The Holiday

She laid down on the bed with a pretty smile on her lips, or may be a smile that showed contentment.She ran her fingers through her hair and smiled again. She had enjoyed her day . A week back, she was a mess. Subha , her daughter who was thirteen had just begun to be the teenager ! She seemed to have a reason to argue on every small thing – why should I brush before coffee, wh cant I take the newspaper to the toilet etc! Subhit was sixteen and mature and the son she doted upon . Her husband Atulya somehow managed to bring a smile or a frown on her face without fail.It had been eighteen years since their marriage and Atulya, she thought was not giving her the kind of attention, she believed she deserved. Somewhere along the line she felt she was left behind, she felt all of them were moving ahead without her. She felt alone. She felt her life had been wasted in this bargain of marriage and motherhood. It was then that she decided she needed a day off, a day off from being a ‘MOM’ and ‘MRS.Atulya Natarajan’. “I am taking a day off. I am going out of coverage area for 24 hrs” , she said. Subha who had been watching her favourite show on TV, muted it and turned around with eyes wide open. “Amma, what are you saying – out of coverage area? It would only be appropriate if you said ‘will not be reachable’ and thank god, you will not be switched off” said Subhit with an impish smile on his face. Subha gave the ‘whatever’ look but questioned me, “what do you mean a day off?”. “Yes. A day off.A day off from all of you”, sakhi replied. “ I need to be just me, only Sakhi. In all these years, I have lost many parts of me that makes me complete. I need to rediscover me. I know a day is not enough bu I want to make a beginning.” Subha was not convinced. She began to say something when Atulya interrupted and said, “Ok. Do as you wish.” Subhit only smiled and said,” Subha , I think its only right that Mom gets her time and space to be herself.” “Next week this day” said Sakhi. It was her Holiday, her off, her DAY to be herself again. She had made no lists of what she was going to do, but decided that she would flow along as things moved. She got up, got ready and called herself a cab. She decided at that moment that she would call Samita an old friend of hers. They had been the inseperable duo in college. She had somehow traced her and found her number and decided to surprise her. After a few rings she spoke to Samita and resolved to meet at their favourite college hangout, Carnival. It was 12:00 p.m and she had reached Carnival. She searched through the people, mostly the college crowd for Samita, when she found her sitting in their regular place, in the far corner. As she walked towards her , memories did a powerpoint presentation clip by clip moments by moments.Her eyes were now teary and by the time she had reached Samita she had almost begun to shed tears of joy. She now rushed the last few paces and hugged her.Sitting down, they both in the same breath said, “Boy, you changed” and “You have not changed”. Samita again said, “ You have changed. You are beautiful.” Sakhi retorted,” And you are just the same.” “…and still single”, continued Sakhi after a pause. “…you my dear are glowing.It must be love.”, said Samita. “Bullshit, what love? Am not glowing! I am harried.” Sakhi cut in. “So how many kids do you have?” continued Samita curious to know more about Sakhi. They were meeting after almost 21 years. “ Two…and now no more talking about my family and my boring life.” “ Lets be the old Sakhi and Sammy. Lets do something extraordinary. Today is my day off. I want to be the old me. I want to enjoy all that I may have missed – hukka, drinking, discos, parties, shopping till you drop ……everything, everything that singles do”. “What? A day off? “asked a puzzled Samita. “Yes a day off.” “But why?” “That’s because, I wanted to rediscover myself.” “ Hmm. Ok. Lets have fun then” They had their favourite cutting chai, samosas . “ So tell me what have you been dong all these years besides enjoying your singlehood?” asked sakhi. ‘I did enjoy initially.Going out on tours, partying late, travelling to amazing places…mingled with people. Its like been there done that.” “ I have worked hard besides doing all these things. I wanted to be this way, but today, don’t know. I don’t know if what I wanted then is what I want today, now ,as of this moment.” “Why do you speak so?” “ You know Saks….I come back home and I am all alone, I have nobody to share my joys, my sadness, my achievements .NOBODY.” “But…then…you have all those friends to mingle?? Your parties? Then why do you say you are lonely?” “But Saks they are not your own, they are just like those bus passengers who sit next to you but get off at the next stopping.” “ You know the moment I saw you today , I was consumed with envy, seeing that glow of contentment and happiness in your face. I saw a sense of completeness in you.” “ Me? Contentment? You must be joking. I took a day off because in all the duties of being a wife and a mother , I have lost me in the bargain. I want to make up for the lost time.” “ Saks, don’t misunderstand me…but you are a fool! You got an amazing family. You are not looking at that. You are looking for what you think you want but not at what you already have…the real treasure.” “Humph….what do you know what it is being a mother and a wife all through your life? “Well, I would love to be so. You see, am not. But, I want a family like the one that you do.Like a friend has to, I am telling you this. Get back home , remove the scratchy spectacle you have put on and with your eyes wide open look at your life differently. Be amazed at what you have. Enjoy what you have. And after all that call me up and we will have that holiday of ours to just enjoy and not to run away from the life you got. Also to rediscover oneself, all one needs to do is sit back reminisce and be in touch with yourself. Let bygones begone and all the best .” Sakhi returned home earlier than she had planned. The house was spic and span. Subhit and Subha along with Atulya had managed the day.She went into her room.Sammy’s words were nothing but the truth. She knew it the moment she heard it. She smiled . She was her best friend.In a way good that she had taken the day off. She laid down on the bed with a pretty smile on her lips, or may be a smile that showed contentment.She ran her fingers through her hair and smiled again. She had enjoyed her day .She decided that she would now enjoy every day.

