S32: "The Beloved Railway track"

I woke up to the drizzle which was falling on my face through the window, the soft sprinkles of rain accompanied by a pleasant wind. Slowly, I opened my eyes rubbing off the rain drops on my face. I saw a train passing by which was making no noise and was going very slowly and calmly. I felt as though it was tip toeing its way out so as not to disturb my sleep.

My relationship with the trains is so special, as my house is located just near by a round the clock busy railway track.

But the rain was very playful enough to peek into my house through my window and woke me up.

I woke up, dragged my bed a little bit off the window as I don't want to ignore the weather.

It seemed like the wind is also in a good mood, not too mild, not too harsh, and just as pleasant that can turn anyone’s day around.

I opened my laptop and checked all my social media websites for updates- now which became the first thing after waking up.

I reached to my camera and checked the photos which I clicked yesterday, connected the usb cable to copy them to my laptop.

Meanwhile, I took bath and dressed up.

‘Breakfast’, I said to myself and looked at the watch and kitchen.

‘No time to make it. I will have it outside’, I put the laptop and camera in my bag and was ready to hustle and to start the day.

I am a photographer-which is apparently not a 9 to 5 job, which is a 9 to 9 job, which can be 12hrs or even 24hrs. I roam across the streets and take photos of the remarkable buildings, monuments, streets, food or even traffic. I click everything and make it look eye-catching and wondrous through my camera lens. 

I get projects and have to work for them along with managing my daily posts on the social media. If it is a 9 to 5 job, you will get holidays or leaves or bonus, but here we get nothing. It’s always work without expecting anything in return.

I walk through the streets irrespective of the timings and I see the world through my camera lens.

After getting a bit popular on the internet and successfully finishing many projects, my dream project knocked my door.

I was on cloud nine; I got belief on the quote ‘work hard and dreams do come true’

It was a very huge project which I always dreamt of and I was working like an obsessed person without proper food and sleep the whole week.

I completed the project a day before the deadline and it was the most satisfactory feeling ever. The only thing left is to organize the photos and I was all set to submit it.

I sat on the train back to my home. I was hell tired and every part of my body was aching. I can’t wait to reach my home and sleep.

 I was a very tired soul. My eyes were shutting down without my consent.

Suddenly, a loud horn alarmed my ears. It was the train sound which woke me up. I didn’t even know when I fell fast asleep and slipped into a deep sleep.

I rubbed my eyes and sit aright to get down on the station as the train was about to reach in 5minutes.

That moment I discovered my bag was missing which made my heart to stop for a minute. I stood up and checked the whole cabin high and low and asked everyone. I was trembling to death.

It has everything in it- my cameras, lenses, laptop and to say in one word – My entire life.

I didn’t know what to do. I was still thinking that it was a dream.

But the person who was sitting on the side berth told me that the guy who was sitting beside me took the bag and got down on the preceding station.

I ran and got the other train to the previous station and I checked the whole station, the places around the station running like a maniac.

The sun was setting down, the street was turning dark and so did my dreams. I was sitting on the road hopeless and helpless. I couldn’t control my tears.

My entire photos, data and the big project which I had been working my ass off were in that bag. Everything was gone in a moment.

Tears burst out from my eyes, ‘How can I be so careless?’, I shouted. ‘My dreams’

Suddenly someone touched my shoulder, I turned and saw it was Aarav, the little boy whom I met a couple of times when I went there to shoot.

‘Anna’, he said looking at me worried and confused.

I was still crying as I couldn’t stop them.

‘What happened?’, he asked.

‘I lost my camera, lenses and my laptop. When I was travelling back to my home, I slept unknowingly and someone stole my bag. It has all the data and my whole life is in it’, I continued to cry.

I am not sure how much he understood but he was so empathetic and was trying to console me. I didn’t stop. No words could equate my pain at that moment.

Then he ran from there. After a few minutes, he came back along with his parents.

‘What happened?’, his father asked me. I was crying like a little boy who lost his toy.

‘My camera and my laptop’, I wept loudly.

He held my hand and hugged me.

