Interconnected Paths |✔

2

Where Anand thought he was all alone in his town, celebrating 31st Dec alone, there was yet another person, a woman who was sitting on her bed, trying to binge watch her favourite show that seemed to be the only interesting diversion for her.

Her mind, however, was on something else. She had looked out the window of her room countless times, glancing at the weather that had turned unexpectedly cold in the course of two hours; her worry etched face was enough to tell that she was waiting for someone.

Her eyes had stilled on her cell countless times, in the hopes the call she was expecting would finally make her phone screen alive. But, every time, they turned towards her laptop screen empty.

Now that it was ten o'clock, her mind couldn't take a minute of the absence, and she thought of dialling the number herself. But before she could do so, two loud shrills made her to crane her neck in the same direction.

Her two children, seven years old, and four years old, were jumping up and down with glee in the living room. What they were up to, she'd no idea. She'd thought that providing them with a board of block puzzle would make her see at least an episode of the show peacefully, but she'd no such luck in it.

She saw that they were now standing side by side, their hands were clasped in one another's and their eyes were closed, as if in prayer. She called them towards her. Upon hearing their mom's voice, they looked at her with delightful smiles. She couldn't help but smile back. When they reached near, she asked, what was the matter with them? And what was it they found amusing?

"Mom, look at the clock! It is showing ten minutes left to twelve! It's almost New Year!" Her younger child, a little boy with chubby cheeks exclaimed looking at his mother with twinkling eyes.

When she looked at the clock, she laughed at their children's misjudgement.

"Oh, kids! It's not almost New Year! It's only ten o'clock."

"But...but, I saw both the hands of the clock, mom, just like you'd taught." The older one replied with a disappointing face. But Shirley was a patient mother, and she explained her child the correct way of seeing the time yet again.

"Oh, Joe! See the big hand of the clock? That shows minutes, and the small hand shows hours. Now, that the small hand of the clock is on ten, and the big hand is on twelve, it is ten o'clock, and not the opposite. There's still two hours remaining for the New Year to start."

With their mother's answer, children's faces dropped. The older one, seeing his younger brother's disappointing face stated, "I'm sorry, Ryan! I couldn't see the time properly,"

Ryan nodded, but Shirley's heart that was all anxious for a phone call from her husband, now melted at her kids' innocence.

"That's okay, Joe! It was just a misjudgement on your part. Now, let's make some castles from those blocks, shall we?' She suggested after setting her laptop aside.

The kids' faces bloomed with joy at this prospect, and they all went to sit down on the floor of their bedroom to build some castles; Shirley's thought of watching her favourite show was long forgotten.

***

Dr. Shaw was a gynaecologist in the city of Shimla. His job commanded him to be available for his services every time he was asked, and that included New Year's Eve too.

A promise made by him to his wife to remain indoors all day didn't even grant him the leave from his work. An emergency case had come up that needed his assistance, and he had to rush to the hospital.

The unborn child had moved diagonally in the womb of the mother, and that created complications as she was already going through labour pains. During the entire operation, he had prayed that it went successfully, as he was amongst those doctors who liked to convey good news to people rather than a bad one.

Now that the operation went successfully, and the baby and the mother, both were safe, he started to pack his things, and moved to go to his house, where he knew his wife would be waiting for him.

The sudden turn of events was such that instead of reaching home in twenty minutes, like he'd thought, he was now stuck in the jam because of the block in the form fallen trees in the middle of the road. The crowd was getting restless; some had even turned their engines off, and had now started looking to spend the night elsewhere.

The line of vehicles in front of him was long, and he'd no idea for how long he would be stuck in this jam. He just prayed that he reached his home on time.

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