Lady Line and the story of the Rings

Gandalf flew over the mystic land of Go-A* trying to spot middle-BITS*, where he had a meeting with the Lady Line. He caught sight of a beautiful country, all domes and stately buildings, with tree-lined vistas and a river winding its sparkling course through it.
"Here we are" he thought, "now Lady Line must be in that there dome". He started descending, and perceived a crowd gathered at the steps. Lady Line was holding court. He landed softly at the edge of the crowd and looked up at the Lady. He was shocked to see a six-feet tall line, glimmering and shining, holding the crowd enthralled with the most enchanting voice he had ever heard. Meanwhile his own tall figure and billowing white robes had caught attention of the Lady, who now descended the steps and came towards him with graceful, long strides.
"Welcome Wizard Gandalf from sister world Ea" she said in her majestic voice.
Now that she was near Gandalf could see that the Lady was a very thin but very beautiful elf. She glimmered and shone as if seen through a sparkling mist.
"Of course the time of the elves draws to a close.. here in middle-BITS as in middle Earth on Ea. I have heard tell Lady Line intends to sail to the Far West soon."he thought.
To the Lady he said, "Your gracious highness Lady Line, I have come to Go-A to seek respite and recourse from the affairs of the Ring in Ea."
"I have been informed of your world and its travails, and I would like to hear more and help. Please be my guest at the Palace this afternoon" said her highness and with a sweep of her hand, bade him follow.
They walked to a beautiful palace, looking out at a great lawn abloom with flowers and shrubs of all hues. At the gate of the Palace stood two elves, one shuffling uncomfortably and darting fearful glances at the Lady and the other plainly angry, her nostrils dilating with the effort to keep from shouting. They both looked so funny that Gandalf sniggered. Lady Line raised her eyebrows at him, and hurried forward to the pair.
"Oh dear lady Don," she said in a plaintive tone, so melting that it made the shuffling lady sniffle, "please don't cry, but you do distress me. You don't mean to say you have lost the palace keys again?"
"She means to say exactly that, your highness." said the second lady, her scowl deepening and nostrils dilating ever more rapidly. Clearly her patience had been tried very hard by the lady Don. She went on speaking, "To cause least inconvenience to our esteemed guest, I suggest you sign this scroll immediately and have a new key procured". With this she produced a two scrolls, one which ordered the smithy to forge a new key for the palace and the other blank. The Lady Line took up the peacock feather quill proffered to her, and proceeded to sign on this other scroll, which activity caused Gandalf, who had been sniggering into his robes all this while, to let out a loud guffaw, for that signature was the largest ever, sprawling over the entire scroll, all loops and flourishes. Lady Line did her raised-eyebrow act again, which made him go back to sniggering into his robes.
After a messenger had been sent, bearing the two scrolls,to the smithy, Lady Line suggested they go sit in the lawn and have some light talk before lunch. Accordingly they went and Gandalf held the three ladies enraptured with his story of middle Earth and the elves, ents and hobbits. He had saved up the story of the Ring for later, when the Lady,with no keys on her mind, may hopefully suggest some solution to him.
Soon the new keys were brought over, and Lady Line, with many remonstrances, and to the utmost consternation of lady Omega (she of the dilating nostrils), handed the keys to lady Don. They went inside, the ladies still debating the keeping of the keys, and were soon in the chamber of Lady Line. It was in the topmost tower of the palace, and commanded a view of the lawn, the dome, most of middle-BITS, and the river sparkling in the distance. The view was enrapturing, but the same could not be said of the chamber. As soon as Gandalf stepped into the room, his slippers got stuck to the remains of some sticky sweetmeat her ladyship had been having last. When he extricated them and came inside he saw clothes strewn everywhere, books upon books (the lady seemed an erudite scholar) lay all rumble-tumble upon the royal table. A huge stand held anything that the Lady could rub, massage or squirt onto her face and hair. But unfortunately it held more bodies of insects lured by the night-lights than the cosmetics. Lady Don, on seeing the stricken countenance of the wizard, hurriedly started gathering up clothes from the floor, the bed and anywhere they were strewn and stuffed them in a heap inside the already overflowing cupboard. All this while, the Lady had been preening in front of the mirror, and now asked lady Don, "Dear Don, what do you think shall I wear tomorrow?"
