I am you..

They entered through the main door, the woman and her two daughters. With flowing white togas, clinched at the waist, they looked like the ray of sunshine, I had been waiting for God knows how long.

“Mother, is this where we will live?” The younger one with golden locks, and the face of an angel spoke up.

The woman looked around with and expression of sorrow mixed with disdain.

“Yes, Runa this is our home now.”

The girls ran around the small home, which took not more than 10 steps to cover from one end to another. It was a stone house with low white ceilings and claustrophobic white walls. The only place divided was the bathroom with a cane door. The kitchen, bedroom and sitting area were seamless in this small home with no divisions.

Another entered through the main door, a priestess with religious symbols tattooed all over her arms and shaved head. She walked around the ten steps and crossed the length of this humble abode. She stopped right under the roof, where there was a small hole to stream sunlight through. She cocked her head towards the right, looked up at the roof, let the breeze from above wash over her shining and tattooed baldness and looked at the mother.

“This place is cursed!” she spoke.

“Cursed?! But we have to live here, there is no where else to go.” Said the woman in absolute despair, holding her two girls.

“I did not say that you have to move.” Said the priestess. “There is a restless spirit haunting this place, we need to get rid of it.”

“How do we do that?” asked the woman with tears in her eyes.

“We prepare for the ritual now, I have everything with me. I will need your help to set things up.”

They then set about to prepare for the ritual, and while I waited to write what comes next; I decided to look for the restless spirit. How difficult would it be to find a ghost in a house that can be covered in just 10 long strides? I looked in the bathroom first, nothing, went to the kitchen area, nothing, went to where they started the ritual and there standing in the watering hole. I saw her.

She did not belong here, this house was now theirs, the woman and her two girls and she needed to go.

I could hear the priestess chanting in the background, she had drawn strange religious symbols all over the wall and lit a fire in the centre of the house. She believed that only with the combustion of fire and water will the spirit leave this house.

As her voice grew louder, so did the fire become larger and thunder rolled outside.

The priestess came over to the watering hole to fill up the round vessel. I knew that when she does that final act of pouring water over fire, this soul would disappear from the house.

Shouldn’t I ask her, if she was ready to go? I looked back her, and she seemed scared. For a moment I felt pity, but then i realised that the dead have no place here in my story. This story was about the woman and her girls.

I gathered courage and asked her, “Are you ready to go?”

She spoke in tiny voice, “I don’t know. “

“You don’t have a choice, you can’t be a part of this tale” I reprimanded her.

I looked behind me, the priestess was poised with the vessel to pour water over fire and vanquish this ghost.

But wait, shouldn’t I ask her who she is, and how did she come into my tale.

I looked back at her and asked, “Who are you?”

And as I finished my sentence, I felt excruciating pain throughout my body, as if someone was trying to rip my very essence into shreds.

The priestess had poured water on fire, and the ghost spoke, “I am you.”

She

As I open my eyes to this new world, I see her. I see her in a sea of faces,

Her face shining like a fiery beacon amidst the ocean of eyes, nose and lips.

She comes close, her breath against mine is fresh and sweet like the air that gives me life.

She holds me close and we enter water together, all my fears of death by drowning are laid to rest.

Later, lying down on the ground, she lies next to me, and as she looks into my eyes, earth stands still,

A moment stretched unto eternity,

She is supreme, she is magical, she holds sway over the all elements,

And I am supposed to call her Maa.

- for you Mumma

The raven

August 10th:

Dear diary,
Something really strange happened today. I spotted this raven at my bedroom window staring at me intensely. It wasn’t the first time either, I have seen this raven around almost daily, and only today I realised it is the same fella everyday. And I know this because there is a small white scratch on his beak. Could it be David? Could his soul have come back from the dead?
Or am I reading too much into it?

P.S: You do know today will mark a year since David left me.

August 21st:

Dear diary,
I am sure the raven is David, and I will tell you why. Remember that Paediatrician I met at the socials last week, he asked me out. And as I laid out my first date dress on the bed, you know, the red one. David’s favourite! The raven came and pooped on it. It entered my bedroom sat on the bed and pooped on the red dress! If this doesn’t convince you that David has come back to me…then nothing will.

August 30th:

Dear diary,
I am so happy today, I and David had coffee in the balcony, just like old times. I made mine strong and gave David some milk. Oh I discovered that this new David loves my chicken pops just like the old one. When I clean the house and dust the surfaces, David does the same on his window sill. He removes all dust particles using his beak. His soul is still the same. He is my David, even his habits are the same.

