Note 74 : Winters Tale

Mountain pile of fluffy flowers,
A dancing dew in fresh showers

A cuckoo bird 🐦 kissing teddy bear 🐻,
I took my time to stand and stare

A shoowsh, a whoosh, a splashing sea..
This mewing kitten, everything and me

A forest banyan, its love, its shade,
You're all this, my warm winter's tale 💕

Note 73 : The MidNight Frog Hunt

Summers began with an ice-cream jingle.

'I scream
You Scream
We all scream
For ice-cream'

This jingle existed when I was in school too. Reminding you, that words would probably see forever, unlike You, unlike Me.

A vacation is a wonderful invention, or at least the kids believe that. A heightened sense of independence washes over. Their minds are set free - like a crazy ping pong balls, creating one idea after another. Ping here and Pong there, followed by Ka-Boom – Pow – Smasssh somewhere.

If you've ever been around kids you'd know, that this freedom leads to wreckage (in your house) dynamiting (around the area) & ruination (across the planet). Ideas like launching a missile on the mean kids in the neighborhood - the kids on the other side plans dung bullets for the mean kids here, creating a catapult big enough to launch themselves or as it had happened this summer - 'The midnight frog hunt' find their origins in the vacation. So I might as well call this note – The Vacation Chronicles. But I like frogs, so we go with “The Midnight Frog Hunt”

----
Papa Frog, Mamma Frog, and 10 other baby frogs had set up camp, this summer in our community garden. It was a brave real estate decision by Papa frog. Meal options were plenty. You could even tease out some snacks post the afternoon siesta. Some dreamy little baby frogs dreamt of flying Aeroplanes. Their elders with access to all the Frog Magazines dreamt of meeting Super-star Kermit.

If kids are dreaming of better, bigger things, you know life is good.

The gardener god made it rain each morning, divine beings like the water sprinklers and pipes were prophets and angels, sprinkling the holy message forward. The frog family, in reverence, croaked all night, singing songs of praise for the Al-mighty gardener - bringer of water. While other frog communities hibernated in their under-the-soil bunkers, Papa frog and family lived the dream.

Life, as always, had other plans.
-----

Agnes, leader of the pack of baby (human) wolves found these frogs cuddly. The explorers that her pack was renamed the whole species “Froggy”

– “well they are so cute”
– “they never walk, they jump, how amazing is that” –an imitation of how frogs jumped followed = boing – boing – boing
– “They can hold so much food in their hands” – secret: webbings in between their 4 fingered hands
– “They clear out all the insects” – this was followed by imitations of “Slurrpppp” and various tongue movements, words for which don`t exist yet.

If the pack comes up with 4 bullet points to love someone. That love is going to flow like the mighty Amazon and inundate the whole world. There was a team set up to watch over them, a day team and an evening team. Kids were to be home before 9 – so the watchman, Pankaj took night duties – he loved the kids, but he also didn`t care.

---

So let`s just fast forward.

A little harmless dog exists in this story – he has a very human trait, he likes to smell everything for no reason at all. The much-loved Frog family is threatened by this dog – or at least the pack would like to believe that – a plan is hatched to save them. There is a chink – the Frog family doesn`t want human love.

Side Honest Note: No one in the animal or plant kingdom wants it.

It was nothing of a morning. The sun lazily spanned its route - in absolutely no hurry to complete its daily chore. It seemed like all of us the sun wanted to spend as much time with the kids as possible. A reporter from the morning froggy squad – in the shift handover report, reported Muffins smelling the Froggy Manor. The same sniff was reported in the evening and the next day.

As the group convened over the Wednesday Ice-cream summit – where all important matters like – Parent behavior, Strategies against the neighborhood enemies, Wins-Losses, Targets were discussed. Rudimentary matters like the Froggy Manor report were also discussed. Little Jimmy`s notes on how Muffins sniffed the Froggy Manor caused grave concern – the notes said:

“Muffins wag tail. Muffins smell. Muffins try su-su. Only 2 drops”

The committee felt, on a heavy bladder day, Muffins might drown the Frog Manor. A resolution was passed to evacuate the residents of the Frog Manor that night. A plan was built. Equipment was collected & the plan was called: “The Mid-Night Frog Hunt”

Side Note 2: It wasn`t planned at midnight. No parent would let them out. It was more around 8:30 pm – bordering around their deadline.

Agnes, Riya, Pari, Jimmy, Kabir, Adi had all taken express permission to extend their deadline by 30 mins – since a promise was made to remain in the confines of the apartment complex – all parents were OK. The gang gathered around the manor. Meanwhile – Papa Frog and family were enjoying their evening activities unaware of what was to happen.