Both the ladies then became engrossed in the subject of haute-couture and Gandalf, forgotten, sat morosely by lady Omega whose stomach gave loud groans in protestation to such frivolity as dresses while lunch stood waiting. But then something happened that drove food clean out of Gandalf's mind. The Lady Line, having decided her dress brought out a most ornate chest, decorated with elvish runes, and threw it open. There, dazzling in a hundred different hues, and cut in intricate patterns, lay hundreds of RINGS!
Gandalf was most taken aback but Lady Line calmly went on trying them, trying to decide what rings to adorn her ears with. Very agitated, Gandalf spoke, "But Lady,there are so many rings here!"
"I know, such darling rings, don't you think? They are my preciousss!" said the Lady, lovingly stroking them.
Gandalf writhed at the loving, caressing tone of the Lady's voice.
"But your highness they must be destroyed! That is what we are striving for in Ea, with one ring... but you.. you have hundreds.." he ended weakly.
Lady Line looked at him with sudden wrath flaming in her eyes, " Destroy them! destroy my precious! Gandalf, I declare you an enemy, begone from my palace" she cried.
A loud rumble startled them all, and before any of them could recover, lady Omega sprang up,"Your darlings and preciouses be darned! The old fool is right, destroy them, destroy these trinkets that make you forget food, that fount of life!" and with a mad gleam in her eyes, she made off with the ring-chest.
Lady Line stood stricken for a moment, then cried, "My slippers, my slippers, quick good lady Don, where are my slippers?"
"Err...Lady Line, I think I picked them and stashed them away with your clothes" mumbled lady Don, wringing her hands.
"Well, whatever will you do next?! But my darlings, my precious... I must save them!" with this Lady Line ran off bare-feet.
Gandalf stood a moment, mumbling to himself, hurried out of the room, stumbling on the sweetmeat again. He had decided to intercept the good lady Omega and make off with the chest of rings to the Sea, where it would be dropped and lie undisturbed till he solved the problems of Ea and could concern himself with Go-A. Lady Don ran after him. Loud shouts echoed in the palace. The two ladies were shouting unprintable things at each other while doing the Cat-and-Mouse routine. Gandalf ran to where the voices came from, lady Don still after him. A mad chase started, that kept all four running up and down the palace all afternoon, banging against walls, twisting their ankles and blasting curses(Gandalf with his wand, the ladies with their tongues). At long last Gandalf heard the screams drawing nearer. It seemed Lady Line had caught up with Lady Omega and was engaged in a scuffle. He put on a last spurt of speed, lest the rings fall into Lady Line's hands again. When he reached them, the ladies were wrestling with each other, Lady Line twisting lady Omega's hand while lady Omega held Lady Line's neck in a deathlock with her free hand. The treasure chest lay flung away, as yet unheeded. Gandalf made for it, but just as he came up to the ladies, lady Omega made an attempt to free her hand, raising it suddenly. The sudden jerk of the arm caught Gandalf squarely on the nose. He keeled backwards and fell senseless on the floor. The dull thud, and lady Don's cry made both ladies come to their senses. A wizard lay injured in the palace. This was grave.
They quietly carried him to Lady Line's chamber and lay him on the insect-strewn bed. It was decided to call over GoAir the wind-lord to have Gandalf carried back to Ea. He would be lowered into the ocean in a lifeboat, where he could lie undisturbed from the affairs of any rings for quite some time. That would give Lady Line time to close the gate to Ea, and to a furious Gandalf. Lady Omega, having sated her rumbling hunger with a cuppa-manna thought more benignly of the rings now, and was quite inclined to agree with Lady Line about the "funny old geezer".
With everybody's good humour finally restored, they had a good laugh over the minutes of the day's events that lady Don read out to them.

