His colleague was typing something furiously on to his keyboard, but he was casually seated staring at the monitor and wondering what to do.
Typed in an address and checked his Orkut scraps for the 12th time in the past 30 minutes, no scraps. Colleague still typing on the keyboard
“Dude, what are you doing?” he asked his colleague
“105 dead in Mumbai man, I hate these militants”
“There are militants in Mumbai?”
“You don’t know? They have been there since yesterday night, didn’t check the news?”
“I don’t check the news, I don’t care as long as it’s not related to me and it’s never related to me”
“Still, it’s your country. You should know. You don’t have any relatives in Mumbai or maybe friends?”
“Nopes, am cool”
“How can you be cool? So many of your country’s people have died, so many army men, police force. How can you be cool?”
“Ok, tell me something, you’ve been regularly getting your updates about this from the internet and television right? How many lives has it saved? My point is reading this or getting regular updates of it won’t make any difference. You are here in a foreign country. Those who have to die will die. Reading about it will just spoil your mood; I would rather watch some cool videos on YouTube”
“No yaar, see you can always tell your friends or relatives in India so that then can get cautious”
“All my relatives are like you, they get updated”
“Your friends, do they get updated?”
“ Naaah, everybody is cool. None of them are in Mumbai so how does it matter. Yeah if there is something in Goa, lemme know my girlfriend stays there; she is not into news either maybe I could let her know.”
“Oh good, one more terrorist killed”
“You carry on dude, I am gonna go get a cup of coffee”
After the coffee was finished he glanced at his watch which displayed 5:30 pm. he picked his phone and called India. No Answer. He messaged instead
“Hey Sweetie, why no answer? Enjoying your birthday huh? Anyways buzz me when free.. Love you”
He came back to his seat. His colleague still glued to the computer.
“Dude, not going home?”
“I’ll go. You carry on. Buh Bye”
“Bye, take care. Oh and Good Luck for Mumbai Shootout”
The colleague smiled “Bye”
Oh his way back he tried the India number again, still no answer.
Just when he was about to unlock his door his phone started ringing, the screen displayed “Jaan Home”
“Heyy, whazzzup! Where have you…… Hello??”
“Hi”
“Hey dude! How are you? Where’s your sis?”
“She…. She is in the hospital”
“What?? How? Why? Kya hua? I talked to her this morning, tab she was fine”
“She had gone to Mumbai with her friends to celebrate her birthday, there were some terrorists attack there, so there was a stampede, she is very serious man”
“Oh Shit!! How’s Aunty? What do the doctors say?”
“They’re not saying anything; it was very difficult to get her in many casualties man. If only we knew, she left this morning after she talked to you, it was an instant plan”
“Damn!! You be with aunty man. I’ll call you back!”
He entered his house. Dropped himself on the bed and after half an hour he held the remote and put on NDTV listening to the news.
Typed in an address and checked his Orkut scraps for the 12th time in the past 30 minutes, no scraps. Colleague still typing on the keyboard
“Dude, what are you doing?” he asked his colleague
“105 dead in Mumbai man, I hate these militants”
“There are militants in Mumbai?”
“You don’t know? They have been there since yesterday night, didn’t check the news?”
“I don’t check the news, I don’t care as long as it’s not related to me and it’s never related to me”
“Still, it’s your country. You should know. You don’t have any relatives in Mumbai or maybe friends?”
“Nopes, am cool”
“How can you be cool? So many of your country’s people have died, so many army men, police force. How can you be cool?”
“Ok, tell me something, you’ve been regularly getting your updates about this from the internet and television right? How many lives has it saved? My point is reading this or getting regular updates of it won’t make any difference. You are here in a foreign country. Those who have to die will die. Reading about it will just spoil your mood; I would rather watch some cool videos on YouTube”
“No yaar, see you can always tell your friends or relatives in India so that then can get cautious”
“All my relatives are like you, they get updated”
“Your friends, do they get updated?”
“ Naaah, everybody is cool. None of them are in Mumbai so how does it matter. Yeah if there is something in Goa, lemme know my girlfriend stays there; she is not into news either maybe I could let her know.”
“Oh good, one more terrorist killed”
“You carry on dude, I am gonna go get a cup of coffee”
After the coffee was finished he glanced at his watch which displayed 5:30 pm. he picked his phone and called India. No Answer. He messaged instead
“Hey Sweetie, why no answer? Enjoying your birthday huh? Anyways buzz me when free.. Love you”
He came back to his seat. His colleague still glued to the computer.
“Dude, not going home?”
“I’ll go. You carry on. Buh Bye”
“Bye, take care. Oh and Good Luck for Mumbai Shootout”
The colleague smiled “Bye”
Oh his way back he tried the India number again, still no answer.
Just when he was about to unlock his door his phone started ringing, the screen displayed “Jaan Home”
“Heyy, whazzzup! Where have you…… Hello??”
“Hi”
“Hey dude! How are you? Where’s your sis?”
“She…. She is in the hospital”
“What?? How? Why? Kya hua? I talked to her this morning, tab she was fine”
“She had gone to Mumbai with her friends to celebrate her birthday, there were some terrorists attack there, so there was a stampede, she is very serious man”
“Oh Shit!! How’s Aunty? What do the doctors say?”
“They’re not saying anything; it was very difficult to get her in many casualties man. If only we knew, she left this morning after she talked to you, it was an instant plan”“Damn!! You be with aunty man. I’ll call you back!”
He entered his house. Dropped himself on the bed and after half an hour he held the remote and put on NDTV listening to the news.
