Saturday morning - 8.30am

Each step of hers weighed heavy. She thought this to be a strange sensation because her body felt light. Conscious of her foot landing in each square of the pavement, she looked at her painted toes slightly moving about in her slippers, as she walked in the familiar block of her neighborhood.
She entered the bakery, tore a number from the number giving machine, and waited for her turn to be called on. She didn’t need to think of what she would get, she knew what she wanted.
The man dressed in beige shorts and a blue t-shirt at the corner, was whistling a tune she had heard. She tried to recognize it, but couldn’t. She hoped this would not disturb her for long, as she tried to remember the song.
Her number was called. She asked for a loaf of bread and two croissants.
She walked back towards her apartment, not realizing that she had already forgotten about the tune she was trying to remember. Her thoughts went back to the conversation she had had the previous week with her cousin who had told her she was selfish.
She punched in the code to her building, walked past the open courtyard and climbed two flights of stairs. She unlocked the door to her apartment, closed it back, put her bag pack on the living room sofa, placed the two croissants in the oven and switched on the radio.

Assurance

A confident voice answered the phone.

He, in turn, hesitated before he spoke. The outlook was bleak. He was all but certain of the outcome of this conversation. He wished he could put the phone down now, tie a rope to the ceiling fan and hang himself. But, he persisted and tried to sound reassuring. He kept looking at the tall building in front of him. What kind of calamity was needed to rupture this 30 storey building right through the middle to make two symmetrical pieces?

He was silent and then, he mumbled his sentiments. He would have rather been sitting in the toilet at this moment.

The voice at the other end of the line responded firmly and calmly - “Yes, that will be fine”.

"Buddha"

He may have been thin as a stick, but he had the strength of an ox
He helped us carry huge pieces of furniture and bags up three flights of stairs to our apartment
My father would often ask him “how do you get your strength?”
And he would respond “I eat dhal and drink milk!”
Whenever he saw me, he broke into a very loud hello almost as if he was shouting
“OOOHHHH!!!! KAISA HAI??”
In later years, he would tell me that I need to get married soon and he would ask when I would be buying my next vehicle
Buying a vehicle meant that I had to share Mithai with him and his family
I suspect he had a sweet tooth
He was affectionately called “Buddha” (old man) by all
The last time I saw him, he was held by two men, he could hardly walk, and had a tube in his nose
This morning I woke up to the news that he passed away
His grandchildren are the cutest in the world

A drop on the ledge extends to my finger

And the clouds turned orange.