The Tales of Morn Star Claus Ch-2

The children woke up on Christmas morning, all excited to open their presents. Little Amy Parker had wanted a beautiful baby doll she could hold in her arms and rock in a little crib. When she opened her gift, she saw a beautiful doll in there and was thrilled. She held the doll close to her and got such a shock that she dropped the doll instantly. The doll had bitten her on her shoulder. Poor Amy rubbed her shoulder. She thought, perhaps a pin had been left behind when she had unwrapped the present in a hurry. She picked the doll up and tried to kiss her when the doll lifted its arms and scratched poor Amy on her eyes. Amy got such a fright, she threw the doll down and ran screaming to her parents.

Johnny Brown had wanted a clockwork clown. He unwrapped his present to find the exact one he had in mind. But was it the exact one he had in mind? He wound it up. The clockwork clown began doing somersaults. It looked normal at first, but then, all of a sudden, it lost control and began jumping at the television and broke the screen. It then jumped on the bookshelf and upset all the books. It jumped on the table and upset a beautiful flower vase mother had placed and broke it to smithereens. It was the most nasty toy Johnny had ever seen. His parents came to see what the noise was all about and mistook Johnny for being naughty and gave him such a telling off that his Christmas was surely ruined. They took the clockwork clown away as a punishment and said they would not give it to him unless he behaved himself. Johnny was a bit relieved when the clown was out of sight.

Peter Saunters wanted a jigsaw puzzle. But he was horrified when he realized the pieces were all of different puzzles and not one of them matched. Little Betty Barry wanted a Jack in the Box. Imagine her surprise when a snake popped out of the box instead of Jack. She screamed and ran for her life. All the kids had terrible nasty gifts that Christmas morning and were gloomy, scared or crying. Morn Star was watching all of this on his special big screen in his castle and laughed till his sides ached. Santa had a similar screen, he was horrified when he saw the damage his brother had done.

“Fetch Morn Star to me immediately”, he roared. The whole castle shook. Santa never got angry. This was the first time he did and all the magical creatures who were there trembled like leaves on a windy day. A pixie flew off immediately to fetch Morn Star. Morn Star came in, tears streaming down his cheeks from laughing too much. “What have you done?” Santa boomed when he saw his brother. “Wasn’t that hilarious?”, asked Morn Star between laughs. “You are a MONSTER”, yelled Santa. His voice was all better now because of the soup and medicines the matron witch had given him. Santa pushed Morn Star so hard that Morn Star fell on his back. “How dare you ruin Christmas for the children?”

“I thought it was funny”, protested Morn Star. “ENOUGH!” Santa roared. “I have had enough of your pranks and jokes and tricks. All these years I have protected you. I am not going to tolerate this anymore. I banish you from this place forever. You are to go and live with the bogeyman henceforth!” He then ordered a gnome to shackle Morn Star and throw him in to the bogeyman’s cave.

Do you know what the bogeyman does to people who have been naughty? Morn Star was terrified of the bogeyman because the bogeyman gave him the scariest nightmares. Even when Morn Star wasn’t sleeping, the bogeyman made him imagine the scariest or saddest things on earth and made him feel depressed and scared all the time.

Morn Star lived with the bogeyman for a day, and couldn’t take it. The nightmares were scarier than one could imagine. And when he was awake, the bogeyman made him imagine things so sad and depressing that Morn Star cried all the time. He just could not tolerate it anymore and shouted out to Santa that he was truly sorry and asked to be given one last chance. Santa came to the entrance of the cave. He too was scared of the bogeyman. “Come out Morn Star”, Santa commanded. Morn Star came out, shivering and trembling and crying. “I will give you one last chance, if you clear up the mess you have created.”

“I will”, said Morn Star in a small voice. He first went to the Sandman for help. The sandman blew some golden sand all over the earth and made the children fall asleep. Next, Morn Star approached the fairies for help. They blew fairy dust over all the children so they forget whatever happened that morning. While they slept for a brief while, Morn Star quickly replaced the gifts with the ones Santa had originally intended for them. He had to do it really fast because the sun was streaming in through the windows and the children could wake up any minute.

