Sophia Meets Her Love – Part 2 (Concluding Part)
24 Mar 2011 10 Comments
in General Tags: Characters of the story - Sophia
The story below is continued from here
Sophia couldn’t control her excitement, now that she saw the handsome guy again. She wanted to talk to him unlike the last time when they just raced with each other and eventually ruined it. While she was still looking at him sporadically, she realized that he hadn’t turned towards her even once. She wanted to grab his attention but didn’t know how to do it. Perhaps he doesn’t even know that I am beside him, Sophia thought.
Sophia feared if the guy would recognize her and thought that perhaps it was not a good idea to pursue it further. But then she remembered what the Love Guru had told her a few days ago. He had asked her to be bold and open and Sophia decided to take the first step. She quickly came up with a plan to roll down the windows and ask him for driving directions to initiate a conversation. There’s no harm in getting directions for my house, Sophia thought and chuckled.
Just when she rolled down the window, the traffic signal turned green and the guy raced his car. Sophia was heart-broken; she did not want to lose him again. She immediately drove behind him but was careful not to go over speed. She had a strong vibe that if the guy would see her once, he would definitely stop and initiate a conversation. She just needs to make herself visible to him but the biggest question was how!
Sophia continued to follow him and was about to get closer to his car when she almost shouted – “Not again!”
She missed him again; this time not because of any violation but because she did not have an E-ZPass! The guy seemed to have it and used it in a fast lane to get through the toll booth. Sophia was however stuck in the long line of cars before she reached the collection booth and handed cash toll.
Sophia lost him again and felt bad for herself! How could it happen again? She thought. She was now ten minutes away from home and thought about what she read in the book ‘The Alchemist’.
“Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.”
She understood or at least thought she understood what the alchemist must have meant. Until now, she thought that the probability of meeting that guy was nil. But it suddenly dawned upon her that since it has happened twice, it will certainly happen a third time. “And if that happens, I will not let him go this time!” Sophia uttered to herself euphorically.
Sophia was still a few minutes away from home and was beaming with joy when suddenly a car hit her from behind. She lost control and fortunately did not suffer any injury but her car got slightly damaged. Sophia and the other driver got down and while they were still figuring out the details, a police officer arrived at the scene.
He was a handsome young guy and Sophia couldn’t believe what she was seeing! He was the same police officer who had issued a speeding ticket to her two weeks ago. The officer also seemed to identify Sophia immediately and gave her a warm smile. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. He looked so handsome and Sophia felt so good to see him this time! She wondered why she didn’t notice this handsome man two weeks ago! The officer talked to both of them for a while, trying to understand what had happened and took both their licenses and got back to his car to fill in some details on his laptop. Sophia stood there staring at him and thinking about the alchemist’s words.
……But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.”
What is surely going to happen the third time????
Sophia Meets Her Love
23 Mar 2011 1 Comment
in General Tags: Characters of the story - Sophia
Writer’s note: To enjoy this story, I would suggest that you first read this one as both these stories are connected.
It was a weekend and Sophia was at her friend’s place having a sumptuous meal. While they were having lunch, Sophia told her about the guy she saw in the traffic jam two weeks ago. She told her friend how they both raced their cars with each other once they were out of the traffic jam.
Sophia’s friend was curious to know all the details and Sophia began to feed her with those. However, when her friend heard the climax of the incident, she was disappointed and felt bad for Sophia.
They spoke about it for a few more minutes but after some time Sophia somehow did not want to talk about it. To digress from the topic, she picked up a book from the couch. Her friend had just finished reading that book.
“Oh, it’s a great book,” Sophia said looking at ‘The Alchemist’
“I loved it too”, her friend chimed in.
They talked about other things while Sophia skimmed through the pages of ‘The Alchemist’. Though she did not feel like talking to her friend about that guy, she was certainly thinking about him. She wondered if she would ever meet him and really longed to see him again.
Sophia was still skimming through the pages when she glanced upon page 156. The alchemist tells Santiago – “There’s one (old Arab proverb) that says – “Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.””
Sophia looked at her watch and realized that it was getting late. She promised her friend that she would meet her the next weekend and got into her car. While driving, Sophia began to think about the lines she read in ‘The Alchemist’. All this time, she was secretly wishing to meet that guy again and was hoping to get stuck in the traffic jam and see him beside him just like the way it happened two weeks ago. But now she started to worry if what the alchemist said could be true. “If it has happened once, what are the chances that it would happen twice?” she uttered to herself.
She knew that she was hoping for something that only happened in fairy tales. She had never heard of such coincidences in real life and shrugged off the thoughts of meeting that guy again. But she was completely unaware of what was going to happen in the next few minutes. Destiny was actually trying to unite her with the love of her life!
