Reading by the light .....

I stepped out of my room holding a lantern in one hand and a book
in another. Slowly I squeezed myself through the gap between the
doors. One extra movement and it would have like roared like some
giant.

Adjusting the wick to get just enough light, I then tiptoed out in the
courtyard. It was a very clear night. And the sheer number of stars
I could see up in the sky overwhelmed me with myriad emotions.
Quickly glancing through the courtyard, I found a straw mat lying
towards one side. Quietly I went up to it; putting the lantern on the
mud floor sat down, legs crossed, on the mat.

It was just 8 pm but the world on this part of the earth was already
in deep slumber. Hardly anything has changed. The breeze playing
with the loose strands of my hair was still laden with the smell of
corn and wheat.

As the silence suffused my heart I took out the bookmark and bent
over the pages. I pulled the lantern closer; eyes squinted as I began
reading.

It’s been almost seven years since I last pulled spinach from our fields
early morning or tried to hit the solitary mango hanging from the
mango tree in the afternoons.....

P.S. : And this one again is a byproduct of a seemingly innocent chit
chat with my fren and now almost the co-author (well that's too
much to say actually :P) of this blog .. Aishwarya ... thanks a ton !!