Greentext · 4 minSame Gate

>be me, 17 years, inter second year

>2001, kakinada

>our street is called temple street

>because of one small sai baba temple at the corner

>forty houses

>forty houses and one news channel

>the news channel is called the street

>if you sneeze at 7, by 7.15 the tailor knows

>by 7.30 the iron cart man knows

>by 8 your ammamma's friends are bringing pepper rasam

>in the next street lives geetha

>green bicycle, a ladies atlas

>she goes to the same college, different group

>every morning at 8.10 she passes our gate

>every morning at 8.09 i am somehow at our gate

>watering one plant

>the same plant

>amma says that plant will drown

>for one full year i plan

>i buy a greeting card from the archies shop on main road

>forty five rupees, my whole month's pocket money

>a boy and girl under an umbrella, very cute

>inside i write nothing

>i decide i will say it with my mouth

>like a man

>thursday evening, sai baba temple

>she comes every thursday with her friend

>i wait near the coconut stall

>she comes out, prasadam in hand

>i walk up

>my legs are not mine

>i give the card

>i say "geetha, i like you"

>exactly four words

>i practised forty

>she looks at the card

>she looks at me

>she is not angry

>that is the worst part, she is not angry

>she says very softly

>"sorry, i cannot"

>"my nanna will finish me"

>"and also... sorry"

>she gives the card back

>she even says "it is a nice card"

>and she goes with her friend

>i stand near the coconut stall

>the coconut man says "boss, coconut?"

>i buy one

>i do not know why

>i walk home holding a card and a coconut

>it takes me nine minutes to walk home

>it took the street four

>the tailor looks at me from his machine and stops the machine

>the iron cart man says "aiyyo"

>he does not even know what happened

>he says "aiyyo" anyway

>by the time i reach our gate

>the version is already different

>the version is that i fell at her feet

>at the temple

>in front of sai baba

>and she threw the card in the drain

>and her nanna is coming to our house with a stick

>none of this happened

>i still had the card

>and a coconut

>i go in from the back door

>amma is in the kitchen

>she does not turn

>"so" she says

>"so what" i say

>"temple street" she says

>"you know who that girl's mother is?"

>"saroja aunty" i say

>everybody knows saroja aunty

>she runs the mahila mandali, she sings at every function

>amma turns now

>she is trying very hard not to laugh

>she is not succeeding

>"1979" amma says

>"your nanna stood at that same gate"

>"with a card"

>"to saroja"

>i sit down on the floor

>"and?" i say

>"and she said no" amma says

>"that same evening the street knew"

>"the version was that he fell at her feet"

>amma is laughing so much now she sits on the floor also

>"he did not fall at her feet" she says

>"he fell in the drain"

>"cycling away"

>"in his new pant"

>"who told you this" i ask

>"your ammamma, in the marriage talks"

>"she told me so i would know what i was getting"

>nanna comes home at 8

>he puts his helmet on the table

>he looks at me

>he looks at amma

>he looks at the coconut

>he knows

>the street has told him on his way from the bus stop

>dinner is very quiet

>amma keeps putting extra pappu on my plate

>nanna eats his curd rice

>at the end he says only one thing

>"did you at least stay on the cycle"

>"i walked" i say

>"good" he says

>"good. better than me"

>and he goes to sleep

>the next morning at 8.10

>i do not go to the gate

>the plant can drown

>nanna is at the gate reading the newspaper

>he never reads the newspaper at the gate

>a scooty stops outside

>saroja aunty, going to mahila mandali

>she looks at nanna

>she looks at our house

>she smiles a small smile

>"like father like son, ha, ramarao garu" she says

>and drives off

>nanna stands there with the eenadu upside down

>amma is at the window

>i am at the other window

>the tailor has stopped his machine again

>the card is still in my school bag

>twenty five years now

>the boy and girl under the umbrella

>nanna has his card also, i found out

>in the same drawer as his degree certificate