When the children did wake up, they had forgotten all about the nasty toys and were happy to receive what each one had asked for. They laughed and cheered and played all day. Christmas was saved and it was once again, the way it was always supposed to be. Merry and Cheerful.

As for Morn Star, do you think he kept up his end of the bargain?

The Tales of Morn Star Claus Ch-1

Did you know Santa Claus has a twin brother? Yes, his name is Morn Star Claus. He was named that because when he was born, his little eyes twinkled like the early morning stars. He looked just like Santa, but for the eyes. His eyes had a gleam in them. The gleam of mischief. This little boy, unlike sweet, jolly Santa, was very mischievous. He always had a trick up his sleeve. He was forever taunting the others or tormenting poor helpless creatures. Slowly he came to be called as Monster Claws by everybody.

Now, Santa loved his brother very much and did not like the others call him Monster Claws. He was very protective of his brother. He tried telling his brother to change and be a good boy. He never listened. Santa even bribed him with toys to make him good. The toys were broken in not more than a few seconds.

One day Santa gave Morn Star a beautiful clockwork clown that did somersaults when you wound him up. Morn Star was thrilled, but as you would expect him to do so, he had broken the clown with a hammer. Santa was very disappointed. He never lost his temper though. He sat down beside Morn Star and asked him why did he break all his toys, to which Morn Star replied that he wanted to see how the toys worked from the inside.

“Aah!” thought Santa. “That was it!” “Morn, would you like to learn how to make toys?”, asked Santa. “Yes”, replied Morn Star. “Come to my factory then. I will teach you to make toys. You can then make as many as you like and can help us before Christmas.” Morn Star agreed.

The next morning, Morn Star went over to Santa’s factory and sat beside the elves to see how the music was put into the musical toys and how the wooden toys were carved, how the tops were made to spin, how the toy trains were made to run on the tracks, how little colorful bricks were made. He then spent the afternoon sitting with the fairies seeing how little dolls were made, how their dresses were stitched on and how little shoes were made to fit their feet. He saw how teddy bear’s were made so soft and cuddly. He spent the evening with the goblins seeing how story books were being printed. The night was spent in the pantry with the kind old witches in learning how special treats and chocolates were being made. He spent over a month learning all the tricks of the treade. Santa also taught him how to keep track of the good and naughty children of the world, keep track of the letters quoting what the children wanted and send them the exact same thing written in the letters and not mess up. Santa’s factory was a beehive of activities.

After a month, Morn Star was confident of managing things on his own. Santa was expecting him to help him out in his factory, Morn Star however, had other plans. He wanted to start a factory of his own. He did soon enough and even got some elves, gnomes, goblins and pixies to work for him.

On Christmas eve, Santa started to feel a little sick. He had a bad cough and a sore throat. He couldn’t “Ho Ho Ho”. His body ached and his head felt dizzy. “You are coming down with a flu”, said the matron witch. “I am not letting you go out on this snowy night in that sleigh of yours”, she said. The matron witch was a very strict lady and no one went against her. She always meant well, of course. “But matron”, Santa protested. “It is Christmas eve. The children will be waiting.” “It doesn’t matter. We can send the gifts out for New Year’s “, she barked. She was the only one who could order Santa around. Santa did not mind her being strict because she was a motherly old woman, and Santa did miss having his mother around at times. She sent him to bed with a bowl of warm soup.

Morn Star heard of Santa’s ill health and came to visit. There was no denying that no matter how mischievous Morn Star was, he loved Santa a lot. So, when he heard that his brother was unwell, he came at once to see him. “Morn Star, there will be no Christmas this year”, moaned a poorly Santa when he saw his brother. “No Christmas? Pooh!” said Morn Star. “Do not worry brother. I shall deliver the gifts for you”, he said. Santa’s eyes sparkled when he heard that. “Are you sure? You will do that for me?” asked an excited Santa in a raspy voice. “Of course”, replied Morn Star, his eyes gleaming. “What are families for?” “Oh how wonderful”, said Santa, clasping his brother’s hand. “Here is the list of children, their addresses and the gifts they have asked for. You can take my sleigh, it is already loaded and the reindeer are waiting. Thank you brother. Thank you very much”, said Santa.

