'For the Salt of the Earth'
I opened the gate and entered watching the three little cubs playing in the porch
'The more the merrier', I thought with a smile. They noticed me and stopped playing. The tiniest cub stared at me with its tiny but big round eyes and mouth open round. I could see glimpses of the lion i knew, in the cub's face. I forgot to walk as I watched it. It was him made smaller. By the time the two little girls ran into the house, one of them ringing the bell as they ran in. The cub stood still holding his toy car in hand gaping at me. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking as he stared at me. I wasn’t one of those handsome or cute types that babies would love staring at, neither people. It wasn’t my size, his father was far bigger than me. Maybe it was my beard. Maybe he was seeing a beard this close for the first time. Or, well…children love staring at weirdest of creatures, from hippos to hippies...
Now the cub looked around, his siblings were nowhere to be seen. I could see the panic in his face and the little one dropped the toy car there and ran to the three steps and climbed them with much difficulty and ran into the house. As i started walking to the lions mane, emerged the lion. The most jovial of the Leo I have ever met. As much a lion tailed monkey as a lion...
It was one of those moments you wished you could pause life and take a screenshot. A lovely instant. The Leo grinning ear to ear, his tiniest cub peeping from behind his leg, the other two looking out of the window, parting the curtains. Watching the grin on his face i wished that his children stared at him instead of me and love him for it.
Had it been one of my workplace friends they would have said something like "long time no see", but never what he said which was "At last!!!You Bastard!!!". That was true. I was a bastard not to have come a bit earlier...
His wife came into the scene slapping his shoulder, raising her eyebrows at him telling 'mind the children' and then looked at me smiled and said "Come inside. I will get you some tea" and went in.
I just smiled and walked to him. I felt very little in front of him. The hug i got reminded me of Simba hugging Timon. The tiny cub ran and hid behind the sofa. Hands over shoulders, like old times, me a little out of the ground, we walked into the house...
*****************
She was too bothered to fall asleep. She sat with her gaze fixed on the novel in her hand. Just the gaze fixed, neither eye or mind in it. Too bothered to read. Too bothered to sleep...
Why such a sudden trip? Why had he flown earlier than them?
she hated suspense,mysteries,unanswered question and she couldn’t sleep with them even from a novel. Then how could she if they were from real life!
She didn’t know what to think. She could think anything ranging from extreme to extreme. She was worried.
Why was he avoiding answering 'why’s about the trip?
A sudden thought startled her. 'Had he found anything wrong last time he went for medical checkup
She tried to calm down my by telling herself 'Maybe it’s nothing serious. Maybe am just over worried'
'If there was nothing serious why such a sudden trip?' She took a deep breath and told herself 'Stop thinking. Stop thinking'. closing the book she looked sideways at the twins who were sleeping sound. Beyond them, through the window she saw the sea of clouds...more like mountains than the sea...
**********************
After dinner I went and sat in the sofa in the hall, took the newspaper and started looking through the front page.
He came and snatched it out of my hand saying " you ass. You came here after all these years to read the newspaper? You can take it home and read when you go. You are not reading this here"
His wife was telling 'stop playing around and give him the paper which he ignored. As he sat down he said with a wide grin "And since when did you start reading newspapers you lazy bum!!!" and enjoying what he said and laughed out heartily. I grinned.
The little girls came together and split up ,one sat near their daddy, one near their mother. The tiniest cub was in his mother's lap drinking milk out of his bottle, getting drunk to drowsy.
Now the little girl who sat near her daddy hit his tummy, enjoying the expressions her daddy-clown made.
I told him "well you have a food asset there" and laughed
And the little girl said pointing at his tummy "daddy has a little baby inside". She was telling it looking at her mother though i knew it was to me she was talking. We all laughed and I asked him "Can I tell my first memory of you?
"I know it" he said
"But does she?" I asked
"No. she knows only my firsts and my recollections"
"well then i will take the privilege to let her know now"
She was caught in between, not knowing what to say.
I started "this happened a month after college life began. On a lunch break. All my classmates joined with their old friends from school and all were walking to the canteen. I was a miser"
he interrupted me "As if you aren't one now"
I said smiling " Not as I was then,na!"
"yeah yeah! Now you are an international miser. Saving money, not coming here!"
Well it was true...
His wife now said curiously "Say the rest"
I continued " And hence I told my classmates that I wasn’t coming to lunch. They tried to persuade me a bit. I didn’t yield boasting to that i used to skip lunches from school and that it was nothing to worry about. At last the quit persuading and left. But a tall guy didn’t go.
Now she said capriciously "don’t tell me he survived skipping a meal! I wouldn’t believe you!!!!"
He said grinning "yeah yeah. Don’t talk like you never knew it. You have heard me telling i used to skip lunches. I have told it a lot"
She winked an eye at him and said "I couldn’t believe you completely on that. Why were you skipping lunches? to avoid looking too pregnant?
We both laughed. And he acted "HAHAHA! Big joke....now satisfied"
Then i continued "he said he also didn’t want to have lunch, that it was a good idea to save that money. I still remember trying to convince him like 'if you are staying so that i don’t get lonely, you should go and have lunch'. Well, then i wasn’t aware of the fact that i had just met a bigger miser than me"
"Thank you Thank You!!" he said grinning and bowing a bit(as much as his tummy let him)
Now she asked "where is your wife?"
