Hey Dad! Meet My Mom

by Sharma, Sandeep

  Now getting back to that special day, I was still busy stirring the spoon in my cup and was remembering the whole girl and the boy act. It was really....... ah.... ummm.....

  “Disgusting?”

  I was surprised after hearing the word. I instantly turned my gaze from the coffee cup to the boy sitting in front of me. ‘How could he have read my mind? And what the hell was he doing here?’

  He was the same ‘lollipop’ kid I had seen in the bank. He was in his school uniform. I don’t know whether that lollipop was permanently stuck in his mouth because he was licking it again. His clothes, his mouth and even some parts of his hair had gotten sticky. It was disgusting. Disgusting!

  I needed to ask him something, but couldn’t frame the apt question in my brain.

  “Hey Dad!” He said and again started licking, of course, his lollipop, what else?

  Excuse me, what had he just said? Dad!?! Truly! I believed he had mistaken me with somebody else. These kids, I tell you! When I was in the 10th standard, I used to give tuition to about 30 students of his age and I knew exactly how naughty they could be!

  “OK, big boy What are you doing here and what’s so disgusting?” I narrowed my eyes and attempted to sound a little friendlier.

  “Actually ” he was spitting out while trying to talk so I had to pull that sucker out of his mouth and then let him go on, “I am here for my dad and what I found disgusting was his manner of dealing with girls”, he finished and that sounded a bit mature for a 10 year old, lollipop sucking boy.

  “So where’s your dad?” I asked, leaning forward on the table.

  “Here!” he said, copying me in leaning forward and my gestures.

  I turned around and found a man sitting alone and continuously looking back and smiling. I realized that this must be the boy’s father. So the ‘lollipop boy’ must have had a conflict with his father.

  “So you bunked your classes?” I asked to further continue our conversation. I didn’t know why, but I liked the kid.

  “No, I got expelled.”

  “So is that why you had a fight with your father?”

  He said nothing.

  “Listen... What’s your name?”

  “Rishi”, he said and something hit me. I remembered the name. I exhaled and tried to forget what I almost thought of. There are some chapters in the book of our lives which are better buried deep in our memories, so deep that even we can’t dig them back out.

  “So Rishi, do you know there are some people in life that we sometimes identify as villains? They talk like villains, they act like villains, and they do all sort of unimaginable things, but the enigma lies in the way they execute these affairs. Because if they don’t mismanage things, how would ‘the hero’ get the chance to do the right thing? For turning you into a champion, your father tries to be a scoundrel. That’s the basic principle.” I had got so excited in my own theory that I hadn’t noticed that the whole coffee shop was now staring at me and the boy had a puzzled expression on his face.

  “So if I were you, I would patch up with my dad.” I finally managed to conclude ‘my speech’.

  “That’s what I am doing.”

  “What?” I didn’t get what he wanted to convey with those words.

  “I mean.... ah... that...” He was trying to speak out something when I saw her again through the window glass. She was there, just outside the cafe. I was looking at her and she was busy having a fight over the phone. Once again, I could only see her back. I wished that she would turn, just this once. I wanted to see her, adore her beauty, carry her face to my dreams and talk to her for hours.

  I was lost in her when someone shook me. It was the boy, Rishi, again.

  “What?” I demanded in defeat.

  “If I were you, I would have followed her and not just wished for her to turn.” He said and started licking his lollipop again which he snatched from my hand and departed. She too, left at the same time.

  Chapter 3

  Now that’s called a perfect start; after a hectic day at office, a bad headache on a holiday. Perfect! I tried to open my eyes and look around for medicine or something which could help but found nothing.

  “Mom, coffee!!!” I shouted loudly from my bed. On week days, I would wake up early at 5 o’clock, even before my alarm buzzed and after my morning walk, I would prepare coffee for my mother. But today was Sunday. I didn’t even care to look at my clock and went straight back to my dream, at the point where I was about to propose to her.

