1st: Anku Bharadwaj (Hist Hons. I)
A Salty Love Story
Esmerelda: Tell me Philip, why do you take salt with tea instead of sugar?
Philip: Esi, I mist tell you something. I miss my home a lot. As I come from the coastal areas, I had grown up with the smell of salt in the air. When I take salt with tea I remember the same smell and feel as if I am at home.
E: Oh! You miss your home, that's why you take salt with your tea. You know, Philip, I'm impressed. I would have never tolerated that awful taste even if I would have been in your shoes.
P: Esi, you say things so cutely. My ear can listen to your voice throughout my life. It;s just so beautiful!
E: I am not going to be with you throughout your life.
P: Why can't you be, Esi? I want to spend my whole life with you.
E: Is that a proposal?
P: Esi!
E: Yes!
P: Will you marry me?
E: Oh!
P: Tell me, please...
E: Yes! Yes! I will marry you, Philip.
[After 38 years of their marriage, Philip is on his deathbed]
P: Esi, I wanted to tell you something.
E: Yes, Philip, I'm listening.
P: Esi, my love, today I want to tell you that I had loved you a lot, and will love you even after my death. But there is only one lie I had told you my entire life.
E: What?
P: You know that I take salt with tea.
E: Yes! What about that?
P: You remember that reason I gave you for it? It was a lie.
E: What?
P: I'm telling you, sweetheart. Remember our first date. I was very nervous that day. You were so charming and beautiful. And me? Just not your type. In my nervousness I, instead of asking for sugar, asked for salt and made a fool of myself, Esi. I didn't want to lose you - that's why I hid this truth from you. When you asked for the reason, I just concocted an explanantion. I'm sorry!
E: What!
P: Are you hurt?
E: I...
P:Esi! I loved you, I didn't want to lose you that's why I told the lie. I am sorry....
(He dies)
E: Philip! Philip! (crying) Philip, no one other than you could have loved me that much. You were very much my type! Oh Philip!
[After this incident, Esmerelda also started drinking tea with salt in memory of Philip]
2nd: Koyel Lahiri (Eng Hons III)
“Oh Dada! Where are you headed? This is a one-way only corridor”
“I am headed to my native place. I believe the train is discharging from that platform?”
“No,no! Where have you been living Dada? That platform has been a ghost platform for two years now! No train has left or entered this place since Babu Ram cursed that track while he bled to death.”
“But I have ticket! Look, here, it reads: ’20:00 Platform 9’. I am looking for The Mail Express. Surprised,no? How can man with bag travel with letters? I have contact. Very good friend. He makes phone call, and bus! Done.”
“Dada-wait, what is your name?”
“Babu Ram”
“Babu Ram!”
“Yes. My grandmother gave. She said I was her little babu and that I will have virtue of Ram.”
“Okay, Babu (you don’t mind if I call you just Babu, right?) somebody has led you a dance. NO train comes here, not even the Mail Express, and even if it did, how would you have got a ticket for an illegal ride?”
“Eh? But look! I have-“
“Yes Babu, I see that piece of paper, but you must understand that in today’s day and age, anybody can make any sort of paper! My own brother showed the lawyer a Will that my father had actually not made, and took away my share of the land.”
“I am beginning to get irritated with you. You are not telling me helpful things.”
“Haha, Babu! Truth is seldom helpful, it seems!”
“Are you going to be telling me Philosophy now? Because let me tell you, I have BA in Philosophy, second class. My friends and relatives come to me when they have problem of existence.”
“No,no, Babu, I don’t give anything but occasional love to the occasional urchin.”
“I have no meaning with your love! I have meaning only with my train! It leaves in one hour! I have to be on it!!”
“Babu, do you know anything about why this track is closed?”
“No, because this track is never closed to me!”
“And why is that?”
“Oh dear. What will I do now? You are beginning debate with me. You say you will not let me through-“
“Because, Babu, there is nothing there!”
“-and if I don’t go through, my train will depart without me.”
“Come, Babu. Sit down. I have some nuts.”
“What will I do with your nuts,eh? I have my own.”
“Without a doubt, but sit down anyway.”
“I am sitting. But only because my shoe is hurting.”
“You should do what I do. I wear my skin. Shoes never were my thing.”
“I am sure that is because your mother did not put good habit in you.”
“My mother did not put anything in me. She died at childbirth. But yes, they never felt that people like me needed shoes. I grew up envying covered feet, but now I’m glad my feet never stink.”
“Are you saying I have smelly feet?”
“No, Babu, why should I pass judgment on your feet? I am just talking. It is not everyday that I get to talk to someone, so when I do, I prolong the conversation as much as I can.”
“Uff, this is too much. I refuse to be your prolonging object. I am getting up, and I am going. I have worked hard all my life, and I have promised to go home with earnings, and now I am.”
“Okay, Babuji, go ahead. I have been guarding this place for two years now, and you are the first man I’ve seen in as much time. So go ahead, if you disbelieve me-OH!”
“There. What did I tell you? Train has come, and now I board it for Native place. Grandmother is waiting.”
