Story-part 3

"Neha sweets, how are you feeling?", Pallavi was mild."God! Pallu, what's wrong with you? In fact I should be asking you that question. Did something happened at the tuition today? You look so worried" I inquired.

"This might come as a surprise to you, but try to breath as I blurt the news out to you". Now she was mildly blunt that made my mind register spikes in it's activity.

"Anushka, Veerya's sister is found dead this afternoon", finally she let it out.

For few seconds I felt like I was orbiting in space with vacuum around me making it hard to breath. I felt dizzy sensing blood drawn out of my brain and heart beating  so loud that it was the only sound I can hear. Is Pallu still talking, I think she is, I see her lips move. "................and I couldn't believe it was a murder and the police found her body after 4 days!!!!".

"What?!?..... Pallu are you sure it was Anushka?".I mean come on, what on earth is going on. I can still feel her presence in my room, when I caught her making out with my brother.

" I know Neha, strange right!! I never experienced such a gruesome thing happening to a person whom I knew and that too the person whom I hated the most. It's all over the news channels and you will see the same in tomorrow's news papers as headlines.  At least that' s what my father told me as I was leaving home to come and talk to you. It is an interesting piece of article for these  journalists, like my dad. He is not even feeling sorry for her, which made me realize that I am in fact feeling bad for her death. I mean I would be the last person  to feel sorry about those sisters. But this is the time to express sympathy. Neha!....are you even listening to me.....wait where are you going.... let me come with you".

As I walk into our living room, I see television flashing pictures from behind the couch where mom and dad were letting sighs of despair. As I approach near the couch, I couldn't help but rekindle my memory that stored the same set pictures that were shown on TV.

Story- part 2

"Amma, Amma, where are you?" I shout with a shivering tone as I wake up suddenly from a nightmare. My mom rushed into my room, held me in her arms and enquired if i was dreaming something dreadful. When I nodded for "yes" I could barely snap out of the dream and couldn't let go my mom's hand from my grip. All her soothing words -- you are alright, it's just a dream, I am with you, papa is here too-- just didn't register in my mind.

"Neha", a loud voice fill my room and make me jolt into reality at last. It wasn't my mom for sure and I hear my name being called again and I finally see a familiar face enter my room. " Pallavi!?", I exclaim.  "What is she doing here" I say to my mom finally letting her hand go off my grip.

Before she can answer me, I say "Pallavi, How are you?, aren't you supposed to get ready to school?".  To which she retorted " it is half past 9 in the evening" and went silent. Wow that means I slept only for 3 hours and thought it's morning already. Silly me.But something was strange about Pallavi. She is not the demure maiden type who just answers to the question. She has a misplaced soul of a man's comical timing and contagious energy, in a 16 year old female body. She should chide me about my lost sense of keeping track of time and fill me up with her latest gossip about other school kids.

Mom left us both in my room to answer a phone call which apparently was from my brother. But my thoughts continued.

Pallavi  and I are friends since kindergarten. Both our families have know each other since then. We went to same classical dance classes, singing classes and tennis classes. Although she couldn't continue her singing lessons because of her episode with the teacher. Pallu ( as I call her) has this itch to prove her point and in this incident she wanted to prove that the teacher had made a mistake in the notes of Jhampa Thalam but the teacher condemned. The debate grew and consequently Pallu was dismissed from that session and subsequently from all the sessions. But Pallu declared to her parents that singing was not for her and hence she choose to withdraw from classes.

Truth to be told is that the teacher made a mistake that day, which she doesn't do everyday. But Pallu corrected her and she could not take the fact that a student corrected her in a basic Thalam.


This reminiscence  made me smile a bit and thought she must have bought  notes for me from the math class that I missed today. "Pallu, how did the class go today and did Joe missed it again? What's the latest on Sam?"

Story- Part 1

I was right there returning from grocery shopping, walking along the road under the dimness of city lights. The street was buzzing with plethora of voices. This day, my mom insisted that I go grocery shopping right after my math tuition which ended at 7:00pm after an hour long lecture and a sample test. It was my elder brother's routine to shop for groceries bi-weekly. Since he was away from home last week, the duty fell into my lap. Not that i complain, but the fact that I had to witness that particular incident make me sick to my stomach every time I remember it.

A week had passed since that incident took place. Today, again I am suppose to ride that way on my bicycle to attend my tuition. I decide to pretend sickness so my mom and dad would not force me to go. As I lay on my bed tossing and turning around, modulating my vocal chords to deliver pain filled sounds, my mom rushed into my room and took me into her arms and stroke against my forehead where I pointed out being painful. She summoned the maid to get some Zandu Balm and some milk. After being rubbed with the ice-cold, minty, tear-prone balm, my mom left the room advising me to drink the milk before it turns cold.
As soon as she left the room, I wiped my eyes, hurried to close the door and overheard mom explaining the situation to dad who has just come home from his work.

