“Boro loker beti lo, lomba lomba chuul…”
From her easy chair in front of the TV where she spent most of her days now, Nani opened her eyes slightly in anticipation. Ahh! Nothing like a good classical Bengali song to start her Sunday morning. But on hearing Badshah crooning in continuation to this melodious song, she switched off the TV in disgust.
“What is wrong with these people nowadays! If you cannot make good songs , how about you don’t spoil the existing ones? How difficult can that be?”, she muttered under her breath.
“I know right? Also, I am sooooo going to sue them. These so-called original rap lyrics are totally inspired by me.” said her little corgi, Curry, with a sassy look in her eyes.
“Wait what?”, Nani straightened her spectacles to look at her little puppy again.
“I mean have you seen my booty? Every other doggo in the park right from the German Shepherd to the gully kutta says the same lines everytime - chale jab tu, latak matak - and these silly capped hoomans with colorful extra eyes, just plain copied it from there. I need to get a lawyer hooman”, Curry continued.
“Curry! You are talking???!!”
“One minute! Hooman, you can actually understand this?” Curry looked extremely pleased. Wagging her tail faster than a rotating fan blade at full speed, she ran across the whole room yelling - err, barking - “Old hooman understands me! Old hooman understands me!” , before finally settling at Nani’s feet and staring at her with those trademarked puppy eyes - “So can I have dinner now? Pretty please?”
While Nani was still recovering from the shock that she now had a talking puppy, she heard someone by the door. “Well, hello there!”, a dashing young man in a pair of casual jeans and white t-shirt with an imprinted peacock feather design, stood right in her living room.
Now, Nani lived alone with just Curry for company. Her nurse had already left for the day and her maid couldn’t make it due to the lockdown restrictions. Having a stranger, a young man nonetheless, barge in when she was absolutely alone was not exactly the most reassuring thing that could happen in this case. Screaming as loudly as she could, she aimed one of her house chappals directly at him.
“Whoa! Now, calm down. I am not here to harm you,” continued the stranger in a weirdly soothing voice.
Sending her second chappal flying across the room, Nani said, “Yes, that is exactly what every serial killer says before chopping up their victims! Who are you? How did you get in?”
The stranger smiled. Rotating his weirdly shaped keychain, he kept on walking towards Nani and Curry, who strangely wasn’t barking at this new guy at all. Ignoring Nani’s protests, he pulled a chair and sat right in front of Nani.
“Who am I?”, he continued, “I am everything and nothing. I can be the answer to your prayers or I can be your worst nightmare. I bring the wind, the rain , the sunshine. I bring life and death. I am your past, present and future.”.
Curry looked up to him with adoration. “You are…..big ball?” she said, her smile widening.
“Haha! Aren’t dogs my best creation?” saying this the stranger flopped Curry and started giving her belly rubs.
“Okayyy..so you are...God?”, Nani asked in confusion. All this seemed extremely surreal. Curry could talk! She had a stranger in her living room claiming to be the creator of this universe! Nani wondered whether she was dreaming, coming down with schizophrenia or was this simply old age turning her senile.
“None of those, you are perfectly normal”, the stranger continued the conversation, smiling, as if Nani had said those words out loud. Wait..had she? After all that had happened till now, she had absolutely no clue.
“But my dear, the question shouldn’t be who am I, but who are you?”
“Who am I?,” Nani echoed the stranger,mundanely.
“Yes my dear. Or rather who you are going to be. You see, the world I created is in rather chaotic condition. No man or woman was ever designed to be alone. Everyone had to be with someone or many, in order to survive. But this little punishment that I designed for mankind for polluting the home that I created for them, seems to have err..side effects, you know.”
“Wait, are you talking about the virus?”, Nani asked suspiciously, “You are responsible for it?”
“Well, as I am the one who kinda has to sign off for every event that should happen on Earth; it does make me responsible for everything.So yes, I am. As I was saying, the side effects. I see many of my lovely sons and daughters locked up alone in these trying times, with no human contact. The technology only brings a shadow of a human being on the other side of the screen. This loneliness robs the lovely smile off many faces. I need my world to be happy again. And I need a smile squad for the same. Hence, here I am,” saying so he looked at Nani and Curry with a meaningful look in his eyes.
“How about you just take away the virus?” Nani put forth a very logical question.
“Ahh my dear! It doesn’t work that way. Unfortunately, we do not have the time today to go into the whole mechanics of the God-Human Rewards-Punishment system.”
“Okay, so basically, you need an old woman and her dog , whom you seem to have given the power of speech to bring smiles to people who are lonely?”
“Absolutely! You get it now”, God smiled , rotating the keychain vigorously.
“So, I will now have some super power like flying,etc and have to wear a silly costume?”
