Dad was a strict officer. Not that he would scold me or hit me hard. I was just scared of him. Why? May be the thought that he would scold me scared me off.
I don’t know. What if he scolds me in front of everyone?
Its ok. Life’s worth the risk. Let’s give it a go..
Ok.. Now where’s dad?? I went hunting around the house in search of dad. He wasn’t there.
“Mom, where’s dad?”
“Gone to meet Shanmogavel uncle. Why?”
“Nothing. Just asked as he was missing”
“hmm.. I am not taking it. Something fishy”
“As you like it”
I went back to writing short stories and reading French articles online, painting, pencil sketching, poetry. As Red rightly noted: “In prison, a man will do almost anything to keep his mind occupied”. I continued submitting my short-stories, and writing blogs – frankly speaking, I didn’t know how to go about publishing books, or rather, I was skeptical of the idea – the fear of failure.
I copied a picture of ‘Dennis the Menace’ fishing by the lake with his father- as a pencil sketch.
Why did Hank choose Dennis to have pimples? He could have created a little cute boy without blemishes. Why not?
Why did he never cut that extra hair standing at right angles once in a while? I don’t like it.
Thoughts respond:
“Karthika. You have loved Dennis just the way he is, in spite of his pimples and hair sticking out. Not just you, every naughty kid out there has loved him in his/ her childhood. It alright not to be perfect. Just be in the moment, enjoy every roller coaster ride in life. Smile a lot. I like you that way.”
“Any reason to smile?”
“Smile while you still can. You never know what will happen tomorrow”
The wait of two hours seemed like years, when dad came home. Shall I start the topic now? No. He just came from outside, he must be tired. Let’s not irritate him.
I waited for dad to change his clothes and take tea. Ok. Now, mom was around. So let’s wait till I am able to get him alone. He sat there reading the newspaper for another half an hour,
Next, dad went to the study room, to browse the net. I too stealthily followed, in the pretext of reading a book.. It was now. Come on Karthika. Dad is alone in the room, you have to speak now.
But Alas! Yet again my courage failed me, when suddenly dad said, “Do you want to go to Alliance Française and do your French course?”
I was lost for words. This was probably the very last thing I expected my dad to say. I stood searching for words, when dad added, “Let’s go and register for your classes this week-end”
“ok dad”.
In the excitement of the moment, I had forgotten all about the bank account details. It just wasn’t important at this moment.
Dreams filled my eyes, mind, heart and soul. I did not belong to this world any more. No not here. You can meet me in Dreamland any time.