The Balloon

“Mama, it is time for dada to return!” said Tisha. Tisha had been patiently waiting for her dad to get back from work.A trait that did not remotely suit her, an impatient little girl that she was. Rukmi smiled. She was reminded as to why Tisha had been frantically waiting for Ram. Ram had promised her that she would get a gift that evening. Tisha was the apple of his eye. Even Rukmi a partner in the creation of Tisha did not hold the importance that Tisha did.She smiled again; she was amused about their bonding. Ram was famished. He checked his watch.It was 6.30 in the evening. Almost all his colleagues had left or were leaving. He was waiting for an important call from London.He could leave only after the call. Responsibilities one shouldered, to get that fat pay check, just to make sure that the family was happy and contended.He saw his watch again.It was 6:32 p.m. It seemed like an hour.He was getting restless.He wanted to get back home to his family.He felt complete there with them.The giggling Tisha, the smiling Rukmi- he could not live without them and the delay in the phone call was now frustrating him. His marriage with Rukmi was just 5yrs old and Tisha was 3 and a half years old. They had both been pretty thrilled about the pregnancy and very superstitious too. They had informed none about the pregnancy for almost five months, until Ram’s sister decided to visit them. Ten months later after much fussing and caring, their bundle of joy arrived and how. Ram wanted to be with Rukmi to be the first one to see the baby, but again he could not bear to see her in such pain.So he opted to remain outside the labour room pacing with a look of such pain as though he was the one going through the labour . Finally as the nurse brought him the wrapped bundle of joy, he could not stop the tears flowing down the cheeks, the joy he felt was indescribable. It was a sense of fulfilment. Triiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing….Triiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing went the phone and knocked him back into the moment. “Finally” he thought, “it is time to leave.” He walked a few blocks before taking the taxi to the station where he would board the train to get back home. It was now 6:50 p.m. He would take the 7:10 train. “Mama, where is dada?” queried Tisha again. It was 6:55. “Ram is going to be late” Rukmi thought , “and Tisha is already getting impatient.What if he has to wait for another one of those overseas call?Oh my God!” Just then her mobile phone rang.Rukmi ran to get it. “Must be Ram to tell me he is going to be late!” she thought. Au contraire it was Radha shrieking into the phone asking her to switch on the TV and watch the NDTV news. Again she was puzzled as to why Radha had asked if Ram had returned. Radha was Ram’s sister. “Something must be wrong” she told herself in a panicky tone.The TV switched on, the NDTV news channel had a news about back to back bomb blasts in Mumbai in the Opera House,Zaveri bazaar and Dadar area. Rukmi sat down speechless.Ram had not yet returned and he was in Dadar.She immediately tried to call Ram, but the networks were jammed. She paused for a moment to calm herself down and tried to call Ram’s office line.Again it was of no use. Now is when the shock began to settle in and she broke down, crying loudly so much so that Tisha who had been seeing her favourite cartoon came rushing to her not knowing what had made her mother cry so. “I hate Mumbai’s traffic” Ram muttered within himself “am going to miss the 7:10.” “Shit” he swore to himself. He dialled Rukmi’s number but the voice said that all networks were down.He tried the landline number of the house, and then again it was continuously busy. He was just 15 minutes away from the station.He paid off the taxi and decided to walk down. “I will reach faster.” Just then something caught his eye- a balloon seller with balloons in the shape of different animals. He remembered that he had promised Tisha a gift .He found the one he knew Tisha would love – a dolphin. It was precisely at that moment he felt the ground under his feet tremble. He felt as though there had been an earthquake and within seconds he heard people shouting “Bomb blast….Bomb blast”. “Mama, Dada promised.” Rukmi was still sobbing and now didn’t know what she would tell Tisha.Radha had rushed to their house when Rukmi had later on called up to tell her that her efforts to trace Ram had gone in vain. “Tisha, let’s go see Shinchan” Radha suggested to Tisha “let Mama wash her face and cook dinner for you.” On Radha’s cue Rukmi washed her face and again tried to call Ram, an effort that failed again. With great struggle, she went into the kitchen to make some rotis for Tisha. Triiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing…..Triiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing, the phone rang and by the time Rukmi could get to the phone, it stopped. She turned to return back to the kitchen, when it rang again.She immediately picked up the phone with an anxiety that the call would be the contributor of bad news, “Rukmi, I missed the 7:10 train but got back on the tracks of life with just moments to spare!”

