A whiff of happiness.

"Oh, your son is a troublemaker! He and his friends are upto something the whole time. I wish he would stop driving me up the wall. I don't want to feel like this, but he is so much like his father, except the eyes. They are yours. The only reason I put up with him and his antics." She listened patiently. He knew she didn't have much time. Maybe another five minutes before she left him, again. But these ten minutes in the whole day was the only time happiness lit up his hooded eyes. The only time he felt truly alive and connected to her. The doe disappeared in a whiff of silvery smoke, leaving him with a sad smile on his face. "Until tomorrow night then!", thought Severus Snape.

Shenanigans

Friday morning in the Chaks’ household:

8:30 a.m.: Mr. Chaks: Slow down girl, stand properly for your bath..baby..don’t let the water out.....(sigh)

9:30 a.m.: Mr. Chaks (while baby finds out that food flies better than an aeroplane): You have to eat your breakfast else we won’t take you out today evening.

To Mrs Chaks (in a growl): She’s not eating.

Mrs Chaks: It’s weekend, your turn to feed her breakfast.

Mr. Chaks: Humph!!

10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m: Mr. Chaks (after baby has coloured the walls with different crayons, tried to jump from the dining table, picked out her dad’s razor to give herself a shave, etc etc etc): I haven’t had a smoke since morning...how do I keep up with her shenanigans....why can’t she behave herself?? What is all this?

Grandma Mrs. Chaks(very calmly): They are genes.

The Night before Christmas

Snow fell softly, strains of 'Silent Night' emanated from the radio, big red stockings hung at the fireplace, a beautifully decorated Christmas tree, its star shining brightly, stood proudly near the window; all was calm and quiet, when suddenly..

 

"CRASH… owwwww… BOOM… BANG.. owwwwww!!"

 

And Tom, with his tail in the mouse trap, chased Jerry, from the pantry into the living room.

 

"Hilarious!! Ho, ho, ho!!" laughed out the roly-poly old man, watching his favorite show for the umpteenth time.

 

"Haven't you left yet?" his wife chided.

"I'm going, I'm going dear. There's still time. I wish I had a nice, quiet night before Christmas", Santa sighed, as he stepped into his sleigh and headed off into the night sky.

Morning..

Aveek felt numb. He felt a blinding light pressing on his eyelids. He was standing at the pearly gates. He had not survived the night on the frozen mountainside, after he got separated from his team. He could feel the angels near him, engulfing him in warm breath and thought, 'Do angels breathe?' He felt them licking his face. 'Hang on!', he thought, 'angels don't lick faces.' He slowly opened his eyes and was dazzled by the light. Slowly, as his eyes adjusted, he could make out a shaggy head, with drooping ears. Slowly, Jackie came into view. His dog had saved him, and he realized that the blinding light was the morning sun blazing down on him.

Pssst..

"Psst..psst..!! Anil..psst.."
"Whaaaaat??"
"We'll meet after class, and decide.."
"Shh..Rishi sir'll hear.."
"Psst.. Sahil please pass this note to Anil."
"Marwayega kya Nitin!!"
"Sir's not looking, pass kar de."

Rishi was not oblivious to what was going on behind his back, but he tried not to react. He chuckled to himself. He was remembering his schooldays when he and his friends used to pass notes in class and whisper endlessly.

But this was military school. Discipline had to be maintained. With a heavy sigh, he turned from the blackboard and said, "Sahil, Anil, Nitin! Out of the class, right now and three rounds of the field."

Sahil gave Nitin a dirty look and said, "Ab kar psst, psst.. Idiot..!!"

Nature's Song..

A low-pitch of the north wind and,
a falsetto from down under,
a vibrato from the clouds, and
a melisma from thunder.

Swishing of the trees,
as if cords being strummed.
Crashing of the waves,
as if bongos being drummed.

All together it sounds as,
a song from the heavens
in midst of it, there's the
cappella of the ravens.

I stand on the porch,
listening to my favourite song.
Nature sings its opera,
making me sing along.

Clash..

Perseus reached the island of Medusa. There lying around were the statues of innumerable men, turned into stone. Perseus knew he had to be careful not to look at Medusa directly, else he would also be turned to stone. He constantly kept looking in his highly-polished shield, for a sign of her. Suddenly, there was a high-pitched scream….

Shobhu, the director shouted "CUT!! This is ridiculous. Som, can't you look where you are stepping. Javed is a human being, not a statue. We have to finish this by tomorrow, and we haven't even proceeded to Act 2. Gear up guys, come on..PLEASE…"To himself, he said, "This is not 'Clash of the Titans', its clash of the morons."

Sugary sweet Innocence..

“Daniel…Sara.. Come inside!”

The sound of two pairs of pattering feet and then Michelle felt a great weight collide with her. She smiled and looked down at her two angels, Daniel, aged three and Sara, aged two.

“Mom, what are you doing?”, asked Daniel.

“I am making pancakes for both of you, honey.”, Michelle replied.

Sara was looking at the preparation in wonder. Michelle asked her, “You want to learn how to make them, sugar? See, Danny will help us. Won’t you honey?”

