'Ting Ting.Ting Ting'.
"Amma! appa is coming." shouted the little boy.
3 minutes later.
"Appa, Walking?" The boy asked excitedly even before he could park the cycle.
"5 o clock".
The boy looked at the clock. The little hand was between 4 and 5. The big hand had crossed 7. He couldn't read time. But he knew the little hand should come to 5. And it would take some time.
Time passed by. 21 minutes.
"Amma tata" said the boy and started with his father, holding his hand firmly. Excited.
The walk through the knee tall grass, accompanied by talk about foxes,tigers and other wild animals leading to the vastness, was fun. After 20 minutes they reach the edge of the hillock.
Far far away, the Western ghats stood majestically. Chirping Birds in the sky. Down below, a small village with its fields and cows and bullocks.
"Can we go there, Appa?"
The walk continued.
Time passed by. 21 years.
All alone, thousands of miles away, an evening walk.
A flood of memories from childhood. A Smile.
I asked - "Appa, Walking?"
Smile, Again. :-)
