[Short Story] Cupid Unusual

His tiny sobs interrupted her dream. 

She woke up with a sudden start and turned to see that he still had his eyes tightly shut and was simpering in his sleep.

 “Maybe a nightmare”, she thought as she checked the bedside clock - 3:45 a.m., it glowed. She got up and walked softly out of the room and turned the latch as quietly as possible.

“Click,” it sounded like someone had rubbed steel over an iron grate.
“God, no!” she muttered to herself as instantaneously her little toddler started his wailing.
“Akash! Akash... wake up. Sumer is crying. Hold him close & rock him please while I get the milk warmed. Aakaaash”
“Whaat..? Oh ok, ok,” he stuttered and tried to clumsily hold the crying baby.
“For heaven's sake! Don’t switch on the light, Akash. He will lose his sleep,” she fiercely whispered on her way out to the kitchen.

 
She heard some murmurs, but there was no time to retort. By the time the baby was fed & put to bed again, it was close to 5:00 a.m. Akash had long turned his back, and his snoring was back in rhythm. Swathi yawned and looked longingly at the bed, but then she knew she couldn’t afford to go back to bed.

By 7:00 the house was sparkling clean with the mix-vegetable paneer curry simmering on the stove, the dough ready to be made into round rotis, and the water-heater had warmed the water for Akash.

Rrriing, riing riing.

 
Swathi ran to the door just to see the milkman giving her his usual wide smile. 

“Namastey bhabhi ji”
“Namaste, namastey, bhaiyya. How many times have I told you not to ring the bell?” she repeated her daily dialogue, knowing very well that her anger was futile since he had already cycled away. 

Sumer had woken up like clockwork and was crying out aloud to announce that he needed immediate attention. Akash was trying to hold him while he was insisting on crawling and jumping out of the four-poster.

The next hour was complete mayhem at the No. 17 household with the vegetables getting a tad burnt, while Swathi tried to contain the milk from overflowing onto the stove and pack the lunch for Akash. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Sumer crawling swiftly towards the open door.

“Aakaash, Aakaash…can’t you hold the baby for a minute?” screamed an exasperated Swathi, lifting a visibly disappointed 10-month-old who was ever fascinated with the outside world.
Something sounding indecipherable came from the bathroom. “Akaash?”
Akash popped his head out of the bathroom, “Good Lord, Swathi, can’t a man have his peace even in the bathroom?”
“It’s fantastic to hear a man crib even when he gets his solid 8 hours of sleep,” she responded angrily. “Am never doing enough for you.” tears were stinging her eyes.
“FYI, I came from work at 11 last night. Oh! Please don’t let those tears come rolling down again,” he snapped.
Meanwhile, his mobile rang incessantly, Sumer soiled his pants and needed a diaper change, and the cablewala was at the door with the monthly bill. 

Everything seemed to happen almost at the same time.

It had started out to be a tiring day, almost as tiring as the past week had been. The initial two years of marriage had been bliss with the framed snapshots, from their several vacations as evidence, adorning their living room. The arrival of their darling son had just heightened their marital bliss, but soon the responsibilities of parenthood started sinking in, or rather bogging them down.

Swathi managed to put breakfast on the table and get the baby’s cereal ready too. Akash carried a struggling Sumer over to the balcony and started to show him the morning birds flying while Swathi slowly tried to feed a spoonful of cereal into his tiny mouth. After all sorts of cajoling, cooing, sputtering & planting telltale signs of cereal all over Akash’s black shirt, Sumer finished his breakfast with a burp. Heaving a sigh of relief, both of them set him down in his toy rink.

“Couldn’t you have put on a T-shirt while holding Sumer, Akash? Now, I got one more shirt added to the huge pile of washing to do”
“Do you need to even tell me what I got to wear and what not to?”
“Well, in that case, you must do your own washing here on”

The air, thick with their growing animosity, forced them to go different directions. Akash changed into a different shirt and started gulping down his breakfast. Swathi started sorting the whites from the pile of clothing to put them into the washing machine.

Suddenly there was a huge commotion of sloganeering and shouts. Swathi carried little Sumer and walked to the balcony to find what the din was all about.
The road below had disappeared in a flood of activists of some kind - angry people sporting colored bandanas, shouting slogans, waving flags.

Akash walked up from behind, “They are protesting against celebrating Valentine’s Day.”
“Oh! hmm”
“Their warped sense of instilling culture by moral policing the youngsters, patrolling the streets against dating couples is simply disgusting,” said Akash vehemently.
“It's really sad to see culture being taken into the stronghold of a few,” added Swathi.

They watched in silence some more of the slogan-shouting mob making their way into the main street.

Most of the neighborhood had come out to their doors & balconies.

“When is Valentine's Day, by the way?” she turned to ask Akaash
“It’s today, silly” he tapped lightly on her head. She turned to catch him grinning. Soon a smile crept into her face too. 

It was one of those special moments when the existence of a unique bond that binds every couple in love shines through. 

He took her free hand and gave it a warm squeeze, making her cheeks go as red as the bandanna of an activist below. 

They turned to make their way into their apartment, reminiscing about the last Valentine’s they had celebrated.

“So do we go out for dinner today?”
“Not if you won’t get my black shirt washed!” he said teasingly, breaking into a run.

“Now, wait till me & my son pound you into a lump,” she laughed, running after him.

Just Another Post...

I don't know how I seem to manage it, but this is my 3rd consecutive book that I have read in the last month. Now this is no mean feat if you have a 10 month old toddler to take care of too.

Bah! you say? Sample this - My typical day goes something like this:
My little darling is an early riser and but that I mean somewhere around 4:30-5:00 a.m and by rising early he doesn't simply wakes up and smiles around. He wails. Now I got to rush down, get some warm milk (at the exact temp, else there goes some precious minutes in trying to cool it) and then sleepy feed him. Care as to be taken so he remains calm yet doesnt get too entertained that he loses his sleep and I dont want to get into telling about a grumpy baby!

From then on its baby breakfast time (cereal first, appropriate fruit and then a little warm water), baby bath time (get his little pool ready, baby oil, clothes, shampoo) baby medicine time (gripe water, iron/vitamin drops) and then he is ready for a short nap before his lunch. Now babies dont open their mouth, ask to be fed and burp easily. They cry and fuss around even when they are hungry. And once they are fed, burped and happy they want to crawl, climb, pull, push, tap and poke things which are NOT their toys. Surround them with all the colorful toys in the world and yet their eyes will search for the TV remote, glass flower vases, mobiles, heavy keys, pens. Not to mention the number of diapers one got to change in between. Whew! So there's my point.

Despite all this the fun of being with your baby is uncomparable. When he starts to understand little things you say - like when you say FAN and he looks up, or when you say No-No and he shakes his head too and when you hide and he seeks you out with a gummy grin it simply warms every damn cockle of your heart. This has turned to be quite a book review from what I actually had in mind.

Anyways after Wicked Women of the Raj, The Memory Keeper's Daughter and a Collected SPOOK Stories by E.F Benson, I have read this book called - Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon. A very enjoyable, unputdownable delighful summer read.

Here's a short description -

Helen, the main protagonist, has been having an affair with her boss Matthew for past four years. After one exasperating day he leaves his wife and children to move in with Helen. This seems like what Helen had always wanted - to have her own man but soon she realizes that she doesn't want Matthew anymore. She see's things that she never saw before: his nose hairs, his old man sweaters, and his untolerablee & resentful pre-teen daughters. Helen starts trying all methods to drive Matthew out.


Anyway, I wont tell anymore...its unarguably funny, some places very insightful into human nature and if u can get your hands on it, read it.