S11: "The ‘WHY’ day"

It was around 6 am and I was made to sit in the middle of the hall and my parents were in a deep discussion, making a few phone calls and walking here and there. I was sitting on the sofa lingering in my sleepy hangover. None of their words were reaching my eardrums and somehow I slept. A pillow suddenly came with a speed. It hit my head and conquered over my sleep. I woke up and sat there with my eyes and mouth wide opened.

‘How could you sleep?’, shouted my mom. I replied with the same expression.

‘Are you even listening?’, another pillow crashed my head.

‘Yeah, yeah I am listening’, I replied very annoyingly.

‘Why are you getting irritated now? It’s not me who is going to get married. You should show some responsibility’, my mom yelled at me.

Her words were reaching my ears as if I was hearing a rap song from a very far distance, unable to understand the lyrics.

‘Umm’, I replied rubbing my eyes.

Another call came. ‘9 am ok’, were the only words I heard. She hung up the phone and my mom and dad looked at me.

‘What’, I asked before she would hit me with another pillow.

‘They are going to come at 9am to see you. Go and get ready’, my mom said.

‘But its just 6am’, I exclaimed. It was a marriage proposal and they are going to come to our home to see and decide whether I would fit to their daughter-in-law’s position.

I had no interest to get ready traditionally wearing all the ornaments with fake smile and listening to all the exaggerated statements as if I am a genie from Aladdin. She can cook for 10 people in 10 minutes. She can make your home shine. See our house was entirely cleaned and decorated by her. She is like salt, she adds flavour to your family and also she will dissolve in all the issues and she will never ever talk back at elders. Perfect is just a small word for her, she is beyond that.

 But I had no choice. I was preparing mentally for all this and the phone rang again.

My mom was talking but this time she was giving more exclamatory expressions.

She looked at me and said, ‘they are not coming to our house’.

‘Why? They said no even before seeing me?’, I asked very calmly.

‘No’, she paused.

‘What’, I asked.

‘They said he wants to talk to you personally, so he will meet you in the mall at 9am’, she said with a pinch of disappointment.

I was surprised and relieved by listening that. Deep inside my heart, I also wanted that.

 ‘Oh’, I replied hiding my excitement. ‘Ok then I’ll go and get ready’.

They threw some weird expressions at me. Ignoring everything I went to get ready and I was very excited.

I reached the mall at 9am sharp and he was already there waiting for me.

‘Hey’, he said giving me the flowers.

‘Hi Santosh’, I replied. I had a very positive first impression.

We comfortably sat at some restaurant in the ground floor and he started saying everything about his life, his hobbies, his interests and his future plans.

My excitement levels were increasing gradually. He was very good looking and I liked the way he was talking and I was feeling very positive that we will have a future together.

An hour flew by and we were in a deep conversation, suddenly a voice came towards me.

‘Hey, long time’, he said. I retrieved myself back from the deep conversation and saw him.

My eyes and heart blasted out. I lost my senses for a moment. He is my ex boyfriend and who would expect an ex at that moment. I had no idea how to react.

‘How are you babe’, he said standing beside me.

I wanted to sit under the table and hide myself instead of facing that moment. By hearing the word babe, santosh started looking at me shockingly.

‘Umm, hi’, I stammered and tried to tell him to walk away with my eyes.

‘Your brother?’, my ex asked looking at santosh.

My heart stopped for a moment. You were my ex boyfriend and you know every relation of mine and you’re still asking that, you pig. I had a battle of words in my brain.

Santosh sat there looking at him angrily.

‘No. He is not my brother. He is my..I will talk to you later. I am bit occupied right now’, I said.

He was about to ask something but I interrupted and said ‘Bye’. He walked away from there.

Santosh was looking at me hoping for the answers. I threw a fake smile and said, ‘He is my childhood friend’.

He nodded and I diverted the topic. The awkwardness in the air was vanishing gradually but before it could vanish completely, I heard another voice. This time, it was a female voice.