“Well, the costume is your choice really, while I highly recommend it, it’s not mandatory. And yes, of course you will be able to fly. How else will you reach the ones who need your help, in time?”
Nani got up slowly from her chair. Grabbing her walking stick, she continued towards God. Reaching up to him, she looked at him squarely in the eyes and started whacking him with her walking stick.
“Here I cannot even walk a few steps without my walking stick and you silly goose want me to fly? How. Is. That. Possible.”, she said , enunciating each word with a stronger hit of her walking stick.
“Calm down you old woman. YOU DO NOT WANT TO FACE MY WRATH!”
“LOWER YOUR TONE, YOUNG MAN! Haven’t your parents taught you to not talk back to your elders?”
This twisted logic of Indian elders demanding respect; simply because they showed up on earth a few years earlier than you did seemed to baffle God himself. Thankfully, this little stunt had tired Nani out. Trudging back to her easy chair, she sat down with a huff. Curry jumped up and sat on her lap, in an attempt to calm her.
God continued, “I know my dear, it is a bit too much to take in. But imagine, little kids, probably younger than your grandchildren, are ending their lives as they feel that no one in this world needs them anymore and everyone will be happier without them. They have lost their smiles and consequently, their will to live. Won’t you like a chance to save them? To see them happy and smiling again?”
These words struck a chord with Nani. Even after spending 80 years of her life here, she still wasn’t looking forward to the inevitable end called death. The very thought that kids were voluntarily choosing to end their lives, saddened her to a degree which she would have never imagined before.
“Alright, fine. I accept. I cannot even imagine these kids without their lovely, happy smiles bringing a little bit of sunshine in the gloomy days of everyone else. If I can do something, anything, to help them retain the spark in their eyes, I will do so”, she conceded.
God smiled. “I had expected nothing less.”
Just then, a very loud sound, like a fire alarm, filled the room.
“What in the world is that!”, yelled Nani in shock. She had almost suffered a heart failure.
“Why, what else! This is your cue. Someone needs you. So here’s your cape and a tiny one for cute little Curry here. Go on now, take up your role - my Smile Squad.”
“Wait a minute, what am I supposed to do?”
“Just be yourself!” he said with an all-knowing smile, before disappearing into thin air.
“Why do all these hero recruiters always be so cryptic?”, Nani said with a strong strike of her walking stick against the floor,”C’mon now Curry, let’s go!”
Thus defying all laws of physics which the 12th standard kids cramped up with difficulty before their big finals, Nani and Curry flew away. It was as if the cape had an inbuilt advanced GPS system which not only told the way but also pulled them towards the destination. Now that I think of it, these capes were probably the long lost cousins of Aladdin; albeit the non-speaking kind. But I digress. Within minutes, the capes had landed Nani and Curry on the terrace of an old apartment building, with no parapet. Sitting on the edge was Alex, a 16-year old kid, who had come to the city for a Robotics competition. Staying alone in an uncle’s empty flat was fine till the competition was on. Now that everything was over, he was stranded here all alone. Alex was the second son from a family of three brothers. Like every middle-class family, his days were filled with equal amounts of fun and discipline. Being here, all alone for over 15 days had really taken a toll on him. Waking up each morning seemed a pain. He tried to keep a brave front for his worried parents, who couldn’t think of a way to get him out of there since the family didn’t own a personal car, but his mental health was deteriorating day by day. Hence, today found him on this very perilous terrace, all alone.
Nani and Curry slowly moved towards Alex so as to not startle him. Nani sat down beside him and spoke to him in a calm voice, “Isn’t it a little high here?” she said. Alex seemed too lost to even be surprised by the sudden appearance of Nani and Curry. He just looked at Nani with eyes void of all emotions. Gently tugging at his arm, Nani pulled him up. The defeated way in which Alex followed her like a little lost puppet nearly broke Nani’s heart. She took him down to his apartment and made him a nice little homely cake, Nani style. With the chocolate cake and Curry’s incessant lick therapy working their magic, Alex started to feel a little better. Especially when Curry did her little floppy twisty somersault and landed tripsy on her tiny legs, Alex laughed out loud. He did seem a little surprised when Curry curled up in his lap and said, “I love you, new hooman”, but he just accepted this as yet another unexplainable event of today. He hugged Curry back and his heart was filled with genuine happiness. Nani hugged Alex too and kissed his forehead tenderly.
“My dear child, there is so much happiness in this world to yet look forward to. Don’t let this little bend in the road dim your light. Happier times will come soon, just look ahead”.
After a nice hearty dinner , followed by a bedtime story - the kind which only grandparents can weave, Alex went to bed that day with a smile on his face and hope in his heart. With their job accomplished, the Smile Squad flew away towards their next big adventure to make someone a little happier, to bring a smile on yet another face, to make the world just a little better!