The Fairy from the Portrait

Kanishka trembled with ill-concealed joy. She had been waiting quite some time now. At last she heard quick footsteps in the corridor and there seemed to be a gleam about the air outside. She waited with bated breath as the footsteps sounded nearer and nearer until they were almost outside her door.

Then there was bang and thud and a loud "OW!!! Grrrr!"

Kanishka jumped quickly and opened the door. On her doorstep there lay a fairy.

"Thank God she had wings.." Kanishka would say later "... for otherwise I would have thought it was just one of my prankster friends out to have a laugh at my expense"

Indeed, with glasses askew, loose T-shirt and jeans that were torn at the knees, the figure that sat holding its head with both hands could hardly fit human imagination of a fairy. Only the wings, and a soft halo gave away the fairy.

"Err...Hi, you must be one of those from the Portrait. Why don't you come in." said Kanishka, not knowing what else to do.

The fairy was shaken out of her daze and said,"Yes, I am Omega. We made an appointment in your dream...." again she became abstracted and started to look around for something.

"Have you misplaced something?" asked Kanishka

"Yes, I had brought a surprise for you, but I don't know where it landed when I fell." said Omega morosely, still looking all around. Kanishka spotted a squashed package lying at the far end of the corridor. She brought it over and said, "I think I have found my surprise."

Omega looked up, and heaved a sigh of relief, "Yes that's it. Go on, open it."

Kanishka opened the package expectantly. A shrill voice cried out, "OMEGA YOU CHUMP!"

Kanishka was taken aback to see a chocolate cake frowning at her out of the package.

When it realised it had shouted at the wrong person, the cake became embarassed.

"I am sorry" it said in a much smaller voice, "...but that Omega just messed me up."

"Err... umm.... sorry Choco" said Omega in a faltering voice from behind.

That seemed to anger the cake once again.

" "Sorry?" "Sorry?" You nemesis of all cakes! What good is sorry when because of you my nose is now stuck to the lid of this package?! I wish fairyland scientists would hurry up with that Anti-Omega spell. In the pipeline they say... but do we keep falling prey to the greatest terror of cakes till then? I ask you....."

It would have gone on but Omega shut the lid back on and gave Kanishka a wan smile. Kanishka stifled her laughter and ushered Omega in. The room cheered her mood considerably.

"Look at the old Portrait! I like the way you have decorated it." she said, switching the lights off and on, enjoying the greenish glitter of the radium stickers that Kanishka had put on around the Portrait That Never Teared. "We had good times here," said Omega, reminiscently looking around the room " chatting away till late, debating hotly about something, sometimes studying together, or watching movies while eating pastry from Mongini's..." Omega's voice trailed off.

Kanishka looked at the Portrait closely. It was a simple portrait, done by an amateur painter, but its mystery lay in the fact that it refused to tear, even though decades had passed after it had first been pasted. The young faces there showed years of closeness and camaraderie. The eyes were bright with joyful companionship. Kanishka had always thought it to be unaccountably beautiful.

A loud rumbling brought Kanishka back to the present. She immediately ran to the window, to see if it was cloudy. She would need to collect her clothes before it rained, which it was sure to, with such loud thunder.

"Err... heh heh... in case you are wondering, that was not thunder, it was my stomach." said Omega shamefacedly, "I got hungry talking about pastries." she mumbled.

Kanishka gave a snort and disguised into a cough, briskly walking to the cupboard in an effort to fight an overwhelming desire to laugh.

"Will you have Maggi?" she asked

"Oh yes, Oh yes!" shrieked Omega and gambolled over to the cupboard,"Oh look... there are Banana Chips.. and Bourbon Biscuits too! I will surely tell Vazz you keep this room better than ever she did!"