Morn Star walked out of Santa’s castle with the list in his hand. He read through the long scroll of paper and grinned, mischief twinkling in his eyes. “Yes, the children will get more than what they asked for”, he chuckled. He saw the big red sack on the sleigh and poohed. He pushed it off the sleigh. He then whispered something to a goblin who had come with him. The goblin gave a chuckle and sped off to Morn Star’s castle and returned with a big black sack and a black fur coat. Morn Star put on the black coat and tied a bright red belt across his big tummy. He pulled on a pair of black trousers and black boots. He put on a black hat on his head. He looked every bit like Santa dressed in black. He sat in the sleigh, stroked his long white beard and said, “Har har har”. He pulled the reins and the reindeer flew off into the moonlight. He visited all the children in the list and dropped off the gifts under the Christmas tree and flew back to his castle by dawn.

 

The Witch Doctor’s Apprentice

There was a sleepy little village on the foothills of a majestic mountain. The people who lived there were simple and sweet. They earned an honest living and minded their own business.

That village had a doctor who was famed to cure any kind of illness within a day. He used some colored potions and pastes and healed people. He was rumored to be a sorcerer. He came to be called as the “Witch Doctor”.  The witch doctor’s fame reached far and wide and people from all the nearby villages flocked to his thatched hut to visit him and be healed by him. He treated everyone for free. His only condition was that no one was to question his methods and have full faith in him and his medicines.

One day, out of curiosity, a young man from the neighboring village came to pay a visit to the witch doctor. He accompanied his sister and niece. The niece had had her arm fractured and was in a lot of pain. They waited their turn outside the humble hut. After a few minutes, they were called in by the doctor himself. The doctor caressed the little girl’s arm soothingly. He was very careful in not causing her any pain. He touched her forehead for any signs of fever. He then took out a bottle with purple juice in it, poured it into a cup, measuring it carefully, diluted it with water from a pot and asked the girl to drink it up. The girl hesitated at first, but she was coaxed by her mother and she drank it, claiming it to be the sweetest juice she had ever tasted. The doctor then proceeded to cover the injured arm with a red colored paste and bound it with some leaves and a cloth. The girl was asked to sleep well at night after a light meal with the promise of her hand being healed the next day. The mother of the girl touched the doctor’s feet with respect and left.

The next morning when the girl woke up, the hand was not swollen, nor was she in any pain. The fractured bone seemed to be as good as new. The young man, the girl’s uncle was perplexed. A fracture normally took 15 days to heal and even after that, the pain remained for some time. This was like a miracle; only he did not believe in magic or miracles. He was determined to find out how the witch doctor cured his patients and wanted to use that to his benefit and earn from it.

He started off for the doctor’s village, which was an hour’s cart ride from his village. He stood outside the hut talking to people about the doctor and gaining information about him. Nobody seemed to know how he procured his medicines, but the medicines always worked wonders. After all the patients left in the evening, the young man went in to meet the doctor. He sat before him and folded his hands. “What brings you here son?” asked the doctor with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.

“I want to be your apprentice and learn your ways”, the young man replied. The doctor snorted. “Indeed! Who am I to teach you anything? How am I qualified?”

“What do you mean? You have been healing so many people. I would like to do that too”, he replied earnestly. “Yes you do”, chuckled the doctor again. “Is this funny to you?”demanded the young man , slowly beginning to lose his patience. He had not eaten anything since the time he left his village and his hunger was making him irritable and impatient.

“Go now. Come when the time is right”, the doctor said dismissing him. “No. I have not been waiting all day to be dismissed like this”, snapped the man. “I know why you will not teach me. You want all the fame to yourself. You do not want to share your knowledge because you are scared of competition”, the young man was now seething with anger and he rose. “I WILL learn your ways and I WILL become better than you. People will come from all corners of the world to seek me and you will lose all your patients and become nothing more than an old beggar”, shouted the man and stormed out of the hut. The old doctor shook his head, smiled and proceeded to clear his things away for the night.

