My Clove Man (TheTelegraphicTales)

I could have written this ages ago but probably I was waiting for my fate to take a turn and it obviously didn't that's why I am here sharing my grievances.

It all started years ago when I realised the names of every grain, cereals, spices and any food item that I was eating. I was in a phase of relishing every taste. As long as it was edible I could eat anything.

But soon came that black day when a devil entered my life and ruined it all for me, “the clove man”.

You see ‘Cloves’ provide one of the most powerful flavors of all the world’s spices. These are rich, brown, dried, unopened flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum, an evergreen tree in the myrtle family.

This was Google bhaisahab, for what I know since they didn't bloom themselves they want that revenge from me though we aren't even related.

Yeah yeah, I know your brain must me scanning for its health benefits making you wonder why am I ranting about it. The main problem is with its taste which is pungent, strong with a bitter & astringent flavor as well. It also has a distinct and undeniable warmth which on consumption leaves a sensation in the mouth similar to that of a nutmeg.

You still don't get my point, do you?

Well imagine this, you are eating the best Samosa or your favourite Rajma-Chawal or that finger licking Tandoori chicken or remember when you had that delicious Shahi Paneer which was so soft & juicy and BAMN!!

There is a 'clove’ in your mouth!

How do you feel now?

Unhappy? Nasty? Angry?

Exactly! Now you finally get my point, right!

For a normal person like you this must be a rare occasion but for me it happens on regular basis in every meal no matter how much my lady tries to check my food plate before it's served to me. Somehow the devil manages to be chewed between my teeth.
Adding to the horror, whenever we went over for gatherings I literally asked the host to allow me to talk to the chef and make the person recall on how many pieces of cloves have been added to the respective meals.
I was heartbroken when this started happening at restaurants too.

Yesterday I was with my grandparents having tasty chat-papdi, raj-kachori etc which we bought from the famous Haldirams. They keep every single item in different packets and you are supposed to do the dressing at home accordingly. I did everything on my own and please believe me I have no clue how that half piece of a clove came out of the potato which was in my plate only.

It made me furiously red!

I screamed why me, why?

To my utter surprise, my grandmother solved the mystery in just one line- “Arey, it means you are going to be married to a tall, dark, handsome man and when it happens this will stop. It's just a sign.”

They say don't let small problems become big ones but after hearing her I guess it's going to become a much bigger problem.

Don't you dare laugh, I am still appalled by her reply.

Huh..why do my relatives feel if I'm not married soon I would die alone?

Oh c'mon, stop making fun already!

P.S. Just before leaving the house, I asked my grandmother will that tall dark man have four heads too? She just laughed.
Yet I am wondering where my clove man is. I hope to find him with just one head & that will be a bliss.

Scratching my own head till his arrival…

Auldrin

The walking dead (TheTelegraphicTales)

[“I'd never given much thought to how I would die. But dying in the place of someone I love seems like a good way to go.”
“About three things I was absolutely positive: first, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him – and I didn't know how dominant that part might be – that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”

--- quoted from the novel Twilight]

No, this isn't any love story. Neither it has anything to do with vampires nor the characters involved are thirsty for each other's blood.

The quotation above is just one of my favorites from the novel series by Stephanie Meyer which does cross my mind everytime I think about him, Mr. Walking Dead (W.D.).

Believe me he doesn't have any fangs either. Also he's not a zombie. Though sometimes he does behave strange but I am counting on him being a human, since he's my therapist and I need him alive!

So Mr. W.D and I belong to the same Alma Mater but we never knew each other back then. Atleast I didn't and hope he didn't stalk me as well.

I dared to initiate a telephonic conversation with him once. The odds being in my favour for he appeared normal and not like what I'd always imagined. After completing my graduation, on returning home I met him a couple of weeks ago. The meeting was planned at a metro station since we had to travel in the same train towards home.

Ok, you probably want to know about his appearance here in the scene.

He is a sturdy looking man, unshaven beard but always dressed in formals. Wears clothes with neat creases, belt buckle kept perfectly in the centre of the waistband and his shoes freshly polished even towards the end of the day.

