Ghachar Ghochar

by Vivek Shanbhag

If you think about it, even those held to be gods incarnate seldom speak of profound things. It’s their day-to-day utterances that are imbued with sublime meanings. And who’s to say the gods cannot take the form of a restaurant waiter when they choose to visit us?

As natural as it is for families to pretend that they desire what is thrust upon them as an inevitability. It’s one of their strengths.

On that day I became convinced that it is the words of women that deeply wound other women.

Our only fear now is that he might lose his mind with age and become ruinously entangled in some philanthropic enterprise. So we try to keep him in a good mood, making sure he doesn’t lose his taste for food or develop other ascetic tendencies. We steer him clear of thoughts about the futility of life and so on. An unfortunate consequence of this is that we must endure his garrulity whenever he emerges from his shell – the same old stories, again and again. Who knows what pleasure he gains from reminding us of the days we struggled to get by in this city on his tiny income.

He’s given to quoting a proverb that says wealth shouldn’t strike suddenly like a visitation, but instead grow gradually like a tree.

We all read the letters and circulars that came from the company. They ended with ‘Happy Sales!’ and I recall wondering what that could possibly mean, how something as demanding as sales could ever be happy.

The result was that we simply did not desire what we couldn’t afford. When you have no choice, you have no discontent either.

It’s true what they say – it’s not we who control money, it’s the money that controls us. When there’s only a little, it behaves meekly; when it grows, it becomes brash and has its way with us.

I sometimes wonder if their every moment is spent sharpening their tongues, silently accumulating resentments for later use. And then, when they’re all in the mood, they’ll whip up a storm that gives me the shivers even to think about.

These three speak to themselves – that is the prelude, the shot fired in the air to challenge an adversary to battle. The idea is to enquire if the enemy is prepared and willing to fight. If there’s enthusiasm on the other side, a reply is heard. That too is aimed at no one in particular.

The well-being of any household rests on selective acts of blindness and deafness.

what agent of death is as discreet as words?