Heavenly Gossip.....

Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others. It forms one of the oldest and most common means of sharing (unproven) facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and other variations into the information transmitted. The term also carries implications that the news so transmitted (usually) has a personal or trivial nature, as opposed to normal conversation.

....from the Wikipedia.

...Gossip....a very interesting interaction wherein one gets to know more about someone than they themselves know!!

The newspapers and magazines have a special column just for it....so that we can have an interesting cuppa tea or coffee.

The side dish of gossip being the most spicy and tasty bits. Today I was in this class where we were discussing the futility of gossip and how it ate away our time and just then the person who had organised this lecture spoke about Spiritual Gossip and I translated it to Heavenly gossip, an imaginary piece of gossip in the heavens!!

Just visualise a couple of them forest spirits floating around a few years ago and laughing, with this bit of conversation:

Spirit 1: You seem to be in high spirits today....whats the news?

Spirit 2 : Ahh!! Ha Ha Ha...do you know what great fools these People are?

Spirit 1: Fools??!! I dont understand...what do you want to say?

Spirit 2 : You know this smuggler with this scary moustache...actually scarier than Lord Yama's itself?

Spirit 1 : Hmmmm…you mean the one who happened to be harmlessely drinking his cup of tea , while his men went on the deforestation spree??

Spirit 2: Yes,exactly the person am referring to!! What have you to say about his moustache….isnt it bushier than Yama’s?

Spirit 1: Hmmmm……I think you have got a point…..but then did you know something else??

Spirit 2:What?? That he uses conditioner on his moustache too??

Spirit 1:No…..!! Am not referring to the moustache, though am actually doing so….but that he is not as scary and eerie as his moustache suggests him to be!!!

Spirit 2: What do you say…is it for real?

Spirit 1: Real…???Did you think that his moustache was real??

Spirit 2: Uh..oh!!! You got me confused now….were you referring to his moustache or his attitude now??

Spirit 1: OK…Ok……Did you know that he is just nothing more than a joker playing out to be a smuggler…a dreaded one at that??

Spirit 2: Hey….what do you mean…I heard some other beings discussing this too….is it real??

Spirit 1: And do you also know that all the hype surrounding him being hunted by the police is all a hype….??

