We have an invisible sign outside the house. One that states, ‘beware of the dog’! No, the sign ain’t about my harmless little pug, Raahat, who only charges at dogs triple his size but Moi. One is the designated watch dog of the house.

What my brother would call ‘jangli suur ka gussa’, my Dad calls my aggression, the teachers called it ‘passion that needs channelling or can be self destructive’ and the men have called it my ‘madness’, makes me qualified to bark at anyone who enters the territory.

One’s been unwell for the past few days…home bound with nothing to do. Ever since I’ve turned 39 the body (unlike the mind ) which hasn’t troubled me much over the years has been acting up. It has been asking for attention for the past few years, especially during the last bout of depression, when all the excessive crying would cause severe pain in my chest. But despite it’s attention seeking ways it has been quite well behaved…it’s treated me better than I have treated it.

Another thing has changed. One is trying to put down some roots. The head is constantly in the sky, need to place the feet down firmly, too. Each time, I’m close to a milestone year, I try hardest. So hopefully, fingers crossed, before one hits forty, a few things will materialise. To put my plan into action I had to drag myself out of bed and go to the workplace. A little khit pit with the carpenter and after sourcing of material and workmen and of course after bickering with the one whose going to drink himself to death, later, as I was on my way home, I got a call from the mother’s nurse, ‘didi, police walla aaya he!’. SC quickly sprang up from her slumber and pointed at SB, ‘what did you do?’ ‘Nothing man, kucch nahin kara, you sleep I will handle it!’

‘Give him the phone’, I tell the nurse. Some unruly person comes on the line. ‘Gk 1 thanne se aaya hu madam, FIR karaye thi aapne! Uss ke baare mein baat karni he!’ In the past few years, my bag, car, phone have been stolen, from different venues. So one has gone to the cops multiple times. ‘Tell me what is this regarding, it will take me time to reach home,’ I tell him curtly. Of course he ain’t going to leave and I’m already having palpitations because I have a sozzled relative sitting next to him. This was at half eight.

After a few minutes I called back the nurse. ‘He came in the afternoon too’, she told me, I told him ‘you return late, come back tomorrow. But he’s landed up right now.’ I assured her I was on my way. When I returned ofcourse the conversation was about closing cases etc and ofcourse I was mad as hell, that this man had the audacity to come to my house at that hour. Ofcourse I didn’t do what I was asked to. The only reason I mention this is because, I get accused for having no respect for authority and I have a very simple reason for it. Show me by example that you follow the rules, the law of the land etc I will follow you like a pup till the end but try to exert pressure on me or ask me to do things you have no regard for, yourself, well, then, watch tamasha!!

A long conversation with my, ‘whenever I’m in trouble who stands by me’ friend Ocean, who insisted, ‘you’re not going to the police station by yourself!’and after making all those false promises as I readied myself for bed I thought ‘poor guy didn’t see the sign outside, beware of the bitch!’