A Pageantry!

When Baba stepped in that night..our eyes lingered, not on his sweaty shirt and his withered face..but on the crumbled silvery packet in his hand. 

Aai, catching a glimpse of the same,  quickly restored her eyes on Baba's tired face. 

Baba, realizing the movements of our dreamy eyes, said, "today I have got bread for you all!"

And suddenly those cracking words, that languid voice coming from his desolate body along with that wrinkled smile glancing his broken tooth, felt like a dream!

Today dinner was like a pageantry. 

It was filled with enthusiasm, joy and laughters. Oh! After so long..

All brisky, all exquisite. 

And then the most awaited sight for our dried eyes, our moaning stomachs and for our aching bodies was...when Aai gingerly opened that wrinkled silvery packet. 

And finally our festive dinner with the slice of bread torn apart into five pieces(with three large and two small) was something to remember for days. 

#microfiction #drabble #shortstory #fiction

THE FIRST TIME IT HAPPENED TILL...EVERYTIME IT HAPPENS...

The pains of the body and the belly aching...

the hurting screams, the frightening dreams were just breath taking.

The unbearable crumbles, the crying mumbles and the weird craving..

the strange fear, the painful tears...while they said.."oh, she is just faking."

.

.

Those uncalled mood swings, the constant cringes which it brings...

alongwith mumma's womanly advices and a gift of sanitary napkins with extra soft wings.

The weird stinking, people's awkward blinking..oh, how uncomfortable did it feel..

each night we would pray to god, "I will be a good girl and you take this away from me"... which was quite a deal.

.

.

The feeling of being a grown up, and finally taking it as a blessing...

alongwith a lot of guidelines of an anxious but a "systematic" form of dressing.

The feeling of being capable to manage ourselves with a "sophisticated" care..

alongwith a mastery to hide it from all the whispering lips and the curious eyes that stare.

.

.

The intollerable frustration, the bewildered irritation and with a prescribed medication... 

we console ourselves that its a god's creation.

We spread our arms for the purest thing we have.. and "bleed with pride" we say..

but still, while fighting with all such "myths" each month..we smile because oh, it just a normal day!