The young man did not go too far. He wanted to learn the doctor’s ways by hook or by crook. So, he hid behind a large tree near the doctor’s hut and kept a watchful eye on him. The doctor did not come out of the hut that evening. When darkness fell, the man slowly went to the window at the back of the hut and peeped inside to see what did the doctor do. A small cheerful lamp was lit in the hut. The doctor first had a meager supper of fruits and milk. He then pulled out four baskets from under a table. Each of the baskets had different colored flowers. He took a handful of each of the flowers and began crushing them in his mortar and pestle. He transferred the pulps into different bottles based on their colour. Sometimes he mixed two or three flowers together and put that pulp into another bottle. The young man could not see clearly what kind of flowers were they. But the colours were of shades of red, blue, purple, orange and pink. Shades he had never seen before. He craned his neck closer to read the labels on the bottles. The red pulp was marked, “Bone and muscle injuries”. The purple one was marked, “Pain”. The orange one was marked, “Fever”, the pink one was marked, “Stomach ailments” , the blue ones were marked, “External Injuries”. There were other bottles with mixtures of pulps of flowers. The man did not remember much, but he assumed that flowers could be combined based on the ailment. The next question was, where to find the flowers. He noticed the baskets were now empty. Aha! So the doctor will have to go sometime to get those flowers from somewhere. He would then follow him and get access to those flowers and use them himself. What a rich man he would then be!

The man waited patiently for three days until one early morning, before anybody could wake up, he saw the door of the hut open and the doctor step out with a sack. He had a big stick in his hand which he used for support to tread on the rocky lands. The young man followed him at a safe distance, careful not to make any noise. The doctor began climbing the mountain. After about half an hour of climbing, he took a path that turned left and was filled with thick trees. It was dark. The young man hurried along, trying to keep pace with the doctor who seemed quite nimble footed. He seemed to know his way well through the woods even in the dark. After about fifteen minutes, he came to a cave. He prostrated before the cave and went in. The young man followed him but did not bother to prostrate. The cave wound and stretched like a snake. There was a light at the far corner of the cave. The doctor went towards the light and the man followed. The man mistook the light to be sunlight. He was stunned to see the light coming from a large tree with the same flowers that he had seen in the hut three days ago. The flowers shone like jewels. He watched the old man fold his hands to the tree, mutter something and begin to gather the flowers. It was amazing to see so many different colors of flowers on a single tree. There were other shades of flowers too. And the fruits! They hung about like gemstones from the boughs. The man was mesmerized. He waited until the doctor took his pick and hid himself in the shadows as the doctor turned to leave. He waited for a few seconds and then went to the tree. He began plucking the flowers too. Luckily, he found a small cover in his pockets. He plucked not only the colours of flowers he had seen in the hut but all the other ones too. He even plucked the fruits of the tree. Feeling like a rich man already, he proceeded to find his way back home.

That night he sat crushing the fruits and flowers to pulp and transferring them into bottles. The next morning, he went back to the doctor’s village with his medicines on a cart. He sat under the tree and looked at the hut bursting at its seams with people. He called out to one boy and asked him to tell the others that he too had the same medicines that the doctor had and some of them could come to him instead of waiting for hours. The boy did as he was told. So, some people came to the young man. He put on an important look and tended to his first patient. “What is wrong?”, he asked. The patient was a sixty year old woman. “I have lost my appetite sir”, she said. “I don’t feel like eating anything and I feel weak. My stomach hurts a lot…” “Aah. I have just the thing for you”, he said and took out the bottle labelled “Stomach ailment”. It had a bright orange colored liquid. He poured it out in a cup, diluted it with water and gave it to the lady to drink. She took a sip and spat it out in disgust. “Drink up, drink up. You can’t expect medicines to taste like honey”, he said. The poor old lady drank the remainder of the medicines. “Now, go home and sleep. Tomorrow you will be fine”, he said. The next patient was a little boy who was bleeding from his forehead. The man did not even ask him what happened and proceeded to put a purple coloured ointment on his wound. The boy screamed in pain. The others turned to look at the commotion under the tree. The witch doctor’s patients never yelled in pain. What was this?

At the end of the day, the young man had tended to at least twenty patients. He did not charge them that day. He wanted to earn their trust first. That night he slept under the tree.

