The problems you face when you shut up

“What if mom dies?” – She won’t
“How can you tell?”- I just can, ok?
“Won’t everyone die?” – GEEZ, SHE HAS A COLD OK? NO ONE’S DYING TODAY. STOP EATING MY HEAD.

My mother was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis a few days after I was born. The never ending sneezing, the continuous joint pains-all were additional bonuses that couldn’t be fully comprehended by a curious child’s brain. I would plague everyone with questions and would drive them to their breaking point. Most questions were mostly diverted cautiously others callously. Soon I learnt to associate asking questions to annoying people. I wouldn’t raise my hand in school to ask something but rather ask a friend. I wouldn’t ask the tour guide for directions. It was so silly and yet something that couldn’t be helped. Which is why I’m writing this post at 4 am taking cover from the pouring rain standing under a tea stall. I’ll probably be able to publish this if I don’t die of hypothermia. I’m writing something to keep my thumbs moving because I don’t want them to freeze off my palm. Aargh! THE SUN, FIRE, BARBECUE(what?) – let me just de-freeze my mind..
Anyways, why am I here, you wonder? Despite booking the ticket three months in advance in a bus service that would drop me on the doorstep of my family home, I’m 80 kms away from home actually stranded. Unlike the movies, no classy gentlemen have offered help instead some truck drivers have honked a couple of times while calling me names that are far from classy. And all because of one stupid tiny little thing. I didn’t want to pester the driver and ask him where we had reached. Go ahead, bang your head. I won’t feel bad. Really.

And it also doesn’t help that my phone got drenched in the rain even before I got into the bus and I was unable to receive any calls. And that my phone’s clock told me that it was three hours before the actual time. So when my dad texted me at 4 in the morning telling me that he was braving the weather and standing waiting for me, I wondered if the man was crazy to wait for me so early since my phone convinced me that it was just 1 am! Finally a little frustration and some good old common sense wiped clear my inhibitions of asking questions, and I asked the driver only to be politely informed that they had crossed my stop ages ago. He gave me an exasperating look and asked me why I hadn’t bothered to ask him earlier especially since it was the first time I was travelling to kerala by bus which I had told him as an excuse to escape his eyes that were accusing me of being an idiot. Anyways, he told me the next stop was miles away and it was safer (easier for him) to dump me in the middle of NOWHERE. By then I just wanted to get home so I complied. So now I’m standing at the edge of some road, somewhere desperately hoping that every headlight I see is of a bus I need. Clearly, I haven’t had my hopes answered yet otherwise I wouldn’t be still typing.

I swear to myself that I’m going to revive the annoying 4 year old child in me that had so many questions. If you are travelling and the girl in the opposite seat keeps pestering you about the whens, wheres, whats! It’s likely to be me! So don’t curse her because well…maybe someone already did and she spent 45 minutes AND COUNTING stuck in the middle of nowhere before sunrise as a consequence. I’m done typing, my brain’s frozen.

P.S I’m home safe and warm. I still have my thumbs so YAY! I realised I was pretty dramatic but haven’t edited the post since writing it. What’s life without a little drama?