Hide & Seek
January 23rd, 2008 | by Vijayaraghav |
Hide & Seek When I recall the incidents in life, I feel that some of them are easy to remember and hard to forget and many of them have blurred irreparably during the course of time. One such incident transpired in my life 15 years ago. When I rewind the memoirs, I can clearly see it as in a movie screen. The misty mornings, the sunny afternoons and cool evenings are the catastrophe of the characteristics of December. One such morning gave me a scare of my life. I am a victim of Monday blues. Going to office after two days holidays is always tough to negotiate. Mondays always come to break the momentum of living in my own world. I was happy on that Monday as a matter of fact that I had decided to break the ice. As usual the alarm rang. I started arguing with my conscience whether to get up or not in half sleep. “Your tea is getting cold, are you going to office today? ” My wife was on her heels. “No!” I retorted. “What is the matter?” She enquired Suddenly my 4 years old daughter Shalu got up and came to me with a smile rubbing her eyes. She murmured something faintly in my ear which I couldn’t get. “What is the matter, what is she murmuring?” My wife asked with curiosity. “Don’t tell mummy” my daughter stopped me. The previous night she had asked me to take leave to drop her at the bus stop in my bike. When I mentioned it to my wife, she planted a smile on her lips and commented. “You will spoil her like this!” I kept mum and my daughter was jumping with joy blinking her eyes with a lovely smile. We were ready and started in a short while. She asked me to ride fast as she enjoys it. Though the distance was short, she compelled me to take a long route. When we reached the bus stop, she spotted her friend Pinky and introduced me to her. I heard her saying to Pinky that “today dad has promised to play hide & seek and to take me to the park in the evening”. I reached back home. My wife was ready to leave for office. While enquiring about Shalu on the way to station, she didn’t forget to assign me some household chores as a part of holiday ritual. Time went by like a tide and suddenly I remembered picking up Shalu. I went to the bus stop and sat at the nearby Telephone booth.The Telephone booth belongs to one of my friends and I liked to visit him whenever I had a chance. We spent some good moments in general talk after a long time. The arrival of bus has broken our conversation. The bus reached on time. I saw Pinky getting down and waving towards me. I waited for shalu to get down, but couldn’t find her. I had a shock of my life and got upset with the bus owner. I started searching for Shalu inside the bus, but failed to spot her. The bus owner asked me not to panic and promised to search for Shalu at the school after dropping rest of the children. I went back to the Telephone booth. My friend asked “Where is Shalu, and why do you look so tensed?” I didn’t offer an answer because I was terribly worried about her. He again asked “What happened?” When I told him about the incident, he gave me a glass of cold water and asked me to cool down. Later, I called up my wife and told her about the incident. She got scared too. She asked me to search for Shalu at the school. The driver came back and we went to school in search of Shalu. We went to her class room and the class room was deserted. Then we searched for her at the play ground but failed to locate her there too. By the time my wife reached school, she was full of tears. She started blaming the bus driver and the poor guy was speechless. I somehow consoled her. The driver suggested filing a missing report at the police station. On the way I was thinking about shalu’s mischievous smile and the beautiful moments we spent together. My wife was in an emotional break down. She committed offerings to her favorite gods for getting Shalu back safely. Suddenly from nowhere I heard a coughing sound and wondered. I rushed through the seats and to my surprise saw Shalu in deep sleep under the back seat. I couldn’t believe my eyes and jumped with joy. My wife was in tears when she pulled Shalu smoothly and embraced her tightly. She moved with joy “See how nicely she is sleeping by putting us in a fix”. As I watched them, I had a sigh of relief. I still don’t have words to express the feelings in its totality because it was marvelous. When Shalu got up from her deep sleep that evening, she looked at me and asked “Shall we play hide & seek”. My wife burst into laughter and asked her “Just now we have finished a real hide & seek game, didn’t we?” I saw a mischievous smile at Shalu’s face. I hugged her tight and told her “It is my turn to hide now baby”. I still wonder whether the whole thing happened accidentally or was she really playing a hide & seek game. It hangs even today in my mind as a mystery. I left it as it is because life would be very dull indeed without mysteries.
44 Responses to “Hide & Seek”
By Anonymous on Nov 30, 1999 | Reply
If I couldn’t have imagined the anxiety you must have felt then your writing has shown it clearly. Such a small child to be travelling alone on a bus though! Here everybody takes their children in the car, and as a result the children are much less indep
By ClickVista on Nov 30, 1999 | Reply
Lovely and touchy story.. I can feel love that parents has for their child. For being a mother, I am not too sure since I don’t have experience as to be a mother yet, but I beleived that as Morther and father are such a greatest word that any child could
By suparna on Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
Good post 5*
By Dipankar on Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
Beautiful story. Full of warmth. You expressed both the anxiety and the relief eloquently.
By writer on Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for making a very pertinent comment at my blog. YEs, the work done by Indians in that area is dismally low and not anything that shows any kind of real merit. That is the reason why we have a mushrooming of language labs(computer mediated).
By writer on Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
Very touching story/or biography(?)
By MOIN on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Very nicely written Vijay I really enjoyed going through it. You and your wife got a jolt of your life but what a relief to find your daughter so innocently sleeping under the seat. It was a real hide and seek. I appreciate your photographic memory. Thank
By DesiGuru on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Scary incident.Well narrated.The panic that sets in is hard to describe.
