Short Story - The Curse of the Old Lady

The train chugged slowly along; we passed paddy fields and soon we crossed the bridge across the River Cauvery near Srirangapatna – the river flowing silently along on its seaward journey.  I had boarded the train 2 ½ hours earlier in Bangalore. I thought about Gayathri, my good friend whom I would be meeting after nearly a span of 10 years.   We were earlier neighbours when my father was posted in Mysore.  

I got off the train at Mysore Railway Station and took an auto to Indiranagar.  We passed through some familiar roads, the Mysore Zoo and a few other streets before I reached Gayathri’s nice little house.  It was a moment of deja-vu as I took in the long driveway, the veranda, the coconut trees and other little details of her house.  Suddenly, the car parked in their portico surged to life and with the loud, whirring sound of a raised engine, the car shot past me, almost knocking me down.  As I regained my composure and walked up the driveway, Gayathri came running out of the front door to welcome me.  We hugged each other, smiling and laughing all the while.

We spoke about common friends and got up-to-date on the happenings in each other’s life.  And then I remembered and asked, “Who was it in the car? He was in one great hurry and shot past me…he almost ran me down!  

Gayathri replied, “Oh, that must have been Sriram, my younger brother.  You remember him, don’t you?”  I said, “Sriram! Of course, I do.  He was the kiddo of the house.  But why was he in such a tearing hurry?”  Gayathri then haltingly said, “I have to tell you something.  After all, you are a psychologist.  You will be able to understand this better.”

Gayathri continued, “You remember that old lady who stayed all alone, down the road, in that small hut?  She used to rave and rant as her children had abandoned her.”

I said, “Yes, yes, she was always yelling at somebody or the other.  She hated all children and would take away our balls and cricket bats. I remember her distinctly.”  Gayathri continued, “Exactly!  After we all grew up, it was Sriram and his set of friends who played on the road.  Invariably, while playing cricket, they would hit the ball towards her hut.  She would confiscate it and never return it, all the time shouting at them.  Sriram and his friends tried to talk to her sensibly but she would not listen.  They in turn got angry and called her all sort of names - You crazy crow, you stupid old dog, you mad cat, you fat rhino..” 

I sat listening wondering what this was leading to.  Gayathri continued, “You know, all harmless stuff that children usually say when they are angry but hardly ever mean it.” 

“Anyway, all this was nearly 7 or 8 years back. Sriram and his friends have all grown up now, they are all in college.  Quite a few of them have moved away too.  In fact, there is only Sriram and his friend Vittal who continue to stay in this road.”

“Well, that old lady died a few months back.  Before dying, she walked up to our house, called out to Sriram and said, - ”Here, take all your stupid balls, and your stupid bats, you miserable boy.  You taunted me all those years back, you called me horrible names.  I will remember every one of those names.  I will come back and haunt you and your friends!”

Gayathri paused dramatically.  I could only gape at her.  She continued, “That old lady, she then let out a maniacal laughter and said, “Watch out for me.  I am like Alamelamma;  the Wodeyars could not escape her wrath, neither can you.”

I listened to all this, trying to suppress my laughter.  Seeing the troubled expression on Gayathri’s face, I guffawed and said, “And you believe all that the old lady said?”

Gayathri, in a troubled voice continued - “Wait, there is more to it.  We all thought it was just some rubbish - an upset, old lady trying to make a lot of noise and dropping names from the old folk lore.  But over the last couple of months, after her death, strange incidents have happened.”

I was curious. I said, “Oh, really? Like what?”

Gayathri continued, “Sriram loves the new second-hand Maruti Swift car that Father bought him.  He is always cleaning it and taking care of it.  He used to park it in the portico.  But everyday, a crow would come down, shrieking loudly, and would drop bird-poop all over the car.”

I said, “C’mon Gayathri, that is hardly strange stuff.  It is what birds do.  Aren’t you over reacting?”

Gayathri said, “No wait, that is what we thought as well.  But this kept happening every single day for nearly a week, and exactly at the same time, in the same manner.  Sriram then decided to park the car inside the shed.  The next day what does he see - a cat has entered the shed and has pushed down a can of paint on the car. The bonnet is now splashed with a dark shade of blue.  Sriram completely lost it – his car, the possession that he most cared about, was being attacked.”

I kept nodding my head and said, “Well, this seems more like coincidence.” 