As planned my parents fell into my "sick kid" trap.  But walking towards the bed, a different kind of pain, a pain of guilt, hit me hard. Sitting on the bed I turned the television on and started watching pogo. Emptied milk in the glass into my gut and started watching Mr. bean to forget the day's anxiety and guilt that prevailed in my head.

A day in my life (Fiction)

Ummm…the tasty idly flavor without any hesitation trekked the air and found a path to enter my nose as I approached to the corner of my street. I persistently tried my conscience to allow me to indulge into the taste but it gave me red signal as i have to instantly take an auto rickshaw for the railway station. All my kith and kin including my parents have gone to attend a grandiose marriage ceremony of my beloved cousin but I was left behind as I was handcuffed to the semester examinations. I am released from them today and if i can get the earliest train to Hyderabad, i too can join the fun as the marriage is going to take place at 9:00 am today. I made it to the station by 5:30 am and the departure time is 5:45 a.m. As I entered the station, i can see a long twisted line of passengers waiting to get a ticket for traveling. Alas! how can I make it to the counter with such a huge crowd in front of me? For a minute I thought to jump into the crowd, fight like a lion and win a ticket. But wait a minute, what about my dignity? i consider myself as a refined and urbane individual and I cannot do that. But as the time is approaching and my mind is overcrowded with thoughts, suddenly a huge figure made a way out from the crowd and started talking to me. He said “Sir, do you want a ticket to Hyderabad? I sell for a cost twice to the original cost of the ticket, unless, you wish to get into the crowd and buy one for you”. Wait a minute! Am i in a railway station or in a cinema theater? As I am thinking he interrupted “sir, if you want, i can take 5 rupees off”. I could not help but take the ticket as I have only 5 minutes left for the train to arrive. While i paid for the ticket, I asked him whether it is his daily job. He replied with a crazy smile, “only at rush hours" and left. I too started running towards the other platform for the train, which, then is announced 15 minutes late. And nothing to do now i stood leaning against a pole that carried a flag of Telugu Desam Party. As i watch it floating in the air, i remember my uncle’s words. He is a successful businessman in USA and made a visit recently to India and to our home too. On a certain occasion, we started discussing about life in USA. While the conversation was going on, he mentioned that we see American flags dancing with the winds at every nook and corner of US streets, buildings etc. But here in India we rarely find Indian flags and that too only on or in front of government buildings. Instead of Indian flags, we find flags of political parties every where. While thoughts are feeding my brain and suddenly I remember that I did not feed my stomach since morning. I repented for not tasting those mouth watering Idlies. But i still got chance as i see a cart selling them on the other side of platform. But then I have 5 more minutes for the train to arrive and thought to have a coffee instead as it is the only thing available on this side of platform. As I sip the coffee, I saw an elderly lady beg. No one is even bothered to listen her plea. Its my turn now. She explained her situation that her son met with an accident in Hyderabad and that she has no money to travel. Also told that she does not need money but the ticket as there is no more time to buy the ticket. I am convinced to give the ticket. But hey, what about the marriage? Come on, i felt bad for my selfishness and donated my ticket to her. She blessed me and waited for the train which is now signaling its arrival with a horn. Now, i am in a despair that if I cannot make it to marriage with this train then I will reach Hyderabad by lunch time and miss all the fun. The train stood in front of me and with out any second thought, I got into the train. The lady also got into a different compartment and did not even notice me while getting into the train. The person standing near me suggested that the old woman betrayed me by lying for a ticket and it is her frequent job for a free commute. At the moment i cannot forgive myself for a stupid mistake and no choice left i decided to pay the fine if a ticket collector appears. I managed to get a seat for me and started to think how the old lady fooled me and how i became a scapegoat amongst all other passengers. After two and half hours of tiresome journey, the train reached Secundrabad station and fortunately no ticket collector turned up. I got down and as I approached the exit, i saw the ticket collector collecting tickets. I barley escaped through the exit without him noticing me. Outside, I saw the same old lady and I thought to spill my anger upon her. As i approached her an old man came running towards her, stood in front of her and started explaining something to her. Finally both of them started weeping. I could not resist and went forward to ask the matter and console them. But then came my cousin on a Hero Honda bike to pick me up and started shouting at me to get on to the bike so that we can reach in time for marriage. For a minute my mind, first time since morning, went blank. I did not sense how I took the back seat of bike and how my cousin drove to the marriage hall. I got down and attended the marriage but the whole day my mind clouded with only one thought “what might have happened to them”? But one thing is clear that I did not became a scapegoat.