‘Come let’s go’, his mom said.

We four walked to their house. It was a tiny hut across the street and it was surrounded by a few other huts.

Aarav’s father works at a construction site and his mom works in a house as a maid.

I walked in and I saw everything was neatly arranged and it was much better than my room. As it was so orderly arranged, it looked like there is much space.

They offered me food to eat and they were trying so hard to console me.

I ate the food and asked,’Is there any bus to the next station?’

‘Yes, but it is too late now. There won’t be any buses now, only trains. The next bus is at 6am tomorrow morning’, he said.

I looked at my watch and saw it was already 2am. I didn’t want to board the train at any cost. I felt like my very close friend betrayed me. The relation I had with trains got shattered.

‘If you don’t mind, can I stay here this night, I will go tomorrow for the first bus?’, I asked them.

They looked at each other for a moment and he said, ‘I don’t think you can feel comfortable here’

‘It’s okay, don’t worry about me. If you have no problem I will stay here’, I said.

They smiled and nodded happily.

Aarav and I slept side by side and they slept a little bit aside from us. They gave me more blankets to make it as a bed.

I didn’t get any sleep that night. I was still wishing God to get my camera back somehow. I rewound my mind many times to think how it happened, but I didn’t remember anything at all.

Aarav put his one leg and hand on me and was sleeping very peacefully.

Though my heart didn’t want me to sleep, my tiredness lured me into sleep for a couple of hours.

The next morning they woke me up. Aarav also woke up so early and he told me that he will drop me to the bus stand on his cycle.

He has the busiest schedule than me. In the early morning, he delivers newspaper and after that he go to the school and in the lunch time, he delivers lunch boxes to a few employers and manages to eat and again go back to the school. In the evening, he works at a small hotel as a waiter.

Aarav loves to read. While delivering the newspaper, he reads the daily headlines and in the evening, he reads the different newspapers, magazines which are available in the hotel.

I was pedalling the cycle and aarav was rolling the paper and was throwing carefully at the houses. 

Then he left me at the bus stand and I headed back to my home.

I got used to see the world through camera lens and now that I won’t have it, I feel like I am missing a body part of mine.

Suddenly, I heard the train sound and I banged the window close. I couldn’t hear it or see it as the incident is still flashing over my eyes.

The project was gone and my life was gone. I took my phone and updated with tears in my eyes.

‘I lost my cameras, lenses and laptop, the biggest breakdown in my life. Taking some time out from all this, will be back soon. Good bye’

I phoned my family and told them what happened. They didn’t scold me as I was already depressed.

No matter what I do, I couldn’t escape from the sound of the train in my house. There was a train for every few minutes which was reminding me of my lost bag and lost dreams. It was sprinkling pepper on my wounds.

I decided to go to aarav’s place as I couldn’t survive here anymore with the trains and memories.

I started to aarav’s place. Everything I see, I feel like I wish I had a camera to click. I started to click with my phone. Though the photos don’t compete with my DSLR’s quality, they didn’t disappoint me either.

I stayed with them for few days, going with aarav, delivering the newspapers, dropping him at school, helping their parents. I liked aarav more and more every day, though he got very little things, he will always find something to be happy for. He always has a smile on his face. Even the pettiest of things makes him happy.

‘Today I took a leave anna, we will go and roam around the city’, he said.

‘Okay’, I said and we took his cycle and started wandering across the streets.

We stopped at a signal and suddenly an Audi car hit us. Nothing happened to us but the car driver started to scold us. I started to scold back as there was no mistake from our side.

A suited man got down from the back seat and I thought he will also scold us.

‘Two wheeler or four wheeler, cycle or Audi, a mistake is a mistake’, I said to myself.

‘Hey I know you, you are Abhiram right? The AR photography?’ , he said.

‘Yes’, I stumbled.

‘Hi, Nice to meet you’, he shook my hand.

‘Nice to meet you too’, I said.

‘I am sorry about this’, he said.

‘How about a coffee and a quick meeting’, he said and gave me his visiting card.

I was shocked and I stammered,’Sure’.

