Pinku-Enchanted Life

Did you read about the mermaid in that tale of yore and wonder what it would feel like to play and live in the waves in a big castle below the ocean? I did. I always had a fascination for water, lots of it. Free flowing, moving, without bounds and with unknown depths, holding so many secrets within its bosom. Having never learnt how to swim never dampened my spirits and the first glimpse of a big water body always brought on but one reaction to throw myself in it and let the water hold me up. Growing up in an industrial town bereft of even a swimming pool let along huge stretches of water these desires bubbled away beneath the surface much like underground streams. Alive but invisible. That is all in the past at age 29 I have finally experienced water. Water in its most mighty, life giving, limitless form…the sea. Not knowing how to react to it, I walked out to the beach to confront this huge moving entity. Stretching to the horizon and beyond. It was all that I had dreamt off and more

It’s that time of the year again. Pull a curtain over the past prepare for the future discard the old adapt to the new. Some do it like a duty, like putting out the garbage with no thoughts involved. Some do it meticulously like threading a needle a thought, an idea at a time all in the right sequence. Some party away the night Get up midday with a hangover so bad the new year just seems like a blight Some spend the wee hours ensconced in the arms of loved ones reliving the past, envisioning the future. Some are in the company of the TV wondering whether the phone would ring and someone would remember to wish them too. Which of these were you?

The cycle was again creaking too loudly, Sawant Singh cursed under his breath and got off it. It wouldn’t do to disturb Shikha, his daughter in law’s siesta otherwise his supper of two rotis and a little dal would again be the casualty. Already this week he had gone without food twice, once for forgetting to buy salt at the local market and then again for having fallen off to sleep after an unusually hard day. So he picked up the bicycle and moved with it slowly to the far wall of the garage. For the umpteenth time he cursed his deceased wife for his ill fortune. Had she not hurried to meet the other Lord and deemed it fit to stay on and serve her earthly master he would not have to face such indignity in this old age. To him it was almost an insult that Lajjo who had never retired for the night without pressing his tired limbs should decide to call it a day while he was still alive and in need of a million small ministrations. He wasn’t as cowed down always, there was a time when not

A basket full of cakes, doughnuts, chocolates, cheese, olives, bread, juice, rum and coke. A car tank filled with fuel. A heart set on adventure. A mind taking rest from being practical. The perfect ingredients to have a terrific time. That’s how the last trip to the hills started. When you start on a trip you need a destination don’t you? The easiest way to decide on one is to get a list of probable destinations and do a random selection. Your lucky number, your pet’s date of birth or the number of helpings of ice cream you had last night are equally good numbers to choose from. I though went with a more sedate method, I opened the book found the first place that was listed and firmly believing the first page of a book is the best place to begin headed towards Lansdowne. A maniacal 7 hour drive from Delhi through Meerut, Bijnor and a host of small and big towns with nary a break found us in Kotdwar. The last town before the drive into the Pauri Garhwal hills began. Dusk had fallen and

Remember watching fascinated, neck craning, breath caught in throat as your eyes followed the hero of your dreams soaring wingless high above you? You wanted to follow his footsteps, assuredly letting go of one swing as another moved towards you in a synchronized motion that never failed. The calm with which he sailed into space and reached out with complete confidence made him seem like Superman. You were told; ‘you are too young to follow, you must wait till you are older’ and you went away holding mommy’s hand promising yourself that you would come back as soon as you were old enough. The wait was oh! so long and you wondered many a time if the circus and the Trapeze man would still be there waiting for you or will they have gone away. Your heart wrenched at the thought and you couldn’t wait to grow up soon enough. Then one day you finally did. You were ready to soar into the sky. And you looked for the circus tent within which was the magical land of your dreams. But alas! now the

Hold it in both hands draw attention by looking into his eyes with a mysterious smile. Wait for him to draw close, interest and curiosity making him a little breathless wondering what it could be that makes your eyes twinkle so. Hold it up and whisper I got it especially for you. Look up at him with adoring eyes, wait with bated breathe for him to accept then look on as he tears open your carefully done wrapping. He looks it over and says well this is nice but couldn't you have bought a different colour? I already have three of these. You look on, fumble for an answer then ask shall I have it changed? He thinks for a moment and then replies, leave it we can gift it to the neighbour on his wedding You nod your agreement. After all you can't dispute that it is a lot of trouble to go back to the store you had had turned upside down looking for that particular shade of blue. Gift giving you decide is an art no doubt but having it accepted is God's blessing no less.

The haze lifted momentarily and my eyes slowly focused on the fast zooming fan stuck to the wall as I tried to recall where I was. Then it struck me I was back in my one room PG digs and the throbbing in my body and head was caused by the sudden high fever and the exertion of the past hours. As I reached for the bottle of water kept somewhere on the bed my head reeled and I had the distinct feeling of being on a roller coaster. Roller coaster, the thought brought with it a smile and a groan. That’s how I had described my life nine months back and everyday since then had been nothing but a new ride at a new speed with new hurdles. The latest lap on it had been an impromptu trip to the hills. It started of pretty inanely with a wish to breathe in some fresh air outside the confines of the city limits and it somehow stretched into a long ride which finished at my favorite hill station, Nainital and then a mad rush to be back in the city in time for office. They say people never forget the