Haachooo! Haaachoo!
Urgghh! Damn my nose and its modes of expression, said abhilasha sneezing for the 5th time.
It’s been a lazy monsoon day. The kind that’s ideal for a Bengali bhaat ghum. It was Sunday and she was missing home. Her small quiet crowded room and The Harry Potter novels.
Idle thoughts lingered in her head. She started imagining the characters and tried placing them in her life. The nose-less dark lord, what a lovely encounter it would be. A versatile evil witch without a nose. All of life problems would be solved, she thought. No nose, no cold. Cured of the most viral disease and the magic wand would do the rest. Voldemort could enjoy the lazy Bengali weather then.
While abhilasha’s thoughts lingered on voldemort and the weather, her fingers scrolled through the FB news feed. She encountered pics of little children taking their play chariots out on a rainy day. She remembered here childhood days in KolKata -Little decorated chariots with small idols and small round Bengali sweet nokuldana. Today is Rath Yatra, the time Lord Krishna goes to her maternal aunt’s house. A day of rain, traveling, religion relatives, playmates and obviously food. All unified by nature. Indeed it’s an auspicious day.
Thinking of mythology her thoughts drifted to another story. This time it was the epic Ramayana. Her running nose reminded her of surpanakha, the Lankan princess and the sister of devout Shiva worshipper Ravan. Perhaps it was a boon, after all, she thought. Laxman gave surpanakha the greatest gift. A life without a nose and hence without any troubles.
Perhaps this might even cure another Bengali ailment, nag golano ( poking your nose in other people’s business), she thought.
That way surpanakha got the greatest gift of all time. No nose, no worries. What a life it would be.
Thinking of all these made her quite sleepy and she dozed off beside the window.
Quite a troublesome and introspective girl, said the rain. It’s difficult to put her to sleep.
Sleep my child sleep. Play with those idle thoughts.