‘At sharp 5pm’, he said and got into his car.

The red traffic signal turned green and I wondered whether it was a green signal for the road or for my life.

‘Do you want to come with me?’, I asked Aarav.

He saw the visiting card and said ‘Oh, I know this office. It’s a very big office. I delivered food for a few employers a few months before’

‘That’s cool’, I said.

At 5pm sharp-

‘Hi Abhiram’, he said.

‘Hi sir’, I said and shook his hand.

‘We actually have a very big project in our mind and we are looking for good and professional photographers for that. We shortlisted some profiles online which we found interesting and you are one of those. Do you have any other photos with you or that’s all which are on your profile?’, he asked looking at my photos on his laptop.

‘I lost my laptop, cameras and lens a few days back. So that’s all what I have’, I said.

‘Yeah, I got to know about it and I am so sorry’, he said.

‘But I clicked some photos recently in my phone if you want to see’, I said and showed the photos.

‘These are not what I usually click, but recently due to the major changes in my life, I enjoy clicking these types of photos. Normally I have photos of huge architecture, landscapes, nature, extravagance and lavish photos’

‘But in the past week, how things carved made me to click photos which have happiness in it-The portraits, the smiles, the little joys and everything which radiates happiness’

He was scrolling down the photos and was smiling.

‘Before, when people see my profile and photos, they used to say ‘wow’, but now I want people to have a smile on their faces like you have now. And that is making me so happy and I am thinking to continue this’

He smiled and gave the phone back.

‘Mr. Abhiram, you have everything which we exactly wanted for our project. We want to sign you in if you are interested’, he said.

‘It will take some time sir as I don’t have a camera now’, I said.

‘Don’t worry about that, we can arrange that’, he replied.

‘Like office camera?’, I asked.

‘No we will buy you a new camera and a laptop. Not office ones’, he laughed.

I was smiling and at that moment happiness was sewing my broken heart.

Sometimes, the situations in life will be like piggy bank, it should be broke into pieces to get the money from inside.

‘I am in’, I said.

I walked out of the cabin and saw aarav was chitchatting with some of the employers. He saw me and ran towards me.

‘Anna, what happened?’, he asked.

I hi-fived and hugged him.

‘I got a job, a camera and a laptop’, I said. ‘To say it simply, I got my life back’.

We both smiled and hugged again.

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S29: "Thoughts"

‘Where am I’, Ria asked herself looking around. Everything was black and smoky.

The entire place was surrounded with black fog and she had no idea where she was.

‘Hello’, she whispered.

‘Umm..’, she cleared her throat and said,’ Is anybody there?’.

‘Are you lost sweetheart?’ a female voice echoed back to her.

‘Ummm’, she restrained to reply at first. But then, ‘I don’t know where I am. I can hardly see anything except this black fog or smoke or whatever this is. Can you help me out?’

She was not scared, not terrified, not confused. She was not at all frightened of the non-visible, out-of-nowhere echoes.

‘Sure let me help you honey. Take a few steps forward’, the voice said again.

The voice was smooth, pleasing and comforting. It was like the song of a seashell, mysteriously entrancing.

Though her heart was acting normal, her eyes quivered and were wrestling through the fog.

She had second thoughts of following the orders of the unknown echo but she had no choice. Either way, she was stuck. She had to do something and she chose to listen to the voice.

She took a few baby steps fighting through the fog. Her eyes were sharp and rapid and she was ready for the unknown.

‘That’s it, just a few more’, the voice whispered.

Though her legs began to tremble, she kept moving forward.

‘Where are you’, she asked.

‘Right before you’, the voice echoed again around her head and spread down through her spine causing her chills.

She waved her hands to clear the fog. There Ria saw a glimpse of her in the midst of fog and she continued to wave her both hands while taking a few steps forward.

Clearing the fog through her hands, she saw her hair as she was facing the other direction.

As she moved closer, she could see her clearer.

Her hair was long, dark and dense, touching her butt. It was neither messy nor scary. A neatly combed one and not even a single strand of hair were out of its place.

The lady turned around.