Kanishka smiled. Fairy or not, Omega was just the same as she had read about in the famous comic book "MEG(H)A LAUGH DIGEST" She was sure Omega and Mohini had their Tom and Jerry fights in fairyland too.

" So how did you get to fairyland?" she asked.

"That is a long story.." said Omega, busily munching a biscuit, "see, we were all ordinary people, but together we were Magic. An atmosphere of that mysterious power called Love brewed of itself when we were together. Once, long after we had left this college, we all met and were chatting, smiling and laughing, as you can only in the presence of those most beloved to you, when we felt dizzy all at once, and all fell unconscious. When we woke we were in a different land, breathtakingly beautiful and brimming over with joy... Yes joy, gladness and mirth are tangible in that land, just like air. But sticking to the story, we were pretty perplexed how we came to be there all of a sudden. The explanation came (you know, ideas float around there, beautiful, lucent ideas not thought of here) and it was understandable even to us mortals. It had been the result of a transition. You know Heisenberg's principle, you cannot predict the position of an electron exactly, you only know the probability of its being somewhere in some point of time. It is the same with different planes of existence. They all revolve around the ONE, just like atoms revolve around the nucleus. You can never predict where one plane will be, it could be at a different orbit now, some other orbit the other moment. In such a moment of transition, when the plane of pure love (or fairyland to us) intersected with earth, we happened to be filled with that feeling and so got transferred to that plane."

"Woah that's a heady mix. Spirituality and Science in co-existence" said Kanishka, her head reeling.

"Heh heh. Well, we were just too curious about what happened to the place where we all first met, so we have kept constant tabs on the college and this room especially. You seemed very receptive, so we contacted you in your dream. You know that's when human beings travel the other planes uninterrupted. Today I have come to meet you and give you this phial." said Omega, handing over a small phial to Kanishka, "It contains Love, it is our blessing to a place which blessed us with joys unimagined."

With a last bite, Omega parted, leaving Kanishka dreamily staring out, the phial carefully placed in a nook, to shower all coming generations of inhabitants with love and joy.

PS: This post is written to relate to you the story of a very special person, Megha (I didn't leave much to imagination on that point) who is, by turns, a joker, a wise scholar, a clumsy, innocent baby and above all who shares with me a very very special bond. Its her birthday this 24/7 and though I can't be there to wish her personally, I want to tell her through this blog, that I am always thinking of her and missing her terribly.

Enchanted by Pop-Biscuits

Up and up the Faraway Tree they went,

wondering what folk lived behing those little windows...

They knocked at a little round door and the loveliest little elf answered.

"You look hot and tired..." she said,

" come and have some pop biscuits, I've just finished baking them".

The Enchanted Wood, and more particularly the giant Faraway Tree, whose top touches lands such as the land of presents and the land of parties, is every child's dream woven into words. Whenever I sat down to read this memorable book, I saw to it that I had something to eat... for how are you supposed to survive those hunger-pangs when you read about the mouth-watering Google-Buns and Pop-Biscuits that Silky the elf bakes or the Toffee-Shocks and hundred different kinds of jams that Moon-Face keeps?

Pop-Biscuits appeared to me the most delicious eatables of all time, what with the honey filling your mouth as soon as you bit into them. I was pretty crazy about the Enchanted Wood as a child and even pretended that the discarded steel shelf in my room was the Faraway Tree. I used to put my sister on the top-shelf and pretend she was Silky, busily baking Pop-Biscuits for her friends (that was me and a host of imaginary people). I would lazily climb the tree, shelf by shelf, picking up an imaginary apple from this branch, a cherry from the other, chatting up Moon-Face and the Saucepan-Man, who lived a shelf below Silky, and finally reach Silky's house where we would gorge on the pop-biscuits.

