Silent Speaker

It was the Thanksgiving morning.  My mother pulled out the roasted Turkey from the oven.  She looked ravishing as usual.   She drank wine as she chopped the veggies here and added some garnishing there. I stood watching her for a while. I heard someone playing the Piano in the living room. It was my brother Jiggu. He played like a pro now. I went near him and observed his serene face. He always let himself flow with the rhythm of the music he produced. It felt like his fingers were his fins and the music was the water.  On completing the coda, everybody applauded. Today my house was buzzing with relatives.  It was customary tradition to have Thanksgiving meal together. My Uncles, my aunts and my cousins gathered around the table as the help started bringing in dishes. They all settled and prayed. I watched my mother. A Tear rolled down her cheeks. My heart broke. But I was happy. I ran out of the house. I ran into the deep forest with ecstasy. I...

“Mirror Mirror on the wall, am I not the fairest of them all?” She gave a dazzling smile and raised an eyebrow while still admiring the perfect curves of her body. “Oh, you naughty Mirror!” she sighed and broke the mirror with her fist. She  laughed hysterically. Her laughter reverberated through the halls of that huge palace, long abandoned by the humans. She floated through the palace, humming, from one room to another. Her long gown flowed with her. She stopped by the window. Her tombstone located across the river, was shinning magnificently amidst the mild moonlight.  It was her 105 th death anniversary.  Someone was pulling her gown. She looked down to find her notorious Cat. “Aw! My sweetheart! You came to meet me on our anniversary? Come!  Let’s get out of this place.” She took her feline companion in her arms and flew away from the window towards the dark forest.  On the highway she found a few people camping. They had bikes parked nearby....

Puzzles have always enthralled me. Solving them gave me an acute sense of empowerment and confidence.  The harder they got, the higher my resolve spiraled to decode them. And here it was, the Rubic cube. It was a child’s play for me. But for Tina it was always a huge task! Oh, how she pouted at this small piece of puzzle! “This is a sweet little color toy with evil mind! And you Ma’am are a Genius! How easily you conquer these nefarious squares!”, she would say! I always felt good about myself when she said this. “Goood morning!”.  It was Tina. She ringed her cycle bells, as she called my name. Every Sunday morning we went cycling and then for a swim.  I placed the cube aside, picked up my sports bag and paddled my bicycle out of the garage. Tina was circling outside my house. She looked like an angel. Laughing and carefree. She looked at me with the most enigmatic smile I had ever seen and then sped her bicycle- indicating that the race had began. We both raced a...