Seeking Heaven(contd)

“Haha. I was just joking. It is not very scary afterall.”

She came close and sat on the stool by my bed and looked at me eagerly. Gosh ! such innocence ! I have to invent a story. Invent ? Ummm. Let me tell bits and pieces from paradise lost.
I kept the pad and pen on the table, slid down so that I could rest my head on the pillow well. Pulled the other pillow below this one so that even as I lay there, I could see her face.

“Do you know who satan is ?”

“Yes. He is the devil who kills people if they go out in the night, no ?”

“yes. Yes . you know at lot. He was actually an angel – the most beautiful and important. He was called Lucifer, the light bearer.”

“oh ! why did he become a devil? Did he turn into demon with 3 heads and 6 hands?”

“No no no. That demon was Lucifer’s servant. He became like that when he was getting fried in Hell’s fire.”

“fire ? why did he fall into the fire?”

“Melle, melle. I’ll tell you. What happened was , one day, God announced that he had made his son as the king of everything. Lucifer didn’t like this when he heard it. He said God decides what ever he wants and does things without even telling them anything and that He always wants to be praised and does not like opposition. Lucifer convinces a few other angles to fight against God. Then immediately a war starts – Lucifer and his angels on one side and God’s angels on other side. Angels fight hard for one full day and manage to drive out Lucifer and army. But in the night Lucifer plans hard, makes new weapons and strategy and in the next day’s battle beat the heaven’s angels. Now the angels rush back to God for help.”

“Mole, uncle ine shalyappeduthathe. Uncle inu sukhamillannariyathilliyo ?”
(“dear, don’t disturb uncle. Don’t you know that he is not keeping well?”)

Leena was here. Kumaran was with her. Kumaran , the doctor , the pride of our village. When he had returned from England after his studies, everyone was there to greet him. In some meeting that he was asked to speak about his achievements, he had apparently told that I was the reason for him being what he was. Well ! I felt happy to hear that. 15 years never seemed a separation. I was his friend , mentor , financier ..well ! I had even started him off on smoking and drinking. He never coughed. Even on his first smoke. It was curious, the way he smoked I mean. He never took the smoke inside. A puff inside the mouth and he used to blow it out. I kept telling him to take it to his chest and feel the heat in the lungs. He never listened. Here he is, my doctor.

I tried to sit up. It was a strain. The whole body was aching. The pain in the stomach was getting worse but I tried to not think about it.

“Stephen saare enikkanda. Kidannolu.”
(“Stephen sir, don’t get up. Lie down.”)

“enthado Kumara, njaan eppo vadiyaakum ?”
(what’s up Kumar, When am I going to die?)

“saaru veshmikkathe. Pandathe poleyounnumalla. Ippol canceru vannalonnum valiya kaaryamalla. Njan Chemoyude kaaryam chodikkan vannadanu”
(“don’t worry sir. It is not like early days. Cancer is not a big issue nowadays. It can be cured. I came to ask you about Chemo.”)

Itty and Kitty

“Hey Kitty, do you know what a haiku is ?.”
“I don’t know.”
“what do you know then ?”
“Do you know what it is ?”
“Not exactly. But a bit.”
“Then ? I am better. Haven’t you heard of ‘A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.’? ”
“Ok. Forget that. I will tell you what I know. Then we will play this game.”
“Is it a game? We will play then.”
“Wait! Don’t jump the gun. Let me tell you the rules.”
“OK”
“It is a poem with small stanzas, each containing only 3 lines. First line has 3 words , second line 5 words and third line 3 words. Generally first 2 lines will be to build up something and the last line will be to completely illuminate or contrast whatever was said earlier. Ok ? But we wont follow all that image contrasting-enhancing stuff.”
“Ok. Can we play this ? I don’t know to write poems and you also don’t know.”
“How can you say I don’t know. I won prize for poetry last year.”
“I guess things are quite easy in a boy’s school”
“forget forget it. Anakkaryathinte idakku chenakkaryam kondu varathe. Let us play. But before that to make it interesting, we’ll make one more rule. Your stanza should start with the word that my stanza ends with. Ok ? fine ?”
“fine. You start”

one single glance
one thousand small pointed hills
your pimply face

“poda, I cant play such stupid games. vere vallom undengil para.”
(“go away, I cant play such stupid games. Tell me if there is something else.”)

“Come on. Take it in the spirit of the game. You make something which will be against me!”

face dark red
hair strand here bush there
broken soiled imagination


imagination a dew
concealed in head , let go
oceans wave out

"Look. Bus is coming. Rest of it, we will play tomorrow."

Seeking Heaven(contd)

“Uncle what are you writing ?”
I looked up. It was leena’s daughter. A 5 year old cute kid. She took after her mother - always very cheerful.
I smiled at her. “A story.”
“A story ? I love to hear stories. Can you tell me one ?”
“Ayyo, mole, I am writing a story about a big demon who has 6 hands and 3 heads. His eyes are red , they burn like the sun, his nails are sharp , his tongues protrude out and you can see blood dripping from them, his teeth are long and pointed sharper than that of a lion. It will scare you. Let me not tell you about him.”
“No no uncle. You have to tell me the story. I wont be afraid.”

Itty and Kitty

Itty : “Kitty, namukkendengilum kalikkam” (“Kitty, shall we play something?”)
Kitty : “Shari. Pakshe enikku avidem ividem odan vayya.”(“Sure. But I cant run here and there.”)
Itty : “OK. We’ll play a word game.”
Kitty : “How”
Itty : “I will tell a word and immediately you should tell the first word that comes to your mind when you hear my word. Ok ? fine. If somebody repeats a word which is already told, that person loses. Or if somebody tells more than one word, that person loses. Ok ?”
Kitty : “OK. But no bad words. You are sometimes a wicked boy.”
Itty : “Agreed. We’ll start. ”
I : “game”
K : “energy”
I : “fuel”
K : “oil”
I : “hair”
K : “man”
I : “muscle”
K : “strength”
I : “meat”
K : “butcher”
I : “arif”
K : “kashmir”
I : “problem”
K : “maths”
I : “computers”
K : “bangalore”
I : “garden”
K : “flowers”
I : “bees”
K : “honey”
I : “nectar”
K : “life”
I : “death”
K : “heaven”
I : “hell”
K : “burn”
I : “fire”
K : “gas”
I : “money”
K : “wealth”
I : “rich”
K : “poor”
I : “slums”
K : “politicians”
I : “deve gowda”
Kitty : “yeeeah. You lost. 'Deve gowda' is 2 words. ”
Itty : “No way. It is one person’s name.”
“You are a cheat. I am not playing with you.”
“ok. bye”

An Armed Adversary(contd)

Present
(2 years later)

I just got my new crutches today. I practiced walking with it but it wasn’t comfortable. I’d rather prefer to hop on my right leg. The eyewitnesses to the accident said I didn’t cry out aloud even when the tyres had gone over my left leg crushing it completely. Yeah , true . how could I ? My mind was totally elsewhere. I’d slipped into unconsciousness directly from my dream.