Rashmi's Space

The rain just wouldn't stop! And to add to that, cars were jammed in every possible direction right ahead of him. As Rayan tried to maneuver his Honda through the mess, he spied a harried traffic cop, struggling to manage the chaos but failing miserably. Just then, a mini-bus scraped a Toyota ahead of him and all hell broke loose! Already worked up, the drivers jumped out of their vehicles, itching for a fight; and most of his fellow motorists honked in protest; some even got out of their vehicles to try and stop the brawl.   Rayan looked over at Rishi, his seven year-old sitting in the passenger seat. “Doesn’t look like we can get out of this anytime soon,” he said. “Do you want to hear some music?” he reached out for the radio. “No.” Rishi said, and continued to stare out the window. Rayan sat back, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. He continued watching his son from the corner of his eye. Something was amiss, he realised. Rishi was awfully quie...

“Whoa! Did you see that?” the little one screamed, astonished! “Hmmm,” “Dad! Check this out! Quick, its going to disappear, Dad!” “Oh wow! Yeah, hmmm,” (without looking) And then there is silence. Wondering what’s going on? Ok, let me give you the complete picture: This story is about a father and his son. The father is a promising young go getter climbing the corporate ladder; and because he hardly gets any time to spend with his little one through the week, he has brought his son to the park on a weekend. The child, delighted as he is to spend time with Dad, has spotted a squirrel scurrying to a tree to stash the nuts that it is holding in its tiny hands. The squirrel is running away fast and the boy urges his father to look at this amazing sight! His father though, is busy texting on his smartphone. He answers in monosyllables, and actually fakes it when he says “wow!” without even looking up from his phone. He thinks he has gotten away with it and ...

Amit was home after two weeks.  A fortnight this time,   a month last time….I have been doing this for over eight years  he thought wryly.  But today, he had a surprise for his family -  I can't wait to see their faces once I give them my news!  He smiled to himself as he waited for his family to join him on the terrace after dinner. “There are some changes happening at the work place," he started as soon as they were all together. "I won’t bore you with the technical stuff, but, I will be doing most of my work online now,” he said.   Three blank faces looked at him, and then at each other. “Guys! I won’t be travelling from now on. I will be basically working a nine-to-five job and getting back home in time for dinner - every day!” he exclaimed. Six-year old Nysa was the first to recover. “Yay! Daddy will be home at night! Daddy can read me bedtime stories! Will you get me to sleep  Daddy? And oh, will you ...