The Saucepan Man with his saucepans

These biscuits were such a fascination with me, I even put them on the menu when we played Restaurant (yeah, you read that right). When my sister royally walked in and ordered Pop-Biscuits, she would be served Brittania biscuits with honey poured over them. People planning to visit me don't need to be worried, my Restaurant doesn't serve such Pop-Biscuits anymore. But although I grew up, the Enchanted Wood never faded from my memory.

In college I had an amazing time discussing books, right from Atlas Shrugged to the Alchemist with my friend Megha. We never discussed Enchanted Wood and Pop-Biscuits somehow, but they came back in our lives in a most amazing fashion. My friend Daniel, who is also my senior in college, happened to bring me Eclairs on one of his visits. I had never eaten Eclairs before, so I just thought they were regular cookies. I gave some to perenially hungry Megha and went off to do some work. Late at night, hunger struck and I remembered the eclairs and brought them out. I bit into one, and I thought for a moment that honey flew into my mouth. I looked at the cookie in surprise and realised it was filled with cream, not honey. But it was a pleasant surprise all the same, to taste something that really could be my beloved Pop-Biscuits. I rushed to Megha's room and asked, "Megha, woh cookies khaye?"

She was all excitement too, " Haan haan, woh ekdum Silky wale biscuits jaise the na?"

Eclairs-nee-Pop Biscuits

We stared at each other. It was like discovering my friend all over again. She had read the Enchanted Wood too! She knew about Pop-Biscuits!! We were soon talking away like crazy, analysing the Angry Pixie and Mr. Watzisname and laughing over Dame Washalot and imagining what fun life would be if we could be Joe or Bessie or Fanny, munching away at our Pop-Biscuits all the while. I'll remember that episode forever as one of the sweetest of my life, what with my dream of eating pop-biscuits coming true and sharing that experience with one of my dearest friends.

Me(left) and Megha

P.S. This post would be incomplete without a hundred thanks to Daniel, who made our trip down memory-lane possible. :)

The Auto Menace

Hey dudes and dudettes,
This blog is in tribute to all those Auto-drivers who live to transform the most easy-going, quiet individuals into raging, bickering passengers. All through my industrial training in Bangalore I ranted about the high rates they charged, but Bangalore's breed pales in comparison to Delhi's tribe of Auto-Rickshaw drivers. At least the Bangalore clan has meters, and most of the drivers abide by them, but come to Delhi and you'll find the drivers charging any amount they wish. Haggling for ten minutes makes them decrease the fare by 10-20 rupees which is hardly any compensation to your pocket. Then to top it all they have such rude language and absolutely no respect for passengers. I have had two bad experiences with these U.P. autowallahs: one charged 130 rupees where it should have cost just 80, and after driving some distance tells us "Auto dheere hi chalegi... kuchh pareshani toh nahi hai na" it drove me clean mad but we were running late and the auto didn't seem to be too slow so we went on, but with distance the auto slowed down to such an extent a bullock-cart overtook us at a point. I gave the driver a long sermon on honesty but he just kept smiling stupidly, then I gave him just 100 rupees(he still made a profit!) and he stood yelling and cursing at our backs.
The other was when we came back from the Ghaziabad RTO where we had gone to get my learner's license made. The driver overcharged, but that's something all auto-drivers do, this one was more insane than is usual among the tribe, he slept off while driving and when shaken awake said, "Kya aapatti hai? door door tak tirafeek nahi hai.. sone do" . Then he stopped at the main road and wouldn't take us to our society which is only a little way inside. When my mother asked him to drop us at the society he looked out of the corner of his eyes and in a most sarcastic tone said, "Madam tumhara dimag kharab hai". There he crossed the limit. My father stood ready to slap him and I pretended trying to pull my shoes off to beat him. That unnerved him and he apologised. ("Munh se fisal gaya bhaiya...").

