My daughter, my teacher

She grew up quickly and even before I knew it she was 12 years old. It felt like yesterday when I had adopted a sweet little baby, christened her Sukila, spent sleepless nights trying to put her to sleep, held her hand on her first day to school, helped her with her baby homework. Now…, she has grown and time suddenly seemed to have moved very fast.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn’t notice her standing in front of me and staring at me with one of her eyebrows raised and a look that said, “Now what is it!”. I smiled sheepishly, well didn’t quite know how to react in such a situation. She has always been successful in catching me day dreaming.

“So, how was the day?” I asked her.

“We have a new boy in our class, Rishab, he looks kinda cute. I spoke with him; he stays 10 minutes from our house. His family moved in here last week.” she said with her eyes bubbling with energy. Well you need energy to finish all that in a single breath.

I gave her a taunting smile, “Hmmm… seems like somebody’s got a crush on someone.”

She replied shyly “Nothing like that.”

“So tell me more about this Rishab friend of yours…”

The journey back home was filled with Rishab. If I were to get a penny every time she said Rishab, I would have been rich by the time we reached home. After around 20 minutes of Rishab, she asked me about my lunch with Kirti. The question was no surprise; I always shared with her the details of the person I was dating.

“It was fine, she is smart, likes reading books and is nuts about cricket.”

“Hmmm… suits you, considering that you aren’t smart, don’t read and watch cricket only when it is last thing available on cable.”

I grinned. Well, to some extent she was right but then you shouldn’t accept it so easily.

“Pluh-lease, I will watch cricket only if it is the second last thing available on cable, you forgot the religious channels we have.”

“Ok second last, if it makes you happy. So… did u like her?”

“She was so so, I wouldn’t say great but then kinda boring, not really my type.”

“Are you going to call her?”

“I don’t think so, and… don’t ask me why.”

“Come on dad, at least this time give it a try.”

“Let’s see sweetie.”

The rest of the journey was filled with father-daughter gossips with topics ranging from politics to our neighbors. Back home it was the usual routine prepare dinner, watch some television and finally before bedtime take a walk around the block. Weekends were usually spent shopping, visiting family and friends. As much as I loved to sleep through a weekend it was always a distant dream, Sukila usually had some or the other stuff planned through the weekend and this weekend was no different. There was a sale at a nearby mall and her shopping list was already ready.

She wanted me to take Kirti along, but I was like ‘Naaah’. It irritated her the most that I never had any stable relationship. Well I couldn’t help it none of the women I dated ever matched my frequency, there was something or the other I didn’t like about them. Kirti was good but then we didn’t have any common interests.

Anyways it was weekend and time for shopping. At the mall I usually spent my time in the jazz club while Sukila shopped with her friends with her pre-fixed amount of money. At around 5 received a call on my mobile informing me the end of her shopping spree. I came out to the car park and saw her talking to a boy. Something told me that I am about to be introduced to Rishab and I was right. After the short round of introduction, I did my own enquiries to learn about the boy who had impressed my sweetie. As Sukila had mentioned, he lived two blocks away from our house. And then there were details about his family and other stuff and so on. Well… the father and the boy-on-whom-my-daughter-is-having-a-crush conversation ended without much of an exciting climax.

We got in our car; something told me the topic would be Rishab and it was. And then there was the much expected question “So, what do you think about him?”

I was like, “Well, he is okay and smart.” That’s the best I could come up with. And between conversations something unexpected propped up.

“Dad…hmmmm… well… Rishab asked me out for a movie tomorrow, what do you say?” That was something I was not prepared for, it was quite a shock and my instant reaction was “NO”.

The rest of the journey was silent, no sound except the drone of the engine. Back home the scene was same, like that of old movies with no dialogues. I made dinner while she was in her room. I made the dinner table and called out for her. There was no answer, so I went to her room. I knocked and entered the room and there she was busy reading. I went up to her, gently took the book from her hand, placed it aside, pulled up a chair and sat beside her. She looked depressed and that did make me feel real bad.

