Fantastic

It is early morning. My daughter Saumya and I decide to go to the nearest town on my cycle. As we begin the journey, we come across a steep road. By instinct Saumya, who is sitting on the cycle's carrier, tries to press the brakes to regulate its speed. I prevent her from doing so. We go down the slope and suddenly it is dark. As we emerge from the trough, light returns. Suddenly I realise that we have actually an auto-rickshaw hooked to our cycle and that we have no idea who the owner is. We get into this nearby town after some time and enter a by-lane by mistake. We come out of the by-lane and return to the town. We abandon the auto-rickshaw deciding not to take the risk of towing it back to our town and getting caught. Saumya wants painting accessories. We look around for shops. Some two or three shops are open, as the light coming out of them shows, but they aren't stationery stores, I tell her. So move out to a nearby street, on one side of which is a large ground of some school. We look across the length of the street. It is dawn here and the street lights are not on. Either there is no electricity or the street lights have been turned off at this time of day-break. There is a row of old houses opposite the school campus. We decide to ask the old couple standing in front of their house where the nearest stationery store is. The old man, who looks like he is a Muslim from his get-up, and his wife, who is dressed in a simple saree worn like Bengalis do, tell me that that the piece of land I was looking for is still cheaply available. I wonder how do they know that I am looking for a piece of land for a school, and that too when I have never been to this place earlier. Or did I come here earlier, I try to recall. May be they are confusing me with someone else. But since I am actually looking for land to start a school, i ask the lady the going price.

And then I wake up and I realise that may be I am missing Saumya who has just gone abroad for her higher studies.