Side View Mirror

Side View Mirror

Riding bike along the East Coast Road, that too on a Sunday evening is fun. It’s something you should not miss. I was in my usual speed enjoying the beauty of the endless sea. Seas and beaches, its something that Chennai people can boast to the haughty Bangalore crowd.

My papa keeps carping about my Rash driving. But I don’t speed unless its absolutely necessary like if I am late for a movie and my little friend who is very particular about punctuality is waiting or if am so hungry that I want to reach my favorite restaurant as early as possible. I never speed when am late for a class or office. I feel am more cautious compared to my friends who needlessly zip for such dippy reasons. They forget “Speed thrills but kills”.

Suddenly I heard some desperate vehicle’s horns from behind.
“Looks like some idiot who is late for a Sunday evening class or is that fellow late for a movie. Ho my god, late for a movie, its better that I give him side” I mused.

But when I looked in my left Side View Mirror, I didn’t see the vehicle but I saw her face. I looked in my right mirror; it’s her smiling face again. Ho my God, what’s happening to me? Is this a dream? Is this bike a time machine? Am I traveling to my past? I should have enquired properly about the owner before I bought this bike.
All such crazy thoughts came to my mind.


********************

Flashback
It was a beautiful Sunday evening. I was taking my friend for a ride along the East Coast Road. She was more than a friend to me. I mean, she was one whom I trusted most among friends, whom I can share my secrets, my thoughts, my feelings. I don’t talk a lot to her and sometimes I feel am not very close to her, but whenever I need a friend she’ll be the first person whom I approach. It sounds strange; I too wonder how this is possible.

When she used sit with me in bike, I used to adjust my Side View Mirrors to see her face forgetting its original purpose. She used to irritate me by going left and right. She was one of the naughtiest girls I had ever seen.

My friends always make fun of me about such friendships. May be they never believed in true friendship. One of my friends even made a crazy theory about friendship and love. Well it’s absurd but still funny. It’s called the “Friendship and Love Theory”.

He used to say:
“If they are lovers now, they were not friends…
If they are friends now, they were not lovers…
If they were lovers, they are not friends now…

If two friends are lovers now, they were not friends
If they were friends, they are not lovers now…..”

I know anyone who reads this will be confused, even am confused.

We were enjoying our ride. Then I looked at her via my all new purpose Side View Mirror. She looked more beautiful in the mirror. She smiled and said “George, I think this is my last ride in your bike. Am leaving Chennai, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of our friendship. We’ll be friends forever”
I could see tears sparkling in her eyes, hope she didn’t see mine.


********************

I was suddenly woken up by some noise. When I opened my eyes, I saw many people around me. I saw a policeman standing in front of me shouting.
I heard people saying that I had stopped my bike in the middle of the road and when policeman asked me to move the bike to the side; I started shaking my head left and right.

People thought I was saying “No” to the policeman, but I realized I was in my dream world; I was not shaking my head to say “No” but was looking in the left and right Side View Mirrors.

I somehow settled the problem. Chennai police are good. They understand people’s problems well.

And I continued my bike journey. I was smiling the whole way back thinking what a fool I have made of myself.

At times life plays such funny games with us. It takes away the most precious things from us. But what’s life without such games.

You’ll know its value only when you lose it.

Suddenly I heard some desperate vehicle’s horns from behind again.
Ho my god, not again.

Innocence

Innocence

Knock, Knock …
“Sibi ikka get up, get up… let’s play”

“Ho my god, this boy won’t let me sleep” I thought.

“I am awake Rizu, will come down in a minute, stop knocking the door, you’ll bust it”
I shouted.

But the knocking continued.
He knows if he stops knocking, I won’t get up.

I reached to door’s lock and unlocked it.

There he was, my nephew Rizwan, standing with a cricket bat, smiling.
It was a yellow plastic bat with a big smiling picture of Sachin Tendulkar.
He’s a big Sachin fan like every other Indian kid.
He was standing with his bat raised like a victorious king with his raised sword
Or was he trying to imitate Sachin after scoring a century?

“Rizu… it’s only 9:30 am… let me sleep for sometime… I slept late yesterday”

He was not ready to listen.
He came in and started hitting me with his plastic bat.
Finally I had to get up and went down with him.

I was too lazy to play with him.
So as usual I said some excuse.

But this time, he was not ready to leave me just like that.
He kept troubling me asking me to play.
He was going on telling “Sibi ikka, come please, we’ll play just one game,
After one game, I won’t trouble you, please”.

From the kitchen, I could hear my sister shouting.
“Rizwan, y do u call him ikka?
He’s your “maama”, call him “sibi maama “.
“Chinchu and Nimmy( my cousins) calls him “Sibi ikka”, then why should I call him “Sibi maama”
He shouted back.

As usual, my sister stopped shouting coz she knew he won’t listen. He always comes up with such arguments when my sister says don’t do this or don’t do that. Most of the time, she will have to accept her defeat coz Rizu never accepts he is wrong.

