It’s a cold and lazy winter morning. Varas is sleeping peacefully, his arms resting on his chest and heater in the room working fulltime to keep the room warm. The Tremont street traffic was getting busier as the time grew. As if the fate of the world, the horrible sounding alert went off. Varas, rolled over and pressed the snooze button and try to go back to sleep. Well, as this is a ritual every morning, the alternate backup CD player in the living room went alive and started belting out "Chaiya Chaiya" loud enough for the neighbors to call the police. Did he or did he not had an option now? Its anyones guess. Varas lazily got out of the bed.
He rubbed his eyes to get a clear picture. Clothes strewn around like a perfect college dorm. Previous days shopping spree showed up on the drawer chest top, piled up neatly in the original plastic covers. Varas, adjusted his jockeys, He could feel the little bulge around this waist. He would know better of what to do to keep in control.
He is always very conscious about himself, Bit neurotic and self conscious all the time. Varas walked to the living room, switched of the CD player, suddenly the apt was filled with peace. He walked into the kitchen. The coffeemaker was steaming and the kitchen was filled with wonderful Yuban Columbian coffee. He poured some into one of the mugs sitting on the counter with 2 Equals sitting next to it. Fixed him a large cup of coffee and moved to the living room.
He couldn’t help but listen to some faint Bengali Rabindra Sangeet floating thru the living room wall. Mrs. Banerjee is busy cooking breakfast and lunch for the family. As always. She lives next-door and her family is from Calcutta (Kolkatta). Varas, never told them that he knew Bengali (A language spoken in Calcutta), they always thought he is a Madarasi guy (A guy from Madras/Chennai/South Indian) who only spoke Tamil and English. That’s lot of fun to spy on them sometimes. No that Varas is very nosy, but it amuses him sometimes. He had some very good laughs overhearing their conversations, arguments. Hey its part of life and benefits of loud neighbors.
Poor Mrs. Banerjee, I haven’t seen her at all. Since they moved in, I always said hello to Mr. Banerjee in the morning when I go to work and when he is running to catch Bus 57 to Kenmore. He seems to be a very moody and a very private person. Mrs. Banerjee on the other hand comes out as a very Jovial, energetic person. She is always active, talking, cooking, singing, you name it. She lives in her small world, which are Mr. Banerjee and their son. She is very good it setting the fire alarm regularly. It catches Varas by surprise all the time.
It’s a day off and he had so much to do that day. His new condo was getting some makeover and some shopping needs to be done as well. It’s going to be a busy day. He sits on the couch and turns on the TV and listened to local weather while sipping the coffee. His is mind is not in the news, it was constantly thinking about all the activities planned for the day. A trip to Home Depot, in House Furnishing and a date late in the night. Thinking about Paul, bought a naughty smile in Varas face. Paulie was over the previous day and they watched a nice Indian movie. As a relief from all the days hard work and stress he was looking forward for the date that evening and some cozy private times.
He realized that his goatee was dry and itchy. It’s a pain for him to take care of the goatee. It’s a pain to keep it trip and in shape. Too much work everyday morning, but so far so good. His friends Joseph, Mouriya, Kaioat, Masha all loved it. Importantly paul loved it. Varas finished the coffee and was ready to get a good shower. He walked in to the bath room; he couldn’t help but notice that the exhaust fan was humming a bit louder. Its time to call the maintenance to fix that. It’s always something he forgot to do at the end of the day. Its one of them.
Varas looked in the mirror. He could see the thick 5′0 clock shadow. He wet his face with rose water. His grand mom always said rose water makes skin more supple and smooth. He took the trimmer and started shaping up the goatee. Everything seems to be going alright. At that moment, at that very moment, good heavens, the fire alarm went off. Not again, Mrs. Banerjee. At that very moment, a small slip, cut thru the wonderful goatee. It looked like Red Sox with no Nomad, MASALA chain with no MASALA. Suddenly the whole world went dark. Varas’s head started spinning. It almost felt as if like someone stabbed in his back with a dagger. He couldn’t comprehend what had happened to him. The great misfortune and the great mistake, his life wouldn’t be the same. There was some wetness in his eyes, which showed how much it affected him. With a heavy heart and a darkness clouding in his mind, he took the trimmer and started shaving off the goatee.
This will always be known as the great Death of a goatee in the modern world. The modern history is changed for ever. With a heavy heart and dissapointment, Varas finished his shaving and wondered how Paulie would react that evening. What do you think?