There was an awe moment of silence inside ria’s head as soon as she saw the woman. She was wonder-struck.

She was tall and fair. She was just like a perfect magnificent woman in some painting which was brought to life. She looked like the synonym of perfection and elegance.

It took her a few moments to actually believe what she was seeing.

‘Hi’, Ria said.

‘Hello my dear’, the lady replied gracefully.

‘Where are we? What is this place? I am lost and can you help me to get back to my home? And what is this black fog thingy?’, she asked.

‘Home? Of course you can go back to your home but I am afraid there is only one way’, she said.

‘Which way?’ Ria got relieved as she found a ray of hope.

‘You have to go in there and reach to the other side. There lies your home’, she pointed out to her left and the fog immediately got dissipated from there and there was a house, to be precise a small stony den.

‘Are you sure there is no other way’?’ she stammered. The ray of hope turned into ray of fear.

‘No honey. There is no other way and I don’t think you have a choice now sweetheart’, she said.

It was terrifyingly dark and the den looked like a forbidden room to her.

‘I don’t want to go there. It’s looking a bit spooky’, she said looking at the den.

She pulled Ria's hand towards the house and opened the door.

Ria could see nothing. Everything was scarily dark. She almost felt like she got blind.

‘As you look sweet, I am going to give you a tip to survive in there and to reach to the end, which only a few people did so far’, she said.

Both looked into each other’s eyes.

She leaned forward towards her ears and whispered, ‘control your thoughts honey. Keep moving forward and remember you always have a choice to choose’

Ria was sure something was going to happen. She turned to the lady. The lady laughed the most devilish laugh and pushed her into the room.

The door got banged behind her.

She stood there with her legs shivering to death and her heartbeat is the only sound she could hear.

She closed her eyes which doesn’t made much difference, either way she wasn’t able to see anything as it was pitch dark.

She recalled the lady’s words.

’’Control your thoughts honey. Keep moving forward and remember you always have a choice to choose’’

She had no clue what she was going to face. She closed her fingers into a tight fist to suppress the fear and not to show it on her face. She stepped forward.

‘Hey’, a voice again echoed from her left.

This voice passed through her body and gave her goose bumps, her hair stood still and her heart was almost stopped. Her tight fists started to quiver.

‘Who is it’, she stammered.

‘Come on! You don’t recognize me? It’s me’, it showed up.

‘You look just like me’, Ria startled.

‘Not just look like you, I am you’, it smiled.

‘Babe, all we need is money. Enough surviving in this world, it’s time to conquer it’, it opened the door beside her and the room was shining with all gold and money. It was filled with all the riches in the world which no one can ever ignore.

‘Keep moving forward’ the lady’s words again echoed in her brain.

She didn’t say anything and started to move forward.

‘Control your thoughts, control your thoughts’, she kept saying to herself.

‘Heyyyyy’, again a voice echoed and now from her right.

She turned and it was again her own self.

But she was dumbfounded to see the look. It was a gorgeous, stylish diva.

‘Come in here and be the girl you always dreamed of’, it said and opened a door.

‘’Keep moving forward, keep moving forward’’

She headed a few steps forward and to her left, a door banged open.

There was something in there. It was not dark. She could see blurry and curious things.

She turned to her left and walked towards the door. As she was about to enter into it, she remembered something.

‘’Keep moving forward, keep moving forward’’

Suddenly she retrieved back and moved forward. She heard a huge thump of door-closing sound.

Her hope started to give-up and her heavy breath echoed all over.

And she saw someone moaning sitting on her right. It raised her head and it was her. A very depressed and grief-stricken soul

Her heart melted seeing that. She couldn’t see herself crying like that. She was lost and broken. She needed someone to lean a shoulder.

‘What happened?’, Ria asked forgetting everything for a second.

‘I am broken. I don’t know what to do’, it started weeping.

‘It’s ok. Everything is going to be alright. Just trust yourself’, Ria said.

‘I can’t see a ray of hope and I feel like I am alone in this world’, it said.

‘No, you are not. I am there for you’, Ria stepped forward to hug and comfort her and then she stopped and swung backwards.