I was busy watching my favorite TV channels, coz I don’t have set top box in Chennai.
Usually Rizu will be playing in the other room when am watching TV, but he will be waiting for me to take a break.
When I come back, the channel will be either “POGO” or “Cartoon Network” and remote will be missing. Of course he too will be missing. He will be hiding somewhere and I have to find him. This was his way to make me play “Hide n Seek” with him. So nowadays I carry the “TV remote” with me when I take breaks. One day accidentally I even took the remote to bathroom.

But this time, he had decided that he will make me play with him. He was not ready to give up.
Frustrated, he snatched my mobile and showed actions as if he was going to throw it.

Ho my god, my new mobile.
I lost my temper; I took the mobile from him and gave him nice beating on his legs.
He started crying.
Well I can’t explain how exactly he cried,
It was like,
He was rolling on the floor and screaming.
Then he started jumping and again started rolling.

“I think I hit him hard” I mused.

Then my parents and sister came running and took him outside.


My parents never scold him.
Sometimes I tell mummy, “It’s you and papa who are spoiling the kid. I remember how you people used to scold me when I was a kid.”
They’ll say,
“Grand parents can never scold their grand children, it’s like that, you’ll understand that when you become a grand father”
“Yeah may be” I’ll say in a bored tone.

That day, I was lying on my bed, trying to sleep.
Suddenly I felt bad about scolding Rizu. I had never beaten him like that though I used to scold him.
“I should not have hit him that hard” I mused.
Actually it’s my mistake, he was asking to play with him from morning and I was simply sitting and watching the so called idiot box.

I went down to his room. There he was, sleeping like an angel. When I touched his legs, I could feel some marks on his leg.
Yes those were the marks of my hand; I had beaten him so hard.
Tears rolled from my eyes.
How can I be so callous?
How can I give him such a wallop for just asking me to play with him?

I bend down, gave him a kiss on his cheek and said “am sorry Rizu, am really sorry”

“He will never come to me again,
He will never ask me to play with him” I thought.

Next day morning I was woken up by the familiar knock.
Knock, Knock …
“Sibi ikka get up, get up...
Let’s play”

I got up from my bed and unlocked the door.

Yes, there he was, smiling with his favorite cricket bat in his hand.


I hugged him and said
“I am sorry Rizu, I won’t hit you again”

I could see his bewildered face thinking what his maama is saying. He had long before forgotten that I had hurt him.

That’s how children are, so innocent.

If people in this world were innocent like children…
If people in this world can forget and forgive the wrong things done by others…
If no one swore vengeance on anyone, all live and let others live…
How peaceful this world will be,
How beautiful the world will be.
There will be no wars… no conflicts…
There will be only love, love and only love.

Suddenly I felt someone pulling my hand.
It was him asking me to play.

I smiled and said “yeah let’s play “

And I saw him smile,
A smile that I would say is the most beautiful smile I have ever seen in my life.
It’s not the artificial smile of the models in beauty contest which people say is the most beautiful smile.
It was a smile of innocence, a smile of love.

He ran holding my hand,
And I ran with him like a kid.

*****************************************************************

*Maama: Mother’s brother
*Ikka: Brother

Chicken

I was sitting on one side
My friends were sitting on the other side
It was lunch time
There was a fully fried chicken in my plate

I thought about the chicken
About its life
How it used to run and play
Now it’s lying motionless in my plate

Everyone will become like this one day
Motionless

I started eating by cutting its legs
My friends stared at me and started laughing
The way I eat chicken, it was really funny

One of them told “Even that fried chicken will run away if
You eat like this”

I laughed
We all laughed…

Suddenly the chicken started moving…
We jumped in shock

It got up and gazed as if I killed it…
And it ran towards the hotel kitchen

“May be the chicken wants to take vengeance on the cook” I said

We all sat motionless just like the chicken
As if the roles have been exchanged

Mama

Mama

She and her baby…
Her new world…
No one else had a place in that small beautiful serene world. It was a world of innocence and love, unlike our world which is full of violence and hatred, where love ceases to exist.

From the day she was back in office, I have been hearing the same stories, how her baby smiles, how he looks at her, how he recognizes her, how he cries when she leaves him while coming to office.

Even though I was busy, I used to find time to listen to her stories. I used to see tears sparkling in her eyes when she tells me how much she misses her baby.

I see her waiting for the clock to strike 5…
To run, to see, to hug her little baby…
To tell him how much she missed him, how much she loves him…

“George, morning when I start from home, I carry my baby till the gate. When I give him to my mother in law, I don’t know why, but I daily cry.
I turn back till I reach the end of the road. When I turn back from a distance, I feel like baby calling me and saying
“Mama, don’t leave me here, I love u…
Ill miss u, you are my world, how can u leave me here n go…
Few months back, I used to come with u.
U never left me alone. Mama, please take me with u”,
Saying that she started crying.