On his arrival that evening, I immediately noticed his dark gloomy eyes, something that I observe in everyone during the first meet. He extended his hand for a handshake. Firm and gentle, not crushing the fragile bones of my hand. I was quite drawn to his persona. Firstly, because of his dressing style. Secondly, for his smiles and laughs which were good enough to ease my apprehensions. And thirdly, for those deep dark eyes somewhere led mine into his soul and vice versa.

Throughout the journey he stood at an arm's distance neither being close making me uncomfortable nor staying far to loose any attention.

A lot changed within that one hour. They felt more like 3600 seconds worth spent. Soon we parted ways, committing to continue the conversations further over the various electronic medias.

I couldn't talk much as it was our first meet and he wasn't my therapist then. Well, honestly he isn't a specialist and doesn't hold any degree in this part of healthcare field but he is a good friend playing a role just to keep me sane, preventing me from turning into a raving lunatic and being there whenever needed. Though the time took its toll and we couldn't be together again since then, but still it's not the physical presence that's always needed.

Now the equation has certainly changed. No more anxiety or hesitancy while talking but I am still scared of his raised tone which is even loud and clear while being transferred electronically from his outbox to my inbox in bold letters.

Most of the times he appears to be desolate, maintaining a pellucid glass wall between me and him so that I can see through it clearly but never reach out to him.

Some days he is strict and lecturing me about the whole damn world, considering me like a child who knows nothing. Yet sometimes it's totally reverse. I'm still not sure of who is helping whom. Our roles get switched in between at times with him mostly on the stubborn end!

You see I am an innocent dove here!

Also, since he prefers to follow such a demeanor I gave him the above mentioned name. I don't exactly know how he feels or perceives the things around him. He inclines to stay placid by nature.

There are moments of closeness when I feel like we are in the same bubble but if I make any slightest mistake of scratching with my pointed nail in any area, the bubble would burst and he would dissolve into the thin air leaving me where I am. Alone.

So, I let him be while waiting patiently for the stories to come out on their own, someday.

P.S. Do you want part two of this story?

From inside a nutshell...

Auldrin

Father's day chronicles (TheTelegraphicTales)

Today being Father's day, me and the officer geared up for our own personal way of celebration.

Walk and talk followed by a day filled with conversations pouring out gems.

That's our idea of making the day special, being in each other's company.

Here are a few glimpses.

Have you read today's TOI newspaper?

Do visit the LG vs AAP column on page 4.

Delhi's CM is successfully entertaining us with his hysterical behaviour for a couple of years now. Though now his cough & scarf are in a dormant state, his dialogue delivery shall leave you appalled.

Just like the headline of this column-

“PM Modi neither talks to me nor looks at me nor allows me to talk”.

If you've been hearing the recent events, Mr. Kejriwal is on a so called ‘dharna’ in an AC hall just outside the LGs office. By the images on the television he and his associates were comfortably lying there while his city was eating fried eggs straight from the pans kept outside in open. In this scorching heat and water shortage aren't the ministers supposed to be in their offices working for their people.

Why do we need strikes to meet the demands in our own country? Also, Can't we be the ones to take a step further for its betterment.

Anyways, I am sure that a man solely dedicated to his work, not even daring to stay with a wife will hardly pay attention to a raving person on his path.

Somewhere I still feel that nobody tops the list of maintaining a caricature like our one and only “Pappu”.

On the day our ex-PM, Mr. A B Vajpayee was admitted to the hospital, his first visitor was the famous leading member of the Gandhi clan! I wonder Mr. Rahul Gandhi had forgotten about the latter being a BJP member and not Congress but it was too late to turn around then.

Aahh...we had our share of laughter now you can too.

Amidst these discussions, Baba Ramdev ji appeared on the TV screen doing his extraordinary yoga stunts ('nauli kriya’ being one of them).

The bodyguard asked my lady to make mango shake and taking advantage of the perfect timing, she whimsically replied -

”Beta, why don't you have a glass of milk along with a mango and perform 'nauli kriya’!”

Hahahaha..the cheers of laughter filled the room.

