No Parking Any Time

Place: Bedroom of the Base family.
Time: 2:30 am

Mr. Base woke up and realized that a trip to the bathroom was inevitable. He got up and put on his slippers. There was not much light in the room but being in the same house for last 30 years had enabled Mr. Base to find his way in any part of the house, even with a blind fold.

Thud!!

Mr. Base got his knee banged badly on something which he didn’t expect to be placed at that certain place in the room.

Mr. Base: “Oh God, my knee! What is this in the middle of the room? I have told so many times not to change orientation of the room.” He couldn’t see what he had bumped into, as it was quite dark.

Mr. Base: “It looks like a table, and quite a heavy one too. Do we have a table in the bedroom?” He tried to push it aside but it was too heavy for him. He thought he would deal with it later and tried to find his way to the bathroom but with no success. “Where does it end? This is certainly a very long table. And wait a minute what is this? Is it..is it..what on earth is this?”

He went back to bed and switched on the reading lamp.

Mr. Base: “Oh dear Lord! DARLING! DARLING! THERE IS A CAR IN OUR BEDROOM. WAKE UP!"

Mrs. Base: “What is it dear? Why are you shouting?” She said while looking for her glasses.

Mr. Base: “Darling, there is a car in our room. And believe me I don’t remember parking it here in the last 30 years.”

Mrs. Base (Still looking for her glasses): “What do you mean there is a car? What’s a car doing in our…OH DEAR! IT’S A CAR!!”

Surely, not many people are accustomed to see a car or bump into a car in their bedrooms right in the middle of the night when they get up for a leak. But Mr. & Mrs. Base, being quite old fashioned and orthodox in their views about the world, had all the rights to overreact at the surprising presence of an automobile in their bedroom, at such an odd hour.

Mr. Base: “How did it get in here?”

Mrs. Base: “Certainly not through the door. Dear I am not feeling well. Call police or some one for help?”

Mr. Base (Checking the phone): “It’s not working yet. It’s been dead since evening.” He got up and tried to go to the living room to try another line.

Mrs. Base: “What’s the problem with the door? Is it locked, dear?”

Mr. Base: “It’s the car. It has blocked the door.”

Mrs. Base: “Oh dear! I am scared?”

Click! Click!

Mrs. Base: “What’s that sound?”

Mr. Base: “It was the car door. Oh God! There is something inside the car. Get back darling! Get back! There is something inside the car.”

The car door on the driver’s side opened and something, well to be precise, a man in his 20s, with a big smile on his face, stepped out of the car and said “Greetings! Have you people seen my cat?”

Mrs. Base: “Oh dear! It is a man…and…and he is wearing a swimming costume!”

(Concluding part to follow soon!)

We can dance if we want to

10:15 am

'Best female singer
GIC Inter College Cultural Festival, 1977'

It was an old bronze cup. She kept it back on shelf after dusting and moved on to the next shelf. It was a routine house cleaning exercise scheduled to finish by 11 am, three hours before Rahul would come back from school.

11:05 am

She checked on Pulkit who was seeping in other room. Though there was no fever but it would take a week before the little three year old could go to school again. Door bell rang. She opened the door. It was her old school mate Radhika who was working for a local newspaper and staying in same town.

"Hey Subhu! My housie-housie-wifey! You were not expecting me. Were you?" For a moment the living room came to life. "And take this thing, this medical mask off Subhu if you are done with your dusting and cleaning and I don't know what..."

"Oh. Give me a minute. You know I am allergic to dust." She had always enjoyed Radhika's company. After all she was so full of life. She was like a bird, a free soul, who knew no bounds and no shackles.

"Subhu, look at you. What have you done to yourself? Where is that budding star? Now I can only see two eyes with dark circles under them and a forged identity. And all this in the name of the family! And this is not only you, in every house you will find one Subhu who has dusted and washed her dreams in the service of her Swami and Swami's kids."

"Don't bring it up again Radha! What will you like- the usual green tea or your Radhey-special-tulsi-water?"

"You can laugh at it Subhu but I will not sit idle. If not you then someone else has to fight for your freedom, for your power and for your future."

11:55 am

She checked again on Pulkit. He opened his eyes for the first time in last four days and looked at her. She kissed on his forehead. He kept his little arms around her as if he would not let her go. She kissed him again and he went back to sleep. Phone rang.

