When I could not read

A 3 km walk with a heavy bag is extremely exhausting but is good to ward off concussions. I was panting by the time I reached my Aunt’s house. The door was open and I could see my aunt busily reading in the drawing room. I barged into the house; she was shocked. Thanks to the horror of the day, I had forgotten to inform her that I would be arriving.

After exchanging hospitalities she headed to the kitchen to cook additional rice and curry for me. I dumped my bag into my room and headed to the bathroom to take a much required shower.

My uncle returned from office, took a shower and had changed into his pyjamas by the time I stepped out of the bathroom. I got into a Bermuda and joined on the dining table. 

“How is College?” He asked

“Its fine”

“Hmm ! how are your girlfriends ?”

Usually I would laugh and say something silly, but that day I felt like crying. Still I smiled and replied.

“They are dead. “

Uncle chuckled and Aunt joined him after a disapproving grunt ( In Indian Orthodoxy one is not supposed to speak of death after sunset).

We had our dinner and I retired to my room. I pulled out Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire for the nth time and began reading. While Potter’s broom zoomed all around Hogwarts my mind zoomed all around the world. I was unable to concentrate; it was one of those rare times when I find it difficult to concentrate upon a story.

I took out my cellphone and checked out the contact list. Upon reaching the section under “V” I slowed down the rate of scrolling. And slowly all the names propped up which I never knew I had saved. Sandwiched between “vijayakumar drpnpll” and “Vidyavan” was her name. I shook my head It was the worst place for a girl’s name to be in, each of the neighbours being far worse than the other. Five minutes later I had conjured a new set of mnemonics and one hour later I had rearranged the entire contact list, with the loose ends in a safe corner, where even if such accidents were to happen would have least repercussions.

I felt relieved, now that I had reordered my contacts and that the impact or such an accident would be much less if it happened a second time. I was thinking about all kinds of situations that may be waiting after my return, each exponentially horrific than the previous one. The little relief that came was from the fact that I had used Sanskrit to send the message and not Hindi or English or Telugu, very few people on the face of earth know Sanskrit; Vijay and Bharani were sure shot failures in Sanskrit even The Almighty himself was to teach them the beautiful language. Sleep engulfed me as scenes of horror reeled one after the other.