Little Miss Sunshine!!

A pinch of salt, a spoonful of sugar,a mixture of condiments,a dollop of cream... so are my stories, so are my dreams!

Friday, June 13, 2008

"If, If, If....."

"So many unwanted things accumulated over all these years... I need a dust mask to get out of this place alive. You could give me a hand you know! instead of staring at me and smiling while I struggle to handle this absolutely unimportant worldly load of crap", cribbed Rahul as he had been doing for almost an hour now.

Rahul and Sonia were shifting apartments to make room for the arrival of their life's most awaited responsibility.

"Dont you crib! all this crap belongs to you. You and your practice of never giving away anything that has dust and mites in it...clinging on to your LKG books and 1st standard report card as if they were some kind of Pirates' treasure. We cannot even proudly show them to arpita coz you have not even made an "A" in them", quipped Sonia after cautiously casting away the report card on their couch.

"I don't like the name arpita... We should call her Priya"

"That is so old fashioned" cried Sonia and threw a couch cushion at him.

and lo! there had started the most important fight that they have been having for the past 6 months now... the name for their baby girl

Amidst all this wrestling with baby names, his hands came across a small plastic bag buried among some old debris in the topmost shelf. Time, had showered upon it a feel of ancient antiquity. He blew the dust away and slowly opened it. His hands froze, his eyes were locked upon its contents....

He remembered how he had acquired each and every one them .... even after all these years he could remember vividly how for the very first time in his life he had mustered enough courage to go and talk to a girl. He had always been in a boys school and the transition to college was something he never knew how to cross. She had been his first friend who was a girl. She had held his hand during every single occasion he had felt low or depressed... She had been the one face he had almost broken his neck for by craning it in every possible angle so that he could see her better during college class hours.

Every single thing in the packet had once been very dear to him, a paper that they had used while playing "Hollywood" with a couple of country names scribbled upon them, the wrapper of a chocolate that she had given him during her birthday, a 2 inches long pencil that she used to term as her lucky pencil, a graph paper that she had drawn for his physics practical assignment, an old rusted keychain with the letter P etched on it which she had got for him as a birthday gift and a 'letter'... A letter that Priya had written to him right after their last fight... he did not even remember the reason anymore... He was still in a state of daze where he couldn't figure out what was reality and what wasn't. He couldn't help thinking "if, if, if, if only!"...

"if- a two lettered word for futility"!! how true the sentence seemed now!

"Hey i have made some pakodas and coffee for the guy who has worked so hard all morning and whose report card i can never show to any of my kids", said Sonia with a beaming smile.

May be it was her eyes or may be it was her pakodas... somehow the packet did not matter to him anymore. He realized that what he had was probably much more than he had ever deserved. He did not have to cling on to his past to find a foothold in the present ever again.

"You know I have actually started to like the name arpita", said Rahul.

"Finally we agree on something!", exclaimed Sonia with a question in her eyes... which had every probability of remaining unanswered.




P.S: "if- a two lettered word for futility" is quoted by Sydney Sheldon in the novel "If tomorrow comes".





15 Comments:

  • At June 13, 2008 at 7:43 PM , Blogger Nivi said...

    ".clinging on to your LKG books and 1st standard report card as if they were some kind of Pirates' treasure. We cannot even proudly show them to arpita coz you have not even made an "A" in them"

    That brought a smile to my face :)

    I guess when they say let bygones be bygones, it actually makes sense does it not. Than hanging to the past to a 'could have been life' it would make more sense to enjoy 'the life that is'. I completely agree.
    A thought beautifully brought out.

    P.S : You used my most favorite line ever!

     
  • At June 13, 2008 at 7:43 PM , Blogger Nivi said...

    Yay! I commented first!
    Boy seems like ages since I did that, does'nt it?
    Well I don't have the advantage of sitting next to you in our cube :)

     
  • At June 13, 2008 at 7:46 PM , Blogger Anu said...

    @nivi
    Hey thanks loads man...

    yeah i miss those days too... especially the notice period when both of us used to churn blog after blog and totally while adichufy the time!!!

     
  • At June 13, 2008 at 8:01 PM , Blogger Abhidnya said...

    Hey Anu,
    I really liked this one.....it is so nicely framed....it will make anyone and everyone remember their own sweet memories......
    keep u the good work as usual....