‘Ohhh! Look who’s here’, she came towards me holding her shopping bags.

I looked at her and murmured ‘oh my god’. She is my best enemy. We messed with each other a lot and we were so true in our hate relationship. We never let the other live in peace no matter what.

 I had no idea why the hell this is happening to me.  What’s wrong with the planetary movements? ‘Why’ was the only word which was revolving in my head.

She came closer to me. She saw santosh and said,’Oh you got a new boyfriend. Boyfriend number..Oh I forgot the number’.

‘Mind your own business’, I replied.

‘Yeah sure, you look so tensed. By the way I saw your..’, she was going to say about my ex boyfriend.

‘Will you please leave’, I interrupted her before she could anything.

She looked at santosh, took a deep breath and said, ‘I pity you’.

‘Leave’, I got so irritated.

Santosh was sitting before me dumbstruck.

‘She is my enemy. We always talk to each other like this’, I tried to explain.

Santosh looked so puzzled. Though he diverted the topic, he had so many questions in his mind. I had enough for that day. I can’t afford any more shocks. ‘Let’s leave’.

Meeting outside for the first time was the worst decision ever when you are not a studious kid whose life was only books. I had so many thoughts punching my head. I don’t know what he will think about me and what he will say. I had this feeling that he will definitely say no. I reached my home and without answering anyone’s questions, I went to bed and slept to escape from all these mind-boggling thoughts.

By the time I woke up, my room was entirely filled with flower bouquets. For a moment, I thought it was a dream.

‘He said yes’, my mom came running to me.

‘Oh’, I was surprised. My phone vibrated with a new message. I opened it, ’Hey my fiancee’.

My smile had no limits and I was very happy after seeing that message.

A new message, A new beginning, A new phase, A new love and A new happiness.

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S1: "My Vacation with Minnie"

                                                                  

During my summer holidays, I usually spend most of the days at my brother's place in Vizag. They live on the beach road from where we can see the glimpse of the beach from the house. My brother's daughter Minnie is an 7 year old enthusiastic, boisterous and incisive girl who has wh question words for each and every single thing she notices.

 In my brother's room above the bed ,there's  an attic where empty luggage bags and cardboard boxes were kept. At one corner of that, she made out a place where she keeps every interesting thing she finds. It may be a leaf or a stone of an unalike shape and the origami stuff she made by herself. And the thing which captivated me was the spider webs and a lot of spiders.

She came near me holding a wooden scale and 2 books in a pretty blue gown and  with 2 little ponytails. I gave her a bag of soft toys which I bought for her. She was very surprised and her joyous expressions explains that she loved each and every toy.

Then I asked her, "So you stopped taking care of your place? I think the spiders undertaken your work and they resided on your place."

"No atha(Aunty) ! They are my friends", she said. I was quite surprised with her fascination towards spiders.

"Ah what! Friends?".

"Yeah ! I love spiders", she replied in a frisky voice.

"That is a bit strange. Wh..what is that in your hand?", I asked pointing out her hand.

"Dead insects, I found them in the  garden. Lunch time atha for my friends "

"Don't you feel  bad when spiders eat them?" , I asked her just hoping for an interesting answer.

she said ,"No atha! we also eat the plants even they are living beings", in a very innocent tone.

"Hehe carry on sweetheart!". Till that moment I was thinking that I was the only one who is strange in my family. Well I got a  tough competition here.

After lunch she was lying on my  stomach and we were watching TV.

I asked her, " what is the matter with spiders? why do you like them?"

"They look so cute and fragile atha".

"Don't tell me that you got obsessed by Spiderman series and you want to become one".

"Haha", she giggled so innocently. "No atha, but while watching the series, I sometimes get carried away and even ask golu to make me spider girl."

"golu ?"

"The name of the spider which is the biggest of all."

It sounds funny but the way she says that her cuteness overcomes the stupidity in the matter and leaves a smile on our face.

