Again

I stood in front of the door with fingers gently pressed on the door bell.
A thousand thoughts ran their way inside my mind.
Little drops of perspiration settled on my forehead.
The door bell wasn't pressed yet. I heard her voice from the backyard calling Sambhu to come to the door and have a look.
She was informed that I will be reaching today . Though not by me.
Tangy smell of freshly cooked fish filled the air.
I gave a pause to the thoughts and finally pressed my fingers hard. I am not used to pressing the bell here as the door used to be open all the while earlier.
Yes, things change and so do people.

I could hear her voice more clearly this time in a louder tone.
Sambhu's approaching foot steps gave me the final reminder to check myself in the phone's screen.
I was dying to see her, perplexed to face.
The door opened with a strong screeching noise same as yesteryears.
Brown shades have gotten darker displaying the effect of age not just on my hair but also on it's body. Something that hasn't aged with us are the white paintings drawn.

Sambhu gives a big rotten teeth smile that lifts my mood up. He takes the luggage from my hand handing me over a copper tumbler to wash my feet. Some traditions aren't meant to be questioned.
Like an obedient kid I take my blue striped shoes off and pour water over my tanned feet.
Sprinkle water over my face too. Pour the rest near the coconut trees bending like a dancer. It stands as a witness to the joys and sorrows of the courtyard that begins as we step in and ends as we step out.

I take a step inside carefully placing my feet not to get bitten by those red ants busy carrying food for the rains.
As my eyes go around all the rooms surrounding the courtyard , I slowly walk across crossing the side wall that makes way for the kitchen.
There she is wrapped in white. Covered from head to toe. Blowing the chullah making the fire burn stronger.
As I tip toe trying to give her a surprise, she turns. Her eyes catch mine. Radiant smile spreads across our faces as I hug her tight.

It feels she's still there . " Granny" I mumble and wake up. I see her in my dreams again.
Check my phone . Still few more hours before I get ready for the airport.

It's been a decade I have lost her. Still I miss her every single day unlike her sons and daughters who love to fight over the landed property rights and forgot to love her too.

It's her 10th anniversary. So, the entire family is coming along . Not to pray but to prey on what her husband has left behind.




* To be continued


N.B : Finally after a gap of 2 years I am back at the A-Z Challenge 2019 :)
Hope you like the write up..stay tuned for more . Happy Blogging :)




                                   

Promise

Promise...asked me one day
Why do you promise ?
When you can't
Turning me into an unholy chant
I am like the sunshine and the dust
If you utter then you must
Keep my fame
Through pride or shame
Still if you miss me sometimes
I won't complain
Knowing your intentions were right
Yes, I am filled with myriad shades
So is Life...
And I am here to stay

Mirages...

Mirages...
Beautiful,
Serene,
Make you thirsty,
Quench it too,
Allured....
You are,
You will be,
Believing....
Them...
Won't...
Make them True....

Pic : Google Images

Grey...

Colours aren't always black and white,
Decisions aren't just right or wrong,
The tank isn't always full or empty,
Choice isn't being weak or strong,
There's something that always eyes can't see,
Something that connects smiles with maladies,
Paths....
Can't always be planned,
You will go....
Where you are meant to Be....

Pic : Google Images

Try...

                                                                       

“Exciting, don’t you think it would be really exciting”

“Well, who knows what it has got in store for us”

“Whatever, we can at least give it a try”

“But, they said it wasn’t worth the time and energy”

“Is it necessary that they are correct?”

“I agree still I feel we can rely on their opinion. After all they have experienced it first”

“But who knows what they had expected from it. They might be having a prejudiced mindset and that doesn’t help anybody. It isn’t always about the moments but also about the heart that beats with it”

                                   

Pic: Write Tribe

Linking up the post with  100 words on Saturday Write Tribe

Sometimes...

                                                               

                

Today wasn’t great. Nor was yesterday. He had no idea about the future ones.

His hands shivered. Mouth dried up. Vision got blurred and mind went blank.

He felt burdened.

As though it wasn’t a circumstance but a big hole dragging him deeper inside.

His struggles were in vain. 

Neither repaying nor repairing.

He felt like a piece of junk. Abandoned in an old filthy garage.

Folding his palms together, he knelt down.

Prayers trickling down on his cheeks.

And suddenly everything felt, alright when he remembered his mother’s voice whispering “Sometimes you just have to leave it on HIM”

                                    

                                           

Linking up the post with Write Tribe's 100 Words on Saturday

Left Over

I had lost everything. 

So had he.

Devastated I waited for mother nature to take me in her arms and annihilate me, just like my loved ones.

Devoid of belongings and belongingness, I roamed around like a paronoid surviving like those last drops of water in a blazing hot summer day, feeling empty and purposeless.

But fate, it never abandons those, whose time hasn’t come.

It pulls, it pushes and it drives us to our desired destinations.

That’s when I met him. My companion, a blue coloured moped,  who was a leftover too.

And together we renamed survival as life. 

                           

Linking up the post with Write Tribe's 100 words on Saturday

Image courtesy : Write Tribe

Moving...