    Abhidnya... :D

     
  • At June 14, 2008 at 10:19 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

    Hai Anu,

    We liked your blog a lot.
    It was a beautiful thought which will make people think ,it is always better to live in the present and enjoy its every moment rather than brooding over the past.

    Expecting to see more blogs from you.

    MOM and DAD

     
  • At June 15, 2008 at 7:48 PM , Blogger godavar said...

    "May be it was her eyes or may be it was her pakodas... "

    its an old "dehati" (country) proverb /idiom.. taught to eligible women before their marriage that supposedly the way to a man's heart begins at his stomach.... nice indirect reference here.. though I am totally sure you didn't have it in mind..

    "
    "Finally we agree on something!", exclaimed Sonia with a question in her eyes... which had every probability of remaining unanswered."


    a touch... a deft touch.. very tantalizing.. sequel coming up??

     
  • At June 16, 2008 at 10:57 AM , Blogger Dhivya said...

    Very mature post anu! Nice! :)

     
  • At June 16, 2008 at 2:07 PM , Blogger Anu said...

    @abhi
    hey thanx dude :-) glad u liked it

    @dad
    thanks dad...

    @raghu
    its a wonder how my fav lines from the story always matches with urs!! :-)

    @dhivya
    hey thanks :-)

     
  • At June 16, 2008 at 10:38 PM , Blogger cm chap said...

    Huh... I exactly thought the climax is gonna b opposite... You handled it really awesome as always.

    Hats off Anu...

    Sorry for late comments

     
  • At June 17, 2008 at 2:15 PM , Blogger RAM said...

    good blog. made me think of my past.keep blogging such nice ones.

     
  • At June 18, 2008 at 1:07 AM , Blogger Prats said...

    That was so lovely. A single word with a million twists to it.
    And yes...let go of the past to live your future, and the guy sure did it well..

     
  • At June 18, 2008 at 10:51 PM , Blogger Anu said...

    @cm-chap
    hey thanks!! i din think much abt the climax actually.... wrote wat i felt was the ending that was to be...

    @ram
    hey thanks :-)

    glad u read it!!!

    @prats
    Glad u liked it! thanks a lot....
    welcome to my blog and keep visiting :-)

     
  • At June 19, 2008 at 8:51 AM , Blogger Kartik said...

    Hey super post Anu !! I can recollect a famous quote after reading this post...
    “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God's gift, thats why we call it the present.”

    wonderful post after the long hiatus !!

     
  • At June 21, 2008 at 7:10 PM , Blogger adithya said...

    Well first of all the first thing which I notice what you did not mention the story and the past of Rahul and Priya… that was an awesome stroke dude.. I mean you left it to the imagination of the readers… I really really loved that aspect in the whole narration

    By the way nice to read that you can think of characters where the “ guys” are the ones who are “clinging on to your LKG books and 1st standard report card as if they were some kind of Pirates' treasure.”.. if it had been me I would have comfortably given that aspect to the lady in the plot .. Great to know that there is atleast one awesome author who thinks that guys can also have that character... let me give a bigh thank you from the guys (and btw I am as clumsy as clumsy can get)

    And hey that line “We cannot even proudly show them to arpita coz you have not even made an "A" in them".. wooow very nicely put and that was classy… I mean very nicely put.. one of those line which would definitely make a reader smile…. Btw why is naming of the kid always an issue with couples.. I mean I have seen so many of Rahuls and Sonias of your story

    ”… Time, had showered upon it a feel of ancient antiquity”. What a classy line!!! I guess its just the way you put it.. Hats off maan!! I haven’t seen anyone doing a transition so smoothly and so crisply… I mean I got to take a bow for it.. the one where you talked about him being in a boys school and then meeting priya and then saving everything from a graph paper to a 2 inch pencil.. its really superb!! And hey I am in total agreement with the two letter word for “futility” and “IF” the choice was upto me I would have settled for “arpita” and I do believe that “Priya” is kinda cliché :)

    Brilliant stuff yaar…. Loved it.. adored it… and waiting for more :)

     
  • At June 28, 2008 at 2:33 PM , Blogger Anu said...

    @bka
    thx da... glad u liked it

    I jus wanted to say "let the bygones be bygones"....


    @adi
    hey thx a looooooooooooooooooot!!

    hmmm i know girls are always meant to be the ones treasuring past memories but i have seen guys do that too... i guess all that matters is how much one person has affected the other in a way that it takes a lifetime to forget them

     

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home