While she was still thinking about it, she saw the traffic signal turned yellow and like always, she was trying to decide whether to stop or accelerate. At first, she wanted to accelerate and cross the street before the signal turns red but then she pushed her brakes to slow down and stop. She never liked traffic signals but she knew that she didn’t like accidents either! While she was waiting there for the signal to turn green, she heard loud music coming from another car that just stopped in the lane next to her.
She casually turned around to look and was stunned to see that it was the same guy she was flirting with two weeks ago!
To be contd…
The Awkward Conversation!
22 Mar 2011 3 Comments
in General Tags: Characters of the story - Taanyaa
He looked at the papers that he had received that morning and after deliberate consideration, he finally decided to give her a call. It was long due and though he was initially not very comfortable with the idea, he went ahead and looked for her number on his phone and dialed it.
“Nothing’s gonna change my love for you, you oughta know by now how much I love you” …
It was a pleasant caller tune and was one of his favorite songs but he wondered if her taste was so good. He was also curious to know if that caller tune was intended to someone or was he thinking too much into it. While he was still lost in his analysis of the caller tune, he finally heard – Hello – from the other end of the phone.
“Hi, how are you?” he said.
“I am fine, thanks!” She replied exuberantly.
Her voice never sounded like this before. She certainly sounded lively, enthusiastic and happy. It was so unlike her, he thought. Before he could speak further, she continued – “I hope you are doing well too. I always meant to call you but wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. But I am so glad you took the initiative. How have you been?”
He was slightly baffled but simply responded “Uh…I am good, thanks for asking.”
There was a long pause…..he didn’t know what else to say and was about to tell her the purpose for which he had called when she excused herself for a minute in order to attend another call.
While he was put on hold, he started to think about her and the current conversation. He certainly did not expect the conversation to start on a cheerful note. After all they had exchanged nasty emails in the last few days and he couldn’t understand this drastic change, including the romantic caller tune. In fact, he had presumed that they would get straight into serious talk as opposed to the pleasant conversation they were having now.
The hold was however getting longer and he was about to hang up in frustration when he glanced upon his phone screen and was embarrassed at his funny mix-up. Instead of calling up Tanya, his coworker, he called up Taanyaa, an old college flame!
“Ahh, these similar names! No wonder her voice sounded so different. Why wasn’t I careful enough to dial the right person,” he uttered to himself. “Can’t even blame anyone, after all, their names are spelt differently. I was the one who did not pay attention. Taanyaa was always inclined towards numerology,” he chuckled to himself.
While he was still on hold and laughing at the funny gaffe, Taanyaa was back on the line. “I am sorry to have kept you on hold for so long. Where were we?” she said.
“Well, we were just discussing that it’s been long since we talked to each other and that you were glad I took the initiative in touching base with you,” he said. To further avoid his embarrassment, he blurted out “Maybe we should catch up sometime over the weekend. Wouldn’t that be a great idea?”
Taanyaa was happy to hear that and did not realize that it was just a fluke that he had called her up after such a long time. They planned to meet the next weekend at one of their favorite spots and spoke for a while before they hung up.
He was amused at his mix-up but felt good talking to her after so long and was excited to meet her now. He wondered if it was time to rekindle the old flame! He smiled and shook himself out of his reverie and realized that it was time for some work now.
The Auto-Driver
21 Mar 2011 3 Comments
in General
She was in the midst of peak traffic and was coming home from school. She got delayed as she had to stay back at school with a group of friends to practice for an upcoming dance event. Though her family couldn’t afford to hire an auto for her every day, her mother was very particular about her safety. She had asked her daughter to take the auto and not wait for the bus after dusk!
She sat in the auto and stared at the busy traffic while occasionally covering her eyes to avoid dust from getting into them. Her eyes were getting moist. Pollution and dust were not the only cause of her tears. The memories of the incident from two weeks ago were still haunting her and it brought tears in her eyes every time those sad memories visited her.
It was becoming difficult to control her tears but she had to as she did not want to embarrass herself in front of the auto-driver. She slowly turned her gaze from the traffic and looked at the front mirror in the auto and was annoyed to see that the auto-driver was staring at her. She just turned away her gaze and looked outside. She realized that the auto-driver had been staring at her quite often and this made her uncomfortable. She was furious! She wanted to confront him but was not in a spirit to do so! She was just waiting to reach home.
Upon reaching home, she gave the fare to the auto-driver and was thanking her stars that she reached home safely! She had heard some not-so-good things about these auto-drivers in the past and viewed every auto-driver from the same lens. She turned around to walk to her house and was puzzled to hear “Excuse me!”
She stopped, turned around to the auto-driver and gave him a quizzical look!
“Excuse me Miss,” he said again.
Tara mustered the courage and looked straight in his eyes waiting for him to continue what he was about to say.
“Aren’t you the one who abandoned your cat and her three kittens at a place not so far away from here?”
Tara stood there paralyzed! She wasn’t sure if she heard the auto-driver correctly. She did not know what to say. She simply stared at the auto-driver.