People who know me are probably laughing their heads off at the thought of Vasudha beating somebody, even scolding somebody... but these mindless autowallahs have managed making me that angry. Its not something I am very proud of, I have managed to hold my temper through four years of college when some people gave me great temptation to lose it, but here, the autowallah finally got the better of me. But now that I have gotten angry enough to write a post on it, I want to put it to good use. Its high time we did something about the auto menace... I have thought of putting up posters in socities and malls informing people of the actual fare that should be charged and what they are being charged and encouraging them to sign, probably these signatures could be taken up to the DM or whichever person is involved (I have a very rough idea... only the poster part clear right now). The problem is not restricted to U.P. only... I went to Orissa recently and the autos there didn;t go by the meter too... this is a widespread problem so we could create FaceBook community or setup a website against such miscreants.... do you people have any ideas on how to bring auto-drivers to book? do let me know....

Hickory Dickory Dock, Its time for a new blog

Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town
Upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown
Tapping at the window and crying through the lock
Are all the children in their beds? its past eight'o clock

Just to prove that I know my nursery rhymes really well. Be it the well-known ones like twinkle twinkle or baa baa black sheep, or the relatively obscure ones like Hot cross buns, 1-2 buckle my shoe, Little Miss Muffet, London Bridge is falling down and(whew!) Little Boy Blue I know them all. Believe you me, this is not the end of the list for I have not started with the Hindi rhymes.
Writing all this, I couldn’t refrain from singing out Little Miss Muffet and my sister was gaping at me with wonderment and amusement. From the next room my mother calls out, “Vasudha, do you remember that Hindi rhyme Morni (for my exclusively English followers that means Peacock)that you recited at your L.K.G rhyme competition?” Yeah, why not mom. My last semester at college went by with friends requesting rhymes. “ Vasudha please recite Billi Mausi”...” Hey how about Hickory Dickory Dock?” Remember the times when you went visiting aunts and uncles as a wee, lisping toddler and were asked to recite Humpty-Dumpty? And the “chooooo chweet”s and chocolates and cheek-pinching that followed? Wish I had that adulation (sans the cheek-pinching thank you!), I usually muster a few hearty laughs and some “You are unbelievable"s.
Just a few moments ago, when I recited Hot Cross Buns verse to verse while my sister stood dumbfounded after following me for one line, my mother gave me her I-don’t-know-whether-to-be-amused-or-proud stares. She has every right to her dilemma, after all it is to her that I owe my unique talent. If you have been thinking I am a genius with the most acute memory, you are going to be badly shaken. I repeated L.K.G. Thanks to my mother. She sent me packing to school at the tender age of three for commiting unspeakable crimes (I’ll speak of one anyway... I think that’s what drove her to it... I locked her up in a room and wouldn’t open till she said she wouldn’t beat me or scold me anymore). So there I was in school and the school-dunce. The story of the Thirsty Crow (remember the one in which the crow finds a pitcher with very little water, it can’t put its beak in to reach the water so it fills the pitcher with stones so the water comes up to beak-level), which I tell with such gusto now was Greek to little Tamil-only Vasudha. It was a tough time, and the results must have been appalling. So mother decided that I should repeat, after all strong basics are very necessary to any further education. I learnt all my nursery rhymes again and learnt them forever. “Your strong foundations have made you what you are today” declares my mother with evident pride whenever the topic comes up. I must own up that some of the pride is justified, beside being nursery-rhyme-knowledgeable at the ripe old age of twenty-three, I am also a poetess. Sample this:

Baa Baa Black sheep have you any wool?
I need it for my sister who thinks she’s too cool
Shoes bedazzled like earrings, Earrings shaped like ballet shoes
Gowns looking like bathrobes, and a well stacked soft toy zoo
I think wool would be perfect, to thaw her a peg or two.

