Rohit Sharma

It was a cloudless morning. Everything seemed normal when I was well dressed in formals and choosing to start my day off the door from my place. Out of nowhere it started to rain in peace. There were patches of clouds that can be seen. I chose to wait in hope. Mumbai rain departs in no time. You never know. Starting early is a survival skill, else one can get stuck in crazy traffic. Peak hour was about to start. It was still raining.. After a whole 360 seconds (every minute counts), I decided to check on the Uber. Whush!! It's running on double rates. Perplexed I waited a little more. Thereafter I rolled up my sleeves and quitted my plan to ride to office. I picked up my umbrella in stuffed fear & started for the nearby local station. It's raining in force.  I reached the platform to find a crazy crowd staring at their screens and elsewhere. It seemed that the trains are running late. One unique day, huh? This is 8:30 AM. I am alresdy 30 minutes running behind. One train ca...

 The jackal was not anything and he walked out at night, howling over the greasy dark roads, gazing towards the passing yellow street lights and the sleeping towers. What is to wonder? It didn’t matter.  The rain was not there. It stopped showering. It was the perfect timing. No one was behind and no one that he had to follow ahead. No time constraints either. What is the speed through which he slips onto the ground and race ahead. How are his sights. Is he hungry? By heart, in mind. At this wet dark hour, he will roam..  Happier still he has thoughts running for multiple days. The thoughts, huh! They are constant and hardest to conquer. The night is beautiful and his pace sets him freer all the more. What’s with this city? He wishes directions. It’s hard to understand stuffs, life. What is there to care about? It’s the plentiful seeking. He is put up inside the cave, all day long. He misses his time with the stars and he misses being irresponsible. He has grown mid-aged....

Mumbai is a said financial capital of India. It's huge and equally so the count of humans deriving their livelihood from the city. People migrate here with a dream to earn and live a better life. There are labourers, there are street vendors, and then there are corporate employees. We already understand how the rents play out in the city. At the rich cores, not everyone can afford a house. So we travel.  The other day my aunt back home was telling me how my uncle work hard and travel for 10 kilometers to his work. In Mumbai, it's peanut. I have a friend who travel 4 hours everyday to & fro office to home. Ask him, and he will swiftly tell us his routine. It's not even a big deal to him. He is habituated. He has a fix time schedule to wake up and get busy in the day. If he misses one local train, he has to calculate how much time he is gonna wait further to reach the office.  We all know people who are not so much a fan of the place for its on-the-run mode. They dont eve...

Last Sunday I dipped inside a waterfall and later while trekking back from the place, I passed through a rainy forest for two hours in constant. I walked amid nature. But most often I was only watching my footstep as it was slippery. I reminded myself to stand a while and look up towards the cloudy sky, and drink the dancing green that was surrounding. Rainy season is a blessing indeed. I crossed pools of water and overflowing mini-waterfalls.. Driving back home took more 5 hours and yeah that’s it. I was home. I felt safe. I was ok. The other day I went to the office and I had a pretty long day there. I was happy & tired. But I came back to my place with a tiny stuffed ear. I mean I was feeling as if my ears are swelled. I felt like cleaning it with a earbud. I did. I cleaned well. It’s a habit to keep the ear clean. I forgot the moment and got busied in the later life. After 2 hours, when I was about to fall asleep, I had pain in the left ear. I could not sleep with it. I had t...

It was a 140 Km one way ride from our place at Mumbai to the devkund trek. It was a random plan. Instead of continuing on the ride at the highway, we decided to head here. It was through the panvel, towards the Mahad that one way turns to devkund. This same place is nearer from Pune as well. A white fog was meditating over one of the hills around. Stopping out bike at the sides, we stood over a thin water brigde. The sky was cloudy, painted with a little blue shade in dilution. A river channel was below us through which a much transparent water was flowing in child-like agitation. It's nascent. Compared to the rivers in the central India, should I say that these are short lived, that they would meet their destiny earlier - The ocean... This is west India! It didn't rain all the way till now. It's the fourth week of june. The IMD had predicted that it's a surplus monsoon this year. Now there are quiet headlines about deficient comparisons. It's still the first month....

Time is inconstant. I wait for my phone to not ring. I wait for the weekends. The exuberance that I will do something on the day make me over realize. There are no concrete plans till the day is there. All burst into nothingness. At actual, I lay spread at my room, dozing, not dozing, severally looking at mobile screen, mobile notifications, watching random lectures and so on. As the day passes by, I complete unending tasks that keep coming in mind. I took my pants to the tailor and got it done. I ironed my dump of clothes. I video-called my mother and talked calmly. I made my own food. I pushed up and did the sit ups. It's afternoon. The windows are open. I saw a bird nest over the branch of the tree. No idea of the human neighbors, but I have this bird duo who takes turn to guard the nest. For some time now, the lady bird has kept her mouth open, no idea why. Very recently, a tree standing next to theirs was cut down in half. Many of the insects, birds and crows became homeless. ...

  Ajeet is a vegetable seller at this side walk of the Kandivali. He is an interstate migrant. His mother tongue is hindi, slightly bent to his native bhojpuri. He lives here all by self. Family is back at home. He has set up his shop below the multi-storey of a society. He gives an unofficial rent to the builder guy who takes care that he sticks at the place without any interruptions.  Anyway, he seems temporarily settled here. He remains seated under the cool shed of the tarpaulin. He has fast befriended the security person who sits by the gate near his shop. They chat during the high heat of no customer footfall. During the afternoon, he shuts his shop for 3 hours. He takes rest during that time.  Ajeet is now offering to deliver the vegetables at the door. He takes order to the nearby buildings and society. But he won’t deliver during the evening. That time is a busy foot schedule. The shop would be busy with people in the light evening. I have started to buy my veget...