“You might have not recognized me. I am the same person who drove you to that place along with your friend two weeks ago. I sensed that something was wrong and that you were abandoning those pets for some reason but I didn’t know what that reason was. I did not even think it was appropriate for me to ask you about it. Next day, I had another passenger who hired my auto to go to the same area and after I dropped them there, I stationed myself there for quite some time, waiting for another passenger.”
Tara was standing there listening to every word of his. Where is he heading to with all this? What is he going to say? Did he see Snowy and the kittens there? Tara thought to herself. Tara’s heart skipped several beats while the auto-driver was talking. She wanted to know if he knew anything about Snowy and her kittens.
The auto-driver continued – “I don’t intend to interfere but I just thought maybe you should know this. While I was waiting there for another passenger, I saw one of those kittens. Since I had nothing else to do, I went closer to her and called her towards me. Though she was initially scared, she came closer to me and made some sounds after which the other kittens that were hiding behind the bush also came towards me. I had a bag in my auto, so I quickly brought it and within a few minutes, I had all the kittens in my bag.”
Tara had a smile on her face. She was happy to know that her kittens were alive but she was yet to hear their fate. What did the auto-driver do with those kittens and what about Snowy? She immediately asked the auto-driver, “and what about Snowy, I mean the mother cat? What about her? What did you do with my kittens? Where are they now?”
“When the kittens were in my bag, I tied the bag so that they couldn’t escape. I immediately drove to the nearest animal shelter facility and handed over those kittens to them and told them where I got them from. They also told me then that someone brought a big cat to their shelter from the same area a few days ago.”
“They immediately took the kittens to the big cat and before they could even meet, the kittens and the cat started meowing in a strange way as if they knew each other. I wonder if these animals could catch each other’s scent! “Anyways, when those people finally reached the cage and let the kittens in, the big cat started licking each of them. The kittens also rushed towards the big cat’s tongue probably to be licked more. I think, she was their mother and that was her way of expressing her love to her children,” the auto-driver said. Tara knew that that was exactly how Snowy expressed her love to the three kittens.
Tara was crying now! She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her fur family was safe! She wanted to hug the auto-driver but knew it was inappropriate in her culture. She now understood why the auto-driver had been staring at her. She thanked him from the bottom of her heart and ran inside to tell her parents about it. That night Tara slept peacefully and decided to go and visit them in their new home, which she knew was much safer than her home. She wondered why she never thought of the animal shelter earlier.
P.S. If you weren’t able to connect the dots in this story, then I would suggest you read my previous story Tara and hopefully you would enjoy this story much more after that!
First Day First Show
18 Mar 2011 4 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: Characters of the Story - John Lily and Kim
She was excited, tensed, nervous, happy, and what not! She was a potpourri of emotions that Friday. After all, her movie was getting released and why wouldn’t she be excited and nervous? She wanted to know how people have reacted to the movie, to her performance, to the plot, to the music and anything that was even vaguely related to her movie.
Could it set a new record? Maybe it could make new box-office records in the first weekend! It was a huge wish but one never knows! She secretly wished it to come true.
She had watched the Premiere with other actors of the movie, elite members and the entire production unit. She was thrilled and happy to see their reaction towards the movie. They all talked highly of the leading star cast and the movie itself and that brought a smile on her beautiful lips. Though she was happy to receive accolades from ‘insiders’, she was expecting something more. She was waiting to hear something that she hadn’t heard from any of them.
She had constantly been watching all the entertainment channels, all the newspapers and magazines. Public opinion favored the movie and people were really having high expectations of the movie. They were eagerly waiting for the release. The promos showed the leading cast in various clips of the movie and that created suspense and thrill among audience.
One plug about the movie and the star cast in a popular magazine read:
“Lily D’souza is the new favorite of the public.”
Another read: “Lily D’souza is the new sensation and the heartthrob of the nation.”
One headline focused on the leading male actor and read: “Thousands of female fans swooned at the sight of John Abraham last evening at the Premiere! They want more now!”
She blushed when she read it. She had a secret crush on him and when she was offered this film, she couldn’t resist. Working with John on the same film intensified that crush. She was probably in love with him now! She even wanted to express her love but then she did not as she thought it was too early. Moreover, she wanted to focus on her career now.
Though everything that she read so far in the magazines and that she watched on the entertainment channels made her feel good, her eyes and ears were still searching for something. She looked at her phone, perhaps for the hundredth time desperately hoping to get a call but it lay there as if dead!
She was tired of being glued to her couch and finally got up and headed to the kitchen to make herself some hot coffee. Only after sipping the coffee did she realize that she hadn’t eaten anything since morning and that her mouth was dry! She savored her coffee and began to browse the Internet for movie-related news. There were so many sites talking about her movie. Her adrenaline was running high. She looked at one page, then clicked on another link and moved on to another page and so on.
