The Last Word

'You should pen down your life dad. There are quite a few chapters which will be absolutely amazing!' I told him on that beautiful Valentine's Day in 2023 over the speaker phone while driving to office in the morning.

He brushed off that request of mine saying, 'Poda, who would want to read about my life?'

I said, 'You have inspired a lot of people dad. Even if that book of yours is read by only ten people, it will be life changing for them. You must write.'

'OK, let me give it a thought', dad said. I could imagine him smiling at the other end of the phone. 

'Tell me dad, what's left in your bucket list? Is there anything you really wanted to achieve and couldn't?'

It didn’t even take a moment for him to respond, 'Nothing da, am all done with God's grace'.

48 hours later, I stood next to his bed in the hospital where he was in a state beyond recognizing me and bid him goodbye with my last kiss while his heart was still beating with unconditional love as always...

Happy Valentine's Day in heaven Daddy 💙

 

Colour of Horror

He was careful not to mix light colours with dark ones while placing the clothes in a bucket of soap and water. It was even more important this time since he had taken one of her prized possessions, a grey designer wear which she was planning to wear for an upcoming party that was very special for her.

All dark colours together… That was the mantra and he absolutely followed it. He mixed his son’s black shorts along with her grey dress. The shorts were infamous for its jet-black colour which every time when washed, shed a peel of black layer. Anything along with the shorts was meant to get tainted!

A few minutes later he went back to the bucket and slowly lifted the designer dress. The cloth seemed to have inherited a special hue of black. She had initially reversed and placed the dress in the laundry basket which found its way into the bucket in the same manner. When reversed, the dress looked quite a dark shade of grey. The original outer side had a pearl white colour which now qualifies to be called black pearl!

She was passing by when he was trying to hide the catastrophe. A high-pitched blood curdling scream reverberated through the house. She took the dress and reversed it to expose the outer side. The only thing that had a deeper shade than the black colour on the dress was her face. A dangerously deep shade of red it was.

Remembering their recent visit to an apparel shop where they suggested dyeing as a method to get your colour of choice, he told her, the dress will look as if it was dyed. A total silence was the response. After a few moments, everything happened exactly how he predicted. Dyed indeed was the outcome, just that it was spelt differently.

He is now the President of the elite club of HDH – Husbands Dyed in Heaven!

The Chocolate Volcano

Jim stood at the bottom of the hill and looked at the broken pieces of wood from the well that were strewn down the slope. He recently turned forty and every time he came to this spot an overwhelming emotion imprisoned him. This is where he lost his siblings, well almost. The reality of what happened still sends jitters down his spine, though his siblings were world famous after this incident. But the truth remains hidden till date and he is the only one alive who could testify the fact now.

They were just like any other chirpy kids in the neighbourhood. Jim was all of six years when it happened. Just like every other day, mother asked his brother to fetch a pail of water. As Jack got the pail from the store, his sister, Jill joined him and they took Jim along.

It was quite a climb for a six year old and hence Jack asked him to wait at the bottom of the hill. He looked up the hill, just the way he did now, and saw the well from where his brother used to draw water. Jim loved the tiny yellow flowers that were aplenty at the foot of the hill. As the siblings climbed up, he started to look around and started collecting the flowers. Their mom loved them and he always had a basketful for her every time they returned from the hill.

Everything happened in a jiffy. Jim heard some noise and as he looked up, he could first see Jack rolling down the hill with the pail of water promptly followed by his sister. He could hear their cry and almost started climbing up the hill when the cry suddenly started to fade. The sound seemed like they were far away and then it was gone, totally. Complete silence followed.

Jim did search the whole hill but was unable to locate neither his brother nor sister. He was scared to go back to his mother without the siblings and decided to wait near the well. He even tried to follow the path took by his brother and all of a sudden he tripped on a dry twig and fell down exactly how Jack fell. He started rolling down the hill and as he was half way through the slope he felt like being suddenly sucked into a hole.

He was taken down a large sand dune, the likes of which you only see in deserts. As he was made to slide down the slope he noticed the texture around him slowly changing. From the sand like form, it gave way to what felt like coarse grass and finally something quite soft and squishy was all around him.

Jim didn’t know how long he slid down through that tunnel. After a while with a loud thud he landed on a soft bed of what appeared to be dark brown mud. He was almost fully covered with it though it smelled like anything but mud. He took a bit of what was around him and brought it closer to his nose. The aroma was heavenly and something which he loved when mom made it, once a while. He was so tempted that he even took a small portion to his mouth. Voila! It was delicious chocolate!

He couldn’t believe that he was literally inside a mountain of chocolate! Without wasting much time he started to fill himself with the best chocolate he ever tasted. He was so overjoyed that he remembered about his siblings only when he heard someone calling out his name. It was Jack along with Jill who was already full with loads of chocolates and was equally surprise to see their little brother down as well.

