A Mysterious Loss

A Mysterious Loss

I got an urgent call from my uncle regarding the health of my Grandfather. I decided that I should see him before his last breath and got into a bus to Chennai. There were no seats in the bus, people were even hanging to the rod near the door. I though of getting off, but this was an urgent work and the next bus is only after three hours. I was hoping to see a familiar face in the bus but to my dissappointment there was none. In utter confusion, I slowly moved towards the door to get off the bus and suddenly heard someone calling me. "Gv Gv Gv", that was my nickname in my childhood. I looked at him, but could not recognise him. He seemed to know me quite well and he was calling out affectionately.

I hesitated a little before deciding to go ahead as I needed a seat. He moved a little and gave me some space to sit. I still could not recognise this man, he however seems have known me for quite some time. He enquired how my mother's knee was doing and if she was taking medications properly.I was taken aback as the instance of my mother falling down and hurting herself in the bathroom was something that we hadn't told a lot of people outside the house.As I was pondering about the source of his knowledge about all these things, I heard a smirk.Turning sideways, I saw him look outside and smirking at a sight of two kids turned towards the compound wall of a house."Do you still have the mark on your thigh? I remember very well how your appa caned you , the day you and your brother peed on the wall outside the porch of your house. You were wailing like a baby!" . I froze, remembering the impact of the bamboo made cane on my thigh, when appa had "taught" me not to behave like rowdy boys in the village who went about doing whatever they felt like doing. But how could this person, remember so graphically, my encounter with the cane and recollect it in such vivid detail? I tried remembering the figure again,stealing sideways glances at his wizened face....