‘What happened?’ it asked.

Ria was breathing heavily than ever, she was trembling to death. She stepped forward ignoring her. She was unable to walk as her legs were terribly quivering. She was sweating and shaking with fear.

‘Don’t leave me’, it cried.

‘It was close’, Ria whispered.

‘’Keep moving forward, keep moving forward’’

Her heartbeat was now beating like deafening drums. She fumbled through the way quickly.

‘Stop there’, Ria heard a shrill. She didn’t stop and started to run.

Something followed her and overtook her.

‘Stop right there’, it shouted from the left.

‘You can't escape from me’, it was shouting.

With a sudden thud, Ria fell on her face.

‘I told you, you can't, you scared soul’, it laughed.

‘Control your thoughts, control your thoughts’, she said to herself.

Immediately Ria stood up and started walking forward. She tried to suppress her fear.

She controlled her thoughts with a tight fist, with her nails piercing deep into her skin.

She noticed the voice is losing its strength. She continued to do that, pressing her fear down under her feet.

The screams sooner became whispers.

And then she started to run.

‘Hey, wait’, the whisper still continued following her.

And suddenly she saw a door right in front of her. She opened it and jumped into it without thinking anything and then,

 -----

‘Arrgggghhh’, she sat on her bed and looked around.

She was in her room sitting on her bed and she wiped out the sweat from her forehead.

‘Bad dream?’, her mom asked her rushing into the room.

‘A deadly nightmare’, she replied and relieved.

No matter whatever she does, she couldn’t stop thinking about the dream.

‘I can’t believe it was a dream though I am relieved it is. It seemed so real and familiar’, she said to herself.

‘So real just like the voices in my mind’

‘The voice of pride and money then the Love and beauty, Anxiety and desperation, Sadness and grief and lastly the most dangerous one- Fear’

 ‘A scary nightmare yet a truthful glimpse of my mind’, she smiled to herself.

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S31: "The Little kite"

He was sitting in the balcony, his little hands holding the grills of the balcony. He was looking at the children who were playing on the street.

He stood up and ran inside the house to his dad and asked, ‘Is she out?’

His enthused innocent eyes were looking at his dad.

‘Not yet. You have to wait for six more months’ kittu’, he said and patted his hair.

‘Six more?’, kittu asked. His voice saddened and his eyes were looking down towards the floor.

‘It’s okay kittu, just six months. She is now too small to come out of mamma’s stomach. She needs to be big enough to come and play with you na’, he tried to persuade.

In the middle of the words, his mom came and smiled at him. He looked at her stomach, went closer and kissed her stomach and ran away.

He spent the whole evening sitting on the balcony and looking at the kids playing on the street.

There are bunch of boys who are mostly of his age, around 6years. There are all playing with the kites.

They saw kittu and waved at him but he didn’t respond. He ran into the house.

‘Why don’t you go and play with them? I know you love kites, go and play kittu’, his dad said.

Kittu just rejected the offer with his head nod and walked into his room.

That very evening, his dad bought him a new kite.

Kittu was very much into kites, the moment he saw the kite in his dad’s hand, he ran and pulled it.

‘Let’s go dad’, he cheerfully jumped.

‘You go and play. I’ll come’, his dad said.

Kittu went upstairs and was trying to figure out how to fly the kite. The kite was fluttering according 

to the stream of wind.

He held the string tightly with his hands and threw the kite down from his house. It didn’t fly. He jumped and jumped and jumped throwing it up in the sky. It didn’t fly.

He ran to his house to call his dad but he didn’t disturb his dad as he was taking care of his mom and the baby which was still inside his mom’s stomach.

He went down to the street and ran slowly leaving the thread. Finally it started to fly. He ran and ran to the end of the thread.

He stopped and pulled it back but it got stuck in a tree and torn into pieces. He walked back to his home with the broken kite. He didn’t talk to anyone. His broken kite made him more alone.

‘Why don’t you go and play with the other kids’, his mom asked.

‘No’, he said.