I am in love all over again!

September 15th:

Diary,

David has not been coming daily anymore. I wonder where he goes. Do you think he goes to see her, be with her, just like he used to? I thought he came back for me! That bastard, can’t he let go of her and just be mine. I need to know where he goes, I need to follow him, diary. I must make him mine again.

September 20th:

I saw him, I saw him sitting on the window sill of her apartment looking in, watching them. It was a raven and I know it was David. That lying, cheating, traitorous man! He promised me, he swore that he will be mine and only mine.

September 22nd:

Dear Diary,

I am happy again. Oh so happy, I have been listening to Angus & Julia Stone in a loop since morning. David is back home, he is mine again. He has fulfilled his promise and left his wife and children forever.
Guess what, diary?
All it took was a rat poison and a taxidermist!

The white girl

As Karen walked through the streets of Jaipur, she was conscious of the stares following her each and every stride. This was not new to her, she had experienced the extra attention, from men and women of India, the minute she had stepped out of the airport.

She remembered her friend Atul, warning her, “if you want to visit India alone, let me tell you it is not a place for a single white woman.”

Karen had heard so many beautiful things about India, the place, the colours, the culture and the cuisine; that Atul’s warning seemed more like a desperate attempt to keep her back home in Milwaukee, during its merciless winters.

She knew that it was now or never, she had finally saved up enough money to backpack through the world’s no.1 exotic destination.

Karen shook herself off her thoughts and decided to put Atul in the back burner for now. The streets with names that she couldn’t possibly pronounce, were calling out to her. She dived inside a busy market place in Central Jaipur and then took a left and a right and a left and a right again, with hawkers calling out to her, selling beautiful trinkets at 10 dollars a piece.

The market was infinite, and Karen was determined to find out what lay right in the end.

As she reached what looked like the deepest part of this colourful maze, the shops dwindled and all that remained were garbage cans with odd stalls here and there.

That’s when, in Karens head, the warning bells started tinkling. It was dark, the lane was practically empty. To make matters worse, she had no clue how many lefts and rights she had taken.

She looked around to see dark men, smoking what they called a bidi, silently staring at her, when she felt something sharp poke her back and a stinking breath near her ears say,

“You are alone and far away from home, white girl!”

A toothpaste in green please

Dear Manufacturers,

Please consider manufacturing your products in color green. Don't get me wrong, I am not Green World...Global Warming...Save the Earth propagation. The reason for my suggestion, are the below situations:

1. "Mummy....I want GREEN auto. I want to only go in GREEN auto." and your child cries himself to sleep moaning GREEN autoOOOOO.

2. He refuses to brush his teeth for days only because I can't find him a GREEN paste and brush....grrrr

3. Honestly, there are not enough GREEN pants and GREEN t shirts in all the malls as there are in my home

4. Tantrums, in the middle of the night because he wants GREEN bed sheets and blankets.

5. GREEN shoes, GREEN caps, GREEN watch blah GREEN blah GREEN blah blah blah

I hope now you get it, and be careful lest your kids contract the ORANGE/GREEN/YELLOW/RED/BLUE disease.

From,

The harrowed mother of the boy who loves GREEN!

Let's find my mind...

My most interesting conversations with Simba happen, while getting him ready for school. Like today:

"Mummy?"

"Yes?"

"You know, I lost my mind and I did not even know that."

"Eh?"

"Yeah, I lost my mind, where should I find it mummy?" (mummy looks up to see that he is dead serious.)

"Who told you that?" (mummy getting increasingly upset).

"Daaadddyyy"

Conclusion: Daddy gets toasted!!

Happy Children's day

So on children's day...walking Simba back from school, I realize how the rest if my day would go..

Simba: "Mummy, after we go home, 1st you give me lunch. And then you make me do my homework. I have 2 homework by the way.
And then we will go out and buy hard paper and make a remote control car at home. (Seriously, I have no freakin clue how that's possible.)
And then we will take my cycle and fill petrol for the tyre. (Ok, I think he means air)
And then you make me learn how to play guitar so that I can sing "Eye of the tiger" for my talent show in school.
That's it!" (oh yeahhh)

Mummy: (wiping the sweat off her brow) "Ummmm okkkkayyy!!!"

So, happy children's day...