"Hello! How are you?...Pulkit is sleeping...No, no fever...Yes...What papers?...Where did you leave them? Are they important?...Don't worry!.. Amit don't worry! I will fax them to you....I 'll go myself...No don't worry...I know where the shop is, I will fax the papers to you...Amit, trust me. Don't worry!...yes, I am fine....yes, Pulkit is fine too....bye."

2:15 pm

Door bell rang.

"Rahul! What's on your face?...Have you been crying?"

"No..no my child! What happened? Why are you crying? Please don't cry! Come here, come here Rahul. Tell me what happened!"

"Don't lose heart Rahul. I know my son it feels bad. You know I was also not selected for the drama group in my school days. And you know what else, I also cried after that. I cried till my nose got blocked and then I could not even say 'Nani'. Isn't it funny? But see I won all these trophies next year. See yourself. See the date here. It was next year."

5:25 pm

Door bell rang.

"Did you receive the fax?...Oh..no but I left immediately after your call."

He had lost a big tender which could have given a new life to his near dead tetra-pack business. He couldn't send the quotation on time. It was a done deal if only he could have sent it on time. She sat down beside him on Sofa.

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright."

He didn't say a word and kept looking at her. Then he rested his head on her shoulders. After a while, he lay down resting his head on her lap and closed his eyes.

"Don't worry Amit. Everything will be fine." She picked up remote and switched on TV. "Hey cheer up! Your team needs 4 off 17 balls."

She muted the volume and started surfing channels. "Ah, it is Radha".

There was a report on national news channel about a new initiative taken by a local newspaper editor on women empowerment.

"I knew she would do something big one day." She said and smiled.

End

Ab Bang!

LLL: ‘CB!’
CB: ‘Huh!’
LLL: ‘You write terrible!!’
CB: ‘You look terrible!!’
LLL: ‘Hell yeah! At least I don’t go around selling my mug shots.’
CB: ‘Even if you did, no one would buy them. People buy what I write.’
LLL: ‘Yeah! They do. They sure do. And that makes you more dangerous.’
Click. Click
LLL: ‘Get ready for some holes shole!’
CB: ‘I don’t deserve this. I am writing a book.’
LLL: ‘Girsanov has got nothing to do with it.’
CB: ‘See y…’
KABOOM
KABOOM
KABOOM
LLL: ‘I will have what he was having.’

Aise hi..

Aise hi guzra waqt yaad aaya,
Aise hi guzra waqt yaad aaya,
Ki yeh bhi kabhi bharaa tha,
Khaali jaam dekh ke yaad aaya.

Bare and Bruised

He was trying hard to get some sleep. It was late at night and he had been tossing around in bed for more than an hour. Frustrated as he was, he lay in bed staring at the ceiling fan. There was no light in the room but an occasional flash from a distant flickering street light. He looked around and felt as if everything was fast asleep in the room- his jacket on hanger, chair in one corner of the room and iron board in middle of the room. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep again.
There was no sleep in his eyes tonight. He opened his eyes and looked around again. The jacket, the chair, and the iron board- everything was mocking him. And then he noticed a shadow near the other end of his bed. The street light flickered again and he saw someone sitting on his bed. He was stunned. He couldn't move. He tried to shout but couldn't for he was choked. He just kept lying there, staring at the shadow. When the street light flickered again, he noticed that it was a lady, an old lady. She was sitting stooped with her head down and her hair on her face and shoulders. She was wearing a white gown.
"Aaaaaaaaa...Aaaaaaaaa..Aaaaaa", he shouted. He shouted again but it did not change anything. The old lady didn't move. She was still as if she was dead. He started quivering. He tried to pull his quilt over him but there was no quilt, no sheet. He gave a loud shriek when he realized he had no clothes on him. He was naked. He gathered himself with some courage to one corner of the bed. He sat with his hands around his legs and is head buried between the knees. Overwhelmed with shock and fear, he started crying.
When he lifted his head he found himself sitting next to the lady. Before he could move, the lady- without turning her head- lifted her hand and gently patted on his head. All the fear disappeared and all of a sudden he felt light and dizzy. Next moment he was lying in bed with his head on the lap of the old lady. He noticed her hands were wrinkled and rough. Her clothes were ragged and soiled. Though he didn't dare look at her face but he could feel that she was very old and sad but calm.
As she touched his head, he felt his heart filled with remorse. He felt as if it was his fault. He wanted to speak but his throat was choked with tears. He wept for sometime and started sobbing uncontrollably. His tears had wet her gown when she leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "It is not too late."