‘Recessions are trying times. They really blight the soul. Everything looks so bleak and unhappy right now” thought Veena.
Normal thoughts in depression-ridden times you would say, but Veena was only sixteen, and from a wee-to-do family (they had recently purchased an LCD TV)
The blight on her soul was her dear sister’s unhappiness. Graduating at this time, even from a prestigious engineering college, she had had no luck with placements.
‘She is so deserving.. smart, confident and of course, intelligent.’ thought Veena while tying her shoelaces. ‘I remember the time I distrustingly approached her with a chemistry problem and was surprised she really could solve it!’ She chuckled to herself, then called out to her mother, “ Mamma, I am going out to play.”. Once outside she called all her friends. As she stood waiting, she saw two little girls playing about in the mud. Her mind went back to the times when she and her sister had played about in a similar fashion. She smiled to herself as she remembered ‘My eccentric sister, she made me play a doll… I must have been two… she marketed me as the doll who walked, talked and spewed poems…and when people grew interested I would recite twinkle twinkle little star! Oh god how her friends laughed… That’s Kittu, a liitle deranged, but huge fun… things just happen to her. Like the time I went to her because my classes ended early and not knowing what to do she took me to her class and hid me underneath the bench. But when my legs cramped up I called out to her that I wanted to come out. Of course the whole class heard that. Her teacher laughed so hard she forgot punishments.’
“ Hey Veena… what are you doing standing and laughing by yourself!” asked Soumya “Just thinking about Kittu, and all the fun we used to have.” said Veena and set off with
her friends, their warm chatter engulfing her. Soon she slipped into reveries of her own again.
‘But she is not just about all things deranged and demented…’ she thought to herself.
‘She could never see the old maid working by herself, so she would always sneak up and wash a few utensils while the maid was busy with other work.
…..And she cooked up such brilliant meals when mamma was down with fever for a long time…a natural nurse too, the way she tended to mamma I could never have.’
They had all reached the basketball court by then. They started with warming up, dribbling. Veena threw some shots at the basket, all of which landed on spot. “Basketball is my strong point…not football… Oh God! the way my shoe flew off while the ball stayed stuck to ground…the way Kittu howled with laughter! I never thought I could live it down.
‘ That Kittu….she is mad… but I don’t know what I would have done without her. I would never have learnt my physics she hadn’t played Tutoring Squirrel and taught me all about Newton’s laws. The way mamma and papa laughed when they found out how she taught me’ she thought as she dribbled the ball.
‘The way she held me close before boarding the plane for college….all the times she counseled me, stood up for me….she’s just irreplaceable…she’s my superstar!’. Inadvertently a tear had splashed……’And she was so sad last time I spoke to her….God help her….if anyone she deserves to be happy. Cant you just give her one?”
Just then the cell rang. ‘Kittu calling!’ exclaimed Veena and picked up the call “ Veena !! Bon-Petite, Mon-Ami” called out Kittu showing off her newly acquired French vocabulary.
“ Forever the same.. stop showing off girl!” said Veena affectionately.



“But guess what! I got the job.. a good one, matches my work-profile too.. I am finally at peace” said Kittu heaving a sigh of relief.
“Me too… actually more than you” said Veena.
“ I know my pet, now just wait till I come back and bedevil your life with endless recountings of the shoe that flew!”
“Don’t you dare!” growled Veena
And while Kittu chatted away describing splendid ways in which she intended to spread mischief a warm glow spread in Veena’s heart. Everything was right with the world once more. She picked the ball and aimed it. It soared and landed perfectly in the basket. Her first three pointer.

