Beyond Divides

It had been four years since Sumit Sharma had flown off to New Zealand for higher studies in psychology amidst a lot of opposition from his family. Although the force of the apprehensions that Sumit's parents, Naresh and Smita Sharma had, had long since reduced, their shadows had never quite left their lives.

The day when they would finally witness the impact life abroad ('Across the seven seas', as Naresh put it) was only two days away when they got the phone call. Sumit's name was taken so often in conversations that when Smita heard over the hone a voice that said, "Hello, Ma! Sumit here!", she almost certainly thought she was imagining.

"Sumit... is it really you?" she asked in Marwari, her voice half-choked already.
"Yes, Ma! How are you doing?" Sumit responded from thousands of miles away.
"Just waiting for you dear..."
"Ma, Guess what! I passed! With distinction!"
"Congratulations!" The one thing Smita and Naresh had agreed upon was the immense number of opportunities available abroad. Smita could literally visualize the great door opening in front of her eyes.

"I need to tell you one more thing..." Sumit said, his voice abruptly changing tones.
"What, my dear?"
"Er... I have married."

Immediately the world came crashing down on Smita. Although she was much more understanding than Naresh, being a typical Marwari, she shunned even inter-caste marriages with all her fiber. And here, her own son, marrying a total foreigner!

To confirm her worst fears, she asked:
"Is she a foreigner?"
Now, it was the turn of Sumit's voice to break.
"Yes, foreigner. From New Zealand... Here itself."

Later that evening, verbal fireworks exploded in the Sharma household three months prior to Diwali.

"I'd told you... time and again I'd warned you NOT to send the bloody rascal in that White nation..." Naresh's rage-filled voice continued. "Here in India, he wouldn't even glance twice at a single girl... but there... in the Western nation where there is no such thing as 'culture'... he meets a ruddy witch who casts a spell on him and claims him for herself... How COULD he marry such a characterless girl!"

Smita decided against pointing out that Naresh hadn't seen the girl yet, and so, couldn't really call her 'characterless'.

"He's coming day after tomorrow, right?" Naresh fumed.
"Yes —"
Before Smita could even breathe, Naresh had finished his next statement: "Is the girl with him?"
"Er... Yes..."
"Now I'll get to see that darned New Zealander..."


The day finally arrived. Forgetting completely his son's outstanding achievement in his academics, Naresh was only searching for a mass of blond hair, or a body sporting negligible clothes, or any other indicator of what he pictured as his lone son's bride. It was only him and Smita on the airport — their daughter Vrinda had been conveniently cooped up in the house — permission for her 5-day Field Trip duly revoked.

And then, they saw him. Sumit. However, Naresh couldn't pin-point any of the signs he had shortlisted; only a friend of Sumit's he recognized as some Alex from a picture Sumit has sent over the e-mail about a year ago.

Before Sumit could even open his mouth for pleasantries, Naresh demanded:
"You married?"
"Yes," Sumit replied in a small voice.
"Where is the bride?"

Sumit paused.
"Where is the bride?" Naresh repeated, his voice and blood pressure both rising.
"The bride... the bride is none other than Alex here..."
"The bride... is Alex..." Naresh's eyes slowly moved from Sumit to Alex and finally zeroed in on him.
"Alex is... the bride..." he repeated, the wind knocked out of his chest.

"I... I kept this hidden from you all these years, forgive me... but... I'm gay. A homosexual."

A torrent of thoughts followed that pronouncement in Naresh's head:

He remembered overhearing Sumit profusely saying 'No' to somebody over the phone many years ago, and after the call ended, silently crying in a corner...
He remembered himself saying two days ago how Sumit "wouldn't even look at a single girl"...
He thought of himself opposing inter-caste marriages, but seeing his son break barriers of not just caste, religion, region or race, but gender too...

But then his brain had had enough. It protested by deciding to simply stop Naresh's heart from pumping. A heart attack.

It took Naresh two months in hospital to come to terms with his son's truth, but with a lot of help from his psychology expertise, Sumit finally managed to convince Naresh to accept Alex as a 'daughter-in-law'.

