True Alibi

He knew he wasn’t going to make it on time; yet again he’d have to think of a great excuse about why he was late. Thinking of a new alibi everyday almost seemed like a KRA now. With the car keys in one hand, a sandwich in the other he just ran towards the car. He didn’t even have time to match his belt with his shoes, forget wearing the cologne!He left the dog at the door with eyes moist with either the morning dew or pangs of yet another day without a hug from the forever on the run master! He had a whirlwind of noises filling the car, some from the radio in the background and some from the scenarios that played in his head. Images from hoardings came screaming in as did the faces of vendors at red lights.

Why was there never enough time?The humdrum of the inside and the outside was disturbed even further by the cell phone ringing, it was mum, and he knew she was calling to check if he’d eaten the most important meal of the day. He just couldn’t take the call, there was no time, and he’d call her back later in the day.The conference had obviously begun; no one was in their cubicle, except of course the new girl who gave him butterflies in the stomach. He always wanted to say hi to her, but managed just about a smile everyday.

Today he didn’t even have time for that, all the noise hadn’t let him come up with a story which sounded less irresponsible than the truth. The truth being as simple as over lazing in the bed with the Winters setting in.Well it finally struck him like the gong in the ticking clock, after all today was his grandparents anniversary and he would say that he’d gone to visit them.( He promised himself that he would do precisely that in the evening after work). They had been calling him for a while now and he just didn’t seem to have the time. So as he adjusted his tie and walked confidently into the conference room, to his surprise he found it empty. As he walked back to his cubicle wondering if he had the conference dates mixed up, he saw his colleagues strolling in after a coffee session chatting louder than usual. Their glowing faces told him before they actually did that the boss had called off the meeting. The boss was going to meet his grandparents for their anniversary!

Sanchita Johri

Clouded Memories

It’s raining outside I don’t know what is more clouded the window or my thoughts, but there is a fog…a mist outside or maybe within. I am comfortable in the warmth of the blanket and the sound of the downpour reassures me of my blessings. Then again I don’t know if I would feel more blessed if I could just go out get drenched in the rain, play in the mud and sleep like it was the longest picnic of my life or am I blessed because I am comfortably sitting wrapped in a blanket shielded from the gushing rain outside.

As a kid all I knew was to roll up my pajamas and sing at the top of my voice in the backyard when it rained with the rain drowning out the noise of all the off key notes and the made up lyrics for a tune I liked and couldn’t sing to save my life but now I couldn’t do it…I don’t know which one got lost in all these years, the kid, the rain or the tune.

I could still remember the half punctured football we kicked around in the colony park marinated in the “keechad” and in those days we didn’t even have a commercial which said , “Daag Ache hain”, to save us from the aftermath at home. There is always this one house in every colony where the hungry gang of friends finds refuge in someone’s grandmother’s garma garam pakore and chai and we did too! It was us, our dirty clothes , our puppy eyes and rumbling stomachs that must’ve been the perfect package, come to think of it anyone would have fed us looking like that!
It is still raining outside but somewhere it had never stopped…

Sanchita Johri