MY ROLE – A PASSIVE SPECTATOR – IN ROMI’S LIFE

MY ROLE – A PASSIVE SPECTATOR – IN ROMI’S LIFE

Once upon a time, in 1994, my mom and me used to live in quarters near the main bazar. These were apartment type quarters with a ground floor and two floors above that. We used to live on the top floor. On the ground floor, there was one Mr. Peter and family. The Peters had one daughter and she was studying LKG (Kindergarten) at that time. Whenever my sister visited us, my sister’s son, who was around 1.5 years old then, used to play with this LKG girl named Romi.
Now, of course, we moved, they moved and we lost touch with each other. I used to occasionally run into Mr. Peter.
In the year 2019, i think, once when i was walking around in the Daily Market (the name of a popular market in our town) thinking about Potato chips, i ran into Mr. Peter. He stopped and chatted with me. I enquired about Romi and he told me that his daughter Romi had completed college. After a couple of months, I was walking around in Daily Market looking for fresh popcorn and I saw Mr. Peter there. He asked me where our present quarters was located. I told him. He informed me that his daughter Romi was getting engaged shortly and that he would come home and invite us for the function. I conveyed my best wishes to her. After around 2 months, when i was walking around in Daily Market wondering about Samosas, i again ran into Mr. Peter. We chatted again and he told me that his daughter Romi’s marriage was fixed and asked me where our present quarters was located. I told him. Again, after around 1 month, i once again ran into Mr. Peter again at Daily Market. This time i was not thinking of anything in particular. He saw me, chatted with me for some time and asked me for my address. He said he would come and invite us to the marraige. I told him my address and this time, he wrote it down. After some 5 months, once again, (amazing coincidence), we met at Daily Market. He looked at me sheepishly and said his daughter’s marriage was over and apologized profusely for forgetting to invite me. I smiled and said it was ok and that we were happy for Romi.
Believe it or not, once again, today evening, we met at the same Daily Market. This time, his daughter Romi was with him. And Romi was carrying a one year old baby!!! Her daughter!!! He told me this was his grand daughter and that she was around 1 year old.
Romi had finished college, got engaged, got married and became a mother and it so happened that all these important events of her life would come to be known to me at Daily Market only. Thomas Hardy would have cited this as an example of his fatalist theory, that whatever happens is decreed to happen in that particular/unique way. As far as Romi’s life is concerned, my character is bound to learn all about her progress in life only at the Daily Market without any other type of involvement.
So maybe, i will presently hear more of Romi at the Daily Market through her father, Mr. Peter.
Strange are the ways of life.