Wedding Bells & Rainbows

Gyarah ~ Eleven

~ Ohm ~

Two years ago...

I stopped myself from slamming the file on the table.

The voices were loud and annoying. It was my first day in the Delhi office. And my previous posting, which was in Bhopal, was quite easy as compared to this one.

Being in the capital of the country, the officers had a completely different temperament.

"How can we work under a foreigner?" An officer said.

I gritted my teeth. I unbuttoned my suit and waistcoat, then relaxed my tie. I feel like I may explode due to the heat from outside and inside the air-conditioned office.

I am an Indian goddammit. I was born and brought up here. My dad was born and raised here. We are legal citizens. In fact, Delhi is my hometown. How can I be an outsider?

"Do you think we will let this happen?" Another officer said.

By designation, they are all juniors to me. But they have this audacity to annoy me on my face.

"You should know that we are not children. We know about your father's contacts." Somebody else said.

"Yes, are you here to look into income tax or save your father and his acquaintances from taxes?" another one said.

It wasn't new for me. A strong rejection because I am an outsider. Well, according to them, my grandfather was based in Thailand, and my culture is Thai as well.

They are all gathered here to protest in some way and ask me to be thrown out. Or get transferred somewhere else.

I worked my ass off for three years to get a hometown posting once. But never in my wildest dreams did I think that on the very first day, I would receive such a warm welcome.

I drank a glass of water to calm down. I am not going to argue. This will all die down. It will take a week for them to scream. But they will accept it.

Suddenly, the grumpiest one of the bunch stormed towards me with a paperweight in his hand.

It was too late for me to understand any way of escaping, so I closed my eyes, protected my face with my hand, and waited for an impact.

But I heard a sound of something hitting the wooden plank and falling down beside my shoes.

I opened my eyes and saw a guy holding my wooden paperboard in front of my face.

He was a lean, fair guy, wearing a white shirt and brown trousers with a tie on. His height might be a bit less than mine, but looking at his face, I knew he wasn't an Indian of Indian origin either.

"Wow! What a shot, sir. Look there; my camera recorded it nicely." He grinned, showing a set of dimples.

He was still shielding me with the wooden board.

"Y-you..." The officer, who was now embarrassed that he had lost his temper this way, stuttered.

"What? What will you do?" he said. "Are you guys afraid that now you have someone here who follows the rules and process, and so your corrupt ways will not work?"

"You are also not Indian!" Another guy said this while affirming my thoughts.

"Yes. I am basically from Thailand. BUT." He walked ahead of me and pulled out his driving Adhaar card. "This says that I belong here. Therefore, I am as Indian as you are. And so, the police will work on my complaint the same way they work for any other Indian."

Suddenly, I was feeling at ease. The heat calmed down around me.

"P-Police?"

"Yes. What you did is a crime. If you don't want to get arrested right now, then behave yourself."