Truck Tales - part 2 -

Sunday - 14
Rohan reached Nanded at Dawn at 4.00 am.  Nanded is right next to the banks of river Godavari.The early morning chill in the air was cutting like little pins on his skin. He had taken the bus which travelled to Nanded. It reached Hadgoan at 1.30 am and the Nanded station at 3.50. The Nanded station looks like a Gurudwara.

As he got down the bus stand he felt the sudden hunger which was hurting his stomach. He looked around and found a tea stall. A cutting chai had never tasted so good before.

He decided to check up with the taxi service provider at 5.00 am even though he knew that the time was too early. But he got his next set of directions.

Seema was in Degloor a place very close to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

He tried to find some transport. He found none. Tried hiring a taxi but it was too early and he wanted to reach early as he wanted to also be back in Mumbai on Monday.

Thus he took a lift. A lift from a truck. Rohan found to his dismay that getting in this truck was hard. The door was too high and it took him some effort getting in.  The road from Nanded to Degloor was as smooth as moons surface. In fact there were so many potholes that the truck was flying at top speed and as it was going so fast, the truck was barely touching the ground.

The fields on view had black soil which is very fertile and grows cotton, soyabean and turi excellently.

At 8 am he had reached Degloor. The people as he found out could speak Marathi, Kannada and Telagu in the same sentence and breath. As he asked around, finally he where Seema was.

At 10 am he met Seema near the main centre. She was suprised to see him, she liked it - the gesture but she also found it stupid.

As they chatted, fought and pranked around 2 hours went by in no time.

Seema still had work to do and so Rohan joined her as she went about photo doumenting small villages, their agricultural crops and their lives over all. At around 4, when Rohan said he wanted to go back to Mumbai. But Seema would have none of it. She appreciated the adventure Rohan had gone through and she wanted to savior it, and Rohan going back was not a part of it.

" Go back on Tuesday. Call in sick tommorow".

And thus Rohan and Seema were together at last. They spent there time together as they were closer now than they were ever before.


There was still one more trip to happen, and this trip was to Hadgoan which Rohan and Seema did together to cover the bazaar day at Niwgabazar on Monday the 15th.

As Rohan slept on his journey back on Monday night in his train berth, his dreams carried visuals of Green fields from Wardha and the Black fertile soils of Nanded.

His life as he knew it would never be the same again.


A short story by Ninad Tatke.

Truck Tales - part 1

Ferry / Fairytale part 1

Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life....Love gives us a fairytale...!!


11 am – Saturday 13

As he walked around the main market road – Army Road, in Wardha . He called up Aarti and asked her to casual ask Seema when she can about her whereabouts.

Wardha is a town built largely by Bajaj family. There is a statue of Bajaj in the centre of the town which is next to a river.

Half an hour later he got his first bad news. Seema had lost her phone and now was not reachable. Rohan realized now, that tracing Seema would not be as easy as he imagined.

Some how he found out that Seema was in Kapsi.



4 pm – Friday 12

It was a normal office day in the cubicle of Janak Industries. Rohan had just spent his 6 minutes of break chatting around near the water cooler. His life was okay, he had a job in Mumbai which meant that his bills were paid on time, a girl friend - Seema he met mostly and perhaps only on weekends and a family back in Baroda.

Seema considered Rohan as a good guy but he felt that they could have something more. She felt Rohan did lack something in him. Seema was an adrenaline junky and she worked for an MNC as a free lance photographer.

Seema used to call Rohan the most predictable person on the face of the earth.

For Rohan everything was planned, strategized and had back ups. Seema usually just went with the flow.

He knew that Seema was going in the interiors of Maharashtra for some work this weekend.

24 hours later he was in the interiors of Maharashtra with no idea where Seema was.

4 pm – Saturday 13

After asking for directions in Kapsi in Wardha Maharashtra and hitching a ride in local seat sharing rickshaw, Rohan reached Waigoan also in Wardha and he decided to enquire about Seema to local people in the shops, the bus stand, the richshaw walas, and after talking with around 10 to 15 people, he was told by one person that he had seen a lady and a driver in a taxi at Patri.

Rohan decided to hire a rickshaw but no wanted to go to Patri right now. He offered money, but no one was bulging. Instinctively Rohan waved a truck going towards Patri and started his journey towards patri. On a normal day this activity of hitch hiking on a truck itself would have been his Facebook message but today was not a normal day.

The fields of Wardha were very beautiful as the green crops moved about in gracious wind in the golden sunlight. It was a great view, but Rohan had his mind elsewhere.



Friday 5 pm. 12

As Rohan was unsure what to buy for Seema on her Birthday, he called up a common friend Aarti. Aarti suggested a few things but said that what she (Seema) would love the most is to spend some quality time with you. Rohan thought let me find her and meet her in her project right now. That shall be a great surprise for her. He did ask her where she was ofcourse over the phone. But he did not know that finding her would lead to him finding himself.

Thus Rohan started on to the journey which started on a train in Dadar, and began in Wardha.