Hoping for the day to continue in the same way

See you later.

QOTD- If Pappu and Kejru are the only people left with you on this planet, what would you prefer to do?

Have a happy Sunday.

Auldrin

Major hand-wash explosion (TheTelegraphicTales)

Major handwash explosion

Do you remember Ross's major shampoo explosion?

Here's a snippet-

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------

Ross: Oh NO!!
Rachel: What? What is it?
Ross: Major shampoo explosion!!!
Rachel: Uh, look Ross. This really isn't easy.
Ross: Oh, it's all over everything! Why?! Why me?!?
Rachel: Because you took three hundred bottles of shampoo?
Ross: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You were saying?
Rachel: Well yeah, well look.. it's about me and..
Ross: OH NOT ANOTHER ONE! Oh my G--and it's moisturizer! It's even harder to clean! Why? Why do bad things happen to good people?!?
Rachel: Wow! Well clearly this is not a good time..
Ross: Uh, you think?!

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------

This is for your memory. I have the whole series memorised. Huh, if only I could remember all the drugs classifications like this😑...never mind!

Well such events are hilarious only when on television. It's a disaster in reality of which I was a victim today.

When the Amazon pantry order arrived, one of the items being a 1L handwash refill had exploded! Just as I picked it up to see where the leak came from I was covered with soap in seconds.

Guys, this is the moment when you truly need people with common sense actually active at that time.

I rushed to the bathroom with the officer in order to fill the hand-wash bottles as quickly as we could but soon we ran out of them. Instantly he thought that it's simply soap so we can use it for washing clothes and started scraping the sticky material off my skin. I was moistened by the soap anyway what was left was to go and stand under the shower of an hour or so.

Ok I did that too.

Have you ever washed clothes with a hand-wash?

Leave that, answer this- In an era where we have different lotions/soaps for different areas of our body, have you had a full bath with a hand-wash?

Thank god it was liquid! Else just imagine a hand-wash bar someone used before you, what they washed last and what you intend to wash first!! Yes...Eww..is the word!

Next I went to check on the clothes.

The officer who was already exhausted after returning from work sat there next to the machine with a crappy face and said that the washing machine was broken!

It's not the explosion but the aftermath that hurts more.

I sat next to him, infront of us was the huge pile of clothes already soaked in buckets of that liquid soap and a broken “automatic” washing machine.

QOTD- What do you think we did next?

Whimsically surviving every day!

Auldrin

The maid to honour (TheTelegraphicTales)

The maid to honour

Today I realised about the fuss in media, actresses making comebacks into the industry after finally managing their respective marriages, to settling their kids into schools and some who were busy until their children did well in X/Xll boards. As for me, after surviving nights of turmoil I set my foot back into the sea of words. Let's see how far I can swim this time.

This is about Amma ( our maid in her late 40s). She is mostly punctual, her arrival being between 6:15-6:30am. Over the few months of my stay at home I have stopped using alarms for she does that part very well by switching off the fan on entering my room. With 42 deg celsius temperature one can easily get up from sleep with an automatic bath in their own sweat.

To me she is an epitome of tranquility, which is highly unlikely these days to find such a quality in a maid.

Mostly we experience a person who works for us, cleans our house as well as keeping us up to date with the society gossips, like who spent more & how much for their child's wedding, to the new extra marital affairs, who doesn't treat them well and they only love the home in which they are present for that particular moment. But Amma just does her work, has a cup of tea and leaves for the next house.

Strange isn't it? I feel we are blessed to have her and in order to keep her contended too I fight with my lady to not nag her about anything as the consequences of her leaving are frightened. Occasionally while me and the officer have our morning tea gup-shup I ask Amma about her views in relation to the conversation, sometimes she favours me else the other two. She ends up sharing some laughs with us, my motive being-making her comfortable, loved and respectful. The other day during the meeting of Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim, we were keenly interested in whether or not the WW-3 was to take place. Well not that we want any of it to happen it surely did add humour to the officer's question- Should I go to office or back to sleep? For he would prefer to be in peace lying on his comfy mattress in a cosy sleep, when/if anything like this ever happens.