  I was at Maya’s cafe with her, sitting on that same corner table. Just she and I. She was not looking in my eyes but was smiling, looking at the coffee. I pulled the ring out of my coat pocket and holding her hand, I said:

  “Will you marry me?”

  These words shocked her and her coffee spilt all over her dress. She panicked, I too panicked, and I didn’t know when that panicked atmosphere made her turn from a beautiful lady into a 10 year old child and that too Rishi!

  “Hey Dad...” He waved his lollipop at me and smiled showing all his ‘dirty’ teeth.

  I woke up from the dream and instantly sat on the bed. That dream had been more than a nightmare. I ran towards the bathroom and washed my face several times with cold water. I tried to wipe away the sweat beads from my face and, likewise, let the dream wash away from my memory.

  I looked at the mirror on the wall in front of me and with that, lost control over my body. I grabbed the wash basin tightly to keep my body from falling.

  “Hey Dad!!!” Rishi was in my bathroom. What the hell was he doing there?

  “What.... what.... how.... how.... did you come in.... ?” I was stuttering and finding it difficult to breathe. Fear shrouded me.

  He said nothing, just kept on licking his lollipop. I tried to compose myself and slowly my nerves started reacting again. He’s just a kid, Puneet, relax!

  “You followed me from the cafe, right? You stayed here the whole night. Your parents must have been looking for you. What’s your father’s mobile number? Tell me.”

  “9910694889” he stated.

  “Wait. This is my cell phone number. How.... ?” The scale indicating fear, started rising in me again but in the same fashion it came down to normal too. “Okay, you saw that on my visiting card.” I said while signaling at my visiting card lying on the table in my bedroom.

  “Rishi, your father must be concerned about you.” I tried to reason with the kid.

  “He doesn’t care about me. He doesn’t even allow me to take birth yet.” His words made my ‘fear scale’ resurface.

  “Where’s your father?” That was a daring question from my side.

  “You are my father.” He said in an instant.

  I kept on looking at him for a long time. I was white and felt cold. My soul subdued down to earth by his statement.

  “Here’s your coffee, Puneet.” My mother came in the room and caught me looking at something in the toilet. She read my expression and got a little tensed. She came running towards me and brought me back to reality.

  “What happened, beta?” She inquired.

  “This child says that I am his father and he’s my son Rishi.” I showed her Rishi, standing in front of me.

  “Which child?” And now the fear was clearly reflected in her eyes as well.

  I picked up the coffee mug and brought it close to my lips when my eyes fell on it. She was there. The cream over the coffee took the shape of that girl. I threw the cup in fear and left my chair. I was panting as if I had run several miles. Then I sensed something looking at me through the window panel next to me. Slowly I turned my gaze. It showed the empty street outside; nothing else could be seen. Suddenly out of nowhere, a beggar came into the picture. He was leaning on the window panel. I could see his expressionless face, his head full of white hair. His eyes expressed a lot; I could see my fear in his eyes.

  I wanted to run from there. I took my car and was about to dash away when that old beggar came and started to stroke the car wind
ow with his bare hand.

  “He has returned. Your past has returned. Follow your dreams.” I felt numb, terrified, shocked.

  I picked up my clothes and car keys and started to run out of my home. My mom was worried. She had never seen me behaving like this ever before. She ran behind me with her mobile in hand and called someone while watching me speed away.

  Many thoughts were running in my head but nothing could truly explain the events happening in my life. I was feeling afraid and didn’t know what to do. Then a thought came to my mind that I should search for Rishi’s father, whom I had met in Maya’s cafe.

  I parked my car in front of Maya’s cafe and started looking for Rishi’s father. I entered the cafe and headed towards the reception hoping to talk to Maya. I pulled her outside, she looked worried too.

  We both came out of the cafe to talk. I was holding her hand pretty tight and was literally dragging her.

