When Bankers start reading hands...

I was having a conversation with my boss(actually my Boss's boss) about an important matter - a decision taken by me about my career. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation this happened:

"Show me your hand", he said.

"Are you a palmist too?" (He's a banker by profession)

"Your are not going to have a great career." (I looked at him in disbelief, after all I'm a pass-out from one of the top B-Schools of the country and have been a fairly good all-rounder.)

"k"

"But you are going to be rich... you'll have lots of cash" (Who wants to have a career if he can have the cash? After all, that would allow me to indulge in the various hobbies that I have - things that I like to do but I'm bad at(or well, not good enough) because of which I can't do them professionally - stuff like Art, Photography, Shayari(Style of Poetry somewhat similar to Haiku), Writing, Designing, Learning languages and musical instruments and so on...)

A smile had only begun to surface on my face when he said:

"It's going to be inherited."

******* didn't read my resume thoroughly enough.

Kaatey Bhaiyya

"Haan pehchana na... Kaatey Bhaiyya hain. Inhone kaate kehna start kiya tha phir poore mohalle mein riwaj shuru ho gaya!"

Seated, facing me, was a 18 year old boy. He was around 10 the last time we had met. A neighbour of one of my relatives who live in one of the 'airtight' colonies of Old Delhi!

I was in my mid-teens then. Used to visit their home a lot during the months of June, July and August. The period preceding Independence Day. Kite flying was something I was totally hooked to, and there was hardly any competition(and, therefore, hardly any fun) for me where I live(d). So I used to spend some of the hot-hot-hot and sunny Delhi afternoons on the terrace of my relative's home. And the children of my second cousins, three-four of them, used to accompany me to the terrace along with their friends from the neighbourhood. He was one of them.

"Patang udani toh chod di hogi ab aapne?", he inquired.

"Patang mil jaaye aur chhat mil jaaye to udaa lete hain."

So there in the streets of Old Delhi from the precarious rooftops we used to fly kites. And participate in 'Kite Wars'. I wasn't the master of Kite Flying, there were people who had been flying kites for a period equivalent to three times my age back then. But I wasn't a noob either. And the sounds of Kaatey, which was the expression of joy and pride upon winning the battles and a war cry for what lay in front, could be heard after brief pauses. Somehow, it was soon picked up by everyone around and became a standard expression. Probably the 'k' factor played its role. And I earned another monicker for myself.

There were fun moments too... once for some reason, that I can't recall, the skies were empty. So just to have a bit of fun, and more importantly make the kids around me happy-happy, I started tying all kinds of stuff with the string and have them go airborne with the kite. We started with balloons. And  moved on to other random stuff that was lying on the terrace. Thankfully, it was quite windy that day so the kite could carry the weight. It was fun, the kids were all smiles and there was no freaky accident.

I haven't flown a kite in a long time. But I am in Delhi and chances are that on the 15th of August, if not sooner, I would end up on the terrace doing something that I love to do.