“I am sorry but…” she stopped me, looked into my eyes and said, “You don’t have to explain, dad, I understand. Let’s have dinner before its cold.” She said with a smile… a forced smile.

The dinner was quiet and quick. I dropped the dishes in the dishwasher and came out ready for our night walk; Sukila was waiting outside.

As we were walking, “Dad, have you ever fallen in love?” Sukila asked.

That was the second surprise question for today. “No”, I answered.

“Do you know how it feels to be in love?”

Third question! “Well, I would answer that as no.”

“Well, then I can’t explain to you how I felt when Rishab asked me out cause you wouldn’t understand”.

I sighed, well she did speak wisdom. I realized that I had broken her heart when I said ‘No’. But as she said, I had no idea how much pain she felt. I never fell in love with someone because I didn’t want to get myself hurt. But now I feel I missed one of the most wonderful emotions in life. I was still in my thought process when she interrupted me.

“Dad, I don’t want to go to the movie with Rishab, I understand your anxiety. See I am a grown up girl now.” She looked at me and smiled.

“I need time to think my dear, I don’t know anything about this guy and I can’t just let you go on a movie with him. Well, frankly speaking I am not yet ready for that phase.

She seemed to understand what I wanted to say. I hated silence so I asked “So, how does it feel to be in love?”

“Well dad, the answer to that question cannot be explained, it has to be felt. Maybe you should stop fearing and try to experience it.”

“I don’t fear it my dear, I just never could get myself to fall in love.”

“That’s because dad, you never tried… you avoided it…”

I didn’t know what to speak further. By then we had reached home, I tucked her in, gave her a good night kiss.

“Know what sweetie, I think I will give it a try.”

She smiled back, gave me a wink and said, “Way to go, dad.”

I came back to my room and picked up the phone. As I dialed Kirti’s number I felt glad for two reasons; one, my daughter has grown up and two, I learnt something beautiful from my daughter and I didn’t want to disappoint myself.

Fairy Tales never end!

It was awesome to see Kedar back to his normal self, at the club. Since the past few months, he was in a trance would speak with no one, just a simple hello was what everyone got from him. But today he seemed very happy, jovial, and back to his own energetic self. The first few rounds at the poker table had everyone clutching their belly and everyone who knew Kedar welcomed this change.

It all happened a few months ago when Kedar lost his wife to an accident. It was a shock to everyone for they were the perfect couple; Shama, a homemaker, who created the perfect home for Kedar, a marketing executive. Everyone would always see them fighting over nothing. Once in a party Shama happened to spill some coke over Kedar’s shirt and to everybody’s surprise, Kedar was mad over it. Well he was not mad because the shirt was spoiled but because he didn’t like coke! Their life was a fairy tale for everyone to spin their own tales.

On that fateful day, Shama had stepped out of the house to buy a gift for their neighbor’s house warming. She was walking by the footpath and had just stepped on the street to cross the road when a truck, which had lost control, hit her. She was dead on the spot. Kedar was on his way home when the news was conveyed to him. He didn’t cry, not a tear dropped from his eyes. He went through the entire ordeal without shedding a tear.

There were times he would sit in his balcony with a cigarette in his hand waiting for Shama to yell at him for smoking. But no voice spoke, nor did the walls or the curtains, which Shama had picked up. The house was silent; it was quiet because the ring master was gone. The light which guided each of them had blended into darkness. Kedar, an excellent speaker, a person who was famous for his wit and his high energy decided to curl up in a cave, a cave which he built for himself.

But today it was different; Kedar first pulled one on Mr. Sharma’s bald head. He casually came up to Mr. Sharma and tapped twice on his head and exclaimed “This bulbs rock solid and opaque, no wonder there’s no light”. The whole crowd was surprised but before they realized anything there was a huge uproar. Even Mr. Sharma couldn’t help but laugh. In the nearby table Swetha was singing a song in her pathetic voice (which she was aware of). Kedar went near the table with tears in his eyes and before he could say anything Swetha became quiet. She knew anything she spoke would be upheld in the court of laughter. But then silence has its own charisma and even before a pin could be dropped, everyone started laughing. The entire evening was spent laughing to amusing comments of Kedar.

