Mist

English spring could not make his courtyard more beautiful. He was sitting in a chair that somehow managed his withered body, trying hard to fix the minute clutch wheel of the wrist watch. His hands were shivering owning to his old age. The magnifying lens fitted to his spectacles did no good to his vision. But wears it every time he settles to repair watches and that earns him his modest living. He used his thick unkempt nails to locate the minute yoke spring that he was trying to attach to the clutch wheel, occasionally wiping of his watery eye, which he was used to, for more than a decade now. 

Suddenly he heard a faint cry from his house. If he could hear the cry, then it should have been loud enough to a normal ear - he realized. He did not panic as he was used to such cries that seemed despair to people who didn't know them. He pushed the chair back. Got hold of his battered walking stick kept beside his chair, that could just help him support. Pierced the yoke spring onto the thermocol  sheet that he placed on the table lest he forgets where he left. Slowly walked towards his house, tapping his walking stick. His knees were bent and frail. The cry was growing more desperate. 

He entered the faintly lit room where she laid. He looked at her. This cry is the only thing that she did to make him believe that she was living. He checked if the glucose drip was empty. When air bubbles entered the veins, the pain was terrible, he knew. It was not empty. He fixed his eyes on the bed pan under the bed. But her clothes were not wet. He ruled out that possibility as well. Now there is only one more thing she cried for.  He knew. He stooped a little, leaned towards her forehead. He almost fell on her face and kissed, slobbering a little. The cry fainted and died down. He stared at his Jewish girlfriend who could never speak and walked away nodding his head.

Pebble

 An year back, on this very day, my wife woke me up from sleep around 2 am, citing the symptoms of labor. It was almost a fortnight before the expected date. “But then It can happen any time after 32 weeks” – words of the gynecologist ringed in mind. I had to look calm and composed.  Placed a pillow on the head rest of the bed and asked her to lean against it. Woke up my mother, mother in law and father in law. Some discussions went on. We decided to pack and go to hospital. In no time we all got ready, locked the house. Walked to the lift lobby. Automatic doors slid apart and they entered the lift. I ran downstairs and woke up the security to open the apartment gate. I heard the lift open and I started the car. I was unusually cool. Got into the car and I cracked some jokes to ease the tension. My silly jokes found good market as all of us acted the part well. Half a kilometer traffic-less drive took more than half an hour. Woke up the attender who was sleeping to glory .He woke up the duty doctor. The duty doctor looked inexperienced partly due to my tension and partly due to my ignorance.

He summoned two lady duty nurses. My wife was asked to lay in the bed. The curtain were pulled over. I waited anxiously outside. One of them came out running, took something from a table nearby..  My “ah..what is..” went unheard as she ran past me and entered the curtained zone.

They came out after sometime. Parted the curtains back. My Wife lay in the bed looking confused, a little more than me. Doctor made phone calls to the senior doctors. He was noting down something in some cryptic language which he later read out to the nurses. He handed over me a piece of paper and asked to buy few medicines. I ran. Got them back. Both mothers were talking, possibly to each other. Father in law looked very serious.

My restlessness, nervousness, anxiety all put together made me call the doctor. It was 3 by then. She picked the call. And I asked her to come to hospital immediately. She said the delivery would take another 6-7 hours. And that she would be there in the hospital in another 2 hours. By then they would start the procedure. “But the doctor here looks inexperienced”. I argued. She replied calmly “How do you know?” I cut the call to be on the safe side.

They shifted us to the first floor. Soon one more doctor came in and gave her some drips. Time flew. I was made to wait outside.  When I looked down, I noticed my father in law had two different shoes. I couldn’t help laughing at his sophisticated facial expression and differently colored shoes. Before I could, I heard a small cry from the room. I barged, opened it. Saw both my mothers holding her hand. As soon as I entered I could see tears in her eyes. Her fist was closed and firm. Doctor attached some equipment which loud spoke the foetus heartbeat. For the first time, I felt even heart beats can be cute. She banged on the side wall twice. Her cries became louder. Every time I entered the room, I see tears. Mothers asked me to wait outside. Wait continued and I was not allowed to enter any more.  The wait continued and somewhere in between in I fell asleep(I am still paying the cost for it).

Senior doctor came. Checked and went back. And said it can be either a normal one or a c-section. She was soon shifted to labor room. I heard some sound and expected it to be that of the baby. But  the wait continued and then finally the nurse handed over a 6.5 pound baby boy- tightly closed eyes, pink foot, cute nails and absolutely no hair in the head wrapped in a soft thick cloth to my mother in law’s hand. Soon my mother grabbed him. I kissed him on his forehead, this time without any thing separating us.

