Strange Talk

Over the years many of us have been caught having conversations with random objects and living entities, real or imaginary and not necessarily human.

My neighbours were chilling out on their porch when they saw my father walking by. It looked like he was in deep conversation with someone and because of the wall in between him and them, they couldn’t see who it was at the other end. They got curious when they heard him say in a tender voice, ‘You are not even half my age yet I have to push you around my dear.’ As he walked on and passed the gate grill they saw that he was talking to his Yezdi that had broken down again. Our family was approaching the end of our Yezdi era then. Even I had grown too big to sit on the petrol tank anymore.

One day our cousins came visiting and no one was home except for my sister. She chatted with them for a while and went to the kitchen to make tea. My cousins heard her talking loudly in there. They assumed that she was on the phone. After a while one of them decided to help with the tea and sauntered into the kitchen. Then she realized that my sister was not on the phone. After a few seconds she noticed our cat sitting on a chair attentively listening to my sister. Cousin was a bit creeped out. But that was only because she didn’t know the full story. Our cat could not only understand Malayalam but also speak a few words in it too like ‘maaman’ and ‘matthanga’ (uncle and pumpkin respectively).

One night, after dinner, we were all settling down. Noticing that the kitchen door was open I just went there to check it out and see if anyone was out there in the yard. Then I saw her; my mother walking around the well, flapping her arms and cawing like a crow. As she took a turn and saw me at the door she stopped and told me that she was just checking if any crow was up at night. I said OK, turned around and slowly walked away. I was an ardent follower of the BeastMaster TV series till then. I wasn’t so sure anymore.

As for the remaining member of the family- me, I don’t talk.