‘You know something. Yesterday, the baby asked about you. She is waiting to come outside and to play with you’, she said.

He turned to her with a brightened face, ’Really?’

‘Yes’, she said smiling.

He ran to his room and kept smiling to himself, ‘The baby loves me. I should make something for her before she comes’.

He took the broken kite and tried to make another new kite by looking at it.

Every Sunday, he made a new kite and kept running on the street to the end of the thread. Then he walks back to his house rolling the thread.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. The number of kites increased and so do the hopes.

He pasted all the kites to the walls of his room. His room is now full of colourful kites.

And the day came,

He was waiting eagerly for the baby.

He heard the car’s horn and ran outside. It was a little baby girl, tucked herself in the arms of his dad.

‘What do you want to name her?’, his dad asked him.

He kept looking at his mom and dad with a blank face.

‘Tell a nickname which you want to call her’, her mom asked.

Kittu ran to his room, brought a kite from his room and said,’ I want to call her kite’

‘Kite?’, his mom and dad both said at once.

‘Yes’, he smiled.

‘Okay’, they said and laughed aloud.

He glued some kites around her cradle and used to call her kite since then.

She grew up and the day which he always loved and waited for came: The kite festival.

He took her sister kite to the festival and handed the manja to her.

He threw the kite and pulled and managed it. He was extremely happy looking at his sister holding the manja and their kite flew higher and higher in the sky.

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S28: "The Scare-Crow"

‘Is it necessary to go brother? Our entire summer holidays will get wasted. It will be so boring at grandma’s house’, bunty said.

‘Yeah I know, but its fine bunty. She wanted to see us since many years’, kiran said packing his bag.

‘I am going to pack all my video games and your books. I don’t know what she is doing there alone in that house. I think she should come and live with us’, bunty said.

‘She is so attached to that house and that place bun’, kiran replied and zipped up his bag.

Bunty is a 6-year-old chubby boy and his elder brother kiran is a 10-year-old lean spectacled boy.

They started in the afternoon in their car and they reached their grandma’s house by night. The driver dropped them and drove back.

It was dark and the lights were not bright enough to see everything clearly.

Kiran switched on his cell phone torch and they made it into the house without hitting any of their toenails.

‘Hey kiran and banuu’, she came and hugged them. She kissed bunty and pulled his cheeks.

‘It’s too late hon’s. You both go and sleep. Your room is on top left side’, she pointed with her finger.

It was a very big duplex house with the smell of old books. They entered the room and noticed that it was clean with newly changed bed sheets.

They put their bags aside, freshened up and just laid on the bed to sleep.

‘Strange place brother’, bunty said.

Suddenly they heard a sound, a knocking sound in their room.

‘What was that’, bunty shouted.

They jumped from their beds and switched on the lights.

The knocking sound is making them terrified. They saw that it was coming from the trunk which is lying beside the bed.

They started walking towards the trunk.

‘I am scared’, bunty was shivering.

‘It’s ok, I am here na’, Kiran said.

‘Are you not scared’, bunty asked holding kiran’s arms tightly.

‘I am but I don’t want to show that I am scared and make ‘whatever-it-is’ feel stronger’, kiran said and they were now closer to the trunk.

‘What if it’s a ghost?’

‘Sshh’

Kiran opened the trunk and suddenly a big mouse ran out of it.

‘What the hell, who puts a rat in a trunk’, bunty said. He was relieved that it was not a ghost. As he was walking towards bed in relief, he stepped on some liquid.

‘What is this’, he exclaimed. He tried to move his leg but he couldn’t.

‘Brother, I am stuck’, he shouted in aghast.

Kiran ran towards him and tried to pull and push him. But his leg got stuck to the floor.

‘Remove your sock’, kiran shouted.

‘No it is my favourite sock. I am not leaving her’, bunty said trying his level best to move his leg.

Kiran pulled his leg out of the sock and they both jumped on to the bed to avoid more exclamations.

‘Its super-sticky glue’, kiran said.

‘What the hell, bro I am scared here. Just go back to our home’, bunty grumbled.

‘Relax, just this summer’, kiran convinced him.