I said "she is on her way"
Then there was a pause. I turned to his wife and said "can you leave us two alone for a few moments. I have something serious to talk to him."
The sudden change in atmosphere puzzled her "Should i take the kids along?
"If it’s not a problem" i answered
She was cautious not to wake up the tiniest cub. She carried him on her shoulder and said to the girls "leave your father alone. Time to sleep. Come. Come."
the followed her.
I looked at his face. he also looked bewildered the sudden heaviness in the atmosphere...
***************************
The flight had arrived early morning at 3 and I picked them up from the airport and drove home. The twins dozed off in a few moments leaving me and her awake. I loved such moments with her. Today she looked a bit worried. A bit too tired too. Both reflected in her eyes
I said "Stop worrying. It’s nothing to worry of"
She said like a child throwing tantrums, but mildly "Why can’t you tell me what this is all about?"
"Don’t be angry na."
WE looked into each other's eyes for a moment and I fixed my eyes back on the road and told. "Stop thinking. Just wait. Take it as it comes..."
The anger had disappeared and the worry returned to her face. "At least tell me if everything is fine. Tell me it’s all ok"
This was her cry. She never cried shedding tears (i did that. one in each family was enough)
I said to reassure her "everything is fine. Whatever it is you have thought up to worry so much, just totally forget it."
It didn’t wipe the worry off her face.
"Please..." I said and slowly reached out for her hand and held it so, till the next gear change. That reassured her I guess. I mean holding the hand, not the gear change. Now she looked a bit moré calm
**************************
I drove the rented caravan. He sat by me, the tiniest cub watching the road sitting in his lap. We talked of the old days, the good the bad the ugly...I mean the days, not the film. Chewing the cud of those memories was pleasurable. Occasionally the little girls would come asking doubts, or with tantrums, or asking to stop the caravan for a pee, or just to watch the road. The atmosphere was so jovial with so many children around... I thought again 'the more the merrier'...
The only thing that bothered me was whether she was still worried. I hadn’t told her yet... Neither had he told his wife.
I wished both the ladies were discussing the good things of life than trying to do guesswork on the mystery together. The extremes that could be thought up would increase synergistically if both worried together on that!
I wished they had a good time. I wished she was having a good time...That she wasn’t still worried...
*********************
The caravan jumped up and down traversing the road full of gutters. The wives, his and mine came to see the roads.
"isn’t there a better route?" My wife asked
I said “Could both of you give us a couple of minutes alone?"
I didn’t need to see her face to know this made her angry. Well I looked, just for confirmation. It held storm clouds. She went in. his wife followed her.
I shouted out "Just two minutes"
"Whatever" she said.
She was angry. But I wasn’t worried about that...
He smiled at me. No. Grinned.
We didn’t have anything to discuss. We just didn’t want them in front now. That was all.
And in a minute or a couple of minutes I halted the caravan and got out. He also got out. I shouted "Final stop. Time to get down" and opened the door.
As i opened the door the first thing and the only thing that caught my eyes were her angry eyes. I felt her tinier than the tiniest and cuter than the cutest child in the vehicle.
"Get out na." i said with a smile, still looking at her
Childern,some hopped out, some climbed down. All except my little child...
"Mommy, come see this, one of the children cried out"
His wife also got out.
All the time she was looking sharply into my eyes. She always gets me nervous with that look of her's. I got in and tried taking her hand. She slapped my hand away.
I smiled...well, I grinned. Or say, the emotion within made me smile but the manifestation was a grin.
"Come na" I said gently, trying again to hold her hand. She didn’t let me. She just stood up and stepped out of the vehicle. I followed her, all the time watching her face.
She looked all around slowly, with wide eyes, with her jaws dropped. Anger forgotten. The transition of expressions was lovely. She turned to me and gave me a grin. She couldn’t fix eyes on me. She started looking all around again.
I went and stood by her holding her close to my shoulder, watching with her the gradient of colors ranging from green to blue of the lake, the light of the sun giving it a golden lining over its ripples and small waves, the mountains all around tops covered by mist clouds, the banks...a play of colors...
"At last you kept your promise, that you would take me here" I wished her to say.
But as usual, she said the unusual "Wow! So it wasn’t anything about the photography skills you boasted of. This place is real beautiful. Any click can give you a nice shot!"
I felt like an ass hearing that. She saw the transition in my face and laughed heartily. I smiled watching her laugh.
Then she pulled me by my ear and whispered into it "Thanks for taking me here at last. Back then, ever since you showed me pictures of the place you took with him, and promised to take me here, I used to daydream of being here with you after marriage..."
"I know" I said
"Daydream didn’t have the children though"
"Add-ons"
"Well, it’s better with them. The noise and all"
I just smiled. 'Salt of the earth' I thought of her
She was scanning the ground for something.
"Did you lose something?"
She bent and picking up a twig, she said "Ofcourse,a lot of sleep”, gritting her teeth in a funny manner. I took the warning and started running. She ran behind shouting "you could do this without putting me into this much worry, you nut"
All of them started laughing out loud at the sight of it...
Love
hari
PS- thanks to ajith for giving me "sree ganesa" song from agneepath for it was that song in repeat that helped me to keep writing till the end
and dharmiyaan from jodibreakers during editing
