Wednesday, May 25, 2011

One Night!!!

It was 8.00PM when there was a knock on the door. It was time for Akash to return from work. He was a hard working guy, who worked nearly 15 hrs a day. Nisha, his wife was very understanding, she knew, all this hard work was for their family of 3. Both Akash and Nisha adored their 3 year old daughter, Ragini. Nisha never asked for a thing from Akash, Sunday was the only day, he got an off, and that he spent with his family, the other days, he was buried in work.

Only complaint Nisha had was his smoking habit. Akash was a chain smoker. He needed one in his hand, all day long. Every day, as soon as he came from work, he would sit on the couch, and Nisha would keep the ash-tray on the table. This was a daily routine. Anytime she asked him to quit, he gave work pressure as the reason. Though Nisha was sad about this, she dint pester him much as Akash was great as a person.

Months passed by, with the same routine. Ragini was being fed her favorite dinner that night, when the door bell rang at 8.00 PM. She rushed to the door to open it up for “daddy”. She felt short, as the latch was at the top end of the door, so her mom had to come to the door, to open it up. Akash was happy to see both of them at the door. He hugged Nisha and then picked up Ragini and gave her a peck on the cheek. He showed his cheek, so that she could return it. She first checked if her dad’s cheek was smooth enough and returned the sweet little kiss, on either side. He put her down, and Ragini ran inside, as if she had unfinished work. He laughed at her excitement, kept his bag on the chair, went to the couch and sat there. He saw Ragini, come out with the ash-tray, she kept it on the table. She then, caught hold of all the ruffles in her frock and moved away from the table, as if, otherwise it would catch fire. She went to her mother, to finish her food and then off to sleep.

Akash, couldn’t sleep that night. When Nisha woke up sometime in the middle of the night, she saw him at the balcony, smoking. She could sense some tension. She walked up to him, kept her hand on his shoulder. When he turned, she just smiled at him, indicating, she is with him and the tense moments would just pass away. All of a sudden, she saw tears in his eyes. She had never seen this in 5 years of their marriage. When Akash realized, he changed expression, he couldn’t be silent. He cried like a baby. All Nisha did at time, gave him the shoulder to cry on; no questions asked. After a while, Akash controlled himself and made a statement. “ I will quit smoking Nisha. I don’t want to see my daughter bringing that ash-tray on the table again”. Saying so, he switched off the cigarette he had in his hand.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Bring your kids to Work Day!!!

Malini was excited. She was taking her daughter to office today. Richa, her daughter was 6 years old, and she was super excited, when she got to know, she would accompany her mother to the work place.

Richa was a independent kid, she never wanted her parents to help her to ger ready on any outing. She asked Malini for half an hour to get ready. Since Malini was ready, she had all the time to wait for her daughter. She took her cup of coffee and walked up to her balcony which faced the garden. As she was looking a the beautiful hibiscus which had bloomed that morning, she wandered off to her thoughts, remembering her mom’s garden, which were full of flowers.

Malini was a cute kid herself. Nearly 3 decades back, she remembered, how her mom was helping her to get ready. Malini was supposed to go with her dad to his office. He was the boss of the factory. He was the production manager. Though there weren’t any kids to accompany, she knew she would sit with dad in his cabin, and she would be given all the importance that day, as if she owned the factory.

As soon as they entered the factory, few workers got her some cool drinks to drink, some of them got some chocolates. She felt like a celebrity. Ofcourse at that age, she dint know what it meant. Malini’s mom had packed her colouring books, story books, which she promptly opened up as soon as dad and she were alone in the cabin. Her Dad had arranged a small table and chair for her. But kids, are usually not satisfied, are they? She wanted the big table which dad was using. His table had 3 metal drawers and a glass top, he had so many files on top, along with a couple paper weights, staplers and lot of other stationary.

Malini was left near that table for sometime,since her dad had to go out for some inspection. He told her he would be back in 10 minutes, and that she was not to touch anything on the table. She was a very obedient kid, she dint touch anything on the table. Just a few minutes later, her eyes fell on the drawer. This was the kind where you unlock the top drawer, and open it and the below two get unlocked. She saw the keys dangling on the top one. She promptly closed, the drawer, locked it. Now she dint know where to put it. Since her dad had told her not to disturb anything on the table. She just put the keys in the second drawer, and closed it.

Malini’s dad came and she moved back to her table and chair, and started colouring. In 5 minutes, she saw her dad, franatically searching for something. She realized he had lost something. She dint know though what it was. Two of his assistants came over and all three searched the whole cabin. It was just fluke that Malini’s dad asked her if she saw the keys of the drawer, and that’s when he realized what had happened. They had some important papers in there, and now it was locked up. Just when her dad, and the other 2 were thinking of getting a locksmith, Malini came upto them and said “Daddy, did I do something wrong? I saw the drawer open and thought I should lock it up. And you told me not to disturb anything on the table, so I kept it in safe” and smiled. Her dad couldn’t help but admire her innocence. The other 2 guys also burst out laughing. The locksmith came and finally the lock was opened in half an hour of the incident.

“Mamma, I am ready. Let’s go”, Richa came running to Malini in the balcony. Richa wore a cute jeans skirt and red top, with matching accessories. Malini took her little bag and said “Let’s see what my darling is gonna bring to my office”. They both left in the car to Malini’s workplace. She was telling Richa, dos and donts in her office, mentally making a note to keep an eye on Richa, lest she has to start searching around for stuff, like her dad.