  “What happened, Puneet?” She asked me while trying to snatch her hand out of my grip.

  “I.... I am searching for someone.” I was sweating heavily and was bearing a fear stricken face. “I am searching for that man who was sitting behind me when I was talking to that child yesterday.” She sensed that something was wrong and was very serious.

  “Which child are you talking about?” She looked confused.

  “That child, who was wearing his school uniform and having a disgusting lollipop, that irritating and........ ” She interrupted in between.

  “THERE WAS NO CHILD WITH YOU!” She shouted and snapped me back to reality. I somehow knew that I was talking rubbish but I still wanted to give it one last chance. Then who was that child? A GHOST? “You were all alone, Puneet. You were talking to yourself. Everyone was staring at you. I felt worried.”

  I was lost in myself. Now what? Maya read my expressions. She grabbed my hand and took me inside the cafe. She made me sit on the corner seat where I used to sit every day.

  “It happens, Puneet. I think you are working too much and also the pressure of getting married from your mother; all these things are making you a day dreamer. I think you need a vacation.” Maya sat in front of me and was continuously patting my hand to make me feel relaxed. Somehow I managed to show her a little smile.

  “You know when I was your age; I saw a day dream that I am marrying my coffee shop and even heard the pundit’s mantras while preparing coffee for the customers.” She continued and laughed like a mad lady. I felt embarrassed but still relaxed. She had a comforting effect on me, like a motherly charm. “So just relax and enjoy the coffee at Maya’s cafe.” She shouted her last sentence while leaving her chair and left to prepare coffee for me.

  She came back with my all-time favorite coffee, ‘Maya’s special cafe chino’ with extra cream. I thanked her; she smiled and left to attend to another customer.

  I started stirring my thoughts in the coffee using the spoon. Maybe Maya was right; maybe all I needed was a vacation. I started thinking of my holiday destination when someone pulled the chair lying on the opposite side of the table and sat on it. I didn’t know how I recognized her but she was the one I had seen in the bank and then outside the cafe. She was my ‘hidden face’ girl.

  Chapter 4

  Those drowning eyes keep me alive,

  As captivating as the blooming lotus in a lake.

  Every time I behold those pair of blue pearls,

  The world around me stops and worldly affairs unfurl.

  There was nothing special about her, and yet she was special to me. There was nothing about her face to adore, and yet she was adorable. There was nothing in her to love, and yet I loved her. It was all, a kind of deja vu for me. I saw all this in my dream, more precisely, in my nightmare.

  She had a little round face; adorned by long, black, well styled hair. She looked ‘cute’ rather than pretty. Her lips were naturally pink and complimented her cute face. She had a black mole just above her upper lip at the right most corner. She had big eyes, full of depth in them; full of secrets or full of love, I didn’t really know.

  I was stunned to see her. Not because of her beauty but because of the awkwardness of the moment. That was not the time I wanted to meet her. Though this did not mean that I wanted her to go away and sit somewhere else.

  She was busy with two tasks simultaneously; one, getting ready to eat her sandwich and the other, messaging someone on her mobile phone using her fingers. I loved her nail art too. I was continuously staring at her with my mouth open. I was about to drool when she caught me staring at her.

  “What?” She said and brought me back to my senses.

  “I.... ah.... nothing... just.... you came and.... ” I was trying to frame a proper sentence but as always, I failed. It always happened with me whenever I tried to talk to someone I liked, not to mention, ‘only in front of pretty girls’.

  “Oh.... Actually the cafe is pretty crowded today. There’s no other chair left, so I decided to sit here.” She said in a very jolly manner and then suddenly she sounded low, “Hope, it’s not a problem for you.”

  “Huh.... No, not at all.” I said and sunk my face back into my coffee mug. I was trying to say something to take this conversation further, but my mind turned blank. I could be such a dumb ass when it came to conversing with someone. Even I couldn’t fathom how I ever became a bank manager!