Pari shouted “Froggy” assuming it spoke human language

“Aree Frogs ko sirf – drow – drow aata hai” said Adi [The only language Frogs speak is “Drow-drow”]

“Abhi drow-drow kaun seekhne jayega” was Jimmy [Now who`ll learn Drow-drow”]

“Aree!, chup tum log – unkon insects offer karte hai” was Riya [Keep quiet everyone, let's offer them insects]

“Mai laayi hun” was the Pest Control in Chief – Agnes [I`ve got them]

Kabir laid the insects out. A couple were thrown in the Manor. The Frog family ignored.

“Ye log so gaye honge, 8:30 ho gaya hai” – Adi [These guys must have gone to sleep, it's 8:30 pm ]

“unko subah school hoti hai?” asked Little Jimmy [..yea, they must have school the next morning]

“Nai hoti, maine kabhi Froggy school bus nai dekhi” – said observational Pari [ I don`t think so, I~ve never seen a school bus with Frogs]

“.. are ye frog log A.B.C.D kaise gaate honge..? “ asked Little Jimmy again [How do frogs sing the ABCD Song]

“Chup sab log. Abhi mai jisko bolne bolungi wohi bolega.” – said the commander, pest control in chief Agnes [everyone keep quiet, speak only if I ask you to]

“Riya, tu apne ghar se ek Balti le aa – hum log inko Balti me bhar dete hai aur wo peeche k field of frogs me transfer kar dete hai” – Agnes continued [Ritu get a bucket from your house, we`ll transfer the frogs in there and send them to the field of frogs]

“..are par wo field me to dusre frogs bhi to hai. To wo log dushman honge to..?” was little Jimmy again [What if the frogs in the other field don`t like them?]

No one answered. Kabir thought he had a point. But he dared not speak. He secretly liked the commander in chief, like a 8-year-old like other things, like ice-cream. He didn`t think hard about the why`s. He just liked things. So he didn`t say a word.

The bucket was brought.

Manic digging started – the manor was seen – the frogs were transferred in the bucket with tumblers – a lid was also brought to shut the bucket to prevent jumping. They took the bucket and told Pankaj the gatekeeper to walk them to the Frog-Field.

Elder Frogs Panicked. Baby Frogs, in their sleep, dreamt of being air-lifted.

The relocation plan was successful. Little Jimmy swallowed more questions along the way.
Next day, Muffins, gaily, unaware of how her actions had caused a massive relocation, came – smelt – dropped 2 drops of susu – wagged her tail – continued on her merry way.

----

The Frog family had a rude awakening. They finally knew how human love felt like. Elders in the Field of the Frogs reminded them of how it was always a good idea to stay near the ones you loved.

----------

Lily :  Lush greenery, lives and breathes and smiles. Most times she whispers, sometimes she talks. Her laughter is the music of gods. No wonder then, we mortals are delighted in her company. The moment rains slash, mankind goes berserk with happiness. It's like a flip switch.  If only, we let her be.

Note 72 : Not all those who die are dead

'you know when the elephant stamped on the ant, the ant didn't die. It was too small to be stamped.

The earth quaked, a strand of thick hair like the root of a tree was snapped, monkeys rubbed the sleep of their eyes - turned a-side and went back to sleep again, but the ant didn't die. Ruffled wisps of dust, flying and hi-;fying each other mid-air settled down. The ant didn't care, it continued its climb uphill, up the ant-hill

It was too small to die. Like the too big to fail, the ant was too little to die. In the larger scheme of things, it didn't matter, no matter what the poets say' wrote Lily as she walked through the forest.

Technology could help you do that, make a book of everything you thought and wanted to scribble down.

The sun baked down, leaving no trace of moisture. There were cracks in some parts, almost as if the thirsty planet opened it dry lips in hope of gulping something down.

'How would you feel if you didn't matter Agnes?' Lily asked her little sister

'I'd be particularly happy if I got a break from the living and live where I don't matter ' she was in that type of mood this particular day. Another day and she'd say she'd make everyone else insignificant.

'if I don't matter, nothing else will' with a dooming, threatening sound of a giant monster of an Agnes, stomping, Stomp, Stomp.. haha..

.....

I loomed around, I was there and I wasn't. Neither here nor there. Between heaven and hell, I still don't know which is which. At a later time, 500 years after, I would realize they are only labels. Notions created out of made up languages..

