Freeform

The fragrance of soap..
Mysore sandal or Margo?

I take a deep breath
to catch the waft of soapy aroma
As she rushes towards me
to quickly clarify her childish doubt!

Where have I smelt it before?

Of baby baths and talcum powder,
baby breath and choco chips
Of paints and brushes
of color papers and pampering

Of pinafores and pigtails
ribbons of blue or white
Of sharpeners and pencils
and the joy of discovery each and every day

Where the world was
of mother and father and sister
And the universe was
the street and the roadside dog

Of unconditional love and security
no worry about the morrow
That anyone could be hated,
or simply not wanted

My vision blurred with tears
as all those quickly flashed past,
My mental eye, never to repeat
at least in this birth.

And the tears welled, when
childhood seemed like an era gone by.

My eye becomes dry as quickly
when I realise where I am,
That its in my power, to recreate dreams
and relive Childhood

In its spirit, even though not for myself
It can be more worthwhile this time
By letting the generation next feel
Unique, secure, wanted and loved

Miss Interrupted (Again!)

After the tea break, Aprana headed back to her cabin to resume her work, where luckily she was not interrupted for a few more hours. Her hunger announced to her that it was time for lunch.

She sauntered out to her friend’s cabin to meet her late in the afternoon. The friend Anisha was a lively and ‘worldly wise’ girl and good at heart. Aprana and Anisha were good aquaintances and enjoyed each others company. Anisha had wanted some jewelry, which was typical to Aprana’s hometown. When she was shown the jewelry, Anisha did not really like them and when Aprana offered to exchange it in her next trip, Anisha quickly added that she would take it as Aprana had gone out of her way to bring it for her. Everytime Aprana tried to put in a sentence that it did not really matter, that she could get it easily exchanged, Anisha interrupted her and infact passed on to the next issue. Aprana wanted to shout “LISTEN! ITS NO BIG DEAL!” but didnt get the chance!! Why can’t people listen!!!

As Aprana was heading back to her cabin a quick meeting was called by her boss to brief them on their upcoming project. After an hour of ‘details-sharing’, no one was any the wiser about the project. The whole project was ambiguous and the parameters kept changing every so often that no one involved was really convinced what was wanted of them, plus the project was a long term one so even if they all had questions / points to clarify, no one was willing to get through with it. With that, another day came to a close and Aprana was grateful for that.

There were so many unanswered questions and half spoken sentences, she felt she was actually carrying a burden. It was indeed a ‘point to ponder’ why it is so important to be ‘heard’. In this fast world, nobody ever has the time to listen to the other person. Even in intimate relationships, like mother-child, husband-wife, teacher-taught, siblings, there is very limited listening taking place. A person has to literally ’shriek’ to be heard. Each is so engrossed in his/her life that they do not observe the state the other person may be. They just finish their ’conversation’ as if the other person is transparent or something. Especially people like Aprana, who are good listeners by nature, suffer the most because they are the last to be heard. She was grateful to come home and have her cup of evening tea.

When she reached home, her cat ‘puss in boots’ was fast asleep on the sofa! He was blissfully unaware of her coming, but Aprana was not about to be put off by this. She shook him awake, fed him his saucerful of milk and started narrating all the day’s happenings to him. Afterall he can never interrupt her!

Miss Interrupted!

Aprana {not Aparna, the author ;)} was running late for office. She was gobbling down her toast and juice. Her roommate wandered into the kitchen and started narrating the horrible nightmares that had interrupted her beauty sleep the previous night. Aprana tried interrupting her unending narrative to put in that she was infact running late for work, but roommate was not about to be interrupted by her. So Aprana mumbled a few ‘huh’ s and ‘poor you’ s and finished her breakfast.

After the long tale got over, Aprana fled from there. She had to report before 7 am and it was already 6.57 am. The walk (or dash) across the block would take 1 min… Aprana ran for dear life.

She gasped for breath as she punched her daily attendance card..She clutched her register and slowly wandered to her cabin, greeting her colleagues on her way. She was very cheerful girl and liked to greet all with a smile, irrespective of whether they were colleagues, subordinates or bosses. And she got myriad responses for her greeting of ‘Hello! Good Morning!’ Some greeted back warmly. A few added ‘Why are you looking dull today?’, ‘Why no bindi today?’, ‘Thats a nice salwar-kameez you are wearing, where do you get your clothes?’

All these responses were infact just ‘courtesy’ remarks. If Aprana stopped to explain that she was indeed not dull today or no time for bindi or at an exclusive shop at Chennai, the questioners would have passed on by that time; they liked to question, not to listen to answers, or were simply too busy; but why question when you cannot or care not to listen, right? Aprana knew her colleagues, and sighing to herself, walked off and began her day.

As she was engrossed in her file, she was startled when the phone rang. It was her boss asking for the report. She started telling him that infact she was working on it right now and would turn it in in another half hour, but the line was dead by then. Interrupted again! She sighed and hurried with her report. She caught her mind wandering and wondering if there was indeed a bulls-eye on her forehead, that made people ruthlessly interrupt her! People! People!!

The boss was impressed with her report. He gave her a quick ‘well done’ look (thats it) and gave her more work. That was the only way her boss let others know about his appreciation, more work! The deadline was 24 hours, but there was far more work involved. She had to dig through archives and interview her senior colleagues, so she wanted to explain to her boss that she would turn it in as soon as it would be possible to complete. But her boss was already oblivious to her presence. Interrupted even before the beginning! With a suppressed sigh she went out to get a cup of tea.

The atmosphere at the canteen was very lively. Today’s special was ’puttu and kadala’. She ordered her cup and joined a gang of co-workers who were enjoying todays special. There was so much of grapevine to update her with. It always amazed her how these people collected so much of news just after a few hours of entering the work-place! Dont they ever mind their own business??

(Interrupted by a call…will be continued tomorrow ;))

War Zone 4 - Concluded

A few hours had passed by. The city was silent after the ravages of the intruders. The streets bore a deserted look. Homes were plundered and remained only as a shell. The inhabitants, those rare ones who were caught and molested, lay uncounscious, dumped on the the roads or in other forgotten corners….

The fled inhabitants were lying in wait concealed among the bushes in the outskirts of the city, all the time mute witnesses to the atrocities inflicted upon those unfortunate enough to remain home. Just as they given up hope of ever returning home, there entered a battalion of foreign troops. They quickly and efficiently searched out the intruders and gave them a sound thrashing leaving no scope of survival. Steadily all the intruders were eliminated and the city became once again a hub of activity. Even after the city became operational, they stayed on for a several hours to ensure that the elimination process was indeed thorough.

Rohan was rushed to the clinic. Due to unbearable pain, he became unconscious. Vomit and a little blood was smeared on his face. The nurses quickly put him on IV and introduced anti-viral medicines. Being young and healthy, the medicines caught on immediately and he was soon conscious. As a precaution doctors advised him to eat bland food.

Within the week Rohan was back home, healthy and fit as before. Even with the nice aroma of food, which mummy cooked for other members of his family, he never was tempted; because he understood that it all started with his eating in a roadside dhaba the day before the ‘Art Competition’. He resolved that he would always eat healthy and hygienic food, for he was sure that he could never ever put up with the pain, the vomiting, the IV and more importantly, being unable to go out and play with his friends!!!