  “I saw you in the bank yesterday.” I said with full confidence.

  “Ah... now I remember, you are the one who was staring at me in the bank. You fucking stalker!” She said.

  No, I didn’t think that was the ideal way to start our conversation.

  In these kinds of weird situations, I really wished someone could help me out.

  I lifted my head to take another look at her but eventually my eyes fell on a child who was taking a lot of interest on our table; he was Rishi licking his lollipop as always, sitting on the chair just behind her. He was holding his notebook with him. Something was written on it. I tried to focus on the writing that said, ‘You wished for me and I am here, dad.’ I really got scared; sweat beads of fear were slowly forming on my forehead. I tried not to lose control over my senses again. The awkwardness was now at its peak. My dream girl and my nightmare child, both were sitting in front of me.

  “What happened? Why are you looking so pale? Are you alright?” She asked. Her forehead had creased up as if crumpled with all the stress of the world. She cared for me.

  I was clueless as to what I was supposed to say. My eyes were continuously changing focus between her and Rishi. I saw Rishi, writing something on a fresh page of his notebook. When he finished, he again lifted it so that I could read, what he had written.

  I read it aloud, “Actually I had met with an accident and then I lost something.” Why the hell am I reading it aloud?

  “When? Where? Are you alright? What did you lose?” She asked and suddenly I found myself drowning in a river of lies from the depths of which I could think of no escape. But then suddenly I saw Rishi lifting his notebook again. I read it in my mind and then cursed my stupidity at having read the previous thing aloud. What was I to do now? There was no escape. I was trapped. I had to say it.

  “No, I am not well. When you chose to sit on this chair, I accidently fell in love with you and lost my heart while thinking of you.” Silence. ‘What the fuck have I just said?’ I took a sneak peek at Rishi, he was smiling. ‘You little monster! I’ll kill you. ’

  And then she smiled. Yes, she smiled! My friends were right, girls do love flirting!

  I again looked at Rishi, he was still smiling but now he winked too.

  Chapter 5

  Is she an angel or a mere imagination?

  I want my answers finally because confusion is at its culmination.

  With each passing day I find her closer.

  But the moment I hold her, she vanishes, proving me a loser.

  “Who’s your favorite superhero?” I asked her.

  “Shaktimaan; our very own Indian superhero. I stil
l hope that someday one of our channels will announce the arrival of Shaktimaan’s second season and I can finally watch ‘evil’ getting defeated. I want to see Kilveesh dead.” She took a bite of her sandwich and while chewing she started talking again, “You know what, when I get really bored, I pat a random guy’s back and whisper in his ear.” She came forward and whispered in my ear, “I want to tell you a secret.”

  I joined her in this creepy act, “What?” I too whispered.

  “The secret is...... Gangadhar hi Shaktimaan hai!” She said and then laughed like hell. I loved her laughter. It was like the sweet ringing of temple bells on an early morning, coming from a remote village. Her teeth were the whitest and the most perfect, I had ever seen. I wondered whether she was the girl that featured in toothpaste-advertisements.

  She kept on talking and I kept on looking at her. I was living every moment with her to the fullest. People say that when we die, a slide show of all the happy memories flashes before our eyes. I knew that this very moment would be the first moment to appear in my ‘death ceremony slide show’.

  Oh, by the way, I completely forgot to mention Rishi. Well I had kind of started liking the boy. Yes, I realize this sounds crazy, but the boy had helped me and this meant that he was a friend and not an enemy. So what if he was a ghost? He was just a child anyway. He liked me; he understood me and helped me. That was it. Well yes, there were still many questions left to be answered by him but right now I just wanted to listen to her. I wanted to hear everything she wanted to say. She was the angel for whom I had waited for such a long time.

  I had definitely seen her before, seen her in my dreams, her smile, her hair, her...... her.... name? What was her name?

  “What’s your name by the way?” I asked her when she was describing to me her dog’s choice of meals.