Anywho,

I didn't have a life even after I died, so I stalked my kids. The two of them had decided to take a walking trek. It was almost the rainy season. The skies on most days would prepare for rain, however sun came along the next day and would rain on skies clouded parade.
(I wouldn't give up on puns even after I was dead)

They spotted an owl in the first half hour, a peacock in the next

They walked, aimless, among all the lofty goals the world was setting itself, my little girls, walked without a purpose, just together. I was proud.

Did you know ghosts can cry,  also, the one benefit of being a ghost is that your clothes don't get stuck in shrubs How amazing!!

.....

When you're dead, that is on the verge of dying, literature suggests you get a sense of meaning. Mine was, a touch senile. I died believing time and memory were the same thing. That if we had no memory, time would limp and extinguish.

.....

Agnes, one summer vacation, watching looney toons and crackling with excitement asked me, during a commercial break ofcourse :) , what would I name my third daughter if i had one.

'What would we name her?' was her exact question

It was Agnes asking, so it had to be a rapid-fire question. I had to answer immediately.

I don't remember what I answered. I only remember how it made me feel. In that moment, my being cloned itself and out of nowhere, I had 3 daughters. 'There's nothing like too much of a good thing' the clone said before jumping away to another universe

.........

Lily, one sultry rainy afternoon asked 'If i had to rewrite a book, which one would i pick’  I asked her back – she replied back too. And I gave my answer. I again don`t remember the specifics, in the grand scheme of things, the answers don`t matter, only the questions do. No one remembers the answers.

But right that day, another clone, out of body thing, left my body, walked in the pitter-patter of rains – and a few years after wrote me a letter with a list of books he had re-written, list of headlines he had changed – built another galaxy with more butterflies than ours.

------

Everything that left me never came back, but it left for good and created something more enchanting, more beautiful, left behind more stunning universes. And here I was, the un-cloned, content in staring at the moon and ghosting two beautiful little girls.

-----

Note 71 : Notes from a Saturday Morning

Saturday unlike Sunday`s are meant for noise. Or so the cool kids, which incidentally are also my kids believe. They are the youth, they make the rules. It`s like an unwritten legislation in the books of all countries – everything remotely cool will be inherited and ruled by the youth. The definition of youth is the absence of the feeling of being tired, no white hair (if you have black hair) – and no bald patches. There`s another one too – if the majority of all youth don`t believe you are a youth, you cease all rights. I got burned by that rule – I was de-youthed when I was 20. They barred me for life.

Youth or otherwise, among changing regimes, Maushi controlled her life, and I argue she controlled that of many others in her vicinity. Her life was that of the sun, no matter what goes on, on the petty little planets – the sun always does what she wants to  – like parties leading to solar flares, the winter vacation, the summer over burn – so was the case with her. If my house was a country Maushi would be the president - no delete that – she`d be the dictator.

She got the afternoon siesta, the early morning newspaper time, the evening walk and the likes that define a good life for the non-youth. You know leisure, with some sprinkles of life. I was jealous of the routine she had developed and didn't try to mask it in any way.

Agnes was running around the house celebrating the no-school day. No school days, judging by the happiness on Agnes's face was the adult equivalent of finding extra money. No happy poem can describe it. It is the happiness of the moon swirling around the earth in her pretty dress. Of that of a balloon, untethered.

Lily, the book monster, would gulp down a good portion of a 10-course meal book on a Saturday.  Sufficient wasn`t enough for her – she had to go for abundance and beyond. No matter how much she read, she always wanted to read more. If you walk into her room when she`s feasting over a good book – it`d be difficult to find her – the book, the bed, the cushion, and her  - would all have merged to become a single organism. An organism that doesn`t move. Come to think of it, if a T-rex ever attacks you, just get the book out of your backpack and start reading – I`ve heard that the only way the T-rex can see is with movement – so if you don`t move – for the T-rex you become invisible. It is kinda beautiful.

The early morning had given way to morning, just like that, these adjectives have a way of dropping themselves out. Maushi had prepared a feast of a breakfast. If Lily was the book monster, Agnes surely was the food-monster; the one defining trait of a monster is hunger – have you ever thought of that. As soon as breakfast was announced – Agnes swooshes her way into the hall.  She rattles, clatters and clangs – breaking the delicate balance of silence – like the sun suddenly breaks out of the night –like a plop in a thick black liquid  - like break-fast on an empty stomach. The balance shifts. All this clinging and clanging disconnects the flow of Lily`s reading, rolling her eyes she walks into the hall too – she was dreamy and yawny - – the wire connecting her to the other (book) world had suddenly been snapped by Agnes and she hadn`t completely made her way to this (breakfast) world.

“What are you so excited about” she asks Agnes.

