Deafening Silence

Have you ever had a day that did not start very well, a day that you hoped would soon end, a day that was completely hopeless? I am sure you must have had one such day, so have I! Here is my account of such a hopeless day that I would prefer not having again.

The summer holidays were going on. My aunt and uncle were visiting us with their three small children.

I was sleeping, having a very nice dream. Suddenly I felt as if a baby elephant was sitting on me. When I opened my eyes, I saw that my two cousin brothers were sitting on me. They were pretending to be horse riders and had made me their horse. They kept on shouting at the top of their voices:

“Idée up horsee, idée up!”

My brother, Samyak entered the room and started playing drums on the metallic cupboard. They were starting to get on my nerves. I told my self to remain calm.

I got up, making my cousins fall and went for brushing my teeth. When I turned on the knob of the tap, it started whistling in a very shrill manner. “Pssseeee…” it went. I quickly turned it off and decided to use a tumbler instead.

I had just come out of my bathroom when I heard a big Bang. I quickly ran out of the room and crashed with my three-year old cousin sister. She fell down and started crying.

“Ahh! Ah Ahh…!” she sounded like an ambulance.

At the very same moment, the pressure cooker whistle went off.

“Pssseeee…”

I could hear it clearly since I was near the kitchen.

A baby crying and a pressure cooker going off. Oh my God! It was so annoying and there was no sign of any adult. Just then the bell rang. “Tring, tring”. It sounded so shrill that it almost burst my delicate eardrums. I went and opened the door and…

CREAK! The door was creaking badly.

Somehow, I managed to tolerate the creaking of the door and opened it. Our maid had come. I allowed her in and closed the door with a big BANG.

My cousin was still crying and the pressure cooker still whistling. My brothers, including Samyak, entered the room. They were playing G.I.Joe. So, obviously they were making sounds of firing of guns and canons.

“BANG BANG! DHUSH! PSHEWW… BOOM!”

“Ahh! Ting ting ting ting!” went my cousins after Samyak’s round of firing.

My sister realised no one was paying attention to her crying so she got up and went to her mother, crying.

My bothers started sort of a rain dance to bring the rain. All they did was stamp on the ground.

THUD! THUD! THUD! They started shouting, “hoogla-boogla! Warara!”

I went to my room, not being able to stand the noise they were making. They followed me to my room and started their ‘rain-dance’ there.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Finally the morning turned into afternoon. My relatives were leaving that evening so the commotion increased. My mother had forgotten to lay the table as she was busy preparing their Tiffin. I put the spoons, forks and plates on the table, but the food still had not been laid out.

The children sat on their respective chairs and started clattering for food. This metallic noise was getting on my nerves. My mother quickly laid the food. As I sat down I noticed that the sky was growing grey.

“Your rain-dance has worked,” I said to my bothers, “I predict it will rain today.”

“HURRAY!” shouted my brothers.

The storm started blowing very fiercely. It was making the eaves rustle and the window panes rattle.

CRASH! Someone’s windowpane broke, outside, due to the strong gust of wind. My cousin sister broke glassware inside, which led to another round of chaos and excitement; for me: noise.

The afternoon passed just as the whole of morning had – noisy, full of commotion and chaos. Finally the big moment arrived: the moment of departure. Everyone left the house, except me. My mother brother had gone to drop my relatives to the station. With a last Bang of the door, they left.

It felt so quiet in the house, so abandoned, so empty, so nice. I felt so relaxed that I decided to finish the book I had been trying to read for the two long months.

I started playing the cassette of ‘Main Hoon Na’. I simply love all the songs of that film. It had started raining heavily by then. I switched on the lights of the living room, sat on the divan, took my book and started reading it.

No car honking loudly on the empty, wet streets, no ringing of the telephone or the doorbell, no glass breaking, no drumming on the metallic cupboard, no noisy cousins spoiling your holidays, just you and your book and your favourite song playing, that is what is paradise for me.

I was so overwhelmed by the peace and quite in the house that I could not concentrate on reading my book. So instead, I imagined a waterfall and greenery all around, with me swinging from tree to tree, singing sweet songs.

I imagined a nice shady tree, below which I lay on a hammock, sipping a glass of cool, refreshing lemonade and reading that never-ending book. I imagined myself as a bird, flying high, trying to touch the sky.

I imagined myself cycling through a forest, alone on a deserted road, with the cool wind blowing through my hair, not knowing where the road will end or if it even has an end. I imagined myself as a mermaid – the princess of the clear blue oceans. All waters were mine; the waves were my transport; the fishes— my servants— were at my disposal. I could swim here, and I could swim there, and I could swim wherever I wished.

I was in my huge castle playing with my friend fishes, singing lovely songs, when all of a sudden—

‘TRING! TRING! BANG! BANG! BANG!’ I woke up with a start making my book fall on the floor. The banging and ringing continued as I ran quickly to the door. This could only mean one thing: my mother had returned.

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To all,

Here is something I wrote in ninth, but still am proud of. Enjoy.

- A nostalgic martian