“The baby wouldn’t have said he wants to come to office if he had done some coding or testing” I thought.
Am always like this, musing about something funny in such sentimental situations.

Next day she came to me and told “George, you know what happened yesterday. A big mosquito bit my baby on his cheek. Till yesterday, I didn’t have anything against mosquitoes. It’s just a living creature that sucks blood for food. But now I hate them more than anything. The day it bit my baby, I swore vengeance on all mosquitoes no matter they suck blood or not (she is aware, male mosquitoes don’t suck blood). My first mission is to kill all mosquitoes in my house”.

Initially, I thought she was joking.
I said “Mission Impossible 4” and laughed hysterically.

She stared at me angrily.

“Ho my god, she’s serious” I mused.
“Are you insane?” I asked.

She smiled “You won’t understand George”.

“Only a mother can care like this.
This is the real, unconditional love that comes straight from heart.
Even if the whole world goes against you, your mother will be there with u, always”.
I thought.

When I was a kid, I remember waiting for my mother to come back from office. I used to run to the bus stop to receive her. When I see her bus coming, I used to dance with joy. She’ll always have a sheaf of papers in one hand and some unniappam(a sweet made in kerala) on the other which she never forgets to buy coz she knows how much I love unniappam. When she gets down the bus, ill run to hug her and say
“I love u mama, you are the best”.
Then she’ll ask me what all I studied today, what all I did in school etc.

I was an assiduous student. Mama was proud of me. My teachers used to tell how lucky you are to get such a son. Hearing that, I used to see her flying with pride.
She’ll kiss me and say
“My son is the best”.
Ill hug her tightly and say
“My mama is the best”.

When I grew up, I became very serious at home though I was just the opposite in college. I no longer went to the bus stop to receive her. I was busy with my friends; I was enjoying my new freedom. But she was everything to me and will always be so.

Even now, when I go home for vacation, I don’t talk much.
I love her more than anyone, but I rarely show.

When ill be packing my bags to go back, ill be almost in tears.
When my mama cries when I say “bye”, I just smile, not showing my emotions, my love for her, hiding my tears.
I want to hug her and say
“I Love you mama, you’re the best”, as I used to say when I was a kid. But I don’t.

I wonder why I don’t show my love for her. If I didn’t show it to her, to whom will I show?
But I am sure she knows how much I love her, after all she’s my mama.

Smile

Smile

“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.”

“A smile is a powerful weapon; you can even break ice with it. “

“Smile a lot, it costs nothing”

“Always remember to be happy because you never know who's falling in love with your smile. “

Lots of poets and writers have written about the importance of smile, one of the most powerful yet a simple thing that a human being can give to the world.

I have seen people who don’t smile back…
May be coz they are too busy…
Or may be coz they don’t like that person…
Or may be coz they are moody…
Or may be coz they just don’t feel like smiling just like that…

I too was like this…
I never used to smile at people…
I used to think
“Why should I waste my energy smiling at other people?”

But at one point in my life, I realized the significance of smile.
It was when I went to a local function, where the people in the neighborhood were attending.
Suddenly I realized they were the people whom I daily see and never smile.
I was isolated even though they knew me, even though they see me daily. I then understood the importance of smile in the social life.


There was another such incident during my college days.
One day, I was in a very bad mood. Since I rarely smiled even if I am in a good mood, naturally I didn’t smile when my classmates came to discuss about our farewell party. Though I said “yes” agreeing to their decision, seeing my face, they assumed that I didn’t like the proposal.

Next day, when I went to my college, I heard that the farewell party location has not yet being decided coz some are not ready. When I went in to detail of the issue, I found that it was my name on top list who was not contented with the location.
Well this seems strange, ya I too was shocked, but it’s the truth. People assume things. Mostly it’s our smile and body language that counts more than our words.


Its not only human beings, but it applies to every living being in this world.
Haven’t you heard this quote by Walter Anderson :
“Smile, Have you ever noticed how easily puppies make human friends? “

When I tell you to smile, I mean the smile that comes from your heart, not the cheesy grin just to show that “I have been told to smile, so let me smile”.

When I realized my mistake, I decided,
No matter in what mood I am,
No matter how busy I am,
No matter how much I loathe that person,
I decided; I will smile.
And that smile will be right from my heart.”

From that day I changed. I smiles even when I don’t get one back. I’ll think
“One day he/she will smile back”.

There is a guy in my office, to whom I daily smile, who never smiles me back.
My friends asks me, Why I smile at a person who don’t smile back,
Ill say “My dear friends, do you know what
Mother Theresa said about smile”
“‘Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing”
“Yes it’s very true and it costs you nothing, yet it does wonderful things.
One day he will realize that”


So people, think, to whom did you smile yesterday and to whom u did not.
From now on, try smiling at least once to your friends, to your enemies, to your colleagues; to everyone you know or want to know. You’ll know the Magic of this simple five letter word “Smile”.