Lost Dreams Found.

Yesterday I found this little contest on Amazon India. It's named 'Amazon Cart Story'. They had asked to write a story from three words; a mike, a diaper and a cycle. The rules were dubious as they are going to select by drawing lots. But since I hadn't written a story in a long while, I thought of writing it. It's a plain story connected by those three words. I hope you like the simplicity of it.

            Gayatri was busy in her household chores when she heard her baby wail. She went over and saw that he had pooped in his diaper. As she was changing baby Neel’s diaper, a strange feeling came across her. In her twenties, she had hated those wives who stayed at home taking care of their babies having no significant goals. She wondered how she became one of them. Sometimes, one sudden and an irrelevant thing can become something huge and haunt a person for a long time. That diaper was exactly that horrifying moment of introspection for her. The whistle from the cooker went off. She approached the kitchen trying to forget about that one moment. She knew it was still there in the back of her head and she was trying hard to ignore it. But, the harder she tried, the bigger it became.

            In her afternoon leisure time, she reminisced her younger days. She remembered the music she made. She remembered her dedication towards singing and how it was the only thing she ever dreamed of doing. Singing was like breathing for her. She tried to recollect how her passion for singing died down. How can a person change so much that it’s impossible to make out that the past and present forms are one person alone? How can one person’s priorities change so incredulously that it changes their entire life? She was lost in these thoughts as she heard the tring-tring sound of a bell from a cycle downstairs. Some girls were riding their cycles and enjoying their childhood. And Gayatri was all grown up and challenging the major decisions she had taken. As she saw those girls riding their cycles in the compound, she couldn’t help but think about ‘Cycle’; her debut album.

            Of all the names she could’ve chosen, she chose ‘Cycle’. Her favourite Albert Einstein quote was “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” A brilliant science scholar turned to a pop singer turned to a normal housewife. She was caught back in those days when she would go hours singing on her lucky mike. She even found photos of her kissing that mike and sleeping next to it. She cherished her 23-year old self giving a fabulous performance and keeping the crowd mesmerized. As she came back to the present, she just knew what she was going to do next. She listened to her album on a loop. After years of silence, she sang. She wiped the dust off her guitar and began singing in her melodious voice which had almost forgotten how to sing. Almost.