Together they started to devour more and were about to take something along with them to mom when it happened. A loud rumbling sound and soon the whole ground filled with chocolate started to shake. Before they could even move a muscle, were immediately jolted up in the air and along with the rich tasty magma they were thrown out of the chocolate volcano. All of them landed on the slopes of the mountain which were now covered with multi-coloured soft chocolate pieces that trickled down from volcano that spewed out the best chocolate in the world!

Jack, Jill and Jim grabbed as much chocolates as they could and walked back to their village. It was a long walk ahead, but a sweet one indeed!

It is a jungle in here!

As the practice these days, Sandra checked her Outdoor App which still showed a red icon that meant danger. She awaited the green icon to appear, the signal for humans to leave their house safely. Ever since the crazy scientist at the genetics lab innovated and spread the animal survival virus, the whole of animal kingdom has multiplied and spread unlike any other time in the history of mankind.

People can no longer go out as they wish. They must wait for an update from a complex combing operation that keeps scanning the entire locality to ensure that none of the dangerous animals are lurking in the region. Once the safety is established a message is sent to all those in the neighbourhood informing them that it is safe to leave their house.

Even with this arrangement, the risk is always at large. There are these occasional beasts that manage to dodge the radars that are meant to detect their presence. Cases were plenty on how a quick pit stop to get a coffee turned out to be a horrendous experience for many. Too many precious lives were lost and many more at stake.

Jungles across the world were brimming with life. Amazon, Jim Corbett, Black Forest and many others across the globe were overflowing with animals. Naturally they’ll look for alternate dwelling places. Villages were the first ones to fall, smaller towns followed. Literally the animal dynasty spread its wings and conquered the places one after the other.

There was a massive exodus to larger cities which offered a safe place to stay to all. But it was only a matter of time. Giant trees now thrive where the villages and smaller towns once stood. Soon the borders of the concrete cities started to see an influx of greenery. It was as if the jungle had its mouth wide open and slowly swallowing the city from all directions.

Initially people in the cities were too busy to notice the change. By the time they realized the gravity of the situation, things started getting out of hands. The military was called in to help. But the army barracks faced an unprecedented series of attacks. Humans knew very well to fight with their race, but this was the first time they faced an enemy that was attacking totally using their instincts. It was absolutely a new experience for humanity, and they simply failed in predicting the next moves of the enemy. Finally, it reached a point where even the most powerful of the nations in the world announced Code Blood Red, the highest order of danger for human civilization ever.

When all hopes seemed to be lost, a shimmer of faith came from the deep forests of Alaska. A previously unknown strain of virus seemed to have broken out that deeply affected the survival abilities of animal species. A team of brave young scientists came together from a dozen countries across the world.

Their Mission: Save humanity and retain animal kingdom.

The work has begun.

An idea, indeed, can change your life!

Alex and Nisha had a fantastic tenth anniversary celebration recently. Unlike some of the couples from their parents’ generation, they both had agreed to share various duties at home. Among the others, Alex had the responsibility of keeping the house clean.

Generally Alex never defaulted on his duty, but Nisha had been observing a disturbing trend for the past few weeks. The frequency of cleaning seemed to be getting longer and longer. Regular reminders did not seem to be working anymore. During the last couple of weeks it reached a point where Nisha had to step in and do the cleaning herself. It was definitely a breach of duty and needed corrective action.

They stepped into their third week where the trend continued to bother her. Many a times kitchen was the worst hit with maximum activities happening there unlike various other rooms in the house. Nisha decided it was high time she did something about it. Something drastic!

Other than cleaning, Alex also had the responsibility of doing laundry at home. That day he decided that the pile of clothes had reached a dangerous level that he was sure to get a not-so-friendly reminder soon from his sweetheart. He promptly headed to the washing machine which was placed in the kitchen and loaded it with soiled clothes. As usual, he set the washing machine in the desired mode and left it for washing.

While the clothes were doing a trapeze inside the washing machine, Alex continued with other interesting activities which were more amusing than the boring chores. After a few minutes he returned to kitchen to fetch some snacks. What awaited him was something short of a disaster. Half of the kitchen floor was flooded! Water continued to rise and soon it was to reach the boundaries of kitchen threatening to flood the other parts of the house.

He frantically called out to Nisha who came running. By the time she reached the kitchen, Alex figured out that the washing machine’s outlet pipe had become lose and the water leak was the result of this malfunction. Together they quickly stopped the water flow so that the flood doesn’t get across to the other rooms.

Without wasting any moment, Nisha handed over the mop and the floor wiper to Alex. He immediately got down to work and after about half an hour the kitchen was sparkling clean! Nisha took a good look at the kitchen and felt that the whole place was never this beautiful, ever. Alex looked at her and was not sure if he noticed a slight grin on her face or maybe it was just his mind playing games with him.

