8/9/2019 The Angle of Incidence - Humor - Short story -
Subramanian A
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The Angle of Incidence.
27/10/2004 – 28/10/2004
(Taken from my book No 111).
(Before presenting the following story, I am taking a
bail in advance from my wife. Read the story and
you will realize the truth behind it. While going through my old
volumes, I happened to discover this
story. I had totally forgotten the episode. My wife also doesn’t
remember about it. This is still a faint
recollection for me but a total oblivious factor for my wife.
Much water has flown across the banks of
life since then).
My wife was working in the kitchen. She was busy with her
morning chorus. It was the hour of
breakfast. Her husband would appear at any moment before the
dining table. He was busy in theupstairs room.
- May be reading, writing or whiling away on computer.
She thought. She reflected, and took a deep sigh. It conveyed
volumes. It conveyed a clear meaning
to any onlooker who might have seen her at that moment. Her
expression revealed it. She considered
me to be a profitless writer in the sense that I produced
volumes and volumes without getting them
published. In her eyes, such writings were less profitable
than growing a kitchen garden on the back-
yard! Even after nearly twenty one years of our wedded life, she
was unable to read my surges as a
writer and the meaning of the junk of my writings, which were
practically lying hidden from the eyes
of various publishers.
She continued her reflection. If I were not at my desk with my
writings, then, I would be
meddling with the computer. Computer was a recent purchase and
she knew that I loved exploring
the contents. Whether I was with my pen and paper or on the
key-board, her firm view was that it
was a waste on my part to do so because she thought I paid less
attention to the house-hold chorus or
the overall maintenance of the house. Her conclusions were that
I was living in a utopian world,
8/9/2019 The Angle of Incidence - Humor - Short story -
Subramanian A
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among the books and manuscripts, with my pen and wandering
thoughts, else, sunk in the world of
computer.
This is the preface. Now, follows the real story.
As she continued her work in the kitchen, she heard a
distant lamentation. It was like a
rumbling sound, a kind of wail. At first, she did not pay much
attention to it. There was no reason
why somebody should be lamenting at that pleasant hour. Nobody
in the neighborhood was in death
bed. No family within my radial distance had no revealing
problems as to lament in an audible way to
expose their life. The lady in the neighboring house was a
terror with her terrible tongue, but, despite
her domestic problems, she never knew how to lament! She only
knew the art of gnarling at others!
As my wife continued with her work, the pitch of
lamentation grew in volume and reached a
stage as to catch her attention. She could not withdraw her
ears. She soon understood that the origin
of source was the front yard of the house. The articulation
seemed to suggest that it was my mother
who had landed in some trouble. For a moment, my wife became
upset. She had got the idea that my
mother was sitting in the open sit out and lamenting for some
reason. She could not reason out
otherwise.
My wife went in search of my mother. She was not in her bed
room. The bathroom door was
ajar and she was not inside. She went to the front yard to fetch
her but my mother could not be
traced there also. That was a shocking moment. Then, who was
lamenting and where was my
mother gone?
By and by, she realized one thing. The lamentation was coming
from the upstairs. It was
coming from my corner! It naturally boiled her blood and she ran
the flight of steps two at a time and
soon landed before me to see what the matter was. She found me
in good condition, rather in a
hilarious mood, listening to something on the computer.
I was experimenting with new software – “Talk it”. It
was software which converted any type
written document into voice. Different voices were available
within the software. Now, I was
converting one of my poems “Upon this grave” in the voice of an
old lady and this had actually
deceived the ears of my wife! Only the effect reached her ears
and she missed the verses. She took it
to be somebody’s lamentation! She reasoned out to be
my mother.
Now that she was not within the danger zone, she could have
laughed heartily at her
foolishness but she did not. She could have joined me. Her
level of annoyance was too much. It stole
away the element of humor that was within the entire episode.
She could have reconciled with the
situation after the radiator became cool but she did not. She
missed the angle of incidence. She really
charged me for making things upset for her whereas I was not at
all aware of these happenings!
She was rather tight but I was very light in my approach. After
all, I was not playing a
practical joke on her. (The End).