Moving to the city wasn’t easy

Saying goodbye was the most difficult part as my mom clung on to my fingers just like a little girl on her first day to school

I boarded the bus, coercing my self to stay strong, for moving on promised a future way different from the boring afternoons of my small town

Though I landed in the city of my dreams but the real challenge now stood in front of me, the hunt for a new home

And there it was, a single roomed apartment in the outskirts, promising me a little  warmth as my old room

                                                             

Image :
Lauren Moscato

Linking up the post with Five Sentence Fiction  and  Friday Fictioneers

                                         

      

The Best Disguise

It started again . The blames, the arguments, the screams, the unwanted blabbers. He could hear it clearly. Though the wordings weren’t clear but the meanings were. Unhappiness spilling all over the house. He stopped abruptly in the middle of his writing. Irritated he stood up. Craving for a smoke. But he remembered his promise. He had made in a haste. In an emotional moment. To her. When she was leaving for three long years though much against her wishes. She had asked for this one thing. Asked him to quit. And he couldn’t deny. Not in any way. May be she was very clever. Though she had asked him not to miss her too much still she made sure that he misses her a thousand times a day. Every time he craved for it he craved for her. Would she also be craving the same way. He thought. And smiled thinking about the answer. 
The sound of a vessel being dropped on the floor dragged him out of his own world again. Wooden furniture was getting pulled. Disgusted, that’s what he felt. How immature we humans can get to show our anger . He remembered the very day the couple had come to his house seeing the To-let board hanged in front of his dark chocolate coloured iron gate. He didn’t reply the bell at first. Immersed in one of his writings and had gotten struck somewhere in between he hated to be disturbed.but life, it has it’s own demands. It needs to be answered. To be cared, to be nurtured, to be pampered. Just like a baby girl. Asking for uncountable hugs from her loving dad. He stood up. Reluctantly. Pushing the wooden chair a bit backward , to make enough space for his long legs to stretch. With fast paced steps he moved towards the door. Opening it with a single jolt turning the golden bolt to right, just once. He had already unlocked the grill to move to the front yard and had stepped on the green grass that when he could feel their pinch on his toes. They hurt. Exactly the same way when the first time he had walked on them, bare footed. Some 27 years back. The day they shifted to this city from a nearby town. The landowner’s house was adored with a beautiful green lawn. Every evening after coming back from school he used to rush downstairs. Throwing away his slippers feeling the pinch on his bare footed toes. The scoldings of his strict mother yielded no results. As if the pinch was a pleasure in itself.He would wait the whole day in school to just come back and feel the grass.  But there was no meaning in feeling them today here. At this age. All that curiosity. That gentleness . That pure boyish emotions have vanished.Replacing in it’s place a practical realistic mature him. Who had learnt it all, not just in the right but also the wrong way. Life hasn’t been smooth. He used to complain . In the beginning, a lot. Get angry not just on everyone but also on his own self. He used to hate it totally. Which never seemed fair to him and always seemed pleased with everyone surrounding him.

The couple standing near the gate appeared restless. Though he could see their faces faintly with the help of the street light scattering all over the place dreading the broken glass but he could feel their restlessness very well. Because that’s what he had learnt all these years. Over decades. To understand another’s mind even without talking to them. He thought for a second . To whom should he be thankful for gifting him with these abilities. May be to his life, to those circumstances and to those people who unknowingly or knowingly crafted them for him. Stripping him up of his peace of mind and leaving him on the verge of depression.

He welcomed the couple inside. Guided them through the stairs and showed them the freshly painted rooms with  2 bathrooms, a kitchen and a tiny balcony to relax. They seemed impressed. Almost ready to pay the advance right then. Both of them seemed well educated. Working professionals as mentioned . He didn’t expect them to agree to his mentioned rates at first  but surprisingly they did.  He was happy. As he hadn’t expected that to happen.Because nothing had happened that way with him. In just one go. He always had to try harder even for tiniest of things. And so the deal was done. 

They shifted . Within a week. It all seemed well in the initial days. But slowly the curtains were raised. Which irritated his mind to the very core. Coercing him for a smoke. But unfortunately he could not do that either. Once on a Sunday he was invited for lunch. Both the man and woman were very eager to know about his family life, his professional life and everything related to him. Why he stayed alone became their favourite pass time. Even they did not hesitate to ask him personal questions in the first interaction itself like whether his marriage was arranged by his family or it had happened the other way. Not forgetting to mention that their’s was a arranged one and both of their horoscopes had perfectly matched with each other assuring them of a beautiful future ahead. The entire afternoon he did the listening and they did the talking part. Tired of so much newly received information he came back and collapsed straight on his bed.

Another vessel fell on the floor. This time with a louder thud. It disturbed him. He had already decided to talk to them. The daily fights had become a routine affair. But surprisingly every morning they go well dressed. Each to their respective work place. Exactly like obedient school kids. But the moment they step in , living in the ground floor becomes hell. He tried to remember the days he had fights with her. Ya, even they had fights, or we can say difference of opinion. But nothing resembling this. Though nobody had matched their horoscopes. Because nobody considered them eligible to be  matched. Though nobody blessed them as nobody considered them blessed enough to get blessed. Still they survived. The qualms of time. Though she was away from him at the moment. For reasons unavoidable. Still they were bound together deep inside their minds and in the depth of their hearts.  The night was getting darker. And the screen of his laptop was losing patience. He sat down again in front of it. A faint smile clinched his lips. “ The Best Disguise” he named it. The title of his half penned write up.


                                  

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Overbridge...

The traffic under the over bridge seemed liked a never ending sequel of punishment. Horns, beeps, cries, squalls, sneezes,coughs,yells all mixed up with the smoky air gave the city life it’s identity. 

Drops of irritation settled near the curled corners of the hair started to dribble down making the jam much more pathetic.Disgusted Ananya looked out of the window to find them sitting there at the same spot as all other previous days and all other previous years, patiently seeking a penny. 

Frowning lines on her forehead slowly vanished away, patting her on the back and whispering near her pearl studded ears “ you may not reach on time but at least life is fair enough to gift you with a home to reach”

Acknowledgement : Google Images