There sitting in a corner, faintly smiling Amma finally gave up struggling with those curves on her face and laughed saying the work never stops till a person decides to halt, pushing all his energy on the brakes.

As for me, I have accepted the truth that one can survive without anyone in cities these days but not the maid. Believe me on this, she is 'the maid to honour’ in today's world!

P.S. The bodyguard(metaphorical) has asked to switch ON the AC in the hall so that when he arrives home from the killing heat, it will be thanda-thanda cool-cool😀

QOTD- Was my comeback fair enough for the blog-office OR barely charted in the box-office like Madhuri's 'aaja nachle’ or Ash's 'jazbaa’ or even Kajol's ‘dilwale’?

Auldrin😇

The underground library (TheTelegraphicTales)

This story goes back to the year 2010, in the month of february when I was in eleventh standard. Every weekend I used to go to south extension, Delhi, Aakash institute for medical coaching. You must have heard about its extensive market. One fine day an underground library caught my eyes and after my classes were over I went there. Aaahhh the inside was so mesmerizing that I felt high as if someone pushed my type of drug directly into my veins. Being a teenager I went upto the romance section to check out the old classics but a boxed set of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” made me stop. It was so beautiful that I felt the need to buy it immediately yet somehow I controlled my thirst for another day and planned how to trick my mother to come along with me the next day. My plans worked sequentially to bring mum for dropping me at the centre saying that the class started early, which on reaching she saw there’s still time so we decided to go strolling around the place and happened to find an underground library. So finally I played my trump card that my birthday was in another 6 days and how about she buy me a gift here only. As pleasing as I sounded she agreed too since it was a reasonable point. After a few minutes, I held the boxed set in my arms happily like a new born baby with tears of joy in my eyes and greed of when I would start reading it.
Suddenly I fell down to the earth after being on cloud nine for a while. You know you cant trick mothers they have an inbuilt basic instinct of catching every possible mischief that you intend to do. She took the box and gave me the first book saying I can have one for now but the remaining I shall get on my birthday. Still being satisfied I agreed as just one book was so thick it would anyhow take me 4-5 days to finish reading.
Soon I was captured in the maze of words created by the author and like its vampire character craved to read more and more and more. Sleepless & hungry like a beast I was coming towards the end of the book after approximate 20hrs of buying so I eagerly started searching for the other books wondering where can mother hide them. The search mission was a bliss when I found the beautiful box lying at the bottom-most shelf of an almirah in the store room where apparently she thought it was wise to hide. Well I too being her daughter had my share of victory but to also respect her decision, somewhat indirectly as my childish brain could think, I kept back the first novel and took the second one of the series for I knew she would only count the number of novels in the box rather than reading the names. Genius! wasn’t I ? hahaha..yes ofcourse..and so it happened that in a span of 5 days I had finished all the four novels of the series when finally on the 6th day, which was my birthday she gifted me the remaining ones.
I told her the truth about this just few weeks back when I was home, cleaning my inhouse-library, when I remembered those times I used to secretly read books especially at night in the torch light, expecting some scoldings to my surprise all she did was laugh and there came out those three little words "I always knew!". I sheepishly smiled watching her face which was filled with so much love.
Mothers are so unpredictable. This story is like one those beautiful memories we shared and the ones yet to come.
Sayonara friends.
©Auldrin❤

Change (TheTelegraphicTales)

I was at work today when I saw these black clouds and estimated the time of their conversion into rain. I left the building for lunch just a few minutes earlier before the showers began only so that some of the drops caress my skin and heal my upset heart. Flashes of six year old memories piled up in my mind when I came to this city for the first time & I had beautiful long hair which I never intended to cut. Still the hot-humid weather forced me to take such a big step that I went to a salon and got all those layers chopped off, followed by crying for many days. Over the years I fell in love with this place getting accustomed to the heat, enjoying the rains, and promising self to never cut my hair again.
I came back to the present day on realising I was drenched by the showers of joy and I have long hair again. How silly I was back then, and how much I've changed now just a tiny thought about it becomes an eye candy in this bizzare world. Change is good, we all change at some point of time and if we don't overthink about the people around us it is definitely a change for good. Today no matter how many hardships I face yet I can see the path on which I want to travel, no matter how impossible it seems yet I have enough strength to give it my best shot, no matter how many times I lose hope this city finds a way to bring me joy. I believe everyone has that one day in their lives when the actually know what they want, when they realise what's their goal to achieve, it's just a matter of time but we should stay put so that when our day comes we are standing strong to grab it. I wish you all be ready then to embrace your new adventures with a bold & healthy heart.

