Respect!

This story is about two people who stays near my house in Kolkata. Both of them were known to me as family acquaintances.

The first, Subhash uncle, was a fan of my father's football, and later became his friend. The son of a well known Professor, he was an engineering graduate from a premier engineering college in Kolkata. He ran a small printing press from his home. However his main passion in life was politics and social welfare service. He is a member of a minor local party. As long as I have known him, I have always seen his tall lean frame riding an old Hercules bicycle.

The second, Piyush da, much younger, was also from an average middle class family. The only distinguishing factor about him I remembered was his less than average height. But then, on an election day, he was seen running through the streets brandishing a pistol. Only then did we came to know that he was a cadre of a ruling party. This was in 1998.

Cut to 2008:

Nothing much to report on Subhash uncle. He has an email address now and has grayed a bit. Otherwise, everything else, including his Hercules bicycle remains the same. Maybe he is now involved in a few more community welfare projects.

Piyush da now has a construction "consultancy" business and takes care of bottlenecks for building developers or promoters as they are known here. He drives a bike and three cars, including a Mahindra Scorpio SUV. His wife is the local councillor, and he is known to have "powers". He is now a well respected man.

Special Disclaimer: This is a work of true fiction. None of the characters depicted in this post are real and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely consequential ... blah blah blah...