Month: September 2018

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A Little Squint.

aveekoiqbalneep

I used to like geography lessons. Those lessons used to hold beautiful, natural and true facts about Mother Earth. Now when I was a young student, one day our geography teacher was telling us about rivers, rivulets, tributaries, different terrains and valleys.As soon as she said the word valleys, a bell rang in my head and I started dreaming that I was in a beautiful valley with my parents.Actually my mother loves valleys a lot and she had told me all about the valleys.

Maybe four or five minutes had passed while I was day dreaming about the valleys, when my teacher called to me -“hey, you! Are you present in this class? Or are you traveling at some other place?”

Me-“No miss, I am present in this class.”

Teacher-“Then please tell me what was the last thing that I said.”

Me-“You were speaking about the rivers, rivulets, tributaries, different terrains and valleys.”

Teacher-“Next time pay attention to what I am teaching or you would be finding yourself out of the classroom.”

Me-“Actually miss, you didn’t notice that today I am sitting in the classroom without my spectacles. The nosepad and the earpiece temple of my spectacle has broken off. So, I went dreaming for a few minutes.”

Teacher-“It doesn’t matter whether you have put on your spectacle or not. Pay attention while you are sitting in the classroom.Why are you sitting on the last bench? Try and sit at the front row benches.”

Me-“Actually miss you haven’t noticed that I am a little squint. That is the reason why I sit on the last bench.”

The teacher came near me and she looked at my eyes and told me-“You are not squint.”

Me-“No miss, I am a little squint.”

Teacher-“No, you are not.”

The whole class-“ No miss, he is squint.”

Teacher-“Why are you all making him a squint when he isn’t? If he is a little squint then I too am.See.”

She too used to wear spectacles and she removed her spectacles and showed her eyes to the whole class.

One girl got up and said-“Miss you are not squint.”

Teacher-“Then he too isn’t. Anyone who calls him a squint shall be punished with triple homework.Now is there anyone is this class who believes that he is a squint?”

The whole class together-“No miss, he is not squint.”

To me the teacher said – “You shall never ever say that you are a squint or I will complain about it to your mother.”

Me-“I am sorry miss.”

As soon as I said this, the last bell rang and the school was over and we all ran towards our home carefree and very happy.

Adios!

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Tea and the Little fairy.

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Today I saw my fairy crying. I have a picture of a beautiful child fairy hanging on the wall. I saw her crying, so I went and asked her-“ why are you crying?”

She replied-“Can’t you prepare a bit more tea. I drink tea everyday and today I couldn’t.”

I –“What?! You drink tea everyday?”

The fairy nodded her head  fidgeting with her handkerchief,while her eyes looked down.

Me-“But you never told me that before.”

Fairy-“That’s because I drink directly out of the tea cup or pot before you have your tea and mostly you don’t notice any change in the level and quantity of the tea prepared.”

Me-“So, why didn’t you have your tea today?

Crying out aloud again she said-“That’s because the horse splashed all the tea and I couldn’t get any.”

There is a frame of a horse on my wall and I had written a post about him earlier.

I went over to the horse’s frame and saw that tea was splashed over the corner of his frame and I looked at the fairy and I saw her nodding and pointing towards it.

I asked the horse that why had he done so? He said nothing to me and bowing his head down towards the fairy , he let a small neigh.

Hearing his neigh the fairy blew her nose loudly. I told her –“I will make some tea for you right now. I am sorry about his (the horse’s) behaviour.

The fairy went and sat down on her seat and kept wiping her remnant tears with her pretty and beautiful handkerchief.

I told mom everything and ma also agreed with the fairy.

I went to the kitchen and prepared some tea for myself, ma and for the little fairy. I made the tea with milk and sugar and with special tea leaves and I poured the tea into two cups and into a small cup for the fairy.

I kept those cups on the tray and placed the tray on the dining table. I went to the cabinet to get a packet of biscuits and when I came back I saw that the small cup in which I had poured tea for the fairy was already empty and tea in my cup was half gone too. There was a note left on the tray for me and on it was written- “next time pour tea in a regular cup for me. Signed – the little fairy.”

Immediately I went to the fairy’s photo and what do I see? That she was already asleep on the bed, with the covers pulled over her and with her little air conditioner on. Her little home was on the branch of her tree and do you know? She was even snoring a bit.

Adios!