From her easy chair in front of the TV where she spent most of her days now, Nani opened her eyes slightly in anticipation. Ahh! Nothing like a good classical Bengali song to start her Sunday morning. But on hearing Badshah crooning in continuation to this melodious song, she switched off the TV in disgust.
“What is wrong with these people nowadays! If you cannot make good songs , how about you don’t spoil the existing ones? How difficult can that be?”, she muttered under her breath.
“I know right? Also, I am sooooo going to sue them. These so-called original rap lyrics are totally inspired by me.” said her little corgi, Curry, with a sassy look in her eyes.
“Wait what?”, Nani straightened her spectacles to look at her little puppy again.
“I mean have you seen my booty? Every other doggo in the park right from the German Shepherd to the gully kutta says the same lines everytime - chale jab tu, latak matak - and these silly capped hoomans with colorful extra eyes, just plain copied it from there. I need to get a lawyer hooman”, Curry continued.
“Curry! You are talking???!!”
“One minute! Hooman, you can actually understand this?” Curry looked extremely pleased. Wagging her tail faster than a rotating fan blade at full speed, she ran across the whole room yelling - err, barking - “Old hooman understands me! Old hooman understands me!” , before finally settling at Nani’s feet and staring at her with those trademarked puppy eyes - “So can I have dinner now? Pretty please?”
While Nani was still recovering from the shock that she now had a talking puppy, she heard someone by the door. “Well, hello there!”, a dashing young man in a pair of casual jeans and white t-shirt with an imprinted peacock feather design, stood right in her living room.
Now, Nani lived alone with just Curry for company. Her nurse had already left for the day and her maid couldn’t make it due to the lockdown restrictions. Having a stranger, a young man nonetheless, barge in when she was absolutely alone was not exactly the most reassuring thing that could happen in this case. Screaming as loudly as she could, she aimed one of her house chappals directly at him.
“Whoa! Now, calm down. I am not here to harm you,” continued the stranger in a weirdly soothing voice.
Sending her second chappal flying across the room, Nani said, “Yes, that is exactly what every serial killer says before chopping up their victims! Who are you? How did you get in?”
The stranger smiled. Rotating his weirdly shaped keychain, he kept on walking towards Nani and Curry, who strangely wasn’t barking at this new guy at all. Ignoring Nani’s protests, he pulled a chair and sat right in front of Nani.
“Who am I?”, he continued, “I am everything and nothing. I can be the answer to your prayers or I can be your worst nightmare. I bring the wind, the rain , the sunshine. I bring life and death. I am your past, present and future.”.
Curry looked up to him with adoration. “You are…..big ball?” she said, her smile widening.
“Haha! Aren’t dogs my best creation?” saying this the stranger flopped Curry and started giving her belly rubs.
“Okayyy..so you are...God?”, Nani asked in confusion. All this seemed extremely surreal. Curry could talk! She had a stranger in her living room claiming to be the creator of this universe! Nani wondered whether she was dreaming, coming down with schizophrenia or was this simply old age turning her senile.
“None of those, you are perfectly normal”, the stranger continued the conversation, smiling, as if Nani had said those words out loud. Wait..had she? After all that had happened till now, she had absolutely no clue.
“But my dear, the question shouldn’t be who am I, but who are you?”
“Who am I?,” Nani echoed the stranger,mundanely.
“Yes my dear. Or rather who you are going to be. You see, the world I created is in rather chaotic condition. No man or woman was ever designed to be alone. Everyone had to be with someone or many, in order to survive. But this little punishment that I designed for mankind for polluting the home that I created for them, seems to have err..side effects, you know.”
“Wait, are you talking about the virus?”, Nani asked suspiciously, “You are responsible for it?”
“Well, as I am the one who kinda has to sign off for every event that should happen on Earth; it does make me responsible for everything.So yes, I am. As I was saying, the side effects. I see many of my lovely sons and daughters locked up alone in these trying times, with no human contact. The technology only brings a shadow of a human being on the other side of the screen. This loneliness robs the lovely smile off many faces. I need my world to be happy again. And I need a smile squad for the same. Hence, here I am,” saying so he looked at Nani and Curry with a meaningful look in his eyes.
“How about you just take away the virus?” Nani put forth a very logical question.
“Ahh my dear! It doesn’t work that way. Unfortunately, we do not have the time today to go into the whole mechanics of the God-Human Rewards-Punishment system.”
“Okay, so basically, you need an old woman and her dog , whom you seem to have given the power of speech to bring smiles to people who are lonely?”
“Absolutely! You get it now”, God smiled , rotating the keychain vigorously.
“So, I will now have some super power like flying,etc and have to wear a silly costume?”