“Are you wanting water? You are looking quite ill. Goodbye, I go now. And I like you to call my full name next time. Grandmother called me Babu Ram.”
Philip: Esi, I mist tell you something. I miss my home a lot. As I come from the coastal areas, I had grown up with the smell of salt in the air. When I take salt with tea I remember the same smell and feel as if I am at home.
E: Oh! You miss your home, that's why you take salt with your tea. You know, Philip, I'm impressed. I would have never tolerated that awful taste even if I would have been in your shoes.
P: Esi, you say things so cutely. My ear can listen to your voice throughout my life. It;s just so beautiful!
E: I am not going to be with you throughout your life.
P: Why can't you be, Esi? I want to spend my whole life with you.
E: Is that a proposal?
P: Esi!
E: Yes!
P: Will you marry me?
E: Oh!
P: Tell me, please...
E: Yes! Yes! I will marry you, Philip.
[After 38 years of their marriage, Philip is on his deathbed]
P: Esi, I wanted to tell you something.
E: Yes, Philip, I'm listening.
P: Esi, my love, today I want to tell you that I had loved you a lot, and will love you even after my death. But there is only one lie I had told you my entire life.
E: What?
P: You know that I take salt with tea.
E: Yes! What about that?
P: You remember that reason I gave you for it? It was a lie.
E: What?
P: I'm telling you, sweetheart. Remember our first date. I was very nervous that day. You were so charming and beautiful. And me? Just not your type. In my nervousness I, instead of asking for sugar, asked for salt and made a fool of myself, Esi. I didn't want to lose you - that's why I hid this truth from you. When you asked for the reason, I just concocted an explanantion. I'm sorry!
E: What!
P: Are you hurt?
E: I...
P:Esi! I loved you, I didn't want to lose you that's why I told the lie. I am sorry....
(He dies)
E: Philip! Philip! (crying) Philip, no one other than you could have loved me that much. You were very much my type! Oh Philip!
[After this incident, Esmerelda also started drinking tea with salt in memory of Philip]
2nd: Koyel Lahiri (Eng Hons III)
“Oh Dada! Where are you headed? This is a one-way only corridor”
“I am headed to my native place. I believe the train is discharging from that platform?”
“No,no! Where have you been living Dada? That platform has been a ghost platform for two years now! No train has left or entered this place since Babu Ram cursed that track while he bled to death.”
“But I have ticket! Look, here, it reads: ’20:00 Platform 9’. I am looking for The Mail Express. Surprised,no? How can man with bag travel with letters? I have contact. Very good friend. He makes phone call, and bus! Done.”
“Dada-wait, what is your name?”
“Babu Ram”
“Babu Ram!”
“Yes. My grandmother gave. She said I was her little babu and that I will have virtue of Ram.”
“Okay, Babu (you don’t mind if I call you just Babu, right?) somebody has led you a dance. NO train comes here, not even the Mail Express, and even if it did, how would you have got a ticket for an illegal ride?”
“Eh? But look! I have-“
“Yes Babu, I see that piece of paper, but you must understand that in today’s day and age, anybody can make any sort of paper! My own brother showed the lawyer a Will that my father had actually not made, and took away my share of the land.”
“I am beginning to get irritated with you. You are not telling me helpful things.”
“Haha, Babu! Truth is seldom helpful, it seems!”
“Are you going to be telling me Philosophy now? Because let me tell you, I have BA in Philosophy, second class. My friends and relatives come to me when they have problem of existence.”
“No,no, Babu, I don’t give anything but occasional love to the occasional urchin.”
“I have no meaning with your love! I have meaning only with my train! It leaves in one hour! I have to be on it!!”
“Babu, do you know anything about why this track is closed?”
“No, because this track is never closed to me!”
“And why is that?”
“Oh dear. What will I do now? You are beginning debate with me. You say you will not let me through-“
“Because, Babu, there is nothing there!”
“-and if I don’t go through, my train will depart without me.”
“Come, Babu. Sit down. I have some nuts.”
“What will I do with your nuts,eh? I have my own.”
“Without a doubt, but sit down anyway.”
“I am sitting. But only because my shoe is hurting.”
“You should do what I do. I wear my skin. Shoes never were my thing.”
“I am sure that is because your mother did not put good habit in you.”
“My mother did not put anything in me. She died at childbirth. But yes, they never felt that people like me needed shoes. I grew up envying covered feet, but now I’m glad my feet never stink.”
“Are you saying I have smelly feet?”
“No, Babu, why should I pass judgment on your feet? I am just talking. It is not everyday that I get to talk to someone, so when I do, I prolong the conversation as much as I can.”
“Uff, this is too much. I refuse to be your prolonging object. I am getting up, and I am going. I have worked hard all my life, and I have promised to go home with earnings, and now I am.”
“Okay, Babuji, go ahead. I have been guarding this place for two years now, and you are the first man I’ve seen in as much time. So go ahead, if you disbelieve me-OH!”
“There. What did I tell you? Train has come, and now I board it for Native place. Grandmother is waiting.”
“Are you wanting water? You are looking quite ill. Goodbye, I go now. And I like you to call my full name next time. Grandmother called me Babu Ram.”