She put her both elbows on my stomach and raised a bit and said "Atha atha, Do you know something? Some of my friends say that when a spider falls on us, we will get a new dress."

"Aww! really ?",I exclaimed.

"Whenever  I want a new dress ,I make one to fall on me"

"So do you really get a new dress then?", I asked.

"Yes athaa! I always get a new dress"

"That's cool", I replied in a bit exclamatory way.

"Yes atha, when any spider falls on me. I go to dada(dad) and say 'dada, see this spider fell on me, I am going to get a new dress now'. Dada too replies the same way as you did atha"

"Oh! Now I got it how you get a new dress every time."

She is so fair and looking so adorable with her innocent eyes and curly hair. I kissed on her cheek  and laid her on my legs and lifted her up and we played for some time.

In the evening, she took her books and went to the garden.

My brother's wife made a filter coffee for me. I took my coffee and sat on the balcony where I can see minnie in the garden. She is walking from left to right studying loudly, with a scale in her hands waving as if she was teaching to someone. Suddenly she took her scale and shook and hit one of the branches of curry tree.

Suddenly I shocked and shouted "Oi ! what happened ?".

she turned and raised her head and replied "Nothing atha ! He is not listening, he is playing with the rose plant."

"wait I am coming", I put my coffee there and went down to the garden.

"who is not listening sweetheart?", I asked her.

"This is my class atha!", pointing out towards the plants in the garden.

"These are the toppers of the class", showing the leafy plants in the front row."These are the mischievous ones ",showing the rose plants.

"Be careful with these rose plants, they might hurt you", I said.

"yeah atha! they are very annoying, they don't even allow me to punish them. So whenever I want to punish them, I just pluck their flowers ", She replied very innocently.

I chuckled suddenly, "That's so cute".

"Finish the class quickly and come sweetheart we will go and play on the beach" , I said and went inside.

Children are the cutest and they will search for something good and interesting in everything. Spending time with children will keep us energized throughout the day and we will learn something new and exciting everyday which is a must in our boredom and stressful days.

She is the girl with full of pep, she will make me active and happy at any point of my life. Only because of her, I spent the whole vacation in my brother's house and I bookmark each and every moment I spent with her and carry a bag of memories with me until the next vacation.

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S9: "A Cup of Coffee and A Scoop of Vanilla"

It was a sunny day and was around 11 am, I went to CCD, ordered a cup of cappuccino and I sat on the chair where WE always sit.

I was sitting there peeping through the window into the petrol bunk next to it.

‘Oi’, he smiled. ‘Here’, he gave me the two extra sugar packets which I asked for. He sat in front of me callously eating the vanilla scoops.

My eyes laid totally on him, blinking slowly and feeling every breath seeing him and I don’t know why this happens, whenever I see him, the rest of the world will get blurred. May be I should ask my eyes about it or even better I should ask my heart.

‘I am so happy for you baby’, he said finishing his first scoop. He looked at me and smiled.

Till then I was not feeling any drops of happiness. I was selected for an MNC yesterday. From the moment he said he was happy, I was feeling all the happiness at once. It was like he just opened the gates of my happiness dam and it started flowing euphorically.

I smiled and said,’ I want to say something. I wanted to say this since a long time and I want to say it now’.

He smiled in a way that he already knew what I was going to say.

‘What?’, he asked expecting the words to spill out of my mouth.

My heart started thumping so hard that my eardrums were completely filled with its sound. My eyes started to count each and every corner of that place and were avoiding his eyes.

‘It’s ok! Tell me, what is the matter?’ he asked again.

I finally gathered each and every beat of my heart and try to pull the feelings out of my mouth which were hiding deep inside my heart.

‘We are best friends since two years and umm .. I want to say that I want you more. I want to spend with you till my last breath and’, I paused and took a deep breath and said ‘I love you Achyuth’.

My hands were shivering and by hearing these words he kept looking down for a few minutes and filled the atmosphere with deep silence. I started worrying. The what-if’s took over my brain and started terrifying me ‘What if he say no’ ,’ What if he ends the relation with me’, ‘what if he just walks away’, ‘what if something fall into my coffee’, ‘what’.