Spirit 2: Aaahhh…Now I know why there was a sudden party happening in the middle of the forest in the wee hours….Last time I heard they had brought Surround sound systems and were playing war movies….

Spirit 1: Hmmm…I had heard that too…

Spirit 2: But then…hey look who comes our way….its Lord Indra’s favourite elephant keeper…

The three give each other a Hi 5……

Spirit 2: Hey man…whats up there in the heavenly gossip??

EK: Uhhhh……There has been a lot of things happening…I am just a wee bit confused as to where I have to begin!!

Spirit 1: OMG…you mean to say having overstayed on earth we have missed out so much in Heaven?? Ok ….lemme help you ….begin with something close to your ears or follow the LIFO policy…!!!

Spirit 2: LIFO?? What’s that??

Spirit 1: ….Be an earthling when on earth…U never followed that!!!!

EK: But then whats LIFO…??

Spirit 1: Last In First Out….

EK: Uhhhh???

Spirit 1: The latest gossip dumbo!!!!

Spirit 2: good one that…..gimme a 5!!!!

EK: ….Ok…You are not gonna believe this….Rambha has developed an identity crisis…..!!!

Spirit 1: ……an identity crisis?? But why?

EK: Did you know that ever since Viswakarma in his updated version introduced the new Heavenly Cable centre…which works like a peek into the happenings in the three worlds…she has been seeing all these up and coming models and supermodels and Bollywood actresses and feels that she can no longer be of any use to Indra as the official seductress!!!

Spirit 2: OMG…is it that serious….??

Spirit 1:Ok…..I think this time around I can get closer to her playing on the sympathy card!!!

EK: Hey….also now the Asuras have brought up a rumour that’s spreading like wild fire that Indra won the seat of heaven because the entire process was already fixed…..and they are now gonna bring about the entire proceedings of the scam and try to insist on proper election pattern….there have also been talks that certain designations in the Gods’ position have to be removed as the Natural assets on Earth is depleting….

Spirit 1: Don’t tell me Heaven is facing another kind of recession???

EK: There has also been news floating around that your job on earth gets over the minute my conversation gets completed…..well that’s the latest update I received on my Mobile….And now I gotta go my way…need to spread some more news like a wildfire….cya take care!!!!

As soon as he disappeared the two spirits shot away heaven bound…..

Disclaimer: This is strictly a figment of my imagination and is not to be related to any kind of opinions religiously or politically!!!!!

My Tryst with Strings

I was just ten and my dad was telling us(my brother and I) the story of how Ravana impressed Lord Shiva by transforming his nerves into the strings of a veena and played raaga after raaga thus enthralling the entire Deva community(caste system prevailed there too)!! Ravana was suddenly a big hero to me...phew ! No, I was not being an anti-Rama follower. I was just amazed at the physics of converting the nerves and the veins into strings?? I was now lost in my own myriad thoughts....how about human hair....could they bring out the same tone as that of a veena string.....cos the horse hair worked magic in the violin!! Strings from then on had that effect on me(sorry the affectation was such it spilled over into my relationships-Strings attached all of them...!!)

Well, as every family in Bangalore does, we had a half yearly pilgrimage to Mysore!! Mysore the royal city with its palaces...palaces...palaces...and palaces..besides the Brindavan gardens and the Chamundi hills of course!! Every time we went to Mysore we made it a point to visit the Mysore zoo, the only zoo close to Bangalore that had animals in cages(in Bangalore we only had the lion safari)!! but believe me the animals in their cages were not as much of enthusiastic interest as was the Kottangachi violin - the rustic form of Violin which had the coconut shell for the base and the the tail piece was a hollow bamboo twig ....and for a bow we had a bent bamboo twig with a twine for a bowstring.... Hmmm,I think that was a pretty ingenius violin we used to have !!! The man who sold it had such an expertise at playing even the most fine intricate melody.We were charmed by it that we all decided that we would buy one each and resolved that we would end up playing beautiful tunes on it and become accomplished Kottangachi Violinists!! So with such great expectations we used to lay it on our shoulders and begin to play like we saw the seller do...! Alas ,all we could get out of it was some sound akin to the death throes of a long suffering cat , which almost tore the tympanums of the others around!! But believe me we never gave up and after a great deal of agonising trials ended up playing somewhat closely sounding seven notes of SA RE GA MA PA DA NI !!! The moment this was achieved the Kottangachi violin would lay amongst the very many unused things on the attic of our house.....

