Skip to main content

LIFE AND LIES #9 | Part and Parcel

Come on!
Come on!

I sit behind my nephew, cheering him; whatever purpose it serves in a game of luck.

The circle grows smaller. It has transformed from being a game of passing the parcel to throwing and snatching the parcel.

Nonetheless, I want my nephew to win. The number of children has gone down to 10. His probability to win is rising. Apart from the lady organisers blowing their whistles, I'm the only elderly here. Wait...Elderly. Me... Woah.. didn't see that coming.

The number is down to 5 now. The kid who just got dumped throws away the parcel in anger. One of the ladies rushes to console him.

No matter the game, it's important to win. A lesson, we learn quite early in our lives.

My nephew is playful. Sometimes, he holds the parcel a little too long making the adjacent kid nervous. I nudge him to pass it quickly.

The number is down to 3.

Then to 2. Now, it's just my nephew and a girl.

50% probability.

Boys vs girls, some kid shouts.

The music resumes. The parcel is thrown. It spends most of the time in the air. The two of them treat it like it's something reviling. To and fro, it goes from one end to other.

It's been a while. I anticipate the music to stop anytime now. The girl throws the parcel back at my nephew and the moment it lands in my nephew's hands, the music stops. There's a moment of indecision. The lady organiser ponders for a while. I know my nephew has lost. Still, I wait for the lady's word. She announces what I know already.

Lost to a girl, a group of boys surround my nephew and start teasing him. My nephew runs. They chase him.

The chairs are rearranged for the upcoming game of tombola. Not just for kids, it's for everyone.

I have been standing until now. Now, I wonder where to sit; not amidst the housewives, that's for sure. My eyes wander to the group of working men. Technically, I belong there but I know from experience that they'd bore me to death talking about work the entire time. 

Just then, I find my nephew tugging on my sleeve. He wants me to sit with him. That's settled then. I go with him. His friends welcome me with a chorus of 'Uncle'. I'm still not used to it. 

Later on, not a Fullhouse, but I do win one of the prizes which my nephew brags about to his friends in his own efficient manner.

It's a Sunday well spent.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LIFE AND LIES #98 | Talk To Me

*** The woods are gloomy, dark and scary. You were supposed to keep me company. Even when the roads diverged, You promised me we wouldn't split. Talk to me, man! The mountains spit fire. The rivers run acrid. I walk the barren valley All by myself. Talk to me, man! You and I had concluded long back That life is a joke and Death is the punchline. Then why am I not laughing? Talk to me, man! While I grow old and frail, You'll remain forever young. I say that out of envy Or maybe to content myself. Talk to me, man! I hope you have the answers now To all the questions that befuddle mankind: God, soul, afterlife, rebirth, heaven and hell. You can go on a rant about them if you want, But just once come and talk to me, man! ***
2 comments
Read more

LIFE AND LIES #100 | The Blurred Lines

Nitin was utterly shocked when he woke up on Saturday morning with a hangover and without any recollection of what had transpired the previous night. He had been drunk before. He had lost all of his senses before. But everything always came back to him the next morning. However, that day, it didn't; complete blackout. There must have been something bizarre in that drink. Over the course of the week, though, he started remembering flashes of it and began looking for an opportunity to talk to Sandhya, sober and alone. The weather had taken a sharp turn today. A sweltering sunny day gave way to a cloudy evening with thrashing winds. As everyone raced to the office window to watch the scene unfolding outside, Nitin saw Sandhya signalling to him by pressing two fingers to her lips. He couldn’t help but smile. She knew he loved to smoke in this weather. After all, she was his smoking partner in the office. Together, they went downstairs, but as soon as they stepped out of the building, t...
1 comment
Read more

LIFE AND LIES #88 | Bundle Of Joy

"Who's the baby?" "She's my niece. I have loads of cousins and by extension, a lot of nephews and nieces." "It's a nice picture." "Thanks. You cannot imagine what was going through my mind while I was holding her." "Can I guess?" "Sure, why not." "She’s so cute you could eat her." "Haha... obvious guess, but, no. I was thinking about the theory of Twin Paradox." "Interesting. Care to explain." "In Twin Paradox, one of the twins goes on a space voyage and the other stays put on Earth. When he returns, he discovers that his Earth-bound counterpart has aged considerably compared to him. I do not have a twin. Nor do I have a vehicle capable of space voyages. But I do live away from my hometown and normally return after long intervals. This time, on my return, I found out that one of my nieces I once used to rock to sleep and carry around in my arms has now become a teenager, taking se...
Post a Comment
Read more