‘Achyu’, I said keeping all the what-if’s aside.

‘Ha’, he replied looking up straight into my eyes.

He stood up. I felt like he is going to leave. My heart beats were nowhere in control.

He looked into my eyes and kneeled down in front of everyone. He took my hands and said, ‘Will you marry me?’.

That one sentence stopped all my senses and I don’t know how to depict my happiness. I showed him with my happy tears and said ‘Yes’.

He kissed on my hand. I never felt so special. My brain kept searching for the words in the dictionary to explain how am I feeling while my heart was somewhere in the clouds and its every beat was chanting his name.

He was saying something about our future but I was so lost in his eyes that no words were reaching my ears.

Suddenly a voice came from nowhere. ‘Mam your coffee’. I blinked my eyes and turned to my left. The waitress came with my coffee and placed it on the table. I was dazed and kept looking at her without any word. ‘Mam Are you ok’, she said.

I shook my head and stammered, ‘Yeah I am fine’.

‘You want anything else mam’, she asked bending forward.

‘No thank you’, I said.

I shifted my eyes to the chair in front of me. It was empty. It was missing someone whom it had had seen with me a hundred times before. My eyes were wet and they fell on the words on the coffee cup.

My lips smiled after reading the words, ‘A lot can happen over a coffee’.

Oh yes. It was last year I was sitting with him making fun and mixing my coffee in his vanilla. And today I was sitting alone without him and my coffee without its vanilla. My heart which hopped on to the roller coaster ride with him fell down on the ground. It was injured very badly and was still recovering.

I bended forward and said, ‘Coffee, I know what u r feeling. U may be wondering where your vanilla is, it may be somewhere happy with its new partner. It’s just you and me now’.

I finished my coffee looking at the empty chair and took a lungful of air and moved from there.

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S8: "Prince and The Unknown Bane"

Between the rustling of the trees, the hide n seek of the rabbits and the deer who are running for life, came the prince on a black horse with an arrow in his hand aiming at the deer.

He has a muscular body with enticing blue eyes. He is wearing a red velvet suit embroidered with black threads, a golden scabbard with a knife in it along with golden boots up to the knee. He always likes to hunt alone.

While he was aiming at the deer, he finds something glowing behind the tree. He hops down from his horse and walks towards the tree. He was sure that it is not an animal as it was not moving. As he reached there, he notices that it is a small ball of football sized in gold color, glowing magnificently.

He stepped forward, his heart was thumping, his eyes popped out. He tried to touch it with his shivering hands. As soon as he touched it, the shine got disappeared and it turned into a normal white ball. He dropped that ball down and to his astonishment his hands were glowing.

His breath fastened, he widened his eyes and seemed that they will fall down. He was drowned with fear and anxiety. He saw the white ball which was moving on the grass. He picked it up and he saw words appearing in it.

Dear,

Don’t get scared or else the boon will turn into bane.

Ur glowing hands is a boon to u,

Touch any non living thing; it will turn into a living thing.

By reading this, the prince dropped the ball without letting it finish and immediately searched here and there to touch something.

He saw a small round wooden plank of his palm size on the grass; he touched it with his both hands.

In front of his eyes, the wooden plank turned into a living being. It got eyes, ears, nose, hands, legs and everything.

His jaw dropped so down that even the wooden plank can pass through.

‘Thank you your majesty’, the plank bowed to the prince.

At that very moment, the prince felt so powerful and his face was filled with power and something was up his sleeve that he grinned and left.

The wooden plank walked towards the white ball, the words continued.

My Dear, boon always comes along with a bane

If you say no to use this boon for any 3 living beings

Then u will lose your power; Use it well dear

And the ball turned down into ashes.

The wooden plank stood there astounded, as the prince was no where around him.

The prince returned to the palace keeping his chin up and a grin on his face.

