Another Usual Day

It was the beginning of another usual day for Kala. She and Suresh had just opened the office; he was switching on all the equipment - the Xerox machine, the computers, A/Cs, unlocking the telephones in the two STD booths; she was taking out her petty cash notebook to draw lines for the day's entries.

Suresh was telling her the story of the English movie he had gone to watch the previous night. It was a crime thriller and she as always was in awe of the things he seemed to know; and nobody in her circle paid money and went to watch English movies.

But Suresh, though only a sort of glorified office assistant, came from an educated family; he had to stop after his higher secondary because his father had passed away suddenly and he had had to take up the role of the breadwinner of the family, but he was doing his BBA through correspondence. He told Kala all about his family and his problems - they had been working together in the browsing center-cum-STD booth-cum-photocopy shop for more than a year and shared a good relationship; in fact she depended on him so much that she felt she would be lost without him around. Apart from being a resourceful person, he was hardworking and trustworthy. The centre's owner placed a lot of faith on Suresh so much so that all cash to be deposited in the bank was entrusted to Suresh, and usually came in only for an hour or two in the afternoon to check if everything was alright.

Around 11, Suresh collected the cheques that had to be deposited and started out to the bank. Just as he opened the door to go out, Kala saw a petite and fair girl walk in. She was dressed in jeans and a pretty top, and carried a small bag over her shoulders like the college girls Kala saw everyday on her bus.

"I want to browse…?" she said to Kala.

Kala took her to one of the free PCs, logged in and indicated that it was ready for use.

When she looked up from her work after a few minutes, she recognised the familiar blue colour and saw that the girl was checking her Hotmail inbox. Did people really get mails daily, she wondered. What would they write and where did they find the time for it? Everybody who came to the centre first checked mail; then they would chat, sometimes for hours. It was beyond her. Though she did not get any mails, Suresh had got her a Hotmail ID and taught her how to check her mail and also how chat worked. She felt happy that she knew the latest in "Internet" but she did not have any use for email or chat.

Suddenly Kala looked at the clock and realised that Suresh was gone for almost an hour. Sometimes, it was like that at the bank - it just was more crowded than usual.

A customer came for some photocopies and as she went past the girl to the Xerox machine, she saw that the girl was chatting on MSN Messenger. I should have known, she thought. She could see a lot of heart-shaped and lips icons in the chat window and the girl was smiling to herself, unknowingly. It was then that Kala noticed the name of the person she was chatting with - Suresh! She knew his Hotmail ID, she couldn't have been mistaken.

As she went about her work automatically, her mind was in a whirl. So Suresh was in some other place chatting with this girl. That's why it took him so long at the bank on some days. And it explained why he spent so much time at the corner PC, and minimised all his windows whenever she went near him. But the girl was here… and he had passed her on his way out to the bank. So he didn't know her…? That was ironic! She didn't know whether to laugh or be disappointed. You don't really know any person well, even if you thought you were close to him or her, she thought. Why couldn't he have told her about this? Why did he have to lie to her? Their relationship was such that she would never be able to confront him on the issue, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to trust him as before.

She realised the girl had finished and was asking her how much she had to pay. She was unnecessarily rude to the girl and refused to look at her directly. The girl didn't seem to notice though, and went out after paying the bill.

About 15 minutes later, Suresh returned.

"Phew, I don't know how all these people come to the bank at the same time as me…"