The Y Factor

I have always complained to my mom that she worries too much for me. Even when I was going to Mumbai for my job, she cried so much in the station. I was 22. I remember the person next to me, asking if it was the first time I was going out without my parents. I sighed and added that I had been in boarding schools since I was nine. The laws of affection defy logic. I just named it the Y factor.

My mom’s ultimate defense for all arguments has always been the age difference; that I would realize her point once I turn her age. As obvious, that ends the discussion. Since I never catch up with her age and I don’t remember arguments we had 24 years back, I was never able to pursue a single argument to my favor. So to understand the Y factor, I am supposed to have my own kids, which still is a distant future; at least it seems so. However, in this case, I sort of have a pre-hint. And it’s about my kid brother. He is just two and a half years younger than I am. Not a huge difference. But still I think of him as a kid. I find it hard to believe that he can manage everything on his own. My brother, who used to sit in my class with me in kindergarten rather than his own, who couldn’t finish even a single pack of ‘frooti’, who always sticks to me in a gathering, who has to explain all the new toys and comics he has amassed while I was away from home, who plays with his large collection of discarded plastic items, paper boxes and railway tickets, who innocently asks to lower my shoulder so that he can blissfully fall asleep every time we travel together in a bus or a train or a cab; well, whatever his age is, I find it difficult to visualize how he is attending a meeting or giving a presentation or arguing his case with his boss. It might seem odd to you. But for me, it’s really amazing! Deep down something within me doesn't want to accept that my little brother has actually grown up.

My Encounters with Rainy Days

Time: Summer, 1987
Venue: Jhargram, Midnapore, West Bengal
Event: The raging storm. My dad didn’t return home from the office. He used to work 50km from where we lived and the storm had cut off road links. Powercut. We didn’t have a telephone. My little brother crying. Water streaming in under the doors and windows. I am putting a few rags in the gaps trying to stop the water.
Aftermath: Not much. All was well the next day. But I still remember that as my earliest encounter with a rainy day.

Time: June, 1990
Venue: Calcutta, Admission Test Hall of a school
Event: The last question asked to write a paragraph on ‘A Rainy Day’. I wrote just one sentence ‘I like rainy days’ :D
Aftermath: I had failed the exam.

Time: Summer, 1992
Venue: Purulia, West Bengal
Event: Our summer break was starting. My dad was taking me home. There was a heavy rain that day. We were afraid that the train which we were supposed to take might be cancelled. It might not seem to be a big deal now. But then, the prospect of not getting home in time was too overwhelming for a nine-year-old.
Aftermath: The train was not cancelled. It was late though. I could live with that. However, something terrible happened the same night. Two of our senior students along with one’s father drowned as their car ran into a river on a broken bridge.

Time: July, 1997
Venue: Calcutta, In front of Science City
Event: We (me, my younger brother and my mother) were waiting outside the Science City for a bus. Suddenly it started raining. It was literally a blinding rain. The buses were so crowded, we failed to get in. My mother was all tensed and crying, too scared to be there with her little children. We were not that little but then, moms are moms. She almost jumped in front of a car and asked for help. The person in the car was kind enough to give us a ride to our place on the EM bypass.
Aftermath: My mom had invited him to visit us later and had all plans to give him a royal treatment as a gratitude for the help. He never turned up. My mom still holds that help as a divine intervention.

Time: August, 2005
Venue: Mumbai
Event: As usual it was raining in Mumbai. We were 4 people getting back home from the office in an auto (the motorized 3-wheel vehicle). Over the journey, we had a vigorous discussion on how to enjoy the rain. We planned to relish the home-made pakoras sitting on the terrace, sipping on a hot cup of tea and watching the TV. As we were getting off at our destination, the driver mentioned that we were the lucky ones to enjoy a rainy day while he had to keep working. That led us burst into laughter. We mentioned to him that all our plans were just wishes. We were all new to Mumbai. We didn’t have a TV, no cooking arrangement; we didn’t even have beds to sleep on. We used to sleep on a cloth on the floor and wrapped ourselves up with another in case it got colder in the morning. The driver was embarrassed. I am not sure if he thought that he was the lucky one.
Aftermath: Nothing very remarkable about the incident but that day is one of the things very prominent in my memory.

Time: 25th July, 2005
Venue: Mumbai
Event: The infamous Mumbai rain. The office was called off early to let people get home. We ignored and left late. Stupid us! There was no transport on the road. Low areas were flooded. We waddled through the mess to get back home. There was a power cut and guess what could be worse! No water!!
Aftermath: The next few days were hell! The office was our best refuge. Details in http://mumbaidays.blogspot.com/2005/10/when-hell-broke-loose-mumbai-rain.html

Time: 8th September, 2008
Venue: Chicago
Event: The weather sucks though I am now used to it. Light drizzles continuing the whole of the day with occasional downpours. Somebody asked me to ‘enjoy the weather’. I thought it was sarcastic. Then added ‘with pakoras and chai’.
Aftermath: It made me miss the pakoras and chai and reminded me of the autoricksaw incident in Mumbai and then a lot of other events and eventually made me write this post.