By violethue on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
sometimes real life incidents turns into a masterpiece of lit…thank god u found ur daughter…& somethings r really better to be kept as myteries
By Arnie on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
very nice narration of a simple tale that illustrates parental love and concern
By oldisgold on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
just terrific Vijay,nicely written so touchy.This should be selected to featured one.Nice memory.
By ramsheela on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
really so beautifully narrated…ethre pedichu kanum ene eniku mansilakan pattum…this post was really gr8 one …shalu enthu chiyunu epol?
By Preeti on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Very scary hide and seek. Thank God she was allright and found in time.
By on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
I get to read very inspiring thoughts from you everyday – this description is well extolled and as always is brilliant – though the incidence is gruesome and rigorous. All is well that ends well….I hope…..Happy Days, Vijay.
By Rashmi on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Thank god she was just dozing off…what a scare!! can well imagine….such incidents can never be forgotten…
By A.R.Karthick on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
really precarious hide & seek indeed which was staged by Shalu unawarely. yap! such moments never fade away from our mind. well narrated. thanks for sharing this and for daily inspirational dose (blurbs) too. btw ***Success Blueprint (Part:3) is waiti
By Anonymous on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
I gather this happened a few years back and not very recently>???/ I can imagine how you felt… My daughter when she was three years old, suddenly walked away from me and got lost in the crowd of Sarojini Nagar in New Delhi… I almost panicked.. th
By S U G A R on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
vijay,we do so many things for the love of our children..and suffer so much too..love for children makes us so vulnerable and weak..good post..
By Anonymous on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
reading your blog post a few were filling my mind "Real life is more stranger than any fiction."
Satnam Waheguru.
By Cindy . on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
oh dear. it must have scared u!!! same time this incident reminds me of an episode in the cartoon series - "Shinchan" … he also fell asleep under his desk, sending his teachers and parents into a tizzy. one request dear, leave a comment on my p
By Madhu Vamsi on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
hi vijay, how are u??? Old memories always revolve around us. That is great one from u. My new post is waiting for ur comments..
By Idle Mind on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
This, I guess, happens to many parents. I feel good that it ended as a game, in the spirit of leading a mysterious life!
By Nisha on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
how sweet…
By R.B.Lakshmi on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
hide & seek all fiction with children
By Rajib Gurung on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Hello Vijoy, I am specially impressed by your ability to put right word at the right place. Keep up the good work. Good Wishes are there…
and better change the blog title for you write prose piece too. ( joking..
By Anonymous on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
dear sir,
hiding the real identity is like hiding urself from others.now in this world hiding is set to be a daily routine, is it? anyway ur blog content is appreciable and i like to read ur writings, have a good day.
By Sarada v. on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Yeah very true, some mysteries are best left unsolved for they add that little extra "something special" to routine life ! Anyway, a good Hide and seek game it was, that ended well thank god ! Does Shalu remember the details ?
By Simran bhola on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
SOMETIME WE CANT FORGET WHAT HAPPEN WITH US AND THIS TIPE OF ACCIDENT CAN GORGET ANYONE ITS REALLY VERY SCARY STORY
By Horizon on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Dear Vijay!!! so happy go through ur words!!!! memories can take us back to years !!!!enjoyed!!
regards
Horizon
By monika paul on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
ya, the life seems jeopardized in such traumatic situations but it leaves a bitter-sweet memories to cherish upon. Similar episode passed me as well, when my 3 year old sneaked out of the car, parked in market place for a moment.
By Swati . on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
I can imagine the moment through witch u and ur wife would have gone..U have got amazing writing skills and ur grip on ur post is simply great…and u have truely said that such incidents in life make it really memorable and also mysterious some times…
By sundari on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
give her a pat on my behalf knows how to keep her dad in tow and will rule in a few years time, nice intimate moments wish it had been the real hide and seek then more emotions would pour out here…sunkan
By Cindy . on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
posted something new
By Prasanna on Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Gr8…..Nice to read good blogs after long time.
By Sonja on Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
… very nice and touching story…. i will remember it. It is like a movie.
byee
good luck
By Miranda . on Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
Sometimes, the live put us in a test, without limits, and with full of feelings to bursting…in few minutes we can think in a thousand ideas, and we can have an immense pain during the test…like in this story…yeah You have reason my dear Vijay "
By Cindy . on Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! !! and a very happy republic day
By Anonymous on Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
many many happy returns of the day…
By Arnie on Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
happy birthday
By Sneha on Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
Happy Birthday!! And a very happy Republic day!
The same thing happened last week with one of my neighbors.They too found their daughter sleeping in the bus.
By Jucimara on Jan 27, 2008 | Reply
Hi,dear. Only who has this experience can say what it is! But it happens…
By umbrella 22 on Jan 27, 2008 | Reply
Shalu sounds interesting with her antics ! lol. hey..belated happy birthday wishes to u.
By pintoo on Jan 28, 2008 | Reply
yes you are right, some incidents in our life have a permanent memory. we always remember such moments. I think baby shalu was really playing hide&seek with you. well I just wanted to know did you play Hide & seek after that incident.
By lalli on Jan 31, 2008 | Reply
hey vijay… srry for being so late visit hr.:(btw accept my belated birthday wishes to u my frnd..:) oops i can feel the tension man..u played a real hide n seek game!! kids r like this..hmmm widout all these incidents life wudnt be thrill man..anyways d