It was almost two hours and she was now tired of browsing. Just when she was about to stop her search, she came across a web page that reviewed the movie and the star cast. She read it once, read it twice and read it one more time! This is what she had been waiting to see all day!
The third line of the webpage read:
“Kim’s cameo is worth appreciating. She did a wonderful job and made a strong screen presence in as little as five minutes. Kim is on her way to become the next heartthrob of the nation.”
Kim had tears in her eyes now, tears of joy! She finally saw her name and was happy to realize that at least someone noticed her work and wrote about her. Kim had been browsing newspapers, channels, magazines all day to see if at least one of them would talk about her. Unfortunately, no one did! They all focused on the leading actors Lily and John. But this one webpage was worth million dollars to her today! It made her day!
She was so happy that she wanted to call up the reporter and personally thank him. But when she looked at the website address, she was slightly disappointed to see that it was just a blog and not a popular website! Yet she was grateful to the person who wrote it. Out of curiosity, she looked at the writer’s name and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was none other than her dear friend!
Tara – Part 3 (Concluding Part)
17 Mar 2011 7 Comments
in General Tags: Characters of the story - Tara, Snowy and Mira
The story below is continued from here.
That evening after coming home, Tara went out to play with the kittens. Snowy went to sleep in a different place away from the kittens. While playing with the kittens, a plan suddenly struck Tara. She wasn’t sure if it was right and whether her friend, Mira would help or not but decided to discuss it with her the next day.
Tara went to school the next day and was eagerly waiting for the recess. During the recess, she spoke to Mira about her plan who was flabbergasted to hear what Tara had to say. How would Tara do that? And what will she tell her parents? Mira was not sure if they could do this but after a few minutes, she decided to go along with Tara’s idea. After all, she was Tara’s best friend and was willing to do anything for her.
As per the plan, Mira and Tara came home after school that day. They both looked pensive and Tara’s mother was pleasantly surprised to see Mira. She was about to offer her something to eat and drink but Tara refused saying that they were in a hurry. “We are working on a project, don’t disturb us for some time; it’s important,” Tara said. Tara’s mother returned to her chores.
Tara took out her piggybank, smashed it and started counting the coins that she had been saving for months now. When Tara and Mira finished counting, they both looked at each other and smiled. Tara handed over all the money to Mira and went to another room carrying her school bag. She removed all the books from her bag and stacked them neatly in a corner. Tara took the empty bag and they both went outside the house.
Tara went to the usual place where Snowy and the kittens were sleeping. Snowy was about to get up and go to another place after she saw Tara but Tara stopped her. Tara lifted Snowy in her arms, caressed her, hugged her and kissed her as if it were the last time they were seeing each other. She then put her inside her school-bag. Snowy became slightly squirmy and attempted to come out of the bag but Tara used some force. Snowy did not resist it, after all, she trusted Tara.
Tara then picked up her kittens and slowly put them inside her bag. The kittens did not worry about what was happening because they saw their mother and Tara around them. Under their surveillance, they certainly knew that nothing could happen to them. They always behaved like lions not having to worry about anything when Snowy and Tara were around them. They quickly coiled inside the bag around Snowy and went to sleep.
Tara and Mira started walking towards the road while carefully holding the bag. When they reached the main roads, Mira stopped an auto-rickshaw and they both headed to their destination.
The entire ride was bumpy because of the potholes and Snowy and the kittens became restless inside the bag and started to whimper. Tara tried to pacify them and at times they kept quiet but then again started whimpering louder and moved violently inside the bag. Tara and Mira were also getting restless but they knew that it would just be a few more minutes. Finally, they were just a few yards away from their destination and could see Mira’s house at a distance.
As they were moving closer to Mira’s house, Tara saw some people outside Mira’s house talking to each other and it didn’t seem like they would leave anytime soon. They also saw some kids playing around and this posed a challenge to Tara. She could not leave Snowy and the kittens in Mira’s house amidst so many people as they would come to know who brought those cats and might question Mira.
Tara did not want Mira to be in trouble. Their plan was to secretly leave them at Mira’s place because Mira’s parents were also superstitious about cats and so were the other people in the neighborhood. With so many people around, Tara and Mira did not have the gumption to leave the cats there. Tara could not take them back because she feared the stray dogs. The only recourse that Tara had was to leave Snowy and the kittens in Mira’s neighborhood until Tara’s neighborhood was free of dogs or at least until the kittens grew a little older.
The auto-rickshaw was now moving closer to the house and Tara was getting tensed and confused about what to do. Mira knew what her friend was going through and suggested Tara to leave Snowy and the kittens in one of the neighbor’s house instead of her house. Mira assured Tara that she would bring them to her house the next day and they would be safe there.
On the spur of the moment, Tara asked the auto-driver to stop! Tara alighted from the auto, looked at the bag in her hands, looked at the house that was right next to where she was standing and loosened the strings of her school bag…….