Gayathri retorted, “Well, you can say it is coincidence when it happens once.  But again, after the paint-dropping incident, we found that the same cat – a full-black one - had entered the car through an open window and had clawed its way through the upholstery.  It had not spared an inch – its claw marks are splayed both on the front and back seats!  What do you make of that?”

I was a little thoughtful, trying to figure out a likely explanation. But I quipped, “How do you know it was the same cat?” Gayathri continued, “Sriram heard strange sounds coming from the shed and went in to check.  That is when he saw the cat.  The funny part was when Sriram tried to shoo it away, it stood its ground, glared at him and mewed repeatedly in a strange tone, in almost the same tone that the old lady had used!  Don’t you think that would freak somebody out?”

I was a little perplexed.  Gayathri said, “The story does not end here.  Sriram’s other friend Vittal, well, he too faced similar incidents.  He had left his favourite sports shoe out in the shoe-stand at his place.  He saw a black dog jump across his compound wall, walk towards the stand, pick up the shoe and run.  He chased it.  But the sly dog was much too fast and made escape.  Vittal later found the shoe torn and shredded in front of his house gate.” 

I said, “Gayathri, you guys are reading too much into these incidents. They are just random acts and you have nothing to be worried about.”

Gayathri said, “I knew you would say that. Just like you, we too thought there was nothing to it.  We decided to move the car out of our house.  You know Kumar Mama, right? He lives in Madikeri.  So we drove down to Madikeri  to his house.”

I could not resist saying, “Don’t tell me, the same black cat, the same black crow along with the same black dog followed you from Mysore to Madikeri?”

Gayathri got a little upset.  She said, “Okay , laugh as much as you want.  But this is what happened in Kumar Mama’s house.  A similar black crow -obviously, I can’t say if it was the same one- dropped poop on Sriram’s car, in exactly the same manner and at exactly the same time like it used to do before! What do you make of that?  Isn’t that rather strange?”

I looked at her and laughingly said, “Maybe crows just go about doing their business in the exact same manner, across all geographies.  What else can it be?”

Gayathri was ready to strangle me.  Instead she yelled, “Don’t you get it? Don’t you see the connection? Sriram and his friends had referred to the old lady at various junctures as a crow, a cat, a dog and a rhino.  She is now taking those forms to harass Sriram and Vittal! Her curse seems to be coming true!”   

I then asked, “Okay, but why was Sriram rushing out of the house in such a panic?”

That is when Gayathri threw the bombshell.  She exclaimed, “He heard the flash news on TV just before you arrived. The lone black rhino in the Mysore Zoo has escaped!”

Picture credit - all images used here are sourced from the net.  

Family Roots - The Origin of new Beginnings

 

My father was born into a big family - he had 3 brothers and 7 sisters - a veritable cricket team!  In addition, there were several first cousins, second cousins and cousins twice/thrice removed living along with them.  The house that my grandfather built was huge and was able to accommodate all the members of the household.

 

Every year, like a ritual, we would spend our summer vacation visiting my grandparents' place in Madras.  Every one of my father's siblings would also come down to the grand place and life was one big playground - cousins of all ages, each of us vying for attention, playing games, playing pranks.  It used to be two memorable months of non-stop playtime and fun. 

When I look back, I think of my grandparents and their home as a huge banyan tree with deeply laid roots that held and supported the entire family. Soon, with each of their children moving out to other cities and starting families of their own, it felt like part of the main root was transplanted into these different cities.

My parents set their roots in Bangalore. They laid the foundation, built a home and family, nourished and supported my brothers and me, nudged us in the right direction of career and family and soon each of us went away to different locations.

My parents lived in the same house for well over 40 years. Home for us was always my parents’ place. Home meant a place where we could be ourselves; where we could be seen, be loved and be cherished for the 'persons' we are with all our faults and blemishes; where our needs were always given priority, where tasty food was prepared lovingly after considering our likes, dislikes, and favourite dishes; a place where we could share our thoughts freely and not be judged, a place to literally put our feet up.   

 

As far as I was concerned, my home and roots now meant the roots that my parents had put down - firm, strong, stable, supportive, and ever-nurturing. Even with a home and family of my own, I continued to think of my parents' place as the one that had the roots planted firmly.

A few months back, my father passed away at the age of 88, having lived a long, fulfilling life - living independently, always calling the shots and always being in-charge.  Suddenly with his demise, it felt like the huge tree that had sheltered us all, had been completely uprooted as it came down  shattering to the ground.

