Anil uncle’s night out

I entered my place at around half past midnight. What struck me from outside itself was that I could see the tube light of our drawing room switched on. Now that was quite strange because our landlord used to be asleep by 11pm, even that being the latest. I hurriedly got in, willing to find out the matter. As I entered, I saw one of my roommates sitting near the telephone, along with one of our neighbors. Our landlord wasn’t there on his bed. Both of the members presently in the room sat silently searching numbers through the telephone diary. On my inquiry, my roommate revealed, that Anil uncle (our landlord) hadn’t returned home till then. He had gone out to visit his doctor during the afternoon.
The phone calls these people made in my absence till then, made them learn that Anil uncle hadn’t reached his doctor. He also, quite surprisingly, wasn’t picking up his cell phone since evening. All the detective literature I had read since my school days started playing on me suddenly, and I began thinking like a sleuth. The first deduction I made was that since we had given uncle umpteen calls till now, and they have been unattended, thence his cell phone should conk off in a while. Also I figured that his not picking up the phone is his inability to do so, and not his choice, because all the calls we made rang till the end. If it was really his choice, after a while he would have disconnected them every time they rang. May be he would have even switched it off. I explained my panicking roommates that uncle must be trapped in a situation where he’s not able to attend to his calls. We checked all the hospitals where he possibly could have gone. We also called all his relatives and friends. All in vain.
I and one other roommate decided to stay awake that night. Others slept. I and the other guy gradually went into a nostalgic conversation and recollection of our graduation days. I discovered that we had common friends, whom both of us knew. We, for a couple of hours almost forgot the reason, for which we were awake, and suddenly I looked at the watch; it was 4 in the morning. My roommate decided to call Anil uncle again. As he called, I stood next to him. Something made me really apprehensive. After a few seconds of my initial nerves, I was back in the moment because of a strange sound. There was an extremely light sound of something rubbing against another, periodically. I smelt the rat. I followed the sound. I was playing Mr. Holmes in my head. I reached the kitchen following it. The sound became more distinct and louder. Now I was chasing it. It came extremely close to my perimeter, but still not found. I called my roommate to the kitchen, like Holmes would to Dr. Watson. He within a few seconds opened a drawer, and pulled out a silently vibrating cell phone. We looked at each other, astonished. Now we knew that uncle had deliberately kept his cell phone on silent mode and went away so that no one reaches him.
A score of days have gone by, Anil uncle still hasn’t returned. We are still waiting for ‘the’ news!

By de'fault'

i was staring at him for quite some time.his navy blue t-shirt went with his complexion so perfectly that it was difficult to not stare at him, atleast for me. even as a child, i knew i wasn't very keen on girls, the way other boys of my age used to crave about them. for me girls were just there for me, existing. my first crush being the immensely good looking actor Rishi Kapoor, even this guy looked quite attractive.
the gentle wind blew, caressing his hair. the curtain of my window touched my nose every now and then as it moved with the cool air passing through. he was waiting at the tea stall for someone. surely he was waiting. he hadn't ordered for a cup of tea till then. atleast i presumed so, even though i was too far away to listen to his conversation with the chaiwala.
from his appearance he looked atleast 3-4 years older than me. there was hair on his face that had been shaved recently, and had grown again. i envied his bicycle too, it just went with his personality so much. for a boy of my age,13, bicycles used to be a big deal. my bicycle was something i was willing to sell for free. it was honestly an embarrassment riding it. in every couple of days i had to go repair it for punctures or my rusted breaks or rusted chain and what not! anyway, his was good, that's the point.
after a while, came a girl dressed in a white t shirt and blue jeans. my friends surely would have found her hot. the love of my life hugged her, and then they went somewhere from the spot in their respective bicycles.
i kept staring at the place he was standing before they left.it was getting dark outside. but that was nowhere close to how dark i felt inside. there was no one at home for a while. i wanted to tell and burst out in front of my mother, about how painfull and dizzy i felt from inside when that boy hugged the girl.
now i really feel it was a blessing in disguise that i couldn't share it to my family that day. the day my family learnt that i am a homosexual, there came an immediate break in the attachment. infact, in an year after that, me and my family parted ways, for more reasons than one though. but surely, this was a major factor. now at 58, unmarried, and with no one who would look after me when i grow older, i feel a terrible void inside me. and this incident suddenly flashes every now and then. not just the boy, but the incident also reminds me of my parents who were not their with me then, and they aren't with me now.