Closet Dreams!

 ‘Wheee’, squealed Ishaani, as she raced by on her roller-skates , dashing across the sparsely furnished drawing room of her house, like a tornado that took pride in demolishing anything that came her way. She raced in frenzy towards the wall on which the television was mounted, and promptly placed her palms on the TV screen to bring her expedition to a stop, even as her mother, Divya, sighed in sheer exasperation. Whoever said that girls were made of sugar, spice and all things nice had ,clearly, not met the six year old Ishaani, a force of nature , who was made of thunder, lightning and all things chaotic!

Ishaani began her day by creating a whirlpool of water and soap in the washroom. The allure of the fragrant, fun and incorrigibly messy world created by her would inevitably hold her captive, leaving her parents at their wits end, after the action filled endeavour to pack the apple of their eye off to school. School, in itself, was nothing short of an adventure, for there was so much of running around to do, furniture to trip on and ruckus to raise! Now, why were the teachers constantly complaining about her?! This was a question for which Ishaani did not have an answer! Oh, the baffling questions that life threw her way..

All the exciting adventures of not sitting on the seat, jumping when the bus went over a speed breaker and more would continue during the ride back home, in the school bus. After a brief hiatus, the adventures would begin all over again at home, only, this time around, in a different setting . 

Divya was chronically exhausted! Little kids were known for their high energy levels and for their occasional penchant for courting trouble, but Divya and Dilip were rightly convinced that there was nothing occasional about the trouble that Ishaani would get herself into.

‘How many times have I told you not to play with the roller skates inside the house!, grumbled Divya, even as she told herself that all this grumbling is futile, for it would merely fall on deaf ears.

Soon, Divya heard her phone ring, and she rushed to answer it. It was none other than Varun Joglekar, the perennially complaining President of their apartment owners resident welfare association.

‘Were you busy Divya ji?’, asked Varun, ‘I just wanted to speak to you about Ishaani.’

‘What did she do now?’, sighed Divya

‘We have put a notice right outside the basement car park that kids are not allowed to cycle in the car parking’, said Varun, ‘because it is not safe, especially with cars coming down the slope into the parking lot. Kids springing suddenly in cycles can be disorienting for people driving the car. Our security guard has repeatedly asked Ishaani not to cycle in the parking lot, but she never listens. But today was the day to beat all days. Ishani pinched the security guard on his arm, when he asked her not to cycle in the parking lot.’

‘Really!’, exclaimed an irritated Divya, ‘my Ishaani will not pinch anyone.’

‘So, you think I am lying Divya ji?’, remarked an equally irritated Varun, ‘we can always look at the CCTV footage to confirm what I just said. Do you know that Prem Singh, the security guard, was so upset that he threatened to quit! I just managed to convince him to stay. Please discipline your daughter and teach her that this is unacceptable!’

‘I apologise on Ishaani’s behalf’, said Divya coldly, ‘and I will ensure this doesn’t repeat again’, and disconnected the call.

‘Oh, such was the joy of being Ishaani’s parent’, Divya sighed to herself, one did not even get a moment’s respite!

‘ISHU!’, yelled Divya, ‘what did you do in the parking lot? Did you hurt the security guard? How many times have I told you that your hands should never do the talking!’

‘I did not start the fight Amma’, exclaimed Ishaani, ‘that annoying Prem Singh uncle started it. He came chasing after me as I rode my cycle into the parking lot and yelled kitni baar bola hai yahaan cycle math chalao! I tried explaining that I was not riding in the parking lot, but bringing my cycle back to park next to Appa’s car, but he just did not listen! Tell me, where should I keep my cycle? When I kept it in the corridor, the thatha who lives in the apartment next to the lift complained because he carelessly stumbled on the cycle and fell! I tried telling all this to Prem Singh uncle, but he just wouldn’t listen. So I got angry and hit him.’

‘Ishu, this is not the first time that I am telling you this’, began Divya sternly, ‘hitting, pinching or physically hurting anyone is completely unacceptable. How would you feel if someone gets angry and hits you? Same goes for others. No matter how many ever times I tell you, you go back and do the same thing! Like Appa says, you are intentionally obtuse and you don’t even want to make an attempt to change. I am tired of your behaviour.’

Tears filled Ishaani’s big and expressive eyes, but she quickly wiped them dry and headed to her room. Divya walked into the kitchen  feeling miserable. After all, Ishaani was just a bubbly, and probably mischievous, little kid. Wasn’t it normal for little children to be like that? Divya decided to make Ishaani’s favourite stir fried noodles for dinner, and make up for being stern with her.

Soon, it was dinner time. Divya put the dishes out on the table, even as her husband, Dilip, called out for Ishaani to come and eat her dinner. As usual, there was no response . But what was unusual was Ishaani’s absence. The girl who would come bounding like an energetic pup at the mention of dinner was nowhere to be seen!

Surprised, Divya went to Ishaani’s room, and got the shock of her life to find it empty! She panicked and rushed to the washroom, but, much to her dismay, did not find Ishaani there. 

‘Dilip!’, yelled Divya as she came running out of Ishani’s room, ‘Ishaani’s missing!’

‘What do you mean !’, exclaimed Pranav

‘She is not in her room’, cried Divya, ‘and she is not in the washroom either.’

‘Did you see her step out of the house or hear the main door?’, asked Dilip, ‘I don’t think I did’

‘I did not either’, replied Divya, as she frantically looked around for Ishaani. She rushed out to the corridor calling out Ishaani’s name, but to no avail, for the little girl was nowhere in sight!

‘Let’s put a message out in the apartment whatsapp group’, said Dilip, ‘even if she is in a friend’s house , the parents would see the message and send her back!’

Alas, little Ishaani was not in a neighbour or friend’s house.. A bunch of good samaritans decided to get together and scout the ten acre apartment complex and Dilip headed to the lobby to join them

A worried Divya crashed on the bed in Ishaani’s room and began to sob. Where had the apple of her eye gone?! Guilt, mightier than Mount Everest began to haunt her. After all, Ishaani was just a child, and wasn’t it natural for little children to be naughty? Of course, there were a few who were a cut naughtier than the rest, and Ishaani probably belonged to that category. Had she been more firm than usual with Ishaani that evening ? Ishaani had looked really upset after being ticked off! But where could she have gone from right beneath their noses? Being discreet or sneaking away was certainly not in Ishaani’s repertoire.

A loud snore  caught Divya’s attention. Shocked, she looked around to figure out where it came from. The noise seemed to be coming from the closet. Divya quickly opened the closet and did a double take. Little Ishaani was fast asleep, snuggling warmly amidst the pile of clothes !

The End.