“Well, the costume is your choice really, while I highly recommend it, it’s not mandatory. And yes, of course you will be able to fly. How else will you reach the ones who need your help, in time?”
Nani got up slowly from her chair. Grabbing her walking stick, she continued towards God. Reaching up to him, she looked at him squarely in the eyes and started whacking him with her walking stick.
“Here I cannot even walk a few steps without my walking stick and you silly goose want me to fly? How. Is. That. Possible.”, she said , enunciating each word with a stronger hit of her walking stick.
“Calm down you old woman. YOU DO NOT WANT TO FACE MY WRATH!”
“LOWER YOUR TONE, YOUNG MAN! Haven’t your parents taught you to not talk back to your elders?”
This twisted logic of Indian elders demanding respect; simply because they showed up on earth a few years earlier than you did seemed to baffle God himself. Thankfully, this little stunt had tired Nani out. Trudging back to her easy chair, she sat down with a huff. Curry jumped up and sat on her lap, in an attempt to calm her.
God continued, “I know my dear, it is a bit too much to take in. But imagine, little kids, probably younger than your grandchildren, are ending their lives as they feel that no one in this world needs them anymore and everyone will be happier without them. They have lost their smiles and consequently, their will to live. Won’t you like a chance to save them? To see them happy and smiling again?”
These words struck a chord with Nani. Even after spending 80 years of her life here, she still wasn’t looking forward to the inevitable end called death. The very thought that kids were voluntarily choosing to end their lives, saddened her to a degree which she would have never imagined before.
“Alright, fine. I accept. I cannot even imagine these kids without their lovely, happy smiles bringing a little bit of sunshine in the gloomy days of everyone else. If I can do something, anything, to help them retain the spark in their eyes, I will do so”, she conceded.
God smiled. “I had expected nothing less.”
Just then, a very loud sound, like a fire alarm, filled the room.
“What in the world is that!”, yelled Nani in shock. She had almost suffered a heart failure.
“Why, what else! This is your cue. Someone needs you. So here’s your cape and a tiny one for cute little Curry here. Go on now, take up your role - my Smile Squad.”
“Wait a minute, what am I supposed to do?”
“Just be yourself!” he said with an all-knowing smile, before disappearing into thin air.
“Why do all these hero recruiters always be so cryptic?”, Nani said with a strong strike of her walking stick against the floor,”C’mon now Curry, let’s go!”
Thus defying all laws of physics which the 12th standard kids cramped up with difficulty before their big finals, Nani and Curry flew away. It was as if the cape had an inbuilt advanced GPS system which not only told the way but also pulled them towards the destination. Now that I think of it, these capes were probably the long lost cousins of Aladdin; albeit the non-speaking kind. But I digress. Within minutes, the capes had landed Nani and Curry on the terrace of an old apartment building, with no parapet. Sitting on the edge was Alex, a 16-year old kid, who had come to the city for a Robotics competition. Staying alone in an uncle’s empty flat was fine till the competition was on. Now that everything was over, he was stranded here all alone. Alex was the second son from a family of three brothers. Like every middle-class family, his days were filled with equal amounts of fun and discipline. Being here, all alone for over 15 days had really taken a toll on him. Waking up each morning seemed a pain. He tried to keep a brave front for his worried parents, who couldn’t think of a way to get him out of there since the family didn’t own a personal car, but his mental health was deteriorating day by day. Hence, today found him on this very perilous terrace, all alone.
Nani and Curry slowly moved towards Alex so as to not startle him. Nani sat down beside him and spoke to him in a calm voice, “Isn’t it a little high here?” she said. Alex seemed too lost to even be surprised by the sudden appearance of Nani and Curry. He just looked at Nani with eyes void of all emotions. Gently tugging at his arm, Nani pulled him up. The defeated way in which Alex followed her like a little lost puppet nearly broke Nani’s heart. She took him down to his apartment and made him a nice little homely cake, Nani style. With the chocolate cake and Curry’s incessant lick therapy working their magic, Alex started to feel a little better. Especially when Curry did her little floppy twisty somersault and landed tripsy on her tiny legs, Alex laughed out loud. He did seem a little surprised when Curry curled up in his lap and said, “I love you, new hooman”, but he just accepted this as yet another unexplainable event of today. He hugged Curry back and his heart was filled with genuine happiness. Nani hugged Alex too and kissed his forehead tenderly.
“My dear child, there is so much happiness in this world to yet look forward to. Don’t let this little bend in the road dim your light. Happier times will come soon, just look ahead”.
After a nice hearty dinner , followed by a bedtime story - the kind which only grandparents can weave, Alex went to bed that day with a smile on his face and hope in his heart. With their job accomplished, the Smile Squad flew away towards their next big adventure to make someone a little happier, to bring a smile on yet another face, to make the world just a little better!
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