The cuckoo clock chimed eleven times and Archana groaned. Usually she was off like a light even before her head touched the pillow as she grew up adhering to the adage, early to bed and early to rise, and sort of patented the idiom, to take forty winks.
Her ability to nod off at opportune and inopportune places provided a backdrop for many a family’s humourous tales. Her husband was never tired of regaling his listeners how she goes off to sleep as soon as her left leg goes into the car and the right leg has to be put in by the driver!
Ha, ha with the gnash of the teeth!
Being a working mother, her ability to rise early and to sleep well gave her a heads up to the challenges of the universe. She groaned as the clock struck twelve. Sipping water, she remembered with a smile the way the entire family ran to watch the little people dance in the early days when they got it from Germany. They were so excited. Even today, her eleven year old was completely bewitched by the cuckoo bird while the fourteen year old watched it with studied nonchalance, but obviously entertained nevertheless. The kids took after her..she too loved and appreciated small wonders and believed in keeping the little girl alive.
Pummeling the pillow, she wondered if her sleeplessness was a foreboding for something that was about to go wrong? Anxiety griped her and there was a gnawing in her stomach. She had suffered from anxiety during her pregnancy but post which she successfully kept them at bay with her yoga and meditation sessions. Her guru’s constant refrain was, “whenever there is some unease, try to meet it head on. We all try to brush away the uncomfortable feelings and give them the permission to raise their hydra head…so best is to confront the problems by its horns. Delve and try to find out what is keeping you unhappy or worried.”
Archana consciously went through her day with the zealousness of a research student. It was work, home, dinner..she had to prepare something special as Ravi’s cousin had come to visit and …viola! How could she forget?
A few minutes later she was quietly snoring away, a little smile playing around her lips.
She was satiated after indulging a couple of scoops of Cream Chemistry’s Junk in the Trunk. Her son who was preparing for bed joined her and they both giggled at the midnight’s feast. Earlier in the evening, talking nineteen to dozen, she had graciously accepted the gift from Ravi and pushed it into caverns of the fridge only after registering that it was her favourite choco chip flavour.
Not all problems are unsolvable. It could be as mundane as a forgotten ice-cream in the fridge!
____________________________________________________
Connect with Penmancy:
____________________________________________________
A people person and a born observer, she weaves fiction and dispenses 'gyaan' alike to the unsuspecting audience.Her 350 odd articles and stories (both in print and online media) are mostly eclectic and experiential. She is a published author and her collection of flash fiction was published recently titled- vignettes- a slice of life. Her stories feature in many anthologies.
Besides, teaching and writing, she also volunteers at a local hospital and Seva center that feeds the poor. Reading and Storytelling are her other hobbies and she tries to balance all as much as she can. Her home runs despite her!
You can read her articles @ https://chandrikarkrishnan.com/
You can connect with her at:
- Unexpected Cupid - 17 Mar 2024
- Nothing Like Food to Work Its Magic - 17 Jan 2024
- The Case of Oh, Raghav or Raghav Who? - 24 Dec 2023