“Breakfast” replies Agnes

“Don`t we have breakfast everyday”

“But not like this…” she says – pointing to her Pooh bear pyjamas and a misshapen top, I~m sure it has a name but I just don`t know.

Maushi interrupts the beginning of the Saturday war as she asks me for a hand with the setup and of we go.

There`s almost no conversation as we`re all changing the status of our stomachs from empty to the misguided “I don`t think I`m going to have lunch”

“Did you know Ayesha and her friends are distributing sun-glasses for sunflowers?” said Agnes looking at me

“What..?” I asked trying to comprehend

“Its almost summer and the eyes of the sun flowers hurt looking at the sun all day, so they`re going to distribute sun-glasses for sun-flowers” I looked at Lily for her to help me out

Completely unmindful of the conversation. Lily ask`s Agnes “When are your exams”

“In 3 weeks” comes the reply

“Should you not start studying” asked Lily – the elder sister

“Ah. There`s enough time” – comes the reply

“Last time you said you didn`t have enough time and hence weren`t able to concentrate because you said there was so much to concentrate on” – another volley from Lily

“I`ve built my concentration now – I`ve grown older in all this time and can concentrate” – comes the deuce from Agnes

“Really!?”

“Yes”

“Look Balloons !! ?” says Lily suddenly pointing at the balcony

Agnes, leaves the table and rushes out – to find nothing. Comes back with a grump of a grumpy face. I`m almost laughing out loud and Maushi chuckles.

“I`ve bub built my concentration now” mocks Lily

Maushi broke a grape and munched it – I was worried a war would break out and here she is relishing a grape -  I just don`t get her.

And well, you obviously know what happens next. The parliament wouldn`t have seen such a ruckus. When there are 2 monkeys fighting do you let them fight or do you sit and wonder why are you calling your own kids monkeys?

Note 70 : Fairies with Nightmares

Do you have nightmares? Lily asked me, one Sunday afternoon.

Sunday afternoons are when you can talk about the most terrifying thing in the world and still not worry about it, because on Sunday afternoons the world is cocooned, the combined lethargy of 7 billion people stops anything bad from happening. The planet has this protective spongy layer around and within it. Even an asteroid hurtling towards the planet would just bounce off - dreaded terrorists would sleep in their mother`s arms - T-rex has mango smoothies in heaven on Sunday`s - Agnes is busy sleeping - nothing could go wrong on a Sunday afternoon.

Lily is curled up like a kitten, head on my lap. We`re watching reruns and Lily asks me - do you have nightmares. I do I say. Obviously anticipating the next question - what do you see in them.

I say, I see Agnes has burnt the whole school down for her science project. She says she`s trying to prove that studying can happen outside books and rooms and teachers and that is her science project. I break into a smile & say. What do you see, I evade and ask back.

She, of course knows I evaded, she`s a woman & she`s smart. She does let it pass too, for the same reasons.

I want to understand where they come from, do they come from a dark place that we don`t want to acknowledge the existence of. Are they our realities which we`re only trying to mask by being happy or are they just lingering thoughts which our idle brain just blows out of portion.

I sat back wondering. The minds of children are ever moulding you'd think. Even when those children are in college, scaling mt. Everest, burning down schools.

Answering or even evading questions like these isn't an option. You can't always keep your heart in your jacket, one day it will beat its way out.

Our brains are wild horses who we only tame with daily rituals Lily, when the sun is out. The moon sets it free, in dark, those thoughts run wild, those horses are untamed with unlimited possibilities, they can run on either side. The wildest are the ones which run in the chaotic, gloomy most terrifying territories, it is those whom we call the Night-mares, Lily. Maybe that is why we're afraid of the dark, it shows us things we can't see.


The daylight captures what the night releases.

We must keep....

.. everything in the right balance, she completed

What! - called out Agnes, are you saying there are horses running in my brains too Her ringing fone woke her up, rubbing her eyes she walked into the living room.

Didn't we conclude that there were only starving Panda's perennially asking for food in there she continued...What is it a zoo.. ??

Agnes, brings the Sunday afternoon back to where it belonged.

The dinosaurs had moved on to waffles, the world was a school back on summer vacation..the dragons yawned, turn the other side and dozed off again..

Agnes settles down on my other lap. And begins part 2 of her afternoon siesta. Lily drifted off too.
The world almost dizzily kept whirling around in dreams.

