Small Talk

The short story starts with, “The world is a really small place. Either everyone happen to know all my Ex-Boyfriends or I really had those who were very well connected”. And FULL STOP. The mind goes into depth of alleys, shadows of gloom and misery with romance of candles! Arrgghh! Put the brakes now, no one likes to read artistic these days! Been artistic (if to paint and cook) is the new catch to add some brownies to your life on social media. And that’s a girl’s way to add one in the matrimony bazaar. Indian men still prefer their women to cook and paint, when they can build aircrafts and travel. Arrrgghhh! Too many thoughts, distractions and gosh! I am biased! The story is really about Diya. She is a writer, a budding one and this is just a peek into the thoughts she had for a minuscule of a second. Free flowing, biased, judgmental, young, hard working and alone. That’s like most of the girls, with aspirations, with creativity to wear turtle shells for earrings and a career for living. After an hour and a half of staring at a page with randomness and no thought she decided to get some inspiration. “Been inspired” and “Been Alive” are some dictums of the creative types in the Tanzanite generation. They talk about Ulysses, read about the secret life Of Sir Conan Doyle and his superstitions (Please note: Holmes is a household name, and is Pseudo!) and dig Frank Sinatra and Boney M. Life is about complicated names and inspiration from an era of black and white and sepia. She knew all of it. Changed into a pair of blue jeans and loose tee shirt (Conscious attempt to get the out of bed care free look) ruffled the hair, slipped into flip flops, got her DSLR Bag (It was a red herring!) and dashed out. She went into a shop, which sells antique old and weird things. The shop was a stroke of genius, or success by chance. The things were old, rotting, discarded and metal. A broken door knob with motifs, a wooden plank with random nails, old coins off a street hawker and some papers and books and posters of old Hindi movies. The price was a premium and thus the perception that it’s in vogue to acquire other peoples’ waste. She picked a book. It had a random picture of a bearded man from East India company days on the cover in sepia. She started flipping the pages, looking carefully for some phrase to borrow or acquire inspiration. Not realizing that she was been ogled at for long ten minutes now. Stared at not because, you are in New Delhi, and there is a rape in every twenty minute, the forsaken used to be Golden Eagle for a country is now famous for all the wrong reasons. But, the stare was to gain inspiration from things you can stare, gaze and capture. He was in his late twenties, khaki clad (Not Nehru time Khaki, Khaki blazer and jodhpurs. It’s the “in thing”! ) Weekends for some with blogs and IT Careers is to write, capture, get the name out for a social cause and meet new people. Life was simpler, when late twenties were either already married or pissed drunk. This art of Life and green tea times, have just made everyone a hippie of sorts! His deal was also cameras on tripods and surreal shots! He was in the shop to steal some angles and ideas of old pictures in print, which were never sold but just given up with dusty newspapers and magazines. Small Talk, not originating from the duration of babbling but from the sense the words make are small. Epic example is, “Hmm. Is this your camera, is it a Digital single lens reflex”. Remember, the khaki clad gazer had an IT Background. Diya, for she will regret the words, replied “Oh! You are a camera geek”. This generation seems to confuse geek for being Greek, and the Khaki clad IT geek, bemused with self continues, “You get pretty amazing stuff in here. Are you looking for something specific”. Diya, in loss of time to excuse herself replied again, “Oh Yes! I am a writer and doing some research for characters. What about you? “. “ I collect old pictures and frame them. Sometimes you do find good ones here”. Following a long pause, the geek chirped again, “Do you mind if I ask about your upcoming work”. Diya, smiled. This is the interesting part of her day, where she is getting the attention. She cleared her throat and replied, “It’s in a very nascent stage. The plot is set in colonial Indian time and the story will have a strong adult theme”. IT Geek, found it weird, but there he was to make an impression said, “That’s Smart! You seem good at what you do”. Diya, collected her camera bag, and started to move out of the shop. “Thank You! But the story is in a very initial stage, and I am not sure which direction it will head. I have no clue”. The geek smiled, “I am sure it will be a good one. And if you publish it, I will be looking out for it.” With these words they parted. Sometimes, this might lead into a beautiful beginning of a friendship, or will remain a Small talk between two strangers. The premises being, which way you want it to go. I will pause here, for you to decide. Imagine.