The next morning he woke up to find himself surrounded by angry villagers who threatened to beat him to a pulp. The old lady had been vomiting all night and was on the verge of dying. The boy with the injury had developed an infection and the other patients had each of their ailments worsened. The witch doctor called to them from his hut. He ordered them not to harm the man and told them that he was an apprentice and was just learning his ways. The doctor set to work on cleaning up the mess the young man had made. An hour later peace was restored and the villagers went back to their homes. The young man stood before the witch doctor sheepishly. “I am sorry”, he said. “I should have known better”. The witch doctor chuckled again. “Aren’t you angry with me?”, asked the man puzzled. “No son, who am I to be angry? I am a human too. I too make mistakes. Come to me at 4 o clock tomorrow morning. I will teach you my ways”. With that the doctor dismissed the man. The man was moved to tears. He had wanted to get more famous than the witch doctor and trick him out of business, but here he was, offering to help him even after what he had done.

The next morning, he went to the witch doctor and touched his feet. “Pick that sack up”, said the doctor, “and follow me.” Together they went to the mountain and the doctor taught him all the mysteries of the magical tree and its flowers. He taught him how to identify each ailment and treat it, but more importantly, he taught the man to be humble and loving.

After a few years, the young man became an expert in treating people. The old witch doctor was satisfied with his apprentice’s progress and decided to leave his work in the hands of the young man and retreated to the depths of the mountain to spend the rest of his days in peace and meditation. The young man’s skills were known far and wide and people flocked to see him from different corners of the world.

 

 

 

 

Scat the cat

The Itchy Bear by Neil Griffith, narrated by yours truly

Story telling at Malgudi Nights

Watching Over Mia – Ch 3

Aaron gave me a beautiful funeral. I never knew I looked so pretty. I looked like I was asleep. After the guests had gone I followed Aaron into Mia’s nursery. She lay there in the crib like a little angel. Aaron knelt beside her and cried like a baby. I so wanted to hold him, hug him and tell him that I was right there but I knew that I couldn’t. So I didn’t even try. I just stood there and wept. How much he loved me!

 

I was there beside Mia all the time. Aaron took to working from home most of the time so that he could keep a careful watch over her. She grew by leaps and bounds. I always had a feeling that little Mia could see me. Whenever I was beside her she would look at me and point her finger at me or smile at me. That was enough to send me alive albeit in the afterlife. But alas – I just couldn’t touch her or hold her close to me. Aaron never understood what was she pointing out to but he always admired her.

I watched everything of Mia – it was like my dreams unfolding before my very eyes. Her first steps – she fell over and let out a wail that would send pigeons flying all over. I wanted to lift her and hold her close to me – but I couldn’t even touch her. My hands would pass through her like in thin air. However, Aaron was always there for her. Mia started speaking and her first words were – ‘mamma’. Well it sounded more like “mmma”. I cried out of joy. She started going to school when she was three. What a joy it was to see her go off with her head held high in pride. She didn’t cry like other kids did. She was a matured child right from the first day. And boy – how she bossed over the other kids. It was a great joy to me to sit beside her in class and watch her.

Once the class bully ate her cookies. She questioned him about it and he asked her to go take a walk. You should’ve seen her lips curl and then she started crying. Oh I felt so sad for her, but at the same time I couldn’t help notice how cute she looked when she did that.

Mia was growing up to be every bit like Aaron. But her hair was like mine – deep auburn.

Now with Mia going to school, Aaron could concentrate on his work better. But he ensured that he spent quality time with her and helped her with her lessons and took her to the park or to the swimming pool. He played with her and read to her and tucked her into bed. Oh it was so nice to see them both. I missed being a part of their lives.

After Mia was asleep Aaron would go to my picture that was in Mia’s room and look at me with so much of love and sadness.

 

The Eucalyptus Grove – Epilogue

That afternoon, there was a mysterious fire in the eucalyptus grove and the entire grove was burnt to the ground. People didn’t know if they ought to feel happy or even more frightened. Was that a good omen or bad, the hut people wondered. 

A few months later the MLA’s son claimed the land and built a club there for the people of the township. There were no more “happenings”. People soon forgot about the haunting and lived like nothing ever happened.

Mishti inherited her grandfather’s property when she was eighteen. By then the township had grown to a very big industrial hub.  She would do her MBA and put her education to good use in the newly developed industrial town. 

Mayur did not marry again. He loved Ria far too much for that. It took him quite sometime to overcome her sudden demise. Half of him wanted to believe Sanjay had something to do with it but the other half of him was stubborn in not wanting to believe paranormal involvement. 

