Santarey Churrandi Biji !

Earlier this a.m. ..

Sitting on mom Ma Merii’s bed, browsing the newspaper and sipping at my cuppa ..I happen to look up at her. Biting her lip, she looks a little pensive.

Me - ‘Ki hoya, mom?’

She looks at me, her eyes troubled - ‘Bad dream. Badaa hi kharaab sapna aaya ..’

I sigh inwardly. Bad dream? What kinda bad dream to make her look so disturbed?

She din’t need any encouragement to speak of the dream ..

‘Main chotti si ..young, very young ..’

‘..te main chorri karr rahi si!’

‘Chorri??’ ..she had my attention now. ‘Ki chorri karr raye si tussi?’

‘Santarey !!’

I spluttered on my chai - ‘Santarey?! Oh ..’

‘Te main phaddi gayee ..!’

‘Ah ..’ I grinned.

Caught stealing oranges. Nightmares are made of this, yup.

She caught my grin, and retorted, a tad ferociously -

‘School vich ik din mainu 12 aaney miley paye hue kidrey ..main oh teacher nu de dittey si. Santarey churraa vaangi main??’

I sobered down. Yup, if she can return 12 annas to the teacher (a lot of money back then) she found lying in the school ..she is not going to be stealing oranges ..right?

Yaar, nightmares ..ainj aa ke merii ma nu pareshaan na karo ..