Though sleep was no where around them, they somehow tucked themselves into sleep.

They woke up pretty early and bunty was pepping into the garden through the window while kiran was getting ready to bath.

There was a huge garden in front of the house and there were various sorts of flowers and fruits.

Though how scary the place was, the garden was like a beautiful lotus in muddy waters. It was magnificent to see.

There were various flowers and in between them, some square area was occupied with corn fields. Between those corn fields, there was a scare crow. And everything was just eye pleasing.

While bunty was enjoying the grandeur, suddenly the scare crow swung.

‘What the hell’, bunty screamed.

‘What happened’, kiran ran towards him.

‘Look at that scare crow brother’, he got frightened.

It swung again and clapped its hands.

‘Bro, this place is crazy. Let’s go back. I am calling mom and dad today’, bunty cried.

‘No, let’s go find out what’s wrong’, kiran dragged bunty.

‘No, I am not coming anywhere near to it’.

‘I will be there na, let’s go. Atleast we will inform grandma about this’, kiran said.

They walked towards the scare crow. Bunty was shivering with fear and kiran didn’t show any fear on his face.

They were right behind the scare crow and suddenly it turned backwards.

Bunty shouted to the top of his lungs and kiran didn’t make any sudden movements. He was looking at it very still and wide-eyed.

‘Hey there’, the scare crow said.

It removed the pot on its head and to their surprise it was grand-ma.

‘What are you scared at bannu’, she asked pleasantly.

‘What’s all this for’, bunty cried.

‘Oh this, these stupid birds will smash my plants’.

‘You can put an artificial scare crow instead of scaring us’, bunty said.

‘But it’s fun to be a scare crow’, she smiled.

‘Grandma, what was that rat doing in the trunk’, kiran asked her while returning to the house.

‘Oh that rat, it always creates mess, it destroys all the food. When I was cleaning your room yesterday, I saw it was eating something in the trunk and I locked it in the trunk and forgot to throw it outside’

‘And that glue? The rat did it?’, kiran exclaimed.

‘No I poured for it to get stuck’, she smiled showing her teeth.

‘My sock got stuck’, bunty said disappointedly.

‘Oh’, she busted out into a laugh.

They walked inside the house and bunty saw a small wooden plate nailed to the wall with some peanuts on it beside the door.

‘What is this’, he tried to take them.

‘No don’t touch it’, she shouted.

‘Suddenly, a wooden stick came towards him from nowhere in a swing.

He bent down and escaped a punch on his face.

‘What the hell’, he screamed.

‘I am an old woman; I can’t run here and there. So I made some alternatives for the birds, rats and cats. Do not touch anything which doesn’t seem normal’, she said innocently.

‘Old woman, I doubt that’, bunty said.

She gave a loud laugh showing her teeth which were randomly distributed in her mouth.

After breakfast, they went to the fields and became a scare crow for some time and collected some fruits and vegetables.

And she cooked lunch for them and more than being a crazy old lady, she is a great cook.

They tried to catch that rat till dawn. They explored each and every corner of the house.

The house was full of fun and surprises. She even made a pulley arrangement to go upstairs so that if she sits on a chair and pull a rope, the chair will take her to first floor instead of walking on the stairs.

After dinner, she told them so many stories and she told how much she missed them. And they couldn’t ask her to come with them because they knew that the house, the garden and everything there was a part of her.

In the blink of an eye, the holidays passed by and bunty and kiran decided that they are going to spend every holiday at their grandma’s house and promised her that they will return very soon.

They enjoyed every moment there and they returned to their house with untouched video-games and unopened books.

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# My Blog's Happy Birthday !

May 16..

My baby blog turned one!

It’s been a year since I started blogging. When I first got this thought of writing a blog, I had so many second thoughts.

Firstly, I am a very commitment phobic person, and running a blog is a huge commitment. You have to treat it like your boyfriend, who needs continuous nurturing and pampering.

But somehow I tried to keep up to it(well most of the times). Okay I promise, I will be better (tee hee) :D

Happy birthday to you and Happy anniversary to us !

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