He went to his room, spent the whole night keeping his brain under work and suddenly he jumped from his bed, ‘Amazing! This is just amazing!’ he said and then fell asleep.

The next morning he woke up and was ready to experiment the idea his brain gave him last night.

He took a few steps forward and he touched the chair, it turned into a living thing and started moving. His eyes fell on something that they started sparkling. He moved towards his only obsession; Gold.

He touched the gold bar, it came into life.  His eyes lightened up.

‘You’, he said.

‘Yes, Your majesty’, replied the gold bar.

‘I want this whole room full of gold, do u get it?’ said the prince bringing ten more bars to life. He also made diamonds and all the jewels came to life. He went down and touched all the chairs, tables. He made his palace into a magical place.

He threw all the soldiers out of his palace. His daggers, swords stood around his palace for his safety. He became so greedy, mean-spirited misanthrope. He didn’t care for the people in his kingdom.

While he was enjoying his magical power, a man from the kingdom came running to him. He was breathing heavily. He kneeled down before the prince, ‘Your majesty! My wife is dying. Please save her’, he pleaded.

Prince saw him, gave a thought and said, ‘Who allowed you into my palace? Throw him out.’ His callus words broke the heart of the man who came for help. Two giant pillars came towards him. They picked him up and threw him out of the palace.

He returned to his home with a broken heart and a broken hand.

After a moment he left, prince hands shivered without his consent. But the prince didn’t care much about it.

The palace became so invaluable. There are many rooms filled with gold, diamond and jewels. His every costume was made of gold and every accessory was made of diamond and precious jewels.

The next day, as he was walking in his lawn and a pillar holding an umbrella for him and a walking stick was holding fruits for him.

While he was walking, he noticed a rabbit which was injured badly. He stopped and made a snap with his finger, out of a sudden a big dustbin and a broomstick came running to him. He pointed at the rabbit and shouted, ‘I want my lawn clean’.

The broomstick picked the rabbit and put it in the dustbin. Prince walked inside his palace and sat on his throne. His hands started hurting terribly.

Then he saw the wooden plank that he gave life was walking towards him.

‘What is happening, what have u done to me’, the prince yelled.

‘Your majesty, I didn’t do anything. I am here to tell you about the bane u missed to see that day’, he replied bowing down.

‘WHAT BANE?’ he replied in pain.

‘Your majesty, you shouldn’t say NO to three living beings that are in need, if else u will lose your power.’

‘YOU ARE SAYING ME THAT, NOW?’ he said noticing his hands becoming dark red.

‘I started on that very day to inform you majesty and I reached now’, the plank replied making an eye contact with the prince feet.

‘YOU PATHETIC BEING’, the prince walked towards the plank to show his fury. As he was a few steps away from it, it turned into a wooden plank as before, into a non living thing.

He stood there petrified. He had no idea what was going on. The glow in his hands disappeared and they turned to normal.

Before his eyes, his whole creation turned to normal. Everything was falling down and returning to their original state.

He put weight on his brain to think when he said no 3 times. As far as he knows he rejected only two times. He sat on his throne pressurizing his brain. Suddenly an iron ball which returned into its non-living state, along with the golden chandelier fell on his head. He was badly hurt. His head was bleeding and he was screaming in pain.

A golden smoke appeared and said:
‘Dear, u should know that for every boon there will be a bane and u should learn to use it well when the power is in your hands.’

‘But I just rejected two living beings’, he said holding his head.

‘Dear, the woman who u said no was carrying a baby in her womb. With your one NO, u killed them both. Good bye dear, Rest in Peace’, the face in the golden smoke smiled and disappeared. Poof.

 After hearing this, the prince took a deep breath and he closed his regretful eyes with an ashamed smile on his face.

After a few days, the people in the kingdom came to know about the prince. They placed the prince golden crown on the throne and the kingdom lived happily ever after with the gold and diamonds the prince made. Happiness and peace were glittered in the air. And the prince was remembered throughout the ages.

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