earthquake. Or at myself, for betting so much money. Anger for making the first
big mistake of my life.
My body trembled with violent intensity.
'Don't worry, God will protect us,' someone tapped my shoulder.
'Oh really, then who the hell sent it in the first place?' I said and pushed the
stranger away. I didn't need sympathy, I wanted my shop.
Two years of scrimping and saving, twenty years of dreams - all wiped away in
twenty seconds. The 'Navrangpura Mall's' neon sign, once placed at the top of the
six floor building, now licked the ground. Maybe this was God's way of saying
something - that we shouldn't have these malls. We were destined to remain a
small town and we shouldn't even try to be like the big cities. I don't know why I
thought of God, I was agnostic. But who else do you blame earthquakes on?
Of course, I could blame the builder of the Navrangpura mall. For the hundred-
year-old buildings in the old city pols remained standing. Omi's two-hundred-
year-old temple stood intact. Then why did my fucking mall collapse? What did he
make it with? Sand?
I needed someone to blame. I needed to hit someone, something. I lifted a
brick, and threw it at an already smashed window. The remaining glass broke
into little bits.
'What are you doing? Haven't we seen enough destruction?' said someone next
to me.
I couldn't make out his face, or anyone's face. My heart beat at double the
normal rate. Surely, we could sue the builder, my heart said. The builder would
have run away, my head said. And no one would get their money back.
'Govind, Govind,' Ish said. He screamed in my ear when I finally noticed him.
'What the hell are you doing here man? It is dangerous to be out, let's go home'
Ish said.
I kept looking at the rubble like I had for the last four hours.
'Govind,' Ish said, 'we can't do anything. Let's go.' 'We are finished Ish,' I said,
feeling moist in my eyes for the first time in a decade.
'It's ok buddy. We have to go,' Ish said. 'We lost everything. Look, our business
collapsed even before IT opened...'
I broke down. I never cried the day my father left us. I never cried when my
hand had got burnt one Diwali and Dr Verma had TO give me sedatives to go to
sleep. I never cried when India lost a match. I never cried when I couldn't join
engineering college. I never cried when we barely made any money for the first
three months of business. But that day, when God slapped my city for no reason,
I cried and cried. Ish held me and let me use his shirt to absorb my tears.
'Govi, let's go home,' Ish said. He never shortened my name before. He'd never
seen me like that too. Their CEO and parent had broken down.
'We are cursed man. I saved, and I saved and I fucking saved. And we took
loans. But then, this? Ish, I don't want to see that smug look on Bittoo Mama's
face. I will work on the roadside,' I said as Ish dragged me away to an auto.
People must have thought I had lost a child. But when a businessman loses his
business, it is similar. It is one thing when you take a business risk and suffer a
loss, but this was unfair. Someone out there needed to realise this was fucking
unfair.
Ish bought a Frooti to calm me. It helped, especially since I didn't eat anything
else for the next two days. I think the rest of the Ambavadis didn't either.
avery
(avery)
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