Last heard, Vrinda was allowed to go to England to pursue Oceanography; and Sumit and Alex were "living happily ever after".

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No Honking Day

"In other reports, today is being observed as 'No Honking Day' in Mumbai. This initiative to reduce the dangerously rising noise levels of the city has been taken up by the students of the reputed Mithibai College. The organizers of the day have left no stones unturned in their efforts to ensure its success, and have enlisted police support too. Which means, anybody caught honking will be fined anywhere between Rs. 50 and 500. This just goes to show how much the youth care for the people around them and for the environ—"

"Utter Bullshit." Mr. Verma switched off the TV and returned to his Toast-Bread breakfast. "Cars have horns for a reason, damn it! How else are we drivers supposed to alert the rowdy motorcyclists or the blind pedestrians that a car is coming and you need to save your arse from its front grill! But you so-called 'environment-conscious' people, you'll never understand..."

"Dad, if you drive well, you should face no need for horns."

"Have you ever, ever seen the Mumbai traffic? Ever negotiated a car around it? No, right? And still you bloody go ahead with your initiative that fines people for using horns!"

"I repeat, if you drive well, you won't need any horns... If." Before her father could open his mouth to retort, she plowed on, "And why is it that you elders don't care two hoots about the environment? It is always we youngsters who are taught of the depleting Ozone layer, the noise threshold of the human ear... Do you even know how much it is?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "About 85 decibels. And well, okay, we are taking the major steps. But can't we even expect your support? Just remember one thing: Whatever you people do, you will escape. It will be my generation that will have to suffer the consequences... Is that why you take the environment for granted? Forget it, why am I wasting my breath..." So saying, she — unnecessarily — raised her voice a bit further to say, "Mom, I'm leaving, Goodbye! I may be a bit late today, don't you worry about me." With that, she picked up her bag and stormed out of the house.

Mrs. Verma appeared from within the inner recesses of the house and said, "You know how she is..." But Mr. Verma wasn't listening.


"Hey, dude! Why feeling so low? What's up, man?"

Mr. Verma was in the Axis Bank office where he worked as head cashier. However, that day, he wasn't feeling up to the job of supervising all the note-counting going on aroung him. Two hours into his job for the day, his colleague Rajeev spoke the above words.

"Nothing, Raj..."
"Sunaina again?"
"I used the horn," Verma said, appearing in a daze.
"Yes, it's Sunaina again indeed... Oh come on, we do need horns!"
"You don't understand... If we continue this way, it will be Sunaina's generation that will have to face the consequences..."
"You aren't in your mind today... Let's go to Sashi's after work, okay?"


Later in the day, Mr. Verma sat in his car to drive home after a day that had passed in a daze. His boss had reprimanded him — the third time in a month — for negligence. After that, he and Raj had gone to Sashi's Beer Bar where they — at least Verma himself — had drank very mildly. In spite of that, when he entered his Indica to drive back home, his watch showed 11:45.

He was driving steadily along the deserted highway when he saw a young boy take off across the road to cross it. He seemed to be extremely poor, with a dishevelled appearance, aged about 20 — Mr. Verma remembered with a pang — around the same as Sunaina. Mr. Verma's hand moved reflexively towards the center of the steering wheel, but then, voices began to ring in his head...

We are taking the major steps. But can't we even expect your support?
You will escape. It will be my generation that will have to suffer the consequences...
Why is it that you elders don't care two hoots about the environment?

The dashboard clock on the Indica said 12:10, but Verma had no eyes for it... nor for anything else. His daze ended only when he heard a sickening thump. That thump changed his life.


"Looks like the boy was innocently crossing the road, and the car just came and crashed into him," a Police officer was saying to another. "What did his Breathalyser say?"
"He did have alcohol, but it was slightly below the permissible limit," the second officer replied.
"Oh, I see..."
"What now?"
"You said it was slightly below, right? Okay... Double the figures and slap a drunk driving charge on his face... This might finally mean our long-overdue promotions are on their way!"
"Once that happens, we'll celebrate! Sashi's the place! What say?"
"Rocking!"

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