Snowy and the kittens leaped from inside the bag and ran in different directions. Tara was shocked! She didn’t expect that Snowy and the kittens would run so haphazardly for rescue. Tara immediately called out their names and was confused whom to follow. They all disappeared within seconds and Tara stood there frozen!
There were tears in her eyes but she stopped them from rolling down her cheeks as Mira’s neighbors were standing at a distance. Mira also got down from the auto, paid the fare and went to Tara. She held Tara’s hand and that touch conveyed that everything will be fine. They both walked towards Mira’s house where Tara wept violently!
“How could I do this? Why didn’t I ask the auto-driver to turn around and take us back to my house when I knew I couldn’t leave my cats here? Will they adapt to the new place? Will they get food? Will they survive on their own or perish? What about Snowy? She was never used to any other place ever since she was a month and a half old. After so many months of living with me, can Snowy live in a wild territory? Would you be able to find them tomorrow?” Tara asked Mira. “I would take them back to my house. I cannot live without them and I am sure they won’t be able to live without me,” Tara told Mira.
Tara had so many questions but no answers. She wept relentlessly, hoping desperately to get them back. It was hard to console her and Mira had tears in her eyes too. She could not see her best friend crying like that. She decided to go out and look for the cats. Tara wanted to come too.
Mira and Tara went to that house again and looked around for Snowy and the kittens but did not find them. It was getting dark and Mira asked Tara to go home as Tara’s parents might be worried. Tara reluctantly went home.
When she reached home, Tara’s parents figured out that something was wrong. They also realized that they hadn’t seen Snowy and the kittens in the last few hours. They asked Tara about it and Tara finally broke down and told them what had happened. Tara’s parents were shocked to hear that Tara took such an extreme step but never discussed it with them. But they also felt sad for what Tara was going through. Though her parents never openly expressed their love for Tara’s fur family, they loved those tiny tots and missed them now! They consoled Tara for what she was going through but that was the least they could do!
Tara sobbed the whole night until she fell asleep. It was seven in the morning and Tara woke up to a new day. “Was it a bad dream?” Tara uttered. She was still half asleep when she ran outside to see if Snowy and the kittens were around. She saw her empty school bag in one corner and it hit her hard again that Snowy and the kittens are no longer with her. It was not her dream; she was the one who abandoned them in Mira’s neighborhood yesterday.
She cried again. She cried on her way to school. She cried during the recess. She cried in the class. She cried on her way back home.
That evening Tara went to Mira’s neighborhood with a grim hope of finding Snowy and the kittens. This time she did not hesitate to ask people in Mira’s neighborhood if they had seen Snowy and her kittens. To her dismay, nobody had seen them.
Tara went there every day for almost a week but she never found them…..
Tara – Part 2
16 Mar 2011 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Characters of the story - Tara and Snowy
Writer’s note (read warning): This is NOT the concluding part! If you can, please wait until tomorrow to read this along with the concluding part 
The story below is continued from here.
One night when Tara was deep asleep, she heard some strange sounds coming from outside her house. It sounded like Snowy but that was overshadowed by some other sound and within the next few minutes, she heard another slightly different sound in the backdrop. By the time Tara could come out of her sleep and understand what was happening, there was dead silence. Tara did not quite understand what had happened. It might have been a dream, she thought.
She was about to go back to sleep when she heard her parents’ voice. Tara now knew that it was not her dream and the sounds that she heard in the last few minutes were real. She got up and went to them to ask if something was wrong. Her parents were distraught but asked her to go back to sleep and assured her that everything was fine. Tara did not find their answer convincing but went back to sleep. She tossed and turned on her bed thinking about those sounds and wondering what must have happened outside.
It was seven in the morning when Tara woke up and realized fairly quickly that she did not get a full night’s sleep. She wanted to sleep more and turned to her side when she suddenly recalled last night’s incident. She immediately sprang up from her bed and rushed outside to fetch Snowy.
In her usual way, Tara called out Snowy’s name but there was no response. Tara called out her name again but Snowy did not come. Tara was looking pensive now and began to frantically search for Snowy and the kittens. She turned around to see one of the kittens playing behind the bush. She immediately breathed a sigh of relief. But as soon as she went up to the kitten, Tara saw Snowy laying on the ground a few steps from there. There were blood marks on her, the sight of which horrified Tara and she shouted in tears….. ‘Snowy’.
Snowy slowly turned her head towards Tara and meowed so low that even Tara could not hear it. Just minutes ago, Tara was almost frozen when she saw Snowy on the ground. Within a fraction of seconds, so many unpleasant thoughts flashed in her mind. But as soon as she saw Snowy moving, Tara ran towards her and relaxed a bit but it quickly dawned upon her that the other two kittens were missing! What happened to them? Where are they? Did the dogs take them away?