TragiComedy

It was a fine evening. A setting sun had left the sky tinged a lovely orange-pink shade. The mellow breeze from the nearby orchards set the tone for a calm, quiet end to the day. But at the Nayar household there was chaos and cacophony. It was the dramatics event hosted as part of the All Star Cousin Meet (All the Nayar cousins met at their grandparents’ home every summer vacation and packed in enough din and disorder to last their grandparents till the next.) The drama was the star event of their all star meet. Parents, grandparents, neighbours had all turned up for the gala event (probably to celebrate the end of another two months of bedlam). Lakshmi, the upcoming playwright had written a poignant piece picked up from the Abhignan Shakuntalam. It was the act showing Shakuntala leaving her friends in the forest. Everybody had rehearsed so beautifully, Lakshmi knew the audience was going to cry. And oh, the elders would just love her ingenuity for dressing up Mr. Natwarlal, the pet dog as a deer. Just paper antlers and brown spots painted on to Mr. Natwarlal’s biscuit-coloured coat had done the trick. Now the scene looked so real, with a deer prancing about just as it does in the Shakuntalam.
Suddenly Lakshmi was shaken from her pleasant reverie by her five year old cousin Revathi.
“ There are so many people! I will never be able to get my lines out.” whimpered the poor little lady.
“ You just have to say, “Don’t go Shakuntala.. don’t!” what’s the big deal with that. Even if you shake with fright it is alright, it will look like you are shaking with the ache of parting.”, said the harsh, practical Lakshmi.
But there was no time for further tete-a-tete as the curtains went up and Revathi was rudely pushed onto the stage. She realized in a rush that she was on stage thrust upon a crowd of expectant faces. Mouth open, she stared then started running around. She had almost made it to the exit when Sumana caught her and loudly exclaimed “ Oh sister, why do you behave so? Has the imminent parting affected you this much?” Confused, Revathi spewed out the only dialogue she knew, “ Don’t go Shakuntala.. don’t” As an aside to her cousins-nee-forest friends, Sumana said, “ Poor Chitrangada! Being Shakuntala’s favourite sister, she feels the ache of this parting most.” Backstage Lakshmi heaved a sigh of relief. She made up her mind to give Sumana a big bar of chocolate and Revathi a nice spanking.
Now Lakshmi herself entered the stage in dignified gait as the sweet Shakuntala. She smelt the painted flowers, conversed with stick-on birds, played with her dog-deer and thus finally reached her forest-friends on centre-stage. “ It is a beautiful evening sisters, come let us pluck flowers and dance with the birds, why do you sit here so mournfully?”
“Don’t go Shakuntala..don’t!” said the hapless Chitrangada
At this Shakuntala sat down and started crying herself. “Oh my sisters! I feel it too, this dull pain in the heart. What shall I do without you?!”
Into this mayhem entered the royal Dushyant (excellently played by Karthik). “Dearest, its time, bid your goodbyes and come with me to grace the royal palace with your presence.” he said in most couth language. At this the wailing peaked and the neighbouring cat peeked in to have a look at the source of all the noise. The faithful deer, which till now had been at Shakuntala’s side all along, went berserk. Even as Dushyant tried to rein him in, the deer barked menacingly and ran across the stage dragging his highness along. Finally he broke free, and with a leap and a bound was among the audience, in chase of his mortal enemy, antlers bobbing up and down. There was commotion all around. The cousins were mortified and Shakuntala was now crying with sincere grief. But the audience had had the best evening in many days. Helplessly rolling with laughter, tears flowing down their cheeks, they came up and congratulated the cousins for putting up a stupendous show.
Years later Lakshmi still winced when she thought of that tragedy-comedy. “But I did make them cry… even if only of laughter”, she would console herself.

Missing College

Hey people, I am back home. And finally it has struck me that college has ended. No more visits to the mess. Food comes right into your hands. No more visits to Mongini's, no more sun-kissed beaches. No more cool evenings... Delhi's evenings are as hot as the days. No looking out of your window into glorious sunrises and sunsets. No more running into friends' rooms at your will, no more talking away into the night. No more maggi cooked in a bowl, no tea sessions, no treats for the most unimportant things. No more exams, no DND notes, no thinking about that elusive tune which has been playing in your mind while you try to study. Everything is changed. Everything. And while there's a terrible ache on the beautiful things I have left behind, I know that go on we must, else time will push us forward. So Iam looking forward to work and the new challenges and responsibilities it will bring. While I dream about the new life, look into my stories all of you