As the evening progressed and the folks were getting ready to go back home, Kedar made an announcement; an announcement that shocked everyone. Kedar invited them to his marriage anniversary party, their or his third, on 6^th June; it was the party which was the talk of the town the previous year, and the year before that. But this year it was going to be different, very different… everybody knew that but then the old Kedar was back, and so the invitation was accepted.

The folks could hardly wait for the d-day, and it arrived. Kedar had left no stone unturned for the celebration. The previous year he had the pearl of his life help him but this year he was all by himself as he bedecked his house for the occasion. Slowly the guests started pouring in; and though they were instructed to carry no gifts, it was gifts all around. They were gifts in all sizes from the size of a cup to that of a refrigerator. The ladies left no stone unturned with each one bringing in alliances for Kedar. Of course they wanted him to be happy, to go on with his life and this was the perfect time. But Kedar was busy; well he had to receive the guests! Mr. Rai stepped in as the reception committee and relieved Kedar to mingle with the visitors. As the evening progressed, the party became livelier with Kedar adding to the entertainment in his own unique way.

All good things come to an end and so did the evening. As the guests started dispersing, Aditya invited everyone to raise a toast for Kedar before they left. Aditya was Kedar’s best friend and was most concerned when Kedar detached himself from the world. He was one person who would pawn his own life for Kedar. Their friendship was more than 15 years old and as matured as a 15 year old wine. He knew how Kedar was feeling every second during the evening. He could feel Kedar’s pain as he smiled, entertained the guests and as he made everyone laugh with his remarks. Only a person close to the heart can see it, and such was Aditya. They were together since college; had gotten into all sorts of trouble from beating up guys to landing up in the police station. They still shared the moment when they had sneaked into the ladies hostel to speak with their then girlfriends.

As everyone gathered around Kedar with their wine glasses, Aditya handed Kedar his wine glass.

“To Kedar, I wish may his biggest dream come true tonight.”

Kedar looked at his wine glass, smiled at Aditya and drank the entire contents in one gulp. With the glass in his hand he hugged Aditya. He looked into Aditya’s eyes with tears and said

“My biggest dream was to die in the arms of the person whom I loved the most, but then she is so long gone now. I don’t want to die with an unfulfilled dream, so hold me my friend.”

Kedar collapsed; the wine glass slipped from his hand and broke in to a thousand pieces. As Aditya held him tight not wanting to let Kedar fall, Kedar looked into Aditya’s eyes and said

“The glass of wine had a purpose in life and it has achieved its purpose. You have a purpose in life for me and you are performing your purpose. I had promised Shama, I will never spend an anniversary without her and I have to keep up my word. Sorry dude.”

Kedar’s smile weakened, as his body became placid. With his vision going blurry he stole a final glance at everyone, his drooping eyes seemed to convey his gratitude for coming to his party. As he embraced death, Aditya held him closer to his heart, tears rolled down his cheeks but his voice choked when he tried to speak.

As he laid Kedar on the floor he could envision Kedar and Shama’s fairy tales coming back to life.

The R a c e

Veena and Pratap were always good friends; they always hung out with each other, shared their dreams, everyday experiences, and their sorrows and even stood up for each other in times of need. But then even the best of friends can be competitive and that was what they always did. They competed on everything eating to running to racing in their vehicle. And the loser gets it all; well taunts are really not well accepted even if it is among friends.

One evening they met at a red signal. A red signal, where every driver looks at each other with reprisal, with the gaze that says I will be the first to leave at green. It was the perfect place to start a race. Veena and Pratap geared up, they glanced at each other, their grip becoming stronger every passing second. They were ready to bolt out the moment light turns green. Each second seemed like an eternity as they waited. Then, suddenly, the light turned green. As both Veena and Pratap arched forward, their moms pushed the strollers in opposite direction, said goodbye and went their way. They would be meeting tomorrow again at the pre-school.