Tara caressed Snowy, told her that she would be back in a few minutes and immediately got up to look for the kittens. As soon as Tara turned around, she saw them at a distance, playing with each other oblivious to the agony that their mother Snowy and Tara were going through. Tara immediately attended to Snowy and cleaned her bloody fur and examined her body to see if there were any serious injuries. Fortunately, there was none except for a small cut on her front paw that left Snowy temporarily limp.
“The kittens don’t understand the pain that Snowy is going through but I know it,” Tara uttered to herself. Tara knew that the kittens were still too young to understand all this and she thoughtfully looked at them while they basked and played in the sunshine. That evening, Tara asked her parents if she could get Snowy and her kittens inside the house at night so that they were safe but her parents refused it. They told her that by bringing them inside, she would only stop them from becoming self-reliant and strong. “Animals know how to defend themselves!” Tara’s dad told her. “Moreover, the neighbors have already complained to us about your cats on several occasions. We somehow calmed them down and you want them to bring in? They will make it a very big issue! You know that cats are a taboo here!” Tara just couldn’t understand how her dad could be so apathetic and found it useless to argue with him.
Snowy’s injury made it difficult for her to hunt for food and so Tara began her old ploy of hiding food and getting it to her adopted fur family. All these months, Tara always thought that her parents did not know anything about this. Children often think that they can keep some secrets from parents but they don’t realize that their parents actually let them keep some secrets.
Tara did not realize that her mom had been buying some extra milk from the day Snowy got injured. Being a mother, she knew the pain that Snowy was going through. Tara’s mom wanted to help in some way but that was the least she could do. Ironically, Tara always thought that her mother never cared for Snowy and the kittens.
Tara never realized that just like she was worried about Snowy and her kittens, her parents were worried about Tara and her adopted family. She also never realized that her parents were once kids and they have gone through childhood and other phases of life much before Tara had gone through and will go through in the coming years.
Tara continued to be a care-giver to Snowy and her family. But that night’s incident and the sight of the dead kitten a few days ago continued to haunt Tara. She started spending more time with Snowy and helped her in getting back to normal as quickly as possible. At the same time, she was thinking of a plan………..
To be Contd…
Tara
15 Mar 2011 6 Comments
in General Tags: Characters of the story - Tara and Snowy
Tara was only fourteen but a mother of three. She was neither their biological mother nor their step-mother. She was their makeshift mother if one can say so. She would take care of them when their biological mother would go out but she was much more than a nanny.
She doted on them just like any mother dotes on her kids. She would let them play in the garden but would also keep an eye on them to keep them from dangers. Though their biological mother never explicitly asked Tara to take responsibility of them, they had a tacit understanding between each other. Every time the mother would go out, she would go to Tara, touch her and look at her for few seconds and then leave.
Tara would immediately understand that it was time for her role-playing. She would play with them, take responsibility for cleaning their poop, caress them and put them to sleep and above all, protect them from enemies in the absence of their mom. Tara simply loved her cat and her three kittens which lived outside Tara’s house.
Tara’s parents were superstitious about cats and so were the neighbors. Tara’s parents never wanted Tara to have that cat who came to their house almost a year and half ago. She was so tiny and young at that time that Tara immediately fell in love with her. That was the first time she had experienced motherhood. She named her cute little cat Snowy. Tara wanted to have Snowy and promised her parents that she would never get her inside the house.
Only after a lot of pleading, did Tara’s parents agree for it but they strictly restricted Snowy from entering the house. For the first few months, Tara hid some food and milk from her parents and gave it to Snowy who ate it as stealthily as it was brought. Tara and Snowy were partners in crime. However, as Snowy was growing up, she learned to hunt for her own food. This made things easier for the two.
On the days when Tara knew Snowy was unsuccessful in her hunt, she would give her share of milk to Snowy. Tara and Snowy were the best of friends and Snowy knew that Tara was making sacrifices to keep that friendship blossoming. Though Snowy and Tara did not share the same language, they always expressed their love to each other through their eyes and soft touch.
Almost a month and a half ago, Snowy gave birth to her first born who are triplets. In a way, Tara was experiencing motherhood again. In fact, she was more like a grandmother doting on her grand children and always biased towards them even when she knew that they were troubling Snowy.
Tara knew that Snowy was enjoying her motherhood but she also saw her getting tired due to the additional responsibilities like taking care of her children and feeding them. In unspoken words, Tara conveyed Snowy to go and rest somewhere away from the kids and that she would take care of them while she is gone. Snowy would be gone for two to three hours every evening after Tara came back from school.
Tara would work on her homework while the kittens would play in the garden. She would sit on the stairs outside and keep an eye on them. Every time they would go out of her sight, she would call out their names in a peculiar tone and they would come back quickly and play in her vicinity. They also liked playing with Tara and so they would sit over her books in an attempt to attract her attention and not let her study. Tara would simply slide them down but they would come back again. Sometimes Tara would let them win and start playing with them. Other times, she would stare at them and shoo them away. Tara would however spend at least some part of her time with them. She adored those tiny tots and all their mischievous acts!
