Bad Weather

Morning-
'Raju! Wake up! Or you won't get any breakfast.' What? morning so soon? I looked over to the clock on my bed, 7:56. It really is late. "Last warning! Out now or I'll give your food to Julius! The warning was well heard, and I crawled out of bed. Julius was not going to get my breakfast again. I got dressed as fast as I could and hurried to the kitchen, where a plate of scrambled eggs was waiting for me. 'Not this time, Julius.' I said to a black rottweiler sitting by the counter. 'You know, I shouldn't have to resort to threatening you with Julius to get you out of bed.' Said my mom, the only other person living in our little apartment. 'Yes, I know, but I didn't get much sleep last night.' I said through mouth fulls of egg.
'Another dream?'
'Yes'
'About the exam?'
'Yes'
'Well, we're going to get you signed up today, then you can really start worrying about it.'Funny how mothers seem to be able to read your mind.
'I still need to get some stuff for the documents.'
'Very well, do it on the way to the office'
After breakfast, I took a ride on an old blueline to the city. My stop was at a large building, signboards filled the spaces over glass walls, jewelers, travel agents, electronics, clothing, photo studios. Photo studios, thats where I was headed. The studio wasn't much, just a small front room, full of film rolls, cheap disposable cameras, and there was a board full of sample photos for passports, weddings, stuff like that. there was T.V in one corner, and the shopkeeper was watching a cricket match. 'Kya chaiay ?' What do you want. He asked me, still watching the T.V. 'Ek photocopy, aur ek passport size ka photo'
'Thik hai, undher jao,' ok, go inside. I'll just translate everything else into English for now. I walked into a small room with one wall covered by a blue cloth. There was a professional looking camera on a stand, and in front of it was a wooden stool.
'Sit there,' said the shopkeeper, pointing at the stool. 'Ok, now, sit straight, no smile.' Click, flash. The sudden light from the flash blinded me for a few seconds, 'do you want another one?' I shook my head, 'no, one is enough.'
'Ok, sit out side, and I will get your photocopy also.' A minute later, the shopkeeper came out of back room with my photocopy. 'Here, that will be fifteen rupees,' 'how have they been doing?' I asked as fished out the money from my pocket. 'Who? India? No, the match is not going well, were five wickets down, and we need about one hundred and twenty more runs'
'They still have some hope, Dhoni is batting' I paid him the money, and left the store. The rumble of thunder greeted me, I looked up at the sky, those clouds weren't there before, looks like rain.

to be continued...