Cut...since i finally found that my expertise lay in producing sound from my vibrating vocal chords...i gave up on trying to play the strings though I pulled quite a few strings to win many a competitions using my larynx to produce ear pleasing sounds called music!! My brother now evinced his interest in learning the violin, an interest that sounded melodious when played by the maestros and even his teacher....but, by him it was trauma to us....every evening we were made to go through the torturous regimen of his learning to play the violin until one fine day his teacher failed to appear for the class and when contacted replied that she could do nothing to bring the violinical sense in him!! And since then the violin lies unused in its beautiful classique case!!

This violin now lies with me hopeful of being played someday by someone who can produce more than the shrill screeching death throes of a cat long suffering!!!!

Whilst I Slept...

I thought I had finally achieved what I had set out to. I must say it had not come easy, but yet I never gave up on what I had wanted to. I faced many a trials and tribulation. I was not alone in this endeavour, there were many, some known and many unknown. They sleep with me too. They sleep in peace with the same thought as I have had. But then why is it that I have stirred in my sleep today? Why? Oh! Is it because I happened to have heard a couple of them inmates talking about me? How my efforts have been in vain, et al., is that why?

I wonder why they chose my bedside. With a reason, I guess…knowingly or unknowingly! I heard them talk of the glorious days this motherland of mine has had, and that the glory is still there but is waning. They spoke about the spirit of unity that had been strong then, but had somehow disappeared now. They were rattling off on how splendorous our motherland had been in every way but today all that splendour was in rust. There was a day when foreign nations had decided to come here to take some wealth from us, which we had aplenty, and today here we were taking loans from those very same countries….(have we gone that miserable today,I wonder?)! This has and will always be the land, they narrated, where women will be worshipped and yet be taken advantage of and tormented, so also disrespected! This had been the land which had been ruled by another country and had taken us almost a century to break the chains of enslavement, but today in these people’s words, we were again in enslavement to greater evils of corruption, religious intolerance, poverty, social issues, unethical politics et al. it saddens me that the nation that we had freed was today again shackled, and we, me and my other friends who are asleep here feel ashamed about!

We had dreamed of our motherland to be a flourishing nation, developing in every way,be it financially,culturally,scientifically or soulfully;but here I hear of the very same land developing in the graph negatively! Is this the nation we had dreamed of? So, I decided I would get up from my slumber and walk around wanting to take a glimpse of the truth and ascertain facts.

I got out of my comfort zone and started out on the stroll and that too after a long time! I walked out and what do I see, buildings stretched to touch the sky, majestically. I had seen a bit of majestic architecture but constructions such as these…never. I kept moving and lots of the things that I saw amazed me; vehicles big and small (no horse drawn buggies though), saw a couple of airplanes, trains and transports of various kinds. This made me wonder if what I had heard was all true, when suddenly I heard a scream! The scream was so shrill it could have deafened any living man’s tympanum. There was this man in an inebriated state beating this woman like she was cattle! I heard from the bystanders that he was actually the husband and…BYSTANDERS! Shaking my head, I proceeded further into this place they call the cosmopolitan city. Just then I saw a couple of slogan shouting group of people, all well built (at least they were in a good shape of health-so health was not an issue)! They carried placards that asked for freedom? Freedom? Were we not all free already (isn’t that why I was sleeping?)? I focused on what they were trying to suggest and found that they wanted a separate state (Another?), where the community that they belonged to could be together (isn’t that how India became India and Pakistan?).Ahem…ahem...is that why I had been sleeping and the others continue to do so? In utter disbelief at the scenario, I kept walking hoping that somewhere along I would find something that would belie what opinions were forming in my mind. I saw a gathering in this huge open space, where a leader seemed to be giving some speech, and all the people there were listening to with rapt attention. I was happy, and hoping that it was like one of those motivational speeches we had heard and so I went in there to get a hear of what was being said. This man was speaking in the local dialect and the audience was applauding with great enthusiasm and fervour. I was happy, very happy in fact. But my happiness was short lived for all of a sudden the gathering got up as though possessed and started raving and ranting about some person with an I****** name, and the audience from the blue turned a MOB. There was great rage which I felt and within second from nowhere I saw them armed(Miracles do happen, even now) with cudgels and I cant really tell what the others were for I had been associated with non-violent protests! This was driving the LIVING daylights out of everyone around. the sad scene is now amidst all this rampage going on, there was another thing that nobody had observed, a small child stood rooted to his ground,stunned at seeing his mother’s modesty being MANhandled! For this we had freed our nation from the clutches of those alien men?

