The smoke alarm went off in the hallway upstairs, either to let us know the battery had just died or because the house was on fire.
The quote, by a seemingly little known American novelist, playwright and essayist, Don DeLillo, speaks volume I really need to put out my alarms. I can plan everything to the last bit, but a single action can still lead to two extremes. How I react to these extremes is what will define my life.
For quite sometime, I had been working on going to bed early for an early rise but it's not working. Tonight, everything was all set, but a sudden voltage fluctuation made us realise the fire which broke out in neighborhood, less that 10 houses adjacent to ours. First one among my family to decide to go down, the time spent on road, with a friend turned acquaintance and with other people from neighborhood, both known and unknown, talking about the incident, as we saw sparks break out and smoke continue to rise, just brought every plan to a standstill. So poorly are we prepared to prepare a fire we can see, how do I go about with the smoke and the fire which lives in me?
I had travel plans, at least for Manali, to see how I go deal my inner traveller, both in real and in written words. But with Chuck at home, taking time out for even dressing down for the bed in night has itself become a task, since the maid sleeps near my almirah and mirror. The Friday review saw empty spaces this week because I had to be the one to stay at home for Bhai and Bhabhi, and now even weekday city travel plans seems dicey.
A whatsapp message to Himanshu was all it took me to cancel Chandigarh plans; and I am not making any more plans for this month at least. I pray from my heart, for Bhai and Bhabhi to get their Canadian VISA, for the smoke is already looming for a sorry state and I don't want to and will not let that state take its shape of Fire.
Rabb Raakha, Chadha and Sons will be happy ever after, with all the precautions taken care of in T&Cs. If any new extreme arises, I will take right action, whether it means changing the batteries of my plans or putting down the fire and keep going without regret.
Every night we go to bed, without any assurance of being alive the next morning but still we set the alarm to wake up. That's called Hope.
Author's Note: Although published on June 3, 2017, this particular Post is about an experience that went on till June 4, 2017 dawn.
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