It was a long pending itinerary and a part of my bucket list
as well. Today, it was gonna come true. Mom and I were up and ready in no time.
We had the best chariot booked. It was Golden and glowing with all it’s might.
The white puffy clouds made a perfect background. The
morning sun, the chirping birds, the smell of wet grass and the roaring
waterfalls made the best symphony. The chariot rose and left in a flash leaving
puffs of coloured cotton candy all the way to the carnival.
It was the most joyous and colourful scenario. Mum by my
side and a handful of gems to play any joyride and any number of times.
The sound of the merry go round, giant wheel, Columbus and
roller coasters, heightened my happiness by many folds. Mom had promised me to
accompany me in each of these rides and taste as many delicacies that she could
take.
As we made our way through the rides, at a far corner stood
a mysterious tent. The attendant seemed to have taken a break. There was an
oval window which did not show anything but pitch darkness. It said, only the
brave, dare to see and feel the mystery that stood on the other side of the
window. To know what you can see, you had to put in the handful of gems into a
revolving bowl, which will then read your fate and deliver you to the other
side of the window.
It was really irritating, but what the heck, I had mommy
next to me and there was nothing to fear about. I emptied my gems into the bowl
and awaited for the mystery to unveil in front of me. I was standing facing the
window that was now encrusted with the gems that I had emptied into the bowl. Slowly
a writing appeared that said, ‘it is time you got back to reality. Bid adieu to
your loved ones’. As if, I thought to myself and turned to my mom to confess,
what a waste of my gems, I had done. And just like that, in a blink of an eye, there
was darkness everywhere. I cried for mom but there was no reply. The carnival
sounds had vanished into a faint jarring sound. It sounded like a grumble. It grew
louder with every second. I saw a tiny silhouette of a bed. Wait a minute, that’s
my dad’s bed. That grumbling sound is he, snoring and fast asleep. It was 1.30
in the morning and dad looked a lot older than I remembered him.
It took some time to realise that I was full flesh and
bones, standing in his room and staring at him, clueless of what the oval window
was showing to me. I walked out of his room, but not before I realised that I had
to open the door and not go past through it. Definitely now that I was no more
a ghost.
I vaguely knew what was in the next room and thought better
to avoid facing my little nephew at that time of the night. I opened the next
door, only to find my sister and her husband deep in sleep. I walked towards
her bed and ran my hands over her head. I gave her a small peck on her cheek.
She was way too deep in sleep to realise what had happened.
Suddenly I was hungry, hungry to gulp my fridge in one go. I
walked into the kitchen and began hunting for food. Thank god for my nephew,
there were enough junk food, to give my taste buds a feast. I then walked
slowly into the drawing room, hoping to catch some late night movie on one of
the channels. Big mistake! Dad got up to visit the loo and had ended up
following the sound of the TV.
Was it a joyous sight, I cannot tell. He just smiled and
asked me to go sleep because it’s really late. I laughed, he always said that,
even when I was alive. I said I wasn’t sleepy and a little hungry too. He asked
me to eat something from the fridge. Some left over pizza, he said. Wow! I was
gone and they were eating pizzas I thought. I chuckled and asked him to join me
in eating. He was sleepy but yet happily agreed to join me. I heated the food
and both of us ate like there was no tomorrow. He giggled and said, wait until
your nephew Sid finds out the fate of these pizzas tomorrow. You’ll have a lot
of explaining to do. We both giggled and decided to sleep. Wait, where do I sleep?
He said, with me of course. It’s been long since you asked me to sleep with you
coz you feared the dark. I smiled and gladly walked back to his room.
He had tears in his eyes and I wasn’t sure, if he still
thought that all of this was a dream. I said, ‘daddy, mum misses you a lot and
loves you more than anything in both the worlds’. He nodded with a smile and
slept in no time. It was like, I was never gone. I smiled and cried and smiled
a little more. Was I happy to see him, yes. But mom…I guess she knew about this
all the while. I wish I knew too. But hey, now that I’m back, Sid’s school,
walks with dad, funny fights with sis and a lot of screams from my cousins and
friends, hehehe it’s gonna be a long day ;)