I now began to float around not wanting to get a glimpse of any more of the country I so loved, but then I saw a group of people marching in silence with candles in their hands. They seemed to be also collecting some funds. Some gave little and some gave a lot …but nobody cribbed about the donations. There had been some kind of violent act in the city and these CITIZENS had decided to mourn those who had lost their lives and laid their lives. They had also been collecting the donation for those people who were no longer in their midst on account of this heinous act. Humanity still thrived here. A flicker of the light of hope in all this darkness of despair.

Although I was disappointed at the India I was seeing , I felt that no matter what the situation in this nation might be the ray of HOPE never failed to shine from OUR living hearts or theirs ? With this thought I decided to return to my Resting Place, to back to Sleep,to being dead, optimistic that my India may not have her name in the top list of developed countries….but she would always have her flag flying high! So whilst I sleep, my Nation shall thrive in hope of progress, unity, brotherhood and prosperity.

....the untold story of the missing nail cutter!!!

"La la la la la la" rang the absolutely monotonous alarm! Mathew Mcconnaughey had just come closer to tell me something when i saw him shirk away from me...and even as i began to wonder why...the sound got louder...and then i realised why he had been moving away from me...it was the deafening alarm!! where was my Mathew Mcconnaughey...instead i found bright greenish eyes near my face and a tongue almost on it...i got out of my bed with a start,in fact i almost fell out of it in a shock...it was my Cocker Spaniel scrutinizing me closely!!! The last thing that i wanted was a slurrrrppp from my pet!!

I had to now however get up,for the day had begun!! The activities of my day began with a soft gentle wakeup call to my son, which would gradually evolve into a strong one and later a bark and finally a muscling him out from the bed thing!! once he was out of the bed, i would proceed to my battleground..the kitchen is, normally in the morning, with me playing with fire and showing my wizardry at wielding the knife on the hapless onions and potatoes or flattening a couple of fluffy atta balls to make them rotis or pressure cook the rice,et al. besides all this i had to somewhere fit in the killing of germs in the otherwise pasteurised milk by setting the microwave on a HIGH and for some time till i realised that the milk had just overflowed out of the jug!! while i am at all of this my son comes in querying on what was to be his breakfast...and when i suggest whatever i had made, his face undergoes a change ...from one with enthusiastic expectation to one with a scowl written all over, but nevertheless accepts the menu for he has no choice! and once he has been pacified, in comes my husband with a similar query only that he persists on to the next - LUNCH!! Done with both the Men of the house, their appetite for queries quelled...i return to the bedroom now for the princess of the house, who lies amidst her semi-dressed and heavily dishevelled Barbies!!moving aside the Barbies and getting them to some decent state, i wake up my daughter with some sweet words in her ears and eventually after a couple of five minutes, she is given the same treatment as her brother!! off from the bed, she grumbles her way to the bath, and after a few moments one hears the shower and ascertained that she is now getting down to the reality of going to school, i move back to my son. finally, i get him to rush down to get on to the bus and he is off to school!!

