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This post has been published by me on the occasion of the Teachers’ Day as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 2; the second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

I saw him coming. I leaned on my SUV so that he could notice me. It was time to pick up Varun from the school, and I felt glad that I volunteered for the task. Gopalan Sir, dhothi clad, looked older and leaner. Still, the walk was brisk, with sharp occasional glances to the road side.

Oops, he noticed neither me nor the car!! This was one moment I have waited for, in my whole life. To see that look of appreciation in his face, where I have seen only contempt and anger…

I hurried my steps to overtake those passing feet. “Do you  remember me, sir?” Ofcourse, he wouldn’t. Who remembers the worst kid in a class!! That too, from 40 years back. Gopalan Sir  looked up. “Sir, I am Ramakrishnan, your student in school 40 years back. Right now, I am working abroad as the manager of a private firm. Just waiting here to pick  my son from school”. Putting my one hand on the SUV, I carefully stressed the words. I wanted to see the regret in his eyes, regret for punishing me harder, regret for thinking I am a waste, regret for all those he couldn’t see in me.

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Definitions

WonderlandThe place where Lewis Carole’s Alice fell into, and experienced lots of wonders.

Neverland – The place where kids never grow up and remain kids till the world ends. The leader of Neverland is Peter Pan.

Already these two worlds are like opposite poles on earth. So, what happens when a person from Neverland goes to Wonder land?

Since neverland is kid’s world, there are torches lit everywhere in the night so that kids  never loose  their way. These torch lighting is very important responsibility, and the people doing it were considered to be the inevitable VIP neverlanders. Let us call them Lighters.

One such Lighter went to wonderland for a visit.

“Wow!! This is a beautiful place.”

“Wow!! These people are really sweet, this is like  heaven. I could live here forever. After all, who wants to live in the stupid neverland? It has only forests, animals and pirates.”

“Wish neverlanders learnt everything from these people”

“Oops, do you mean to say, that hole had two buildings in it? Impossible!! Who would ever want to destroy Wonderland? It is such a heaven on earth. ”

“I wish I had these wonders in neverland too. But it will never happen :-( Those neverlanders never grow up (I guess, I am growing up after reaching wonderland).”

“Sigh!! Sad that I have to return. Let me collect all the candies and chocolates from here. The food in neverland doesn’t taste good. Once again, I wish I could stay back”

“They poked my bag!! They  poked my bag saying I am a pirate since I am from neverland!! They poked me!! This is the Hell on earth and these people are demons. This is no wonderland!! People of neverland, save me!!”

At Neverland

“They really scared one of us?”

“This is really a shame. Nobody has the right to insult a neverlander”

“We should poke them too. Who are they to judge we are pirates? Get the pokers ready. From today on, we will be poking every wonderlander coming here, till we are satisfied”

“Yes, let us go to Peter Pan and request him to inaugurate it”

Peter Pan

“Whats the matter?”

“Somebody from wonderland poked a neverlander”

“Poked?”

“Err- poked his bag”

“Why?”

“They thought he is a pirate

“Why?”

“Because, his name is Jack. (Similar to Jack Sparrow)”

“Jack Sparrow is not a neverlander. He is pirate of the Caribbian”

“Yea, these wonderlanders could have checked that easily!!”

“So, what do you think we should be doing?”

“Peter Pan, we should poke them back!!”

“Should we really?”

“Don’t you see? They just— They just insulted one of our Lighters!!”

“Okay, Go and poke them back. But one warning: the moment you start doing it, you will grow up and will never be a kid again”

“But—- What— Why–”

“See, you are a neverlander, because you are fair in your judgments. That is how  you maintain  your childhood. The moment you loose the fair judgment, and start acting like a wonderlander, you grow up. You know, growing up is demonizing yourself. Moreover, we have our own threats to deal with, like the Pirates. Let us find ways to deal with them first, which we haven’t.”

“Yes, Peter Pan, you are right”

********

“Nasra, are you sleeping?”

“No, I was blogging. Just completed typing. I will send the link to you right now.”

Oops!! The blog composer still has only the title – “Questioning a Bollywood V.I.P. Named Khan”. Weird!!

**********************

PS : No intention of glorifying one nation or degrading another, simplifying one topic or complicating it. The words came out of the scary thought of being eyed with suspicion, being discriminated, or being alienated at another part of the world. Comics help reduce the fear.

18 years ago

I stepped into the red, cold floor. There it was, the black, slithering and shiny creature. The next thing I remember was a loud cry from my insides.

It is no Harry Potter scene I conceived.  Red oxide was very common during those days for flooring.

The place is my home, a real serene village. I was the proud member of a nuclear-joint family set up, where the nuclear families and  houses  of my father and his siblings shared the same compound. The best thing was, nobody thought of a compound wall then.

The place was rich with greenery, with trees and shrubs along with many dark and not-so-dark  creatures sharing the space with grasses and weeds in harmony. Nobody had complaints till  summer arrived. During summer, the soil will be shoveled to improve the water retaining capacity (preventing capillary rise, said my science teacher in school), thus removing weeds and grasses, to be regrown again in the next Monsoon. Along with many advantages, those are the days when the reptiles and many other creatures lose their comfort in the grass.  They sought ways to keep their body cool, and one resort was our bathroom. Back in those days, we had  bathroom outside the house.

Our hero was one such brilliant snake, seeking some cold in that red oxide floor, till the “villainess” enters the scene. All she had to do was a loud scream, and people came running from all the nearby house (my father, cousins etc etc). Needless to say,  the rest place was changed to the deathbed in minutes.

Today

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“Please copy those songs to the computer”.. I heard the kids pleading.. I could see Nasra’s face, after an exhaustive journey to her aunt’s place, I am sure her body said, do it later.. Looks like her heart stood with the kids. The music files were brought by one set of her maternal first cousins in a device which I have not seen before, for the kids at her paternal aunt’s place, which is my home too. Family and relationship building really happens digitally too!!

As idle as she can, she stood up and awakened me. It took some time to identify my vital chords and give me enough power. She pushed the flat stuff (I am used to seeing only floppy disk and CD drive ) through one of the few slots I have. I was booting through the usual light blue screen with the typical microsoft icon etched in full screen, which is the only one I have (which evoked some obvious long lost rememberance in her memory, and she stood with a nostalgic look).

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Musafir

Sep 29

Jagajith Singh went on singing:

“Is Duniya Mein Apna Kya hein?
Kahne Tho sub kuch Apna Hein…”

[In this world, what is mine?
If I say so,  I can  say everything is mine...]

Putting on the first invariable thing in the journey, the headphone, Rema relaxed to the second invariable factor – the side seat of the train. Train started whistling. A journey through the greenish luxury of Kerala for 45 minutes. Less tiring, less distance and faster reach – while detailing too many excuses for choosing train over bus, deep inside her heart she knows why she prefers train journey to bus. Its the nostalgia that the  Train evokes while running through the green paddy fields with a clear horizon making timely border for it, depending on the time of train. The kid inside her breaks loose on this sight; she never wastes the chances to do it.

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