“Yes mom”

“We first mix the flour with sugar. Now Danny will put sugar in the mixing bowl.”

“How can I do that mommy? She’s too big for the mixing bowl.”

I told you so...

A loud explosion! Pungent, choking smoke filled the room. She had already started ranting about the experiment gone horribly wrong. "I told you not to mix the bullfrog horn before the potion turned lilac, but you never listen. Now look what has happened. I told you so. What are we going to tell our parents? You'll never learn, even though I keep telling you how to do it?......". Her voice faded slowly and he regained consciousness. He knew she got hysterical at the slightest disorder and wanted to console her. He was coughing badly but still groped around for her. His hand struck hers and pulled her. She was inert. No heartbeat. He willed her to speak, to say "I told you so..".

Smile

He felt someone's eyes on him. He looked up and saw a girl, dressed in a full length cocktail dress, looking at him, and, he couldn't believe his eyes, smiling at him. At that time she looked as the most beautiful girl in the room. She went on smiling at him. He went up to her and said, "Hello". The girl looked at him, smiled in a suggestive way and said, "Hello". He was pleased. He continued, "I am Jack. Can I buy you a drink?" She said, "Sure, but before that I wanted to ask you if you could introduce me to your absolutely handsome friend, sitting at the bar?"

Body

"What...??", Neha thought, "not again..!!" And finally shouted at her mom, "I can't go through another humiliation. Please mom, why don't you people leave me alone? Please stop bothering about my marriage. It just won't happen."

And she stormed out of the room.

She sat on her bed, hugging her pillow, and reflecting back on the past two years of the melodrama going on in the family. She was 33 years old, not beautiful but attractive with good features, had a doctorate in English, was earning well as a lecturer at the local university, had a very engaging and caring nature, and always had a smile on her face, but the only obstacle in her marriage was her body. She was obese. Now that she thought of the past two years, the ten-odd guys she had met, had all rejected her because of her body. And she was feeling pretty humiliated by now, and when she heard of the eleventh guy coming to visit her the next day, she thought that she just couldn't take another rejection. She decided to do something about it.

She went to her mother and said, "Mom, I want to talk to this Mr. Mayank, who is coming to meet me tomorrow, right now."

Her mother was surprised, "But why beta?"

Neha was exasperated, her nerves stretched to breaking-point. Controlling her anger, she said, "Please mother, you won't understand. Now will you please give me his number.?"


Her mother was stumped, but nevertheless she gave her Mayank's office number.

Neha called him at his office. The phone rang twice before being picked up by a gruff-voiced man. She asked tentatively, "Am I speaking to Mr. Mayank?" He replied politely, "Yes, may I know who is this?" She said, "Yes, I am Neha. You are supposedly coming to our place with a marriage proposal for me tomorrow." He said, "Oh yes, but-" She cut him in mid-sentence, "Please listen to me. Please don't take me otherwise, but I don't want you to visit us with this marriage proposal. You must've seen my photograph." He said, "Yes, I have, but-" She again interrupted him, "So you know exactly how I look. In fact I don't understand why you agreed to come when you know how I look. The same scene will be repeated again tomorrow, you'll reject me after seeing me, and then make up some excuse, and I'll have to face another humiliation and my parents have to face another disappointment regarding my marriage. So please spare us." And she slammed the phone down.

She was pretty sure, Mayank would not come and had not bothered to dress up at all. So when the door bell rang the next evening, she was surprised to hear her father welcoming Mayank in. She was amazed to hear Mayank say, "I want to meet Neha right now." She was pretty angry at him that he had not paid any heed to her phone call. She stormed into the living room, ready to give him a piece of her mind. But words failed her. There was Mayank, handsome, lean and absolutely fabulous. His photographer hadn't done justice to him. Her anxiety increased, thinking that he'll totally reject her. She started to say something but Mayank spoke before she could get a word out. "I came here today because I wanted to meet you. I want to marry you." Neha was stunned. Was she hearing him correctly? Even her parents were surprised on hearing this. Mayank continued, "I saw your phoograph, and the first thing that struck me was the honesty and dignity in your eyes and on your face. I want a wife, not a model. I always wanted my wife to be a dignified lady, who is honest with herself and the world. I wanted her to be caring, loving and who had the guts to face the truth about anything in this world. And I found all those qualities in you. After you rang off yesterday, I sat and thought about everything you said, and I decided that you are the one I want to marry, 'cos you are honest with yourself, and you were being honest with me. What does it matter if you are a few kilos over the ideal weight? It is just a body. One day it will perish, but what you have achieved in life, how you have made others happy, will always be cherished and you will always be loved for that, not your
body.You'll always look beautiful to me. So please marry me, else I'll keep calling at your doorstep everyday of my life."

Tears were streaming down her face. She realised that whatever Mayank said was from straight from the heart. He really wanted to marry her for the person she was, not for how she looked physically. She was overwhelmed and looked at her parents. They could not believe this was happening. They were so happy. And finally when she looked at Mayank, she knew that she would never regret marrying him.

The marriage took place 3 months later. And the couple looked beautiful and happy, and everybody was amazed at the change in Neha. She was the same as before, physically, but Mayank's love and support made her the most beautiful woman around.