Monday, November 30, 2009

Those days

And for quite some time in the initial days
a ring of telephone would jolt us, and
We would gather to observe the expression
On the face speaking into the receiver.

This was, we were told, a replacement
Of the Telegram, which almost always carried
Grave news about illness or death.
Every ring was like an alarm bell.

Darkness wouldn't stop it from waking us up
It would function all the more promptly
When something went wrong
There is no chance for escape.

A feeble voice of fate over an eerie static
Would talk to us and inform about the bad outcome
Of an exam, where as I,locked in the bedroom
sandwiched between pillows was pretending to cry.

2 comments:

BP said...

`It would function all the more promptly
When something went wrong'

How true!

Trinath Gaduparthi said...

@BP
Yes, very true.