Suzanne Bernert

  A small line of sweat was slowly trickling down his back while he was bending over a beautiful Linen Kurta by Mrs. Sharma who lives on the second floor in the next door building. The fan was whirring, the heat was picking up and the sounds of Mumbai enveloped him.                                                                                                        The folding had to be neat or otherwise Mrs.Shama would scold.  Not him, as he was bound to the ground floor, forever attached to his iron. She would scold his young daughter who would zoom around in the afternoon delivering the ironed clothes all over the neighborhood.  His daughter Swati, who right now was busy writing another straight line of  ‘ Meri maa bohot sundar hai,my Mother is very beautiful ‘ in her school folder. Her face scrunched up in concentration,  tongue slightly sticking out through her lips.  This line about her Maa was difficult for her as her mother had passed away a year ago. First everyone though

She was riding high....on the shoulders of her dadi or nani, a string of her hair in her fist, surrounded by the other female members of her clan...  Colorful Saree clad cheerful procession just from one home to the other's home.. Aunt.. Mom....Sisters....Friends... All just gliding along taking up nearly all of the side street we were walking on...  I laughed and smiled...called her Chhoti Rani... she looked at me with big brown eyes, still holding her human vehicle's hair tight and sucking on it... all the women were laughing ..  yes yes...ye humari Chhoti Rani hai  .... she is our small queen.... Say Namaste Rani bitiya ...  With a shy smile and finally releasing the hair  .... Chhoti Rani waved a hi.... And with that the whole procession moved on.... And on top Chhoti Rani giggling and riding high .... 

Thoughts and emotions are fleeting.... What you thought and felt last week or even yesterday..... it is gone ...  Unless you concretize your thoughts and make them into a way of life and call that belief.  And that belief becomes the end of your searching, living and wondering at life   .... It stands right in the way of living...