My Thoughts Keyboarded

His voice pierced through the humming of the bus and snatum kaur singing from my earphone.  Few heads looked up with mine, to see who is making the noise. We were sitting on the top of double-decker bus, which was making a steady pace on the highway to work.  Sitting in the front seat was the loud toddler in uniform, who clearly seemed different and special . He was repeating some gibberish in a familiar nursery rhyme tune. Sitting next to him was his father, who neither responded to his loud singing, or to the murmurs of fellow passengers. He caught me looking at him and smiled at me and I responded with smile. He turned around kneeling in his seat to face me. He stretched his hands to reach and I extended mine. He got excited now, and started singing louder, holding my hand in swaying movement.  His hands and eyes did not coordinate, and he kept looking at the passing trees. Listening closely I realized he isn't singing gibberish but the actual r...

Dear You, I bet the cemeteries heard more honest confessions than any court, Airports have seen more love than any wedding and Hospitals have heard most sincere prayers than any place of worship. Because regret is stronger than gratefulness, so loss is felt stronger than gains.  Be it a friend who left us for an absurd reason, Love that is faded over time or a loved one who departed too soon. We hold on to them like a tight rope that’s going to stop us from falling free. “ Ok now you move forward and slide down whenever ready ” my instructor told me for the third time. I was sitting on edge of a platform of (what I suppose) 200 meter tall tower. I had my safety jacket on, and it’s attached to the pulley of an overhead cable that was connected from the tower to a lower point. This is what I signed up for, in my recent trip to Bintan in Indonesia.  The idea is to freefall from the platform and slide to the lower point which is popularly known as “Flying fox”. The instr...

One of the earliest memories I had of my dad is sleeping next to him on the terrace during summer nights. We slept in the open air with just a mat and mom’s old sari was our bed sheet. My brother and I had our own spots in the nooks of his shoulder which we never traded, mine was always on his right. Mostly he wrapped his arms around us and tapped gently on the shoulder. If the story gets interesting he made hand gestures in the air, drawing pictures with vast dark sky as background.  We would watch his dancing hands that moved in rhythm bringing each words to life. Sometimes it appeared as if he was strong enough to gather a handful of twinkling stars and release them back into the sky. This golden period with my dad ended sooner than I wanted it to be. As I grew up, we grew apart. He hardly took part in family responsibilities. It was always my mom who deliberated from the little things to major decisions in our lives.  She soon became my model, the...

In the city where meals are happier than people who have it, no one has time to live in the moment. We even press ‘close’ button in the lift several times hoping it would close faster. We hold our breath in weekdays and breathe out during weekends. We constantly long for long weekends. While we like living in this city, we love escaping it during long weekends.  Perhaps we believe our work is our purpose, and holiday is a form of reward. But if you were to take two week holiday with no new city to visit or agenda to attend to, you would go crazy. That was exactly my mindset when I had a surgery recently. My gallbladder was removed and I had to rest for couple of weeks. My activity for the day were eat, sleep, pee and a short walk around the block.  First few days flew as I concentrated on finding the best position to sleep, and enjoying the attention from others.  And then there was my mom. After the operation I couldn't take the pain and I wept on her sho...

“ Then the king became sad about the princess ” my mom said, while she fed me a ball of rice and greens. “ aand whaaat happen ” I enquired chewing my food. I don’t remember whether I was 4 or 5. We were sitting below the sapote tree on a concrete bench. Mid-morning sunlight peered through the tree leaves all around us. Wind spoke in hushed tone with leaves.  I was wearing a white and green stripped half sleeve shirt and short pants. I smelled like a cocktail made from Johnson & Johnson powder and coconut oiled hair. “ Since princessss had a poor eye sight, the king consulted the wise lady who lived in the jungle, faaar away from the kingdom ”, she made another ball of rice and stuffed it in my mouth.  I followed her eyes and hands as she narrated. “ The wise lady asked the princess to stay with her for few days ”. “ hmmm ” I nodded, swinging my legs back and forth. “ When the princess returned after few days, her eye sight was so sharp that she could shoot a bird s...

Dear you, They say the world is made for two, and I finally understand why. All the reservations for dining, travel or even shopping for flip-flops have 'deals for two'. Last week while I was out with my friend in the city, my slippers broke and had to buy a new one right away. Sales board on a shop read ,one flip-flop costs 18$ but two would cost only 12$ each. Perhaps the best economists, financial experts, or flip flop makers can explain this bargain to me. After all, these are the same people who made us believe that all nations are in debt. And all we have to do to solve the problem, is shop! So there I was, in the middle of popular shopping mall, limping in my torn slipper not wanting to buy two flip flops of the same kind. With unshaven face, messed up hair and rugged shorts I could very well pass for a construction worker. I think brown skins can't afford to dress down. If you happen to see a white man in similar situation, you would probably make way for ...

" I have what I need" declared Sam , pushing away the rest of the crayons to Angel . Angel who was busy scribbling, looked up and pouted her lips. She turned towards me and complained, " Unclee Sam is giving away all the bad ones to me".I examined the "bad" crayons and saw some good white ones left. " Why don't you use this?" I enquired both. Angel was in no mood to listen " no,I need the green one", the wrestling round has already begun. Its one of our art sessions, and my super cute flat mates clearly have a situation.  "All right, colouring time is over" I declared. Before the disappointment growls got louder, I offered to play the banana movie. The movie routine is kept for rare occasions so we preserve the specialness. In the next few seconds, we dimmed the lights and cuddled up in the bed. Sam stuck to my shoulder making us look like an inverted V shape, with laptop in the middle. Angel climbed onto my chest an...