Pritam's Blog
The Curious Case Of Small Towns
And then there are days when luck favours you :D
“Who is it?” she whispered, a colonywali aunty.
I gave her one of those ‘It’sNoneOfYourBusiness’ looks and continued talking to my girl. The network was too weak inside the house and so I had to come out in front of our gate to talk to her. And as she was passing by, the ‘LetMePokeMyNose’ part of her woke up and she couldn’t help but ask who it was I was talking to.
That’s the most irritating thing about small towns. People are so fucking curious about everything. In big cities, nobody cares about anything as long as it doesn’t involve them directly. That doesn’t mean they are selfish. They just know where to draw the line. May be it is partly because life in big cities is hectic and after a hectic day, people do not have the energy for all these things…
The curious case of small towns, on the other hand, is that they have little for their entertainment. Moreover, there is no traffic jam to exhaust you, there is no rush in small towns. So, the lack of recreational sources along with the fact that people feel energetic even after a day at office or school or business kills their morality - there is nothing to look forward to and the desperation to change it drives them to do things they are not supposed to do - poke their nose into things that are none of their business. And that in small towns, everybody knows everybody makes this interference easier.
I remember my days in Silchar. Everytime I went on a date with Pallabi and returned home, I would be asked about what we ate and all. Apparently, someone had seen us and informed my uncle or aunty about it. And they do it casually, “Aapke bhatije ko to dekha kisi ladki ke saath…”, as if they are just saying it, but there is an underlying tone of curiosity in the statement. They just want to start it somehow and then know everything possible about it.
Things are same here in Dharmanagar. You smoke, you go out with someone, you do anything that doesn’t harm or involve anyone, but they will try to interfere. That’s their entertainment.
Anyway, the aunty ignored my ignoring her and asked again in a whisper, “Who is it that you are talking to?” She was so desperate that it didn’t occur to her that it’s rude to interrupt while the other person is busy talking to someone else.
I didn’t want to be rude and decided to ignore her again. But then, I saw her daughter on the terrace of their house, talking to someone over phone. And I just pointed towards her.
The aunty turned and saw her daughter. Then she RAN, yes she ran towards their gate…