7 pm Saturday 13

As he asked the local shops and the main centre in Patri, Rohan knew now that Seema was in a taxi which had a Kolhapur number. He immediately used net to call up taxi services in Kolhapur and 20 minutes later he knew the taxi service provider who had rented out a taxi to go to Wardha and then to Degloor in Nanded. Now he knew that he had to reach Nanded tomorrow to meet her and to surprise her. He saved the taxi operators number and started towards Nanded.


A short story by Ninad Tatke.
To be continued...

The Lady who lifts an elephant everyday.

I have seen India. At-least glimpses of it. From the royal deserts of Rajastan, to the snowy peaks of Himachal, to the bazaars of Kolkata and of course the lifeline full of mad working people city like Mumbai.

But during my last trip down south, I saw something which did not make sense.

In a remote village, it was evening time and I had just finished my days work. As I was getting ready to leave the village, I saw a lady (Amma) lifting an adult elephant in her arms and carrying him upstairs in her house through the open gate in her front yard. For a few moments, I was unsure that this is what I saw, but eventually as I convinced myself on its factuality, I started getting a feeling that I may well be losing my mind.

I walked to a near by tea shop and ordered a cutting chai. The chai wala saw the stunned face I had and he enquired.

"Kyu sahib, saab theek?" (Is everything alright)

Then observing my silence, he explained what I had just seen.

Chaiwala, " I think you just saw amma lifting the elephant"

I nodded.

" That elephant was badly hurt and feverish little orphan baby elephant when Amma decided to take care of him 10 years back. As the elephant was a baby, he was scared after dark and so every evening Amma lifted him and took him upstairs to take care of him.

This has continued over the years and every evening, Amma continues to carry him upstairs even though now elephant has grown up and has become quite heavy. But Amma never felt that as she is lifting something heavy as lifts him everyday and now is used to lifting its weight."


I thought the story so fascinating needed to be told so I called up an journalist friend of mine and , so the elephant would be impossible to lift if we try, now is on the cover  of all major newspapers today happy in Amma's arms.

As for Amma herself, she is puzzled and questions the reporter - Hey what is this buzz all about?





A short Story- By Ninad Tatke.

Comic Konnection - (The Christmas tale)

It’s a chilly morning as I decide to wake up and start my usual routine. So I get ready to go to school. The snow on the fifth street is something that I do not like especially as car tends to slip. Today is no different. I dress up and reach school. Not in mood for anything. I do want a dayoff today.

But Mr. Sherman wants to do an activity today. It is about charity since Christmas is around the corner, hence I can’t even say no. So I donated my comic books. My Archie's, my Axterix's and my Batman collections which once were my life at but now as a 16 year old, I don’t’ need them anymore.

My School in US is located in a small farming town where livelihood of locals thrives on apple farming and lately with New Zealand exporting apples for cheap, my family along with hundreds of other households is suffering. 

So Mr. Sherman collected all the donated items, we wrapped them and send them across to various countries in the world. We also wished Merry Christmas to unknown people in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

6 years Later.

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I have now settled quite well here in India. I live in a small little apartment in Mumbai (Bombay) working 5 days a week in a well-known firm for a handsome compensation

For my latest holiday I have gone to Manali in Himachal and I am just roaming on the streets in one of the village near Solan. A small kid crosses me. He appears six may be seven and looks very thin. And he asks " Dada tumhe padna aata hai" 

(Brother do you know how to read). "Ha". (Yes ). Ye padke bolo na phir (please read this for me then) and he gives me an Archie's Comic. 

I open it to read and then - oh its mine. It cant be, but it is.  So I read a section. But I cant help it. So I end up telling the kid, that this book was once mine. 

I feel for the kid and hence arrange for his education with help from a Delhi based NGO. And then I forgot all about it.

20 years later.

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I am a big Manager now and I meet young people, old people, greedy people and hence I dont usually feel something great to meet some one new and especially a young man. But this young man I met this morning rocked me to my core.

And then he said those unbelievable words, " Sir, I am the same boy from Manali."  

He was a dynamic young man now and somewhere in all his achievements and educational qualifications was a platform which my comic book had aroused. It lead him to seek education and it lead him to success.

Through the Boy's Eyes. (After 50 more years)

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I am dying next month due to incurable tumor and hence this is my will - " I, Sameer Sheikh here by leave all my industries, wealth and real estate to my son as the sole and only owner, but I also give him my most priced possesion my comic book which made me all what I am now"

And then the Boy (Sameer) died.  [I was also dead by then of course. But to complete the story I would still use first person so bear with me. As if you have a choice.]

So Sameer's son read the will and then as he drove out from his lawyer’s office, he threw away, the most priced and yet useless thing that his father had left him, out of the car. 

The book was gathering dust along roadside until a kid, from the nearby slum, picked it up out of curiosity. It seems, he is reading it and looks as if he actually likes it too, I am so happy.

May be, just may be the comic book can inspire him too.

Well that’s the hope!!!    

By Ninad Tatke