Old Songs

: I really love this kind of sudden downpour, this sweeping rain, you know, Lakshman? At times like this, people apparently crave khichuri, hilsa fish, fried eggplant, fried bitter gourd...eh...no, no, not fried bitter gourd, but things in that category, whatever they are. But for me, old chap, when it rains—I mean, even if the clouds just rumble a little—I only want one cup of strong liquor-tea. Even if they put me on a funeral pyre, I'd probably need one proper cup of tea. You know what I mean by 'proper'? That thing where you put one spoon of tea leaves in a cup of milk and add two spoons of sugar—I don't call that tea, I call it sherbet...ha ha ha. But when I'm in a bind, I mean when your sister-in-law says "There's no time to make tea right now!" and then brings me one of those sherbet-teas anyway and sets it down on the wooden table with flashing eyes—then even that sherbet becomes heavenly tea for me. Listen, Lakshman, let me tell you how to make tea properly. Your sister-in-law used to know, but somehow she's forgotten it all now...

: Amal Babu, I've been making tea at this tea stall since eighty-one, and today you're going to teach me how to make tea!

: Lakshman, hmm...eighty-one, you mean nineteen eighty-one, or eighteen hundred?

: Ha ha ha...you're quite the joker, sir.

: Oh damn, that's your sister-in-law calling. She must be angry...otherwise she wouldn't call at this hour. Wait, let me go home and come back, then I'll tell you the tea recipe, okay?

: First discover the recipe for cooling down sister-in-law's temper, Amal Babu, then think about other things.

: Just seeing me will cool your sister-in-law's head. Amal Kanti Sanyal knows the recipe for fixing homes very well.

: Is that why you got scared when the phone rang, brother?
: Not scared, not scared. Just a flutter in the chest when her call comes at the wrong time. That flutter tells me she needs me now. Let me go home and come back.

Lakshman is thinking, what nonsense Amal Babu talks! Just listening to him makes you angry! One moment he talks about tea recipes, the next about love recipes.

There's no such thing as love, Amal Babu. All this flutter in the chest business—nothing at all. Women only recognize money, money. Today's girls don't need their husband's body or affection; they only need jewelry, they only need cash.

A song came to mind after so many days...Mujhse pehli si muhabbat mere mehboob na maang...

I'll have to bring up this song when Amal Babu comes back. Why did such an old song suddenly peek into my mind? My wife doesn't call me at odd hours...so am I remembering Bakul today?