One day when Tara was on her way back home from school, she saw half carcass of a kitten lying on the roadside. Tara was terrified and ran home in tears to see if it was one of her kittens. As soon as she reached home, she saw Snowy playing with her three kids. Tara sighed and ran towards them and hugged each one of them. She thanked God but also felt sorry for the dead kitten she saw on her way.
Tara was now worried about her kittens. She knew that Snowy was strong and fast enough to protect herself from the enemies but what about the kittens? They were very young and Snowy cannot protect all of them even if she tried too. The enemy was much stronger and if there were three or more dogs approaching them, it will be highly impossible for Snowy to defend them. Tara cannot be there for them all the time and she feared that the stray dogs near her locality would attack Snowy and the kittens.
After a few days, Tara forgot about the whole thing and did not heed to her concern until one night when………….
To be Contd…..
The Last Hour
14 Mar 2011 1 Comment
in General Tags: Characters of the story - Maria and Jenny
Maria found her imagination running amok and was frustrated that it was not shaping up the way she wanted it to. “Maybe I should just continue and things will fall in place,” she thought.
Jenny was driving on a busy highway and was stuck in the traffic for a while now. She looked around in irritation. There was a young lady in the car to her right. She was not able to see the lady’s face clearly as she was turning back and talking to her two kids who probably were nagging her for food or games or perhaps to go to restroom.
These pesky kids! I wonder why they always get nature’s call when stuck in traffic or when the restroom is miles away! Jenny thought. The last restroom was just behind but I am sure they did not tell their mom about it then.
Jenny was still staring at those kids with a domineering look when the mom turned around. Jenny immediately shifted her gaze from the kids and smiled at the mom. The mom did not reciprocate and Jenny was a little embarrassed.
While Jenny was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, she turned her gaze onto the rear-view mirror to look at the vehicles behind her. She felt like she belonged to an army of soldiers slowly moving ahead to attack the army. “Had I been a soldier during the times when animals were used for fighting, I would have probably chosen to ride on a camel rather than a horse or an elephant. That’s because I have never been on a camel ride and I think it would be exciting to sit on its hump.” Jenny uttered. She laughed about it and immediately dismissed her thought.
She knew that she need not belong to the old era to ride a camel. She could go on a camel ride anytime she wanted to. She just needs to plan it out.
The car to her right moved a little ahead and another car with an old couple inside it took its place. Jenny’s car did not move an inch as the vehicles in front of her did not move. She looked at the old couple and felt bad that they were stuck in the traffic. I wish I could fly high in the sky like a superman and carry this old couple and drop them at their destination. They must be really tired by now, she thought. Jenny could make it out that they were equally irritated with the pileup.
While Maria was still sitting there thinking about traffic jams and staring at her screen, she realized that these traffic jams have become a common place. It was just two days ago when she was stuck in one. Why do people have to drive so much? What has happened to public transportation? Why don’t people use it more often? Maria thought. She then felt guilty of not using public transportation herself and resolved to at least consider it in the future as she was not yet ready to forego the comfort of driving her own car.
Maria coasted further into her thoughts and thought about the incident that happened three days ago when she was stuck in the traffic jam. As the traffic was easing that day, she saw two cars in front of her driving in a strange pattern. It didn’t take her too long to figure out that the two cars were racing with each other. Out of her curiosity to know who would win, she began following them. Of course, she knew that she wouldn’t go out of her way to follow them. She would follow them as long as they were going the same route that she was headed to.
Maria was however disappointed to see that a traffic cop pulled over one of the cars. Maria immediately slowed down her car because she soon realized that she was violating safety laws. She turned around to see who the driver in that car was was and was stunned to see a beautiful young lady. She felt sorry for her but that was the least she could do. Maria was also hoping that the other car that was racing with this lady would stop by the curbside a little further. But it didn’t! She wondered why but didn’t mull over it.
She was however curious to know who was in the other car. It didn’t take her long to catch up with the car and she was surprised to see a handsome young guy driving the car. Were they flirting on the road? Maria thought. She also thought that the man driving the car was very handsome. She wished she had a boyfriend like him and that thought gave her goosebumps.
Thinking about that incident and the man now after two days again gave Maria goosebumps.
Maria smiled, shook herself out of the reverie and focused on her assignment. Maria had to write an essay that was titled:
Jenny’s experience of a traffic jam in a foreign country.
Maria’s professor had asked her to choose any country as long as it was not the one they were living in. She re-read the first few paragraphs that she had written about Jenny’s experience and realized that she hadn’t done justice to the assignment. Maria thought that she probably focused on Jenny’s thought process rather than the traffic jam! She did not write anything about traffic jam let alone a traffic jam in a foreign country. Maria was really worried now as she had procrastinated until the last hour. Maria found it very difficult to write about Jenny’s experience because she had never been outside her country and wondered how a traffic jam in a foreign country looked like.