Signing off.

©Auldrin❤

Green Revolution (TheTelegraphicTales)

Today I went for plant shopping, early Sunday morning. For past few months I have been living alone in my allotted room in the hostel. Though I have two more roommates, both of them being senior to me but they just come once a week and rest of the time is just me. I have lived alone before too, it's a different feeling. A mixture of ‘independence’, ‘freedom’ for it gives you space to do anything you want and ‘hardships’ for you have to do everything by yourself like cleaning, washing etc.

For past few days there developed an intense desire of having someone, not a human for it will continuously blabber, not a pet too because there might be moments I feel it's noisy. How about a plant, I thought. Unlike my mother I was never into gardening and I know they need as much care & love like humans or animals still I decided to go for the green revolution in my life. A white hibiscus it is, placed on my room's windowpane in such a position that every morning when I'll open my eyes, my eyes will be blessed with a beautiful view.

As soon as I placed it there, my heart suddenly filled with immense happiness and positive energy. It was such a great feeling that I couldn't help but show it too my parents over phone and my neighbouring friends a live view. My mother gave the name 'green revolution’ hence the title! Someone told me that “taking care of life in a plant, animal, human is really intimate & rewarding”, while there was another who told me how it won't survive for long. My glad face immediately converted into a tensed one but soon I decided to neglect the negative comment & focus on the positive ones, “I'll take care of you”, I promised the plant and sat looking at it in a blissful state of mind.

Strange it is, how a small plant could suddenly give such immense joy and optimism. It made me realise I won't be living alone now, I have a company of my beautiful white hibiscus.
~©Auldrin❤

First times (TheTelegraphicTales)

Today is just one day break I've got after an year long of Internship. Ahh...it amazes me to recall how far I've come, what all I went through, from seeing deaths and pretending emotionless to seeking love for self in between. I have grown, I have matured for I have learnt the professional aspect of life. Though many more years are to come, yet more than theoretical knowledge it's practicality of life that I've learnt. They will all stay in my memory forever, all the “first-times”!

The first time when I walked through the corridors of the medicine ward as a doctor. First day of work when I saw a soul leaving an old fragile body, I still remember the ashen face, it was the first time I learned to declare death. The day I did a first pleural tap in a patient with severe respiratory distress and how immediately I saw her breathing getting relieved from under such pressure. The first time when I made the biggest blunder of my life. The first time I realised that not everyone has a family and started taking care of an unknown patient. I remember his face, his lean and thin body with a huge abdomen filled with water, just like that of a pregnant woman. How daily we poked him with needles to take out 1-2 litres of water from inside his abdomen. Till the day he died, but he died relieved. The first time when a patient blessed me with happiness and good luck, the first time a patient brought for a small statue of a bird which she made herself and the first time I did lumbar puncture on the same patient to confirm the diagnosis of meningitis.

There was a first time I did a suture, in the CBOT, where life taught me another strange lesson that death is the best when it's sudden for the slow ones are too painful. I have had mornings that began with gruesome RTA’s, blood everywhere, surrounded with casualties and me standing in between, working.

I treasure the memory when I solely assisted a mother into delivering a healthy baby girl. The first time when I had to repair the episiotomy wound of a mother who had delivered a big baby. Although I always had a liking towards the subject of Paediatrics but my first day began with fear for the sensitivity of the treatment required for tiny little babies. Where the counseling of a mother comes first, even before you touch her child for anything. But ironically the day ended with beautiful smiles on the small kids. I reminisce about the day when I held a newborn in my arms for the first time. The days and nights that I spent sleepless looking after the babies in the NICU gave me a satisfaction rather than fatigue.

