Wednesday, November 30, 2011

#53

1. I want it, I am buying it.
2. I don't really need it, I am buying it.
3. I don't have it, I am buying it.
4. She's got it, I am buying it.

Whatever the reason..hold on to the receipt. (Exchanges, returns and substitutions- conditions apply)

Night and day

It was dark.
The thoughts oppressed her. She could not breathe. Sometimes she woke up in the middle of night and try as she might could not sleep again. Sleep to begin was elusive in itself. Her dreams were dark, reflecting her innermost fears. She remembers when her dreams were too true and had made her wake with a start. Her next action would be to try and reverse what she did in her dream. Only then she knew they were dreams. She would hasten to seek comfort from those around her- a familiar scent, the rustle of the wind, the creak of the bed. Sometimes they comforted her sometimes they did not. But sometimes she slept- like the proverbial baby!
It was light.
She had so much to do. Her nerves were already thrumming with excitement and she had a cool feeling in her stomach and butterflies flew in them. She stuttered in her eagerness to be off to do something. She hoped her she could spread her feelings around and breathe them back in. She kept saying how joyous the day was. How beautiful the day was and how much she was looking forward to the future. She knew in her heart that she could find her destiny and her happiness.
It was dark.
It was light.
It was dark...
It was light...

Monday, November 21, 2011

Air

As light as air..That is what you are. You fill my heart with a beautiful warm lightness. I was told having you would change my life. It did- for the better. Every day and every minute seems to be perfect only because of you. And the other moments when you are not with me, I yearn for the warmth of your hands in mine, your breath on my neck.
Mornings are gloomy until the minute you wake up, only then my sun shines. You are a tornado. Of energy, of laughter and smiles, of love. It is so easy to love you, as easy as breathing the air.
And like the wind, you change so quickly. If you feel sad, you cry and the next minute you are back to walking in the clouds. You make life seem so easy. And I wonder at the importance of everything else when I all I want to do is just watch you sleep. The glee you show when I pick you up and throw you high, the confidence and knowledge that you have that I would be there to catch you humbles me. Yet it makes me feel so big.
You fill my world, you fill my soul and you fill my life.
Air completes the cycle of life and you are my ether.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

#84

Someone causes gnawing annoyance by singing a song that sticks in our head for the entire day which is furthered by the fact that we wouldn't know the song or the lyrics or even the name of the singer to look it up. Compounded by the fact that we only remember the tune vaguely but it still won't go.

Water

I have never seen my mother flustered. Never seen her anything other than calm. Always kept her cool.
Even when we arrived at the last minute to a competition, she would take a deep breath and center herself.  For a minute, everything stopped, then began spinning crazy fast like it does in movies. She would multi-task all the time. Cooking, while talking on the phone to her friend who was going through a crisis, serving hot food to my father who was telling her about his day, correcting my mistakes in my homework and watching the television for snatches of her favorite mystery series. She would do all this in a smooth motion.
I have never seen her say one hot word. Her words were always measured. Her tone was lilting and even she was reproachful of the mess I had made trying to make a Sandwich, she was cleaning up the mess as she told me how I had used too much of Salt in it. She was right.
Relatives were never a problem. She maneuvered through them with ease. Never the one to shirk responsibility, she never gave up on even the ones who did not understand her. She was giving and she knew she could make do with the least that was offered to her. Where there were stones, she flowed over them like a river does over pebbles and smoothened things over.
I have never seen her anything but calm. Even when the disease ravaged her body, she was centered. And when the doctors told her she beat the disease, she offered a smile that said she knew it all along. And even in the cacophony of the monitors that are hooked to her pulse and heart, in the low light of the hospital, she asks me if all of us have eaten. Her husband, her grandchildren, her son-in-law and me. I tell her we have,
And goes to sleep, with that slight smile knowing her world is good, full and well.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Earth

I am a patient man.
When the other kids at school were eager to rush out on the last day of school, I could always walk slowly, the last them of all. I was excited too, but I knew I could go a little slower than the others. When the results came in and my college-mates huddled around the man pasting the paper on the board, I waited the crowd out. I was among the last few to check the results, the others being the ones who had checked in the initial wave and had not passed the exam but were hoping a later sighting would somehow alter the results.
I always let the audience in a theatre to move out before even beginning to get up. Quite a few dates of mine have asked me if I was waiting to make a move on them in the emptying hall. I could always be gracious enough to allow a few people with more items ahead of me in the check-out line at the groceries.
I was patient when the girl I was to marry in a few days decided to come to my house and cry for 5 hours straight because she could not find the right dress. I was patient when she dried her eyes and smiled with her puffy eyes and stained cheeks.
I was right with her when her walk was slow and her belly was with child. She had her tantrums, she had her craving, her not-so-conveniently-timed wishes. I knew she was going through a harder time than she gave out.   I understood the issue when the nurse told us the emergency room was being cleaned and we had to wait in the hallway for a couple of minutes.
I was patient all this while. I held my ground and my heart while the doctors and nurses helped me and my wife bring our daughter into this world.
I can wait a few more minutes till she opens her eyes to look at me with those wonderful blues before I close mine for my much needed sleep..
I can wait..

Friday, November 18, 2011

Fire

Impulsive. She had never taken two minutes to think something through. It was always a quick decision, always swift action. She regretted a few decisions afterwards but that never stopped or changed her from being impulsive.She is fiery and quick tempered. It is so easy to bait her and she is passionate about whatever she talks about.
I met her when she was a volunteer at the animal shelter. She was just giving a scathing piece of her mind to a man who had come asking for animals for product testing. She was glorious when angry. Her hands waved in air like a conductor of symphony. Her eyes glinted and her mouth was speaking words as she could frame them. No fear..none at all.
I was scared to even talk to her. I wanted to adopt a dog- nothing too young, nor too old. She sized me up with a glance from my head to toe.She nodded to herself. I passed her test. She took me to see some that were badly in need of a home. All the while talking about the shelter and what it did to help animals. I found myself listening to the tone of her voice, her gestures, her eyes!
I walked home with a puppy- a little Labrador. Clutched to my chest, the breath from the little one was gentle. Once we entered an area, all the dogs came running to her. She was so gentle with them. Breathtakingly gentle. And she handed me this pup and smiled. I could not refuse.
Found myself going back to the shelter the next week. I was ensnared.
She doesn't hesitate to tell me what she thinks even after 25 years. We are old. She has grandchildren. My wife died last year. We were walking along the road. She saw a man hitting his wife. She promptly thrust herself in front of him and gave him a taste of her fury.
Impulsive..that is what she is.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Z

"Zookeeper!", you tell her. She looks at you from head-to-toe and shakes her head. She thinks you have no ambition. For the President of United States, being the object of advances of a zookeeper does not quite cut it. She moves away and mingles with the crowd. You look forlorn. I wish I could come and help you. But you have vehemently objected to my intrusions in the past saying that you don't need any help and that I embarrass you.
You kick at the soda bottles near your feet and put your hands in the pocket. Just then the singer brushes past you. Her long golden hair gets caught in your arm-sleeve. Both of you jerk to the opposite sides. I then see her untangling it. You are so eager to help her. But she refuses your help and does it by herself. I think she knows you usually make a mess of the smallest things.
She takes her her hair off. Gives you that coy little smile and you are smitten. You walk behind her. And you start whispering to each other.
"Alien from space" gets the President. You glance across to them and back at your singer. You smile says you are satisfied.
Coming up..the results of the Fancy dress competition for the 4 graders! And I know you don't quite care!