Meanwhile the shower session over, the princess comes neatly wrapped in her pink Barbie towel.But then her face was unlike the angelic one, she had a long drawn, slightly oblong, teary eyed face now!! I was tired now. i had just about finished with one and was almost heaving a sigh of relief when the Part 2 had begun....phew! i began to dread what was now in store for me,when she stretched out her hand to me. relieved i took her hand in mine affectionately.But to my surprise, she snatched it away and pointed towards her long,unshapely nails!! Knowing what i had to do now, i reached into the drawer of my dressing table hoping to find the need of the hour- the Nail Cutter.Alas! as fate could have it, the Nail Cutter was not to be found. i upturned this drawer and all the other drawers in my house too...but could not find the missing nail cutter! i looked at my daughter helplessly and she stared at me blankly as though asking me what was to be done. So, as a remedy i offered my skills of cutting nails using the scissor! She gazed at me as though in shock and shook her head affirmatively in a negative. i tried to convince her of my adeptness at using the scissors and she glanced at my half cut nails(which had been lost while battling with a blunt knife!). Her glance said it all and while i was wondering what needed to be done then and how to convince my daughter to go to school and not being punished for the uncut nails....in floated my husband's voice querying as to why he had been kept in the dark about the missing nail cutter, for he had been frequently(the frequency that he was suggesting i doubted for he had hardly stepped out) visiting the market the earlier day and he would have got one.
He went on to suggest that things kept in our house never seemed to be found and were mysteriously moving from one place to another without our knowledge!! Enraged at this sarcasm, I caustically suggested that he hire a detective to trace and solve the mystery of the missing things!!

Amid all this confusion, my daughter realised that she was getting late to the school and again stretched out her hand to me!
This time I looked at her in surprise for in the other hand she held the SCISSORS!!

So mothers fear not whence you know to wield the SCISSORS and let there be no more stories of uncut nails because of the missing nail cutter!!!!

A Rather Special Relationship....

A Special Relationship......

She was grumbling and trying to find a replacement. Sony was dead....he was no more....she had tried reviving him....but to no avail.the question was, could anyone who ever replaced him be good enough.....???

He had been loyal to her....never ever left her....even if she did leave him....he always called out to her .....to come back to him.
She had found him in the Eternity Mall .....when she had visited during a diwali sale.The moment she set eyes on him....she wanted him...very very badly.....her hands itched for her to hold him......to set her cheeks against his....hmmm...she could never forget the day...that day....she had left no stone unturned in making him hers.....forever....battles she had fought....just for him....with her friends,her parents,her siblings....just for him. he had been with her throughout....in health and in sickness,in joy and despair, in easy times and in difficulties....in births and deaths.....all the time....

He had the real good look...or should it be said he was a looker....handsome that he was.....the creator must have taken his time in designing his looks....hmmmm...with quite some patience...size did matter....she had seen thin,big,medium sized.....but here he was the perfect size....neither too thin...neither big....but just right...rather perfect....he was dark in colour....but then that added to the looks.....and man was she happy that he was hers......for good..

They had a special relationship.....an envy to all around her....the proximity of their relationship created a flurry of emotions in her close circles.....they looked at him in disgruntlement...how they hated him.....they just wished he was out of her life....that he had an accident.....somebody stole him away from her......the hatred was very strong......but her love for him was so great that she overcame all these negative emotions towards him with absolute ease....her love for him made it effortless in fact. they had a lovely time together.....he provided her his listening ear.......he serenaded her with his songs....but hey were always the ones she loved....he spoke.......he woke her up whenever she wanted to be.....in all this he never once grumbled and complained.....such was their camaraderie...

But that day .....the day she lost him....it was horrible.....she still trembled at the way he died....his death was the most gruesome...

they were on their way to a meeting....a very important one,actually. with great difficulty they got a rickshaw and as they were in a hurry she had asked the driver to speed towards the destination....it was then the conditions of the road played Mr.Executioner.....and he fell off the speeding auto and in no time he was run over by a loaded truck.....crushing him under it....It was a gory scene for her to see...there lay her most loved....in pieces....smashed beyond recognition....none could make out that he was once Sony.....

And here she was standing trying to find a replacement....and what a peculiar name...NOKIA......cud he be as good as Sony??