….. Until one day the wind brought with it a withered eucalyptus leaf amidst the dust and debris. As he tried to pull the window shut , he felt a cold hand on his, a cold breath on his neck and a whisper in his ear, “Mayur…… ” 

The Eucalyptus Grove Ch-25

The house wore a depressed look. Mishti was sick the whole evening. She threw up a few times and by evening she was even running quite a temperature. Ria wanted to take her to the doctor, but she decided she’ll put her on her medicines for the time being and if her condition didn’t improve by the next morning she’d take her to the hospital and get a complete checkup done. She in fact was in no mood to do anything. She was traumatized and scared. Her stomach was in knots and she could barely eat anything. She felt very restless the whole day. She kept walking around the house aimlessly. All she could think of was getting back to Mysore where life would be limp back to normality again. 

Mayur set about clearing the house of unwanted things and  chanced upon an old Whisky bottle in his father in law’s cabinet. Tired and sullen as he too was, he washed it down his stomach with dinner. He was pretty tipsy by the time he got to bed.

Ria was woken up by Mishti that night. She sat up and looked at the clock. It was half past two. “What is it baby?”, she asked. She felt her forehead and it was very warm.

“Ma, Nana and Nani are sad without me. They want me to come”, she said.

Ria looked at her petrified. “Who told you that?”, she asked.

“Nana was here, he was crying and he said ‘come Mittu I miss you so much. We are alone here’.”

Ria hugged her daughter. “No, they are not alone, they are with God and they don’t miss you”, she said. 

“Ma, I want some water”, she said bursting into a fit of cough. She woke Mayur up. “Keep an eye on her, I’ll get some water”, she said. But he rolled back into his slumber.

She went into the kitchen and jumped. Sanjay was standing there his face lit by the moonlight. “Why are you doing this to me?”, she asked.

“Come”, he teased.

“No”, she snapped. “Leave me and my family alone”, she said.

“Mishti’s Nana and Nani miss her”, he said with a sarcastic smile. “Sanjay don’t touch my family”, she said sternly. She heard Mishti cough again. She ran to the room. Mayur was fast asleep. She gave Mishti some water.

“Mama”, she said in a whisper.

“Yes baby?”, she said stroking her head. 

“I… can’t b..reathe”,she said her eyes rolling up. 

She held her close and shouted out to Mayur. But he didn’t seem to hear a word. Mishti’s body was burning with fever. “MAYUR”, she screamed shaking him. But Mayur slept so soundly. She wondered if someone could actually sleep like that 

She could hear a hysteric laughter. She looked around but could see no one. She shook Mayur again but he was out cold. She remembered that Mayur was quite drunk when he went to bed that night. She cried helplessly. 

She called the ambulance but there was no response. 

She saw two eyes peering at her. “Come”, he said holding out his hand to Mishti this time. 

She looked at her daughter helplessly. Her face had gone pale and her eyes were rolled up. Mayur seemed oblivious to his wife and daughter’s condition. She hugged Mishti and cried and begged for mercy. 

Sanjay kept holding out his hand. Ria close her eyes, took a deep breath and fell on the bed, her hand wrapped around Mishti’s palm.
Dawn was breaking. Ria walked to the eucalyptus grove. She reached the fence. Sanjay was standing there facing the other way. Her heart felt light. She felt a sense of calm and peace within her that she had not felt in a very long while. She was happy to see him. She walked up to him. He turned when he heard her come and held his hand out and smiled at her. “Ria, Come”, he said. She went over and held his outstretched hand. She looked behind for one last time, she felt guilty but she knew she had done the right thing.

He gently tugged her hand. They walked hand in hand along the old familiar path strewn with the dried eucalyptus leaves. They walked towards the pond and slowly disappeared into thin air.
Mayur was woken up the next morning by Mishti. “Papa, Mittu hungie”, said Mishti. Mayur kissed his daughter’s tummy fondly. He looked at Ria who was still asleep. “Mamma is sleeping, so come we’ll make breakfast for her and surprise her”, he whispered to Mishti. 

