Chapter 44

RandomSquared

@RandomSquared

Shazad

5 Years Later... 

     It was a cold New York morning, just like any other in Winter time. The birds up early flying around the city with the millions of people moving towards their destination. Car honking at one another and yellow cabs at every corner of the street. Life in New York was so predictable, you could ask a person from Siberia to describe this city and even they would be able to get the point across.
     Siberia was one sad place. Through out history all the dictators would always throw their enemies into Siberia. If one were to count all the half frozen half eaten bodies in Siberia, we'd have to invent new numbers. Well enough about Siberia, what was sadder than the massive numbers of corpses in Siberia was the massive number of people in New York. All running towards nothing, all living a meaningless life. The worst part of it was that I was no different.
     Well I suppose you would all like two know who I am and all that crap. Well, here it is my introduction…I'm Shazad. Well now that my great awaited introduction is done, I'm sure your all dying to know more about my fascinating self. If you are, then your in bad luck because there isn't anything else. I'm Shazad and that's where it ends. That's another thing, in the huge city like New York you tend to lose yourself more than once a day, sometimes to the commotion and sometimes to the silence.
     My day started out just like any other day, with my cereal and coffee. I headed towards the train station since the insurance company took my car away last week. The train was 15 minutes late which was pretty good considering yesterday it didn't even show up. Turned out there was a strike, and I being an anti-news reader had no idea about it.
     I enjoyed being on the train. It was very soothing unlike the bus. The bus was always so noisy and crowded, the train on the other hand was a lot quieter and although at this time of the day there were a lot of people, there was still a feeling of isolation that I loved. The soulful silence that filled our mind with relaxations and calmness, I would only feel that on the train.
     I was three stops away from mines when an old lady came in the train. She had many bags in her hand and as predicted a younger girl gave her seat away. The old lady looked sweet, she had white hair and a white face to match it. Her stop had come and she was getting out through the door next to which I was sitting. Just as she stepped into the platform one of her bags fell. In pure reflex I got up and picked it up for her. Her gave a sweet old lady kind of smile and said, "Thank you Son," just as the doors closed. It almost killed me, she called me son! It killed me, the lady didn't even know me and she called me son. From a sudden urge to laugh I went into a sudden need to cry. I was going to miss the lady, I'm sure she was nice. She reminded me a lot of my mother. Thinking of my mother got me very depressed as I was walking through the streets of New York.
     I was meeting up with Kripa in Central Park that day. She'd come back from London for the wedding we were all invited too. Our old teachers Mr. Das and Ms. Nisa were getting married, and a bunch of the graduates were invited. I really didn't like going to Central Park. I felt it was over rated. Everyone is always talking about Central Park, but that's not the only park in New York you know. Washington Square Park is great too and there's a lot less people there, but no one ever wanted to go there. Or any other park is nice, but why does it always have to be Central Park?
     Anyways back to the point. I was going to meet Kripa after 5 whole years. There was a time when she used to be my best friend, but we haven't heard each others voices in so very long that it took me time to recognize her voice when she called me a few days ago. To tell you honestly, I wasn't very excited to meet Kripa. I didn't like meeting any of my old friends or going to school reunions. It's so heart breaking when you remember someone to be so cool, and then you meet them five years later and they're the mother of 5 and all they can talk about is their kids academic success and drink their nasty black coffee. I hoped Kripa didn't turn out like that. Thinking about Kripa made me wonder if she ever got over that jack ass Angad Khanna. On second thought I took back my curse, maybe Angad wasn't all that bad maybe he was like me…misunderstood.
     I really didn't worry about recognizing Kripa. I was one of those guys who could remember each and everyone of his friends by face. I never had to look in a year book to rekindle memories. I guess in High School, I was one of the guys who gave their friends a lot of importance and always got stabbed in the back for it. Thinking about school made me think about my school. I always loved that place, loved it so much that now I work as a basketball coach there. Well that's my part time job at least, I also happen to run my fathers multi billionaire business but that's I just because I have too. All the money I make there goes to my dad's account. I don't want a penny from it, I'm happy being a poor coach.
     Just then my phone rang. It was Atif from the office. "Hello Shazad? I just wanted to know when you want the shipping of the goods?" he asked. " Get it in by today afternoon, we have to send it for testing by tomorrow," I replied. "Okay Shazad," said Atif. "Make sure you get it in!" I demanded. "Inshahallah," he answered back. Through pure reflex I rolled my eyes and hung up. It almost killed me. I really never understood why everyone always says inshaallah for everything. I mean, its not like Allah is going to ship my goods to the office. If everything we did in life depended on what God wanted then we'd all be happy right now, and we're not…trust me on that one.
     I walked into the park immediately spotting Kripa by one of the benches. The first thing that popped into my head was the hideous color of her hair, it really was a very bad maroon color. As I walked towards her I wondered if she still had her belly ring…if she was the same. My greatest fear was if she had grownup.

To Be Continued

Comments Please

It'll take me a while to get used to KPKS again, but I promise this season is a lot better than the last with a lot of twists and surprises in store.

PROMO- Kripa

Karishma***