Green Thai curry, Green thai curry paste and Chcicken Tom Yum Soup.
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I am sorry, I am sorry with Green Thai curry paste, Green Thai curry and Tom Yum Soup.

aveekoiqbalneep

Yesterday, I went to the kitchen and saw that the refrigerator door was open and ma was humming something like-“I am sorry, I am sorry” to something inside the fridge.
I asked ma-“ ma what were you humming?”
Ma-“Nothing babu nothing.”
Me-“But ma I heard you humming or saying something to something inside the fridge.” Ma-“ No, it was nothing.”
I said-“Ok ma.”
Then I went to the drawing room and sat down on the sofa and started writing something. Generally ma doesn’t keep any secrets from me, but I knew that she was humming something to something inside the fridge.
After fifteen minutes or so ma came and sat down on the opposite sofa and told me -“ Do you remember that green Thai curry paste that you made?”
Me-“Yes ma.But I had made it a long time ago and you had said that you will prepare Thai curry or Tom Yum soup with it.”
Ma-“Actually I was cleaning the fridge and I saw that the colour of the green Thai curry paste had changed to red. So, I had to throw it out. I felt very sad while taking it out of the fridge and so I was humming “I am sorry, I am sorry” to it, as I hate throwing anything made by you out of the fridge into the dustbin.”
I felt a little disappointed as ma had not cooked The Thai curry or the Tom Yum Soup as she had promised, but sometimes ma also has difficult days.
But after five minutes I promised ma-“Ma very very soon, I would prepare the green Thai curry paste again for you.”
Immediately ma also promised me that she too would prepare both the Thai curry as well as the Tom Yum Soup.
The simple thought of having Thai curry with Chicken Tom Yum Soup brought loads and loads of water to my mouth. I am simply dreaming of that day.

Adios!

 

 

Green Thai curry image courtesy of Takeaway – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9792781
Tom yum soup image courtesy of Takeaway – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16874114
Green Thai Curry paste image courtesy of Papa November – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7570436
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Just In Time-Part Three.

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Have you ever travelled on a public transport bus in Kolkata? They are generally full to the utmost level and capacity of the bus. There won’t be even space for breathing.At each and every stop, fifteen to sixteen people would get up and no one would get down and few people would even be hanging by the bus door.

Once, I had gone on a trip to Kolkata city and there I had got up on the bus which looked a bit empty. The conductor pulled the bell “ting ting” and the bus left.As I mentioned before, there was medium rush on the bus.But after the next stop, people started getting up on the bus like the people who overcrowd the stadium when going to watch a favourite football match.

It really started getting crampy and people on the bus were automatically pushing each other.It had become so crowded. In between that magnanimous crowd, the bus conductor came and said-“Ticket”.

I told him my destination and he said-“five rupees”.

Now, I didn’t have any change with me, so I gave him a hundred rupee note.

He told me-“ I will give you the change after some time.”

A bus conductor has to keep a note of how much change he has to give and to whom and that too before that person’s stop comes.

The bus became more crowded as it moved on to more stops.

In between the conductor came infront of me a few times, but he didn’t say a single word regarding the change he was supposed to give back to me.

For a few minutes, I had fallen asleep as it generally happens when bus journey becomes tiresome and hot wind starts blowing in from the open window and at that time a person may fall asleep.

But luckily I woke up as the bus gave a jolt and I saw that there were still five stops to go for my stop to arrive.

Now there were only three stops left, but still there was no sign of the conductor.

Two stops left, but still no conductor.

One stop left, still he didn’t come.

I got up and in that smelly and full to the brim crowd, I called him out-“ Sir, please give my change.My stop is coming.”

I got no response from him. I went towards the bus gate getting sandwiched in between people and also getting wafts of nearly everyone’s perspirations. As I reached the bus gate, I had given up all hopes of getting back my ninety five rupees back.

Only ten seconds were left for my stop to come, when I felt someone tapping me from behind.

I turned back and saw that the conductor was tapping me.He handed me the ninety five rupees change just in time and my stop arrived. I thanked him a lot and he gave me small smile in returns to my thanks.

After getting down from the bus, I congratulated myself on being able to get those ninety five rupees back as they felt like a gift to me, because as I mentioned before, I had given up the hope of getting it back.

When I told ma this incident, she said-“ It is not common for everyone to give a hundred rupees note as ticket fare and he knows which note belongs to whom and he definitely remembers the amount of change to be given back to each and everyone.Its his job and they are well trained for it.

I –“Yes ma. But still ain’t it a good thing that I got the money back?”

Ma-“It sure is.”

Adios!

 

 

 

Image Courtesy By Photo by KF, February 13, 2005., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39834662
Just In Time-Part Two.
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Just In Time-Part Two.

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I potted a plant. The pot seller i.e. the nursery man told me that the plant would give small white roses and generally the nursery people are correct. After watering the plant for more than two weeks, I could see small buds coming out of the plant. Nearly every thirty minute or so,I would go and look at the plant to see whether the white rose flowers were coming out or not. I continued this activity of keeping a watch over the plant for a few days. Everyday, my parents would confirm to me that the rose buds would definitely develop. But even after a few days the rose flowers didn’t grow and  I became very very morose and sad. The next day early in the morning,before going out, I went to take a look at the plant and lo! What do I see? Those WHITE ROSE FLOWERS had grown and were in full bloom It felt as if God Almighty had worked his magic overnight.They had grown  and blossomed just in time and I became very happy.I immediately called ma and baba and showed them the flowers.