Whispering Thoughts

I wake up with a start. How could I sleep so sound?   I am supposed to be a light sleeper these days. I wait a little to adjust my eyes to the dark in the room. But it should not be pitch dark in my room. It scares him. Might be there is no power. In that case, the UPS should have started buzzing. But I can’t hear that menacing sound either. Did I switch off the computer? I don’t seem to remember. Automatically, I stretch out my arms to feel if he is still asleep by my side. But the empty rustle of the sheets tell me that he is not there. I begin to panic. I feel over his side of the bed again but no, he is not there; he has not curled up either. What if he rolled over? He might get hurt in that case. Why is he not crying out then?   Why did he not wake me up tonight? Why is everything so calm? I call out to my sister finally. But I do not get any response. That’s ok. She sleeps soundly. So, I call out a little louder this time. But nothing stirs, no sound … stillne...

While searching for some stuff, I and my 5 year old nephew, Harjas came across dad’s chess game. The one liner description of the game was to keep one’s king safe. And this was quite a happening idea for someone growing up with stories of “Chotta Bheem”. So this “ new game ” holds all his interest these days. And being the only idler around, I have to play with or rather teach him this brain game. No other game has been able to divert his attention since he has discovered the precious treasure of kings, queens, pawns, rooks, bishops and knights. We decided to begin step by step and therefore after the introductions with the pieces, the first lesson was how to deal with pawns. How to march them ahead and how to strike blows to the opponent? And we have not been able to make much progress beyond this lesson. Now every day, the chess board is duly set up and all we do is move the pawns and strike them dead. No other piece on the board can participate till I have a single pawn left. No,...

I am totally smitten by the idea of going for walks ... be it morning or evening.   And whenever I can fit one in my schedule, I do so with great pleasure. And though evening walks are enjoyable, I really look forward to morning ones. I believe it rejuvenates both the body and soul.   It is like embracing the Mother Nature at its best. The rooftop of my house provides quite a sufficient walking area, so I set my pace to the tune of a prayer and enjoy my mornings J This morning my reveries were cut short by constant chirping of a sparrow. Now, sparrows of late have become a rare sight and with the monkey menace on rise, sparrows rarely come to the terrace. So this was a pleasant surprise. So, I marvelled at the way it happily “breakfasted” on the bread crumbs and sweet vermicelli. I marvelled at the way its feathers shown in the early sun. Sparkling, gorgeous dark brown skin and streaks of white feathers in between. I just kept marvelling. The rhythm of prayer broke as I k...

8 out of 10 times it so happens that something that I need urgently goes missing. And each time this happens, I resolve to clear up the clutter. In the hope that next time, I will not be wasting my time and effort. A resolution which is forgotten as soon as it is made. And the history keeps on repeating itself. But when I could not locate the driver CD for my laptop, I finally decided that enough was enough. And I started off with the project “Cleaning the clutter”. So far it has been going good. And it feels good to. But believe me; it is not as easy as it sounds. For one, we just do not hoard up things and stuff. We hoard up smiles and tears that brought it to our drawer in the first place. Every paper that you will pick up will bring back bitter sweet memories. May be that is one reason why I kept postponing the activity. The fear of facing and then loosing those memories forever. But having faced them today … I realized ... I can always hold on to the memories and let the stu...