Then came the day when I finally learned how to put a cast on a fractured joint or limb. I recalled the statement everyone used to say, just clear your entrance then life would be fun in a medical college, just clear your MBBS & internship would be fun, but it was in my rural posting when I finally mastered how to survive.

And then sequentially after few minor postings I finally faced the dreadful “general ER”. It was a menace. Hundreds of patients in just a 12-hour shift, never thought of even counting for a day. Standing on toes during the whole shift, treating and advising people to go home, I myself used to return to my room, dead with fatigue. Yet the intriguing thing was the peaceful sleep I used to get once I came back.

To be honest I have always avoided to be in situations where there were cut injuries requiring skills of suturing, this much I was sure of that I disliked them from the core of my heart. I still laugh at myself recalling the day I had my last on-call. My night shift was to end at 8am in the morning and just at 7:30am arrived a little boy with his father. No Matter how much you try to run away from your fears you end up facing them one day. I was in no position to call anyone, neither my seniors nor my juniors, it had to be done by me, solely. So finally I did it. It was my last on-call of a year long Internship and the boy was my first patient on whom I did a suture all alone. (Sssshhhh..he didn't know that, but that little boy taught me patience by expressing it himself, at the age of 8yrs he was bolder than me for he didn't even move an inch while I did it all.)

All's well that ends well! Today is just one day I've got to spend without any calls to attend. From tomorrow I will face a new beginning, a new challenge & a new me!

Signing off.

~©Auldrin❤

The last Sunday (TheTelegraphicTales)

Today is the last Sunday of my one year's Internship. After all the night shifts as well as night outings today I wanted to spend the morning sitting in a cafe, sipping my favourite masala tea, watching the uninterrupted rain through a large window and reading an old classic 'Wuthering Heights'. Being in the cafe for a while I looked around suddenly when I realised I was surrounded with different couples. I could overhear some of their stories and the diversity of the conversations fantasized me. Like Savi Sharma's 'Everyone has a story'  I started jotting down theirs. Couple A was on the table just next to mine, they were probably meeting for the first time, a set up by two families who wanted to fix them into a wedlock. Couple B was a newly married one out for a Sunday brunch to enjoy the romantic weather of the city. Couple C, well not a couple I guess as the guy remained constant but the girl/s were like the value of 'x', different and unknown. He seemed young to be such a Casanova type, I could infer that he chose a central location of the city to meet all of them, intelligent! Couple D being my favourite as the old couple finally got the time in their life to spend it with each other, the kids were settled with a family and they didn't mind being alone for it seemed in the race of life while trying to settle their kids they missed out on each other a lot. Now was the time to enjoy the passion again which was once so alive. I never thought about listening into other's lives, secretly stealing their stories but they amazed me. How different people can be at a single place at the same time but with such diversity. On the fifth table was a young girl trying her best to please her new client into doing business together. Her words had such a power and fineness while she spoke that no matter I understood nothing about the business yet I felt mesmerized. Alas! It was me in the last table with my love beside me whose eyes constantly stared to see the glitters in mine. Aaah..I fell in love today, all over again, with this city of Joy.

~©Auldrin❤

Specially challenged (TheTelegraphicTales)

Today while working in the ER I encountered a young patient​, a boy 17yrs of age, who could not hear or speak since birth. He was accompanied by his mother who somehow managed to tell us that he has stomach ache. He was so restless that I could myself understand this much from his body language and my clinical knowledge. I started giving him some injections which would relieve his symptoms but they weren't of much help. I called up a friend who knew sign language so as to communicate with him but his mother informed that he is not educated. And there I felt the floor slipping away from under my foot, what did I just hear? A deaf & dumb boy, how will he express himself? If his two senses aren't working he still has other senses intact. He can see, he can write but his parents never realised that how important it is to express oneself. Shocked and surprised at the same time, on knowing the family history, the couple had 4 kids of which one was specially challenged. While there are many NGOs, schools and other health & education ​systems established for providing the necessary information and teaching, at a minimal cost, very much affordable and sometimes free as well yet people don't use them. The parents were spending money in lakhs for the education of their three kids but not a single penny for this child only because they thought what will he do with education. You be rich or poor but if you don't have the ability of expressing you cannot help your ownself. We talk about the big changes we want, well this is where we need to start. All the knowledge I gained in these years was useless today in front of him for even if I had known the sign language he wouldn't understand me at all. We tried counseling his parents but they didn't pay much heed to our words & took away our mysterious patient, discharging on risk bond. I could only silently pray for him because that's what we do all the time after we are done with the medicinal treatment, pray to God to handle the rest!