In her frustration, Maria browsed the Internet about traffic patterns in other countries and also browsed for videos on YouTube. She was so stressed out that she couldn’t even think of any keywords to type. She resolved like she always did in the past that she would never procrastinate in the future!
Meanwhile, she wished desperately for an opportunity to travel to another country for at least one day! It would be exciting and at the same time would help her with the assignment, she thought!
Love is Blind
11 Mar 2011 7 Comments
in General Tags: Characters of the story - Sophia
It was more than ten minutes since Sophia was stuck in the traffic.
She was on a busy highway and the cars in front of her looked like an army of ants, except that the cars were of different colors and moved slower than the ants.
Traffic jams can indeed irritate a person. People would not mind wasting hours sitting in front of the TV but standing in the traffic even for a minute can get on their nerves. Sophia was getting frustrated too.
Sophia looked into the rear-view mirror and saw an old couple sitting in the car behind her. “How sweet, they remind me of my grandparents,” she uttered. The man was happily sleeping or at least seemed to while the woman who was behind the steering wheel looked tired.
Sophia now turned her gaze towards the car in front of her. They might be new lovers, she thought. They looked so happy despite the traffic jam and it seemed as if they were enjoying each other’s company. Both the young and the old couple now reminded Sophia of her single status. It suddenly dawned upon her that she was still single and was getting old!
I am sure God will listen to my prayers and one day, I will meet the man of my dreams! Sophia thought. “Hear my prayers, O Lord!”……… “Before I get old,” she quickly added to clarify.
The traffic jam seemed to be clearing at a faster pace now. She was able to drive at least a couple of inches now as opposed to being at a standstill a few minutes ago. While she was tapping her fingers on the steering wheel producing a rhythm, she turned to look at the car to her left.
She was pleasantly surprised to see a handsome guy in the car next to her. While she was still staring at him, the guy turned to her. Sophia couldn’t help but smile at him. He reciprocated with a bigger smile! Sophia almost blushed and quickly turned and looked ahead to cover her blushing face.
Did God finally answer my prayers? Maybe he was listening to me a few seconds ago and decided to grant me my wish? How could he sometimes be so kind? Sophia thought.
She also recalled the lines from the book she had been reading the last few days. It said somewhere in ‘The Alchemist’ that when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. Maybe I am stuck in this traffic because God wanted me to meet this handsome guy.
Sophia’s heart started pounding in her chest and her mind drifted away from the traffic jam. She had this sweet feeling that was different.
The Love Guru I met last week also told me that I would meet the love of my life this week. Could this guy be the one? But isn’t it lust and not love at first sight? How can it be love at first sight? It’s definitely lust! Hey, but I also read once that lust can lead to love. The Love Guru also told me to be open and bold. Maybe this is the time to take things in my stride. How will I get to know if it’s lust or love unless I test it. I better do something!
Sophia slowly turned to the guy and lo and behold, he smiled again!
The traffic jam seemed to ease further and the cars were now slowly moving without having to halt. Oh no! Why are the cars moving now? Sophia thought. She immediately drove ahead to be exactly beside the guy’s car. All the vehicles were rushing to their destinations but Sophia and the guy were driving next to each other.
What started as a smile soon became a flirtatious race on the road. They were racing with one another, sometimes driving at a very high speed and sometimes driving very slowly. When Sophia went slowly, the guy went slowly too and then when Sophia raced her car, the guy raced it too. Sophia knew that the guy was doing this on purpose and was hinting at something – maybe our blossoming love, she thought and smiled. It gave her goosebumps.
In their flirtatious drive, they did not realize that they were driving carelessly. They forgot that at any minute such careless driving could turn dangerous not only for them but for others too. But who was there to tell them? They were both lost in their blind love!
Every time they crossed each other’s car, they would catch a glimpse of each other and smile. They were certainly flirting with one another. At one point, the guy’s car went much ahead of Sophia’s car. Sophia began to race her car and was slowly approaching the guy’s car when she suddenly saw his brake lights flaring three times. What does that mean? He did it three times! The brake lights lit three times. Is he trying to convey something? Three times….does that mean I LOVE YOU! Three words and hence three times! Has he proposed me? Did he just say that? Oh my God! I can’t believe it! He said that!
The Love Guru was right when he told me I would find my love this week. I should not let this opportunity pass. Sophia saw that his car was now moving at a slow speed. Maybe he was waiting for me to respond, she thought. It is my turn to drive fast and go in front of him and give the same signal. Yes! I love him. I will push my brake lights three times and tell him that I love him!
Sophia quickly increased her speed but it was too late now! She lost her new-found love.
The traffic cop who was hiding behind the bush drove behind Sophia’s car with his flashing lights on and Sophia had to pull over her car to the side.
Twenty minutes later, she smiled at the cop, took the speeding ticket from him and drove slowly until she reached home. She wondered if she would ever meet that guy again.
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