Memory Intrigues – Chapter 3

This is the Third chapter in the series “Game of Blogs” for the team “ Dynamic Word Weavers” as a part of # CelebrateBlogging campaign by Blogadda.

You can read the previous chapter here

"Ducks freeze to death if they don’t keep moving in winter” Tara says to herself as she leaves her office, mentally cursing her editor and sub-editor.

She develops a terrible headache after that verbal spat they got into. She gets back into her car. She opens her dashboard and pops in an analgesic tablet hoping it would make her feel better….

She starts her car, and steps on the gas to get back home. It is just not her day, as she reaches home late again…

She lets herself in through the door with her set of keys and finds Roohi busy dancing to the tunes of “Dora the explorer”, while her eyes look for Shekhar ..

“Hello Beta, Where is Papa??”  Tara growls.

Roohi’s eyes are intently glued to the television, trying to copy Dora's dance moves, leaving her oblivious to her mom’s question.

“Switch off that damn TV Roohi, I can’t stand those cartoon characters dancing all the time” Tara shrieks.  That innocent face which was smiling moments ago crumples as Tara grabs the remote and switches off the TV.  “Now tell me, Where’s Papa?”  With a tear slowly rolling down her right baby-soft cheek, Roohi points to the master bedroom. She wipes her tear and moves towards the diwan.  She hugs her soft pink teddy bear, which is almost the same size as her, tightly and innocently shares her problems with it.

This innocent kid is desperately in need of love.  She feels rejected by her ever busy parents. Roohi continues talking to her teddy about how her mother has got her admitted to a tuition class and how she hates going to that lady whose unsmiling face and harsh demeanour had made her piddle in fear.

Back in the room, Tara drops her handbag on the dressing table, takes off her hair clip, letting her hair free as walks to the balcony, where she finds Shekhar pacing up and down attending to a phone call.

“Yes Sir, I’ll try my best to write, sir… sorry sir… I’ll do it sir…. Give me sometime sir… I’ll mail you sir..” There is a long pause and the call ends.

“What’s the matter, you face doesn’t look good when you’re tensed??”  Tara asks after seeing a hint of worry etched on Shekhar’s face.

Wiping his sweat Shekhar replies “ The Chennai office called me once again, asking me to finish this project by tomorrow evening or my cheque will not  be passed.”  He leaves the balcony abruptly, saying “call  me only when the dinner is ready”

Tara holds her head, her fingers braiding her hair and quickly marches towards the kitchen to prepare supper, after which she can peacefully retire for the night, leaving Shekhar do his work.

Back at the table, Shekhar is working on his laptop, which is quite outdated - an outdated operating system with a low capacity hard-disk and barely enough RAM to get the laptop working.  He strikes a few keys on the laptop and then decides to delete it all together. He isn’t getting his rhythm; he has a constipation of thoughts and diarrhea of unnecessary words so that he has to delete them all.

With his elbow inclined on the table and his bald head resting against his palm, Shekhar is lost in his own thoughts. He is worried about Jennifer and nothing seems to be working right for him.

Roohi places her hand on Shekhar’s shoulder asking her dad to join them for the dinner.

“Roohi, you have your dinner, Daddy is not in a mood to eat” Shekhar responds shrugging her hand off.

Tara finds it strange. , Sensing his deeply troubled state of mind, sheapproaches him “I’ve made roti and sabji, your favorite, even Roohi will eat if you are there..”

“Okay, get the table ready, I’ll be there in a moment” Shekhar mutters and picks up his mobile phone, making his way back to the balcony.He tries calling Jennifer’s mobile number; just in case she has re inserted her SIM card after coming to Mumbai and has decided to stay elsewhere. Bad luck!  Her number remains switched off.

His fear rises and tension clouds his face as he moves towards the dining table. His eyes are constantly shifting here and there and his mind is dwelling on all  the possibilities of what could have happened to Jennifer.

His eyes keep moving regularly to his mobile phone and he is getting increasingly worried. He somehow keeps him calm and finishes his dinner in complete silence. He pours a glass of water and takes his regular blood pressure medication kept in a neatly arranged daily pill container on the table

He moves towards Roohi’s room to kiss her good night. But, Roohi, who left the dining table almost half an hour ago, is fast asleep clutching her teddy tightly in her arms

The story continues....
Read the next part of the story here




Me and my team are participating in 'Game Of Blogs' at BlogAdda.com #CelebrateBlogging with us

To read the first chapter of the story, click here