Real or Fictional: A Series (Part One)

I play a game when I'm on public transport or just waiting for someone to turn up where I look at a person next to me or in my field of vision and I try to give them a backstory. This series is going to take that spirit of creativity but the challenge is to figure out if the person exists in the real world or in the fictional world of my head! 

Here we go, then!

An old woman who lives next door. She has two children, both married and her son is in the USA. She likes to read Bengali books and the newspaper. She makes it a point to organise a Saraswati Puja in the house and chants the mantra herself. 

She's also a good cook and must have been formidable in her younger days. Since her daughter is married, I know her son in law as well as their dog, an adorable golden retriever. But I'll write about them some other time. I am usually the one she calls upon if she needs to send an image on WhatsApp or if she wants to treat me to something she just made.

She also gifts me a kurta or t shirt during the Pujas and invites me to lunch on my birthday and inevitably there's a book waiting for me when I show up!

I was fortunate to know her husband as well, he was a man of few words but he was always someone who was kind to me. 

It's very rare finding a neighbour like this in today's day and age and I hope I learn a few more things from her as we move forward.

Real? Fictional? You decide! 

The Bilge Master