet & the wailing of a child somewhere. His system was taking time to do a reboot. Some of the pigeons whom he had made friends, were sitting at the edge of the window & empathising with him. He has to get up and be ready for the day. A quote sticking in front of him at the wall says, "Life demands work. Life demands a fight. If you don't, you will be dragged down." He has to go to the workplace and meet lifesized people. That's the deal. The cosiness of his secluded room space will be snatched away from him.  The 24 hours in the day is not enough. It ends too early for him. There needs to be more. But then he is afraid that that would require more exposure, more fight, m...

Her name is lily . She has brown strips and like most cats, she is cute. She comes here at her own will. She sits at the spot and look at the passing crowd of buyers and strangers. It's a fun watch. She enjoys the human circus. She also likes to listen to the ladies' talk, yet we do not know if she understands what they are murmuring. When she is hungry, she just has to meow in a cute little voice, and voila! Human's heart melt to this and they arrange something for her! They feed her. They also caress her fur and it makes her feel comfortable. Some of the street dogs envy her! Anyway, that's not it. Her presence is soothing to the lady keepers. They always have something to express their love. Customers like me stop to take a picture of her & rejoice at her curious look. She doesn't care much. She knows all about social media. Some of her friends are already in the Instagram. Their owners are over-possessing of them. Unlike lily, they are kept indoo...

It is afternoon. Mahesh is busy ironing the clothes of his customers. He works here at a monthly fixed wage. He looks serious and concentrated in his job. This tiny place is his space of work where he spends 50% of his day's time. He is the HR, the commercial guy, the security guard & also the hardworking employee! There is a watch on his left. There is a ceiling fan above him. One calendar hangs by the wall. At empty times he gets to sit on a plastic chair. The place is basically situated at the footpath! There are a number of QR scan code stickers of PayTM, Google pay, etc. that are sticking at the front. When asked, he replied with a non-glimmering face, "sab maalik ne lagaya hai (all posted by the lord)"... When the ironing is done, he keeps the clothes stacked at the back. Peeking closely into the shop, we would find a CCTV camera fitted at the top corner. He dares look directly at it. Iron man is obviously under continuous surveillance by the shop ow...

On those tougher days when you are unwillingly stuck at a certain place, a small lane filled with unknown faces, by a monotonous aura, or a one-room apartment, how do you let it go? What makes you not shout and how do you cope with the inner chaos of wanting to break free? There are no lies. He murmurs to himself, stares at wall blankly & thinks of hope, his only tonic. He daydreams of everything he wanted to become, he wanted to feel and that which he wanted to explore. Time passes and only a meagre part is accomplished. Ambitions suffer. There are no lies. How do you say your name when it means nothing and express nothing. It is just one in a million. How does age matter, when you are aging early and feel pain in your legs even though you haven't walked enough. Oh, these thoughts... They weigh heavy. He feels burdened & chained. There are no lies. You see those imaginary keys? Unlock these doors and open the cage. Let him fly. But, he will return. He will retu...