He tip toed out of the room and made breakfast for the three of them. Mishti’s appetite seemed to have improved enormously. She ate well. Her fever had abated and she showed no signs of having been sick. Mayur then took a tray of breakfast and coffee to the room and called to Ria. She didn’t open her eyes. He shook her and still she didn’t wake up. He was a little surprised since Ria was a light sleeper. He shook her again and bent down to kiss her when he realized he couldn’t feel her breath.

The Eucalyptus Grove Ch -24

“We’ll go back”, she said to Mayur. Her parents’ last rites were performed and Ria was even more disturbed than ever. She feared for her daughter and Mayur more than she mourned for her parents. She didn’t want to lose the only two people left in her life now. “Yeah, we’ll sell this house and go”, he said.

“We’ll do the selling from there, let’s get out of here”, she pleaded. He looked at her and stroked her head. “Ria, we will get out of here, but we’ll get out of here for good, we’ll wind up everything and then leave”, he said in a firm voice.

“You stay back here and wind up whatever you want, my daughter and I are leaving”, she said and got up to go to her room. She stopped outside the door. She saw Mishti standing by the window talking to someone. She went up behind her and saw someone leaving in a hurry.

“Mishti, who were you talking to?”, she asked squatting in front of her.

“That same man who was here yesterday”, said Mishti.

“What did he want now?”, she asked sternly.

“He said Nana and Nani are missing me very badly and want to see me. Where have Nana and Nani gone mamma?”

“They are with God baby. They are with Dada and Dadi”, she said pulling her close to her.

“I want to go too. That nice uncle said that they are in a happy place.”

“No, you cannot go there. And what have I told you about talking to strangers?”, she chided her.

“He said he was your friend from school mamma. Sanjay uncle.”

Ria stared stupified. No, Sanjay was not going to take her only child away now. She hugged Mishti. “Baby, promise me, you will never ever talk to anyone unless I say so”, she said. 

“Ok”, said Mishti. “Can I talk to daddy?”, she asked naughtily. She patted her and nodded.

She heard laughter inside her head. She was very very worried and even more scared now.

She could not sleep all night; she kept looking at Mayur and Mishti to observe if there was anything unusual. She fell asleep a little after day break but woke up within an hour.

She was very jumpy the whole day. She never let Mayur and Mishti out of her sight. Mayur was calling a few real estate agencies and trying to get a good price on the house. “Just sell it to anyone”, she said. “I don’t care even if we don’t sell it, let’s just lock this place up and leave”, she said her voice shaking.

Mayur could sense his wife was on the verge of a nervous breakdown now and he didn’t want to take any more risks. He called the travel agent to book tickets. 

“We have no tickets till Tuesday”, he said covering the mouthpiece.

“Today is what, Friday, ok tell him to get us the earliest possible flight out of here”, she said.

Mayur nodded and got back to his travel agent. 

Ria cleaned up the house and packed all her things and Mishti’s things. She went into her parents’ bedroom and looked around. She sat on their bed and remembered the numerous nights she had sat there listening to stories that her parents told her. She saw the white board and remembered the lessons her father used to teach her during exams. She looked out of the window at the garden her mother had so tenderly nurtured. She ran her hand over everything they had touched when they were alive. Such love they had for each other. Her mother had passed away in the hospital. Mayur had called her father to inform him, when the call didn’t go through he had texted him and her father had died instantly of a heart attack. What an idiot Mayur was! Such a delicate news and he dropped it like a  a bomb on her father. She had never seen anyone love another person as much as her parents loved one another.  She doubted if she loved Mayur to this extent. She looked at the computer through which her parents used to chat with her every day. She had such fond memories of this house and now she was going to leave all this behind forever. 

She sat there in the room crying. Mishti sat beside her looking at her helplessly. She had never seen her mother cry so much. Her mother, once rosy cheeked and bubbly had turned into a  a pale dark circle eyed frail, weak woman who was always crying and irritable. She wanted her mommy back. She wiped Ria’s tears with her tiny fingers and kissed her over and over again. She didn’t know what was wrong and didn’t know what else to do to console her mother. Ria hugged Mishti and cried even more. Mayur walked in and saw her crying. He held her close, there was nothing else he could do to console her either. He knew it was best to let her cry as much as she wanted, she would recuperate faster that ways.