The Storm

It was a storm that lasted for all of nine days. 

All of us were hiding from it and we were relieved and ecstatic when it had passed. It was a moment of quiet and peace and we had all the time we needed to reflect on what we had just experienced. 

It had somehow brought us all closer to each other. There was a new found respect for life and unbeknownst to each other, we had all silently resolved to truly ‘live’ our lives the way we had secretly desired. 

Our grandfather, whom we called Dadu was the first one to speak when we came out in the open. 

“This is not the last storm of your lives kids, there will be many such storms and they won’t necessarily blow off the roof of your home, but do remember what you learned about yourselves during this storm” he told us. 

We looked around and saw the devastation that the storm had left behind and considered ourselves to be very fortunate. At least a dozen trees were knocked down and at least one window was shattered. 

It was a time to take stock of our lives, to see what truly affected us and where our attachments were anchored. 

It was a collective thank you to God that was being offered in our relief at having survived this storm. 

Life would offer us many such opportunities in the years to come, while they may not have been physical storms but they took us deep into our depths to realise what truly mattered. 

Just then Einstein our dog came running out of the house and he was as happy as happy could be. 

We knew that we were now responsible for ourselves and needed to live as such. 

This could easily have been a tragedy, but we were all glad that it was not.

Popular posts from this blog

Passing Through A Village

It was a dark moonless night and Nick had just got off a truck which he had hitched a ride on.  He looked around and found himself standing on the outskirts of a small village. He wanted to get another ride but it looked like it was not to happen for a few hours.  He was used to this and just sat on the milestone by the side of the highway. He looked at the time on his watch, it said 2:15 a.m. He lit a beedi, a taste he had developed on his rides on the highways.  He was hungry and his stomach growled. He checked his satchel and there was nothing in there that he could eat.  A villager was on a bicycle and he was passing Nick when he heard Nick’s stomach growl and stopped and said “You look hungry sir, please come to my shop. I will get you something to eat.”  Nick was not surprised by this sort of thing anymore. Being hospitable was a way of life in the villages and small towns. Nick followed him and they reached a small shop that was shut.  The villager o...
Read more

Love in the time of Emoticons

‘LOL’ was all she wrote.  Rudy could not make sense of it. How could his proclamation of love be reciprocated with an LOL? The times have truly changed he thought.  Technology was dictating the way we felt our emotions and had reduced them to a few letters of the alphabet.  It had only been a year since he had met her, but he knew she was the one.  He remembered how she was sitting in her wheelchair at the hospital, waiting for her turn for an X-ray. He was there to get a cyst removed.  He looked at her for a long time before he could gather the courage to speak with her. She had laughed at his clumsy attempt to befriend her.  That laughter still rang in his ears today. And today she was laughing through the texting app. He had to know if she was dismissing his love and had put him in the ‘friend zone’ or was it just her way of laughing to make the situation light.  He looked at his phone and decided to lighten it further and texted her an ‘LOL’ too. H...
Read more

The Surprise

“Stop teasing me!” she said.  “I am not” replied Gino, “it is true. I have just booked us on a seven day cruise of the Caribbean.”   Selena could not believe it. It was so unexpected. She had only mentioned it once in passing that she would love to take a cruise once before her life was over. It was beyond her wildest dreams that it would ever happen and Gino had made it happen.  “Where did you get the money?” She asked.  “I sold something that I did not need anymore” he replied,”Nothing to worry about. We leave Friday, so start getting your things together.”  It was a moment that he wanted to remember for the rest of his life. Selena was truly happy and was still dazed from the shock of it. She may have been a little woozy from the chemotherapy, but she had enough energy to feel happy and amazed at his acknowledgement of their love.  He did not know how much time they had left to be together, and he wanted her to have this experience that she had so badly ...
Read more