dogs can write: Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

My phone’s ringtone was slightly drowned by the noise of the bus horn, but my sharp ears didn’t miss it. I wish it was my husband’s call. I would be happiest woman on earth, if he says that he would have his dinner outside. I squinted at the screen. It was an unknown number! Maybe I am not lucky enough to be the happiest woman today.

Of late,I have developed an abnormal dislike for the unknown callers. Few of them are advertisement calls, other few are the ones which persuade us to take the policies, and most of them are prank calls. Quite a few a times, I had acted as though my mobile does not exist, upon knowing that it is an unknown number. If I had picked up the call, I would tell the silliest excuses to them.

At present, I was trapped in a dilemma whether to attend the call or not. I heard two of my inner voices arguing with each other.

“It might be an important call”, said one voice.

“Why should you pick the call ?”, asked the other voice.

The argument went on for a while until my brain intervened “attending the call is not going to kill you”, it said.

Finally, I attended the call.

“This is a unique policy. We have medical-“

“Sorry, I’m travelling “, I said.

Many times this phrase had acted as the best excuse to abruptly end the unentertaining conversations, but this time, I was only speaking the truth.

There is one phone call which refuses to detach itself from my memory. It is Shalini’s first call. My hands started shivering a little when I heard Shalini’s voice on the line. I was quite taken aback to know that she had called up only to narrate her story! I listened as though my entire life depended on the call. I couldn’t help relating myself to the protagonist of the story and the incidents were in some way linked to our rows and tiffs. She did most of the talking, however when my turn came, I realized that I had temporarily lost the ability to frame complete sentences. Also I kept stammering. I felt nervous throughout the conversation. When I hung up the phone, I felt sad and happy- sad because it was over and happy because it happened.

Finally, we stepped out of the bus. Aadhya heaved a sigh, she seemed thoroughly relieved. She kept hopping around me playfully until I yelled at her.

We reached a fruit shop. The shopkeeper was definitely making huge profits; there was a big crowd in front of his shop. Aadhya didn’t like the sight of the crowd. However, the sweet smell of alphonsa mangoes kept me rooted to the spot.

The shopkeeper, not knowing about my love towards mangoes, decided to test my patience. He completely ignored me and attended only the regular customers. I glanced at my watch, I had already wasted around twenty minutes! I lost the very last ounce of patience left in me. I turned away and muttered few abusive words. Aadhya let out a low whistle. There was a glint of mischief in her eyes. I wondered if she knew what the words meant. Man, these days, kids are learning everything too quickly!