Whispering Thoughts

Sitting in the balcony, I can hear familiar sounds. The harried mothers calling out to their children to finish homework, prepare for the tests, have snacks. The aunties who used to call out to our playmates, still keep a watchful eye, though on the generation next … their grandchildren. Same games … in same nooks and corners of the historic “Barselas”. “The Barselas” …  the favourite hanging out place of growing and grown-ups in our block. Children love it. Hide and seek, box cricket. You name it and they have played it there. So do the old. They get to enjoy the cool breeze of the evenings. And they get to gossip. Come winters and they become a haven for all those seeking the blessings of Sun Lord. The massive tombstones look frightening at the night. As if some unknown is lurking in there, ugly and menacing. Fears, which cannot face the daylight. Every now and then, a government appointed caretaker comes and looks after the monuments. Once in a few years, the tombstones...

I know I am too old for bed time stories now. So does my dad. But every now and then, he tells me one to drive home some important pearl of wisdom. So as India goes crazy over Shri Anna Hazare and his anti corruption crusade, he though it apt to narrate the following story… One day Chanakya received a visitor while the former was working on something important. The visitor noticed that Chanakya had two lamps, one on either side of his seat, and one lit while other unlit. The visitor could not understand the reason behind this and ignored it as trivia. Chanakya motioned him to sit. And then he blew off the lamp in the light of which he had been working and lit another lamp. The visitor could contain his curiosity no further and asked him openly if it was the custom of the land … not to receive the visitors in the light of already lit lamp. To this Chanakya smiled and told him that when the visitor had arrived, he had been doing some official work and therefore, had been working in th...

“Must be 6:30 in the morning. That is the time when my alarm is set to ring. Uhhhhh …. Where is the mobile.” Without opening the eyes, the hand slides out of the covers and frantically searches for the phone. It is usually kept in the mobile holder by the side of the bed. But it is not there today. The hand moves farther towards the headboard to continue the search. The eyes are shut tight. “Only, if I could find the mobile faster. I will get up in 10 minutes.” The mobile is not on the headboard even. The hand was stretched as far as possible. The eyes open. And they peep out from under the covers. To my left and to my right. Ah .. there. 2 Little black lumps.   To my right. Diagonally overhead. (if the sleepy self is right on about the directions.) The eyes close again. The hand moves in the right direction, like a servant obeying master’s orders. The practiced hands then locate the correct button that will set the alarm to snooze and press hard enough.  (The mobi...