Things she had lost...


She looked at her watch. She looked at it again… The days had become shorter; it never used to be so dark at this time. This time she raised her wrist and kept it in front of her eyes until she could read the time: it was showing 7.20 PM… She wiped her forehead with her bare hands. She was not feeling well today; she wished she reached home soon. She looked at the road side; she had reached only the Ice-cream store till now… Two kids took-over her; they were also returning home and were faster than she was… If it was any other day, she would have talked to them, or at least would have tried to give them a competition… But not today…

Today was her birthday. And it had so happened that she herself had forgotten about it. When she was returning home from office; she had gone to a cyber-café to book a ticket for her journey to Mumbai: she was to go there to take part in a social sector conclave on behalf of her NGO. When her ticket was done, she was to get out when she saw some young girls accessing Orkut in the nearby terminal. She also opened the site and logged into it – she couldn’t forget the password; it was so special to her… at one time… And on first page there, she was shocked to find that today was her birthday! HER BIRTHDAY!!! And she never remembered it this year? This realization opened up bundles of old memories in front of her eyes. She felt suffocated… What had happened to her? What had she done to herself?

Something unusual was there… Where did it go? Near the paan shop. Below the platform… White… Patches of black… She wiped her face with her handkerchief… and looked towards the shop again… They were little goats, locking their heads (horns had not come yet) and making stunts like a bull-fight… She moved on…

She didn’t smile… She didn’t laugh… Even goats couldn’t make her smile…

She was not happy…

(Rahul)

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