Bread Uncle
Its never the people with riches, looks or position that we remember. Its the simple people who we meet in our day to day lives, who leave an everlasting impression. Its not about how knowledgeable, or accomplished they are, that our mind retains the moments we spend with them. Its about how they carried themselves about , how they behaved, how they spoke, and made us feel that makes us cherish their memories.
I must have been in my 8th std at that time. We used to be in Baroda. Baroda used to be a nice quite town those days. For my Bangalore friends, its much like Mysore in ambiance, climate and culture. We stayed in a nice big independent rented house in a peaceful quiet residential locality. Our house used to be behind the beautiful , princely, and cute 'summer palace' known as the Shiv Mahal palace. Within the radius of two kms from my home used to be the five star hotel - Welcome Hotel and the four star hotel - Express hotel. The neighbourhood and the place was beautiful! and just right for me and my brother's growth and education.
Those used to be busy days- what with my brother and me studying in secondary school and both my parents working. On those days when everyone in the house needed to get ready soon - and we needed to have a quick breakfast - we would generally have some variation of bread- Bread Omlette, Bread Toast or Bread Butter Jam. It would be my brother's or my job to go to the near by friendly shop and get the bread. One of the days like that, as my brother was going to get bread, we spotted a neatly and simply dressed, clothed in white, young man in his early thirties on a black colour hero bicycle, shouting - Bread ! Fresh bakery bread !
Bread at our doorstep ! wow ! My brother called him in and we were introduced to a packet of bread that had the softest feel that I had ever known. Can you imagine ! This bread uncle's job was to deliver bread from the bakery of the "FOUR STAR"-"EXPRESS HOTEL" !
Bread uncle had the nicest smile and was very kind and friendly. He would talk to us sometimes about our school. He would also tell us about his family. He would treat us as a favorite uncle treats his young friends and you bet ! we responded ! On the days we would want bread, we would actually wait for this uncle to make his daily rounds. We would then cherish and celebrate the moment when the uncle arrived. It was this uncle who introduced us to brown bread. Twenty years back when Express Hotel had started making Brown breads, this uncle urged us to try it. And boy ! Did we enjoy the brown bread ! :)
I distinctly remember one particular day. Mom was getting late to go out and she requested us to get bread. Secretly I was waiting for the bread uncle . But when he did not come, slightly disappointed and a little worried too, I took my cycle to go out - when- thankfully! I saw the bread uncle coming from around the corner of the street. Excitedly running to him, I bought the bread and I told him that had he come 5 mins late, I would have left to get the local shop bread. To which , he looked so disappointed and disheartened that- After 20 odd years - I still remember that look on his face.
We enjoyed the companionship of bread uncle and savoured the bread from the Express Hotel for as long as we stayed in Baroda. And then Dad got transferred again, and we left Baroda - but those memories of the Bread uncle are there deep in my mind and heart.