~Auldrin© 

Sharing (TheTelegraphicTales)

This goes back to the time in the 90's when nanu was still with us, all of us happy inside our bubble which we thought was protected even by the heaviest of the rains. He was a grandfather to nine kids and loved each of them with all of his heart. He had a habit of feeding the roadside beggers, conversing with the tea-stall  vendors, newspaper man, postman like they were all his friends and their stories were important to be heard. Everyday on returning home he would buy fresh vegetables & meat and ask grandma to cook her best recipes so that he can feed everyone he meets the next morning well. But all these are stories I've heard growing up except for the one in which we, the grandkids were an essential part. Everyday he bought chocolates and candies equally as well as of the same flavours in the multiples of nine which on returning home he would keep in different packets dividing for each of his grand child. We got our packets during every meeting and they used to be refilled by the time we got to see him again. It took me years after he passed away to realise what he had been doing all those years, teaching us the lesson of 'sharing' by dividing in his own style. He was different but so are we, togetherness is what we learnt and promised to remain the same forever.

Graphic novels (TheTelegraphicTales)

You see and feel,
All stories don't need words!

I picked up a graphic fiction from the store today, the 'Legends of Halahala' by Appupen. It's a silent classic tales of love and adventure from a mythical world through different periods​ of history. When I decided to start with it my initial reaction was, What is this? What is wrong with me? What did I just buy? but after an hour I made my favourite tea and thought about patiently taking a look at each and every page. Maybe that's what the artists want people to do. Their distinctive art is beyond our imagination yet the more it reaches to different regions the more it would be understood. Finally that is what I did, sat down with my cup of tea and looked at each and every picture, turning every single page carefully so as to not miss anything, until the very end where to my surprise I understood my version of the stories. Captivated in an era where my time seized. The artist is surely fascinating and was successful in making my first attempt at graphic novel awesome, leaving me hungry for more.
Signing out for now.

©Auldrin❤

New series~TheTelegraphicTales

Hope (TheTelegraphicTales)

Mother always had everything we would ask for, from clothes to food & games to play. What else did we need back then?

Unlike home, here we had to go down the hill to buy things. Basic necessities like food, drinking water, soaps, etc were all available but only in the town.

We, me and my brother, were living in a small area in the outskirts of a village, where he used to teach and I was supposed to do the household chores because mother was no more. Daily during the trips to the town I would see an old smoky grey haired woman living on the footpath. Her eyes full of fatigue, weary face and wilting walk just compelled me to stare her everyday.

Her worn out appearance were due to the mishappening elements all through her life. Due to short on resources myself I could never act upon, but always thought about rectifying her condition when I have funds.

After months, one day I finally had money and rushed to find her but she was gone. Where, when, why, nobody knew. Infact some people thought of me as a lunatic, asking whether she even existed or am I cooking up a story to seek attention.

Finally there came the time, I could help her but she was gone. All I was left with was a heavy heart and many ‘ifs’. If I could have come earlier, if I could have asked her to wait for me, what if something happened to her, all this was happening inside my mind.

I didn't even know if ever she too noticed me all this while, or she did wait for me but was left with no time. I told my brother about her. He hugged me like I was still his tiny little sister and whispered in my ear, “She's safe dear sister, I arranged for a shelter for her at an ashram she wished to be and she has given this for you”.

He gave me a note. With tear filled anxious eyes I read, 'All this while your kind, concerning eyes helped me to not lose hope and survive’.

The end.

-Auldrin