 

With my father's death, I now no longer have a parents' home to go to. It was a safe place that I could run to anytime - sometimes to hide, sometimes to heal, sometimes to just be. It has not been easy, but I am slowly learning to overcome this huge feeling of loss and come to terms with my grief.  While trying to make sense of life and death,  I realise that a part of my father lives on with me. In all my thoughts and memories, he will always be there. In his passing away, he has passed the baton to us. He has passed on the roots taken from his parents and has handed it to all his children to be firmly planted at our respective homes.   I now carry forth those same roots, passed on from one generation to the next, to grow and nurture my family, to guide and shelter my children, to grow into a loving and giving tree that can sprout branches while keeping the values and roots of my forefathers alive.  

Note: Pictures and images have been sourced from the internet.

Learn a new language - Teen Lingo

“Hey Bro, Whassup?“ 

“Nothing Bro, just chilling.”

“Listen Dude, did you watch the latest  video of JordIndian?

“Lol. It was so litt man!”

If you were to read or listen to this, it would be natural for you to assume that it is a conversation between two young boys.  Well, this is how teenage girls also talk to each other these days – addressing each other as bro and dude! 

There is a whole new lingo that amazingly every little kid seems to be aware of. It is just adults who need a new dictionary or thesaurus to understand their slang words and acronyms.   Take the above sentence – ‘It is so littt’ .  Here ‘litt’ means something that is fantastic.  The greater number of ‘t’s added to the word indicates an increase in its amazing-quotient!

This new language that teenagers and the youth use is all pervasive – SMS messages, Instagram posts, telephone conversations – everywhere, their dialect is filled  with short, terse sentences that may often be incomplete.  For a generation that grew up with Wren and Martin, ploughing through their incorrect sentence constructs can be frustrating.  But for gen-next, acronyms are the most sought-after words. 

Here is a glossary of some of the words popularly used by them – this will help us understand our young friends better!

IKR – I know, Right!  When using this, you are vehemently agreeing with whatever the sender is suggesting.  My teenage daughter uses this quite frequently in her messages – especially when a friend of hers shares some bit of gossip about a mutual friend from school who acts in a certain way.

GTG, TTYL– You will find these two used one after the other. Sentence construct - Dude, my Mom’s calling, GTG – Got to Go.  TTYL – Talk to you later!

YOLO -  You Only Live Once.  This is a profound truth of life – used often as an excuse when you especially do or indulge in something extravagant.  This word is a passport to leading life on your terms.

LOL – Laugh Out Loud.  When you find the message interesting and funny, you remark LOL. You may not laugh but will use it to convey that you found the message funny. 

ROFL – Rolling on the Floor Laughing – You use this when you find something extremely humorous or funny.  It is so funny that you are rolling on the floor with laughter.

LMAO – Laughing My Ass Off – Another expression used when you find something extremely funny.  This is used a lot more informally than ROFL.

BFF – Best Friends Forever -    Not to be confused with BF (Boyfriend), a  BFF is like a soul sister – understands your every mood and puts up with your idiosyncrasies.

OK BOOMER – When your millennial agrees to unwillingly accept your suggestion and go with it.  He or she uses this disparagingly to convey that your ideas are old and quaint and that you are an old-timer.

TBH – To be Honest.  When you try to soften the criticism or fault,  you hem and haw.  TBH will help you to cut to the point.  Sentence construct – TBH, I don’t know if I am doing the right thing.

FOMO – Fear of Missing Out – This is peer pressure at its worst, when we end up doing things despite our dislike for it, due to the fear of being left out.  This highlights the reason why we do certain things – the fear of not being part of a social circle.

NM- Nothing Much – When someone asks you what you are doing, and you are not really doing anything in particular, you reply with a NM.

SAVAGE – The word actually means wild and untamed but when used by teens, it is a positive adjective.   When someone is savage, it means he/she is super cool. 

CHILLING – When you are hanging out with friends, enjoying their company, maybe having something to eat and drink – you are basically relaxing and having a good time.

TMI – Too much Information -When you find that there is an information overload and you want the talker to stop discussing a topic. Sentence construct –“Whoa, Bro!  TMI – please stop.”

SMH – Shaking my Head -Used in messaging, when you want to convey how dumb or annoying the other person’s idea is.   It has the effect of rolling your eyes at the other person’s suggestion.

WHATEVER – Most commonly used by youngsters, it highlights their indifference and their view that they are not remotely concerned by whatever you are doing or suggesting.  

Now that you are armed with their lingo, I hope you will be able to chill with Gen-next!

 PC - The pictures used are not mine. All images have been open sourced from the internet.