Note 69 : The Trial

'When i tickle her, the monkey that lives inside her stomach, the one who controls her, starts jumping, giggling and sometimes  dancing and so does she, although people watching it for the first time classify it as a fit, but it really, truly is a monkey"

Lily had a theory, that her sister,Agnes belonged to a long forgotten line of decendants, of the great hungry monkey, - that Agnes was Kipling's bandar log

This was Lily's explanation when her tickling led to destruction of property, which maushi later classified as 'ek vase hi to tuta hai, kanjoos'

A hearing was set to decide who to blame it on. Agnes blamed Lily, Lily blamed Agnes, Maushi blamed me and I had no one to blame, so i blamed the vase
..

The morning was bright, the helium filled ball of gas was smiling brightly at the blue ball of rock and water. The ball was frolicking around it, like a pendulum which kept hovering over and around the ball of gas...tick - tock..tick - tock..tick..time.tick.space..

...

Lily's journal said, "Baby sun gurgled when she first saw the blue planet. 'This is the prettiest thing ever' she said; this was after Baby and Papa Sun had traveled the universe..

Papa Sun had never seen her so happy. That day, papa sun tethered earth to a stone as his parting gift  and earth, since then, has forever floated around Baby Sun. Making her happy.

Agnes's secret Russian spy like mission was to steal this exact journal from Lily's room which was labeled 'fortress of solitude'. This was because 'Themyscira' was already taken, by me.

The wheels were rolling, the evil plan, was in motion.

The US govt - Maushi was involved in this conspiracy too, altough no one would ever be able to prove it.

(Wo)Man's search for meaning hovered a lot on figuring out what other's are hiding, it seems the discovery will unravel more things about the seeker than the one being seeked. Agnes wanted to find out what Lily wrote in her diary about her, and if she even did?

She didn't care about anything else. She took her philosophy lessons  seriously, 'Know Thyself' and and more importantly know what people you love think of Thyself :)

After some searching, Agnes found it right next to Lily's Book on Egyptian Mummy's. Lily had kept it in plain sight, assuming Agnes, with her over complicated straight way of thinking would miss something that was right in front on her and waste days searching behind pillows, curtains and alternate universes, some even I was unaware of.
(What is the difference between finding and discovering)

Agnes knew Lily knew her, hence it seemed she also knew where Lily would expect her to search, hence, she did the opposite. Game theory in action. The youngs triumphing over the old..

It later came to light, that maushi, the big brother, knew the whereabouts - so the shrewd old, powering the youngs triumphing the  mid olders
...

"The flying bird slipped as it was gliding over the clouds..." Agnes read from Lily's stolen journal, hysterically laughing" How is that even possible..."

This led to the tickling episode. Post which, Lily aimed a pillow missle at Agnes, it missed Agnes, but it hit the unsuspecting vase. The vase, who was pondering if the moon was upside now. As fate would have it, the vase was now upside down, crumbled.

...

So the court date arrived, the proceedings were uneventful. It was like the 23rd day of the rainy season, people no longer cared if the rain wet their pants or their souls. Who knew economic theories applied to our feelings too.

Her honour, Hon.Mavshi, proclaimed that i should not bring trivial matters like that of a broken vase to the court. Nothing short of a broken heart would get the court's attention, she ruled.

The upturned vase, was happy though, he could finally see the moon right. Broken, crumbled things in their own way can be happy too, you know?

.....

The moon was curled over the clouds like a sleepy cat that night. Lily read what she had written about Agnes. They met in the lands of Mordor (Agnes's room). Agnes had cooked pop corn (yes, popcorn needs cooking she said). They shut the door on me and threw me out. I wanted to know too, but maybe this is what happens when curiosity meets reality.

I walked out and saw Maushi painting her finger nails black.  Agnes was making her listen to Evanescence and Maushi it seemed took a liking to those songs and videos.

When she saw me staring, she smiled, I'll admit the idea of a Goth Maushi was a little scary.

The proceedings of the day had me disturbed. I walked into Themyscira and read some Murakami, played some Rekha Bhardwaj.

And wondered how wonderful it'd be if they got married and adopted me.

Together, they put me to sleep.

...

The girls were friends again the next morning, baby sun was still giggling and the vase was still in love.

All was well.

...

We need to let people we love in, let them walk our hallways, let them have chai and biscuits in our subconscious and dream about them. Let 'theyselves' turn to ourselves and spend more time in our gardens than in our graves.

.....

Note 68 : The Garden House

In the garden house..
Among its bright hues...

Two little feet..
grew..flew..
Their melodious beat..
this merriment blue..

She sings a new song..
I'm humming along..
With this chirping bird..
.. is where i belong..

My blossoming..
My blooming flower..its dew..
Sowmya's her name..
Magic,

yabbadabbadoo!