There was a plastic container below the kitchen sink next to the washing machine’s outlet. As the pipe came lose, water that leaked found its way into this container. In the frenzy of clearing everything from the kitchen, Alex had placed this container in the balcony. The container had a couple of holes on it and by the time he finished with the kitchen, the balcony was flooded. They now have a sparkling balcony as well!

A few moments earlier while wiping the floor dry, Alex mentioned to Nisha that they need to find a permanent solution to the outlet pipe so that it remain fixed. Nisha nodded her head in agreement, but her brain was working extra time to think of a hundred ways by which the pipe never gets fixed!

Alex is yet to figure out if the grin on her face was real or not…

The Loop

Disclaimer: If you have not lost a parent yet and consider yourself light-hearted, read on at your own risk. The following content may be disturbing for a few.

I was a bit late to reach office in the morning. Blame it on the weird nightmare that disturbed my sleep the previous night in which my dad passed away and I went and buried him!

As soon as I reached office a bunch of grave faces greeted me. ‘Did someone die?’ I thought. One by one they came and passed their condolences. They all wanted to know how did it happen all of a sudden. Apparently, I told them two weeks back that my dad passed away and I am now back in office after burying him!

Reality struck me. It wasn’t a nightmare. It was a fact indeed. I lost my dad.

Shortly afterwards I settled down at my desk and started catching up on the mails. In a few moments I was pulled back into the time bubble and soon I was thinking of a conversation I need to have with dad. I could hear my mind reminding me to call him later today.

Later during the day, as I was planning to give a call to my dad, another of my colleague turns up with a long face and repeated the exercise that happened in the morning. The time bubble was burst again. I lost my dad once more.

Losing someone, especially one that is quite close to your heart isn’t easy.

I’m not sure how long will time continue this game with me.

Then again as they say, time is the best healer!

Till then we’ll play hide and seek dad, just like good ol’ times.

You have a fantastic time wherever you are…

Tears of Strength

‘Be Strong’. Probably the phrase I’ve heard countless number of times since 16 February 2023, almost a month back. That’s the date when I started experiencing the strangest ever feeling in my life of four decades.

Imagine this. Ever since you were born, the starting and ending of your day has always been with the biggest and brightest source of energy known to the human race, the Sun. What happens one day, just like that, the Sun stops shining. Needless to say you’ll be slapped with darkness and gloom. Your days no longer start with the perennial hope of light. You will never be able to wish anyone a bright and beautiful day anymore.

This and many more impossible to explain emotions were having a joyful ride of their life through my mind since that day. I lost the greatest source of power in my life from the time I was born, the one that gave me hope, cared for me unconditionally, moulded me with love and taught me what life is in its entirety.

My Dad!

He was indeed a superhero for me and unsurprisingly for many others as well. People who I met and others who reached out only had good memories and great stories to share about dad. He was literally an influencer in their lives, way before social media ever existed and the word influencer meant even more than the digital motivation that we rely upon these days.

Since he knew quite a lot of people it was decided that we should have the funeral on a weekend, four days after his passing, so that they get a chance to meet him for one last time. It indeed was a good decision as the endless flow of people the day before and the funeral day was the evidence of how much was he loved.

What was particularly difficult for me was to meet a bunch of them who have been not just influenced by dad but have been a great influence in his life, about whom he has spoken to me many times. They all reminded me of the happy times dad had with them and those moments literally relived in front of my eyes each time they came over and held my hand.

Sometimes a look into their eyes, a word uttered, a gentle pressing of my hand or a hug, they all triggered a seemingly never-ending churn of reservoir of tears deep down somewhere in me.

I cried, through all those days and more.

Every instance I could recollect the precious moments of love and care he kept aside for me, welled up my eyes. I heard people saying time and again to be strong. They wanted me to remain a support for the sake of my family including mom. Some of them said do not cry and be strong.

But those were not tears of weakness. In fact every drop that found its way out through my eyes made me stronger. For me, tears are the most natural outlet for a human being especially when you are overwhelmed with emotions. Let it flow. It will only make you stronger and prepare you to move ahead.

Amidst the avalanche of tears, along with my God sent cousins, I got through all the set of activities required right from the hospital bed to the funeral day and beyond. If I am to make a list of things done, it’ll need another whole day. I truly believe it was those tears though they blurred my vision momentarily, gave me much needed clarity and power just like a windshield that is wiped clean each time after you spray water and the wiper of your car does a perfect job.

Let me end with the tribute I penned down for Dad on his 7th Day, ‘Daddy, you taught us everything except the last chapter in your book of life. We opened the final chapter today and it said, ‘The Beginning’. You left us a note, ‘for self-study’. We now begin our learning with your eternal guidance. Live in our hearts and be with us forever… To the best dad world can ever offer!’