As a pebble he fell into the ocean of our lives, setting the ripples on forever. One year moved brisk. From then on, the little one has been the reason for almost any change happening at home – be it me reaching home on time from office or the tv remote control of the not working J

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“And my son, I am pleased.”Almighty continued in his hoarse voice “ Listen to me carefully. When you are in trouble and cannot help thyˈself solve it. Close your eyes and think of me. I will do it for you. Now listen more carefully, will help you only once.” And he faded into white clouds leaving a trial of faint light. I felt lot relieved. Came across several crises in life, from poverty to strained relations. Every time, I thought about taking god’s help to resolve it, I thought why not give it a last try before I call him for help. What if something worse strikes me in the future and I won’t have the boon left then, worried me more. I succeeded solving all of them myself. In the death bed, when I was sure nothing more can come to me, I wished to see him one last time. Closed my eyes and he appeared. I told him that I dint use his boon. And he replied “Good, it would have not worked even if you had tried the boon. “ Adding more surprise he continued “i was playing a trick on you. All you needed was the confidence that you can do it.” He winked and the light faded

Note : Was thinking about a title for the story, when my son, then sitting on my lap typed the title. Before pressing ctrl+zs in quick successions, I thought why not give this title to the story, after all, it’s given by one of his most innocent creations :)

Few things don’t change

One of those days in office when the production issues were raining. Extension phones were sounding like non-stop FM. Calls upon calls. Managers were walking up and down the floor reliving Murphy’s law “When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried”.  One of them even was preparing some power point presentation. I was really clueless on how would that help come out of this crisis. However as long as he doesn’t intervene, we were better. Suddenly one of the senior managers dragged me to a meeting room to evaluate the situation. Questions showered on me. Suddenly my mobile rang. I attended the call “Sir, I am Monica calling from KDHTC bank. We are selling platinum cred…”. “Sorry I am not interested” I didn’t let her complete, when she posed even more frustrating question “Why don’t you listen to me sir?”. “Somebody is giving me a bl*w j*b right now, So I don’t have time to listen to you. Convinced???”. I dint dare to wait for the reply and disconnected the call. Manager looked puzzled. And I said “sorry, I dint mean you”. He continued the questions and I continued giving some round the bush answers. Somehow somebody from the desk barged to the room and asked for some help. I made use of it to come out of the room. When I returned to seat, things had worsened, with few more issues. My eyes welled in frustration and was on the verge of breakdown, when I received another call “Son, I have prepared your favorite mango pickle. Can you come home for lunch?”.  Mother’s love...

Butter fly Effect

Darlllyn : The feature list of the product looks less in number. Can we think of any more features to add? I understand it’s too short a notice. But can we give it a shot before the launch?

Merlin : Sam,  CEO is not impressed with the features. He is skeptical about the success of it in the market. Can you think of something more innovative before the launch scheduled next month?

Sam : Gary, you’d head the technical team and come out one of the features that would distinguish us in the market. Directors are all really pissed off with the product.  You have 20 days to get it done. Repeat..20 days !

Gary: WTF have you done with the product Mrs.Camy? I had earful from Sam. Thanks for that. Now, develop additional Security featur es and Jazzy UIs for all the windows of the product. Keep in mind, you have just 15 days.

Camy : Manjulal, looks like senior management is not happy with the product. Impression of our team is at stake. To regain, we need to build ….. in less than 10 days.  

Manjulal : Sasi, you have just 7 days time starting today. Develop ….. and give me a demo. I have some surprises for you, if you make it..more importantly..only if you make it.

Sasi : Hello, Am I speaking to Murthy of Camela resort. Murthy,  can you please cancel the booking for 3 days starting tomorrow. Booking was done in the name of Sasi. ..Ok ok 50% refund will do.

Murthy : We don’t have the guest tomorrow. Give the excess food to other customers. And left over to the orphanage.

Muthu, is very happy today having had a sumptuous lunch.

"It does not work that way"

The English spring had just begun.  Maple leaves were turning yellow. Few fallen leaves on the marble pavement were being graced by the cool breeze.  As I sat in the bench, my son had already run away from my clutches to play with the first grass hopper that caught his attention. Grass hoper appeared lot disciplined and matured compared him. 

I moved to UK 6 years back as a part of my onsite assignment. I lay back fully resting on the park bench.  I was yawning consistently, attributed more to my tiresome work in office and partly to my son who didn’t let me sleep last night. “Didn’t you sleep well last night”, enquired my friend who I used to meet In the park every time I went there. “Look at him, playing and enjoying. He didn’t let me sleep the whole night.” My angry voice were on its peak. “Does he even know that I am struggling in office, just so that he can have a better life” I vented my frustration on my friend. “Wait, let me grow old and I will do all this to him, so that he knows how much has tormented me. He will have to look after me the way I look after him..hmmmm”

Somebody patted on my shoulders. I turned back to see a wrinkled hand and traced it up to a blue eyed old man in his mid 80s. “It does not work that way, my son. Love does not work that way”He said, as he ran his hand through his free flowing white bread.  He slowly walked away tapping his walking stick on the ground. His words echoed a thousand times in my mind. 

He reached near my son who was busy playing. Lifted him and kissed him on his forehead and my son held both his ears and kissed him on his eyes. He left my son to play. I saw him fade into the last turning of the park lane. Seeing my son playing happily, I realize  “It does not work that way, my son. Love does not work that way”.