The 'Never Forgotten' Familiarity....

The gentleman coming from abroad after many years, was welcomed with all warmth into the Rich man’s house….

“Sir! Welcome…. You must have been tired of Flight delay, jet lag and the subsequent 4 hr Road Travel…. Please freshen up a little, we will have a small Lunch and we will talk of many things after you have some rest up to 6 PM…. We both will go out for some works at 4 PM and will return by 6…. Then we all will go out for dinner at 8 PM…. A new Restaurant has come up…………”

After the Lunch,

“OK! The time is almost 2 PM…. Please rest for a while till evening…. I’ll just pull the curtains down…. I forgot to tell you, keep these windows closed…. Else you can never rest peacefully…. The noises of people around disturb you continuously…. We have this one problem for this house…. We should have checked well before buying it… The Market is next to this house…. The continuous conversations, screaming, music playing, shoutings and all those sounds…………. We made a life time mistake…. Please close the windows fully and relax…. I keep the door open for you with curtains pulled in…. You will get the cool breeze from inside….”

The gentleman did accordingly and soon went to sleep…. But a few murmurs and specific noises never allowed him to do that and constantly kept him awake….

“Switch on the Washing Machine…. Today, we have to wash our clothes….” A big starting sound, water slashing, whipping, again water splashing etc for almost half an hr….

“Put the clothes in the Dryer….” Again a big starting sound followed by the constant rotation sound and finally the machine coming to a halt making a screeching noise after some 20 minutes…..

“Switch on the Dish Washer….”Then the continuous water sprinkling sounds followed by jets of water hitting the vessels and repeating the same for another half hr approx!

“The weather is hot…. Have you switched on the AC for the Guest Room with the Blower on?” A big start of Motors followed by a continuous air blow sound….

“The weather is quite dry…. Have you switched on the Humidifier?” Soon a continuous humming Motor sound….

“Switch on the TV…. Today there is a Special International Program on……….” Certain sharp conversational sounds and some Western Music….

Soon it was 5 PM….It appeared, the family left for their outside work at that point of time…. There was some silence for a while except the AC noise….

The gentleman could not sleep at all….And he could no more lay down on the bed, got up and opened the windows facing the Market Area…. Instantly, the evening cool breeze started blowing in making him feel refreshed followed by the continuous outside conversations…..

• “Sir! I can’t sell this item for the price you asked for…. If I start doing that, what money can I take home and feed my family?”
• “Madam, these are the fresh items arrived just now…. You are almost the first buyer here…..”
• “Give me Do Chai today…. My friend is here… He has come after a long time….”
• “Let’s have a break…. Are you not hungry a little? Let’s have our favorite Chat at…..”
• “It’s continuous holidays for schools for three days…. My daughter wanted to see the Market and buy something for herself….”
• “Ok! Dear! I am going now…. Please, come home tomorrow…. I ‘ll show you some of the……”
• “Please move on…. How can you get this one for just…… Rupees?”
• “I don’t have so much money with me…. Can you give me this at least for……”

The gentleman was back to his bed relaxing himself as all those sweet voices and familiar sounds started pouring into his ears and in no time went into deep sleep forgetting all the strain of his travel till he felt that some one was waking him up….

“Oh! you opened and forgot to close the windows? And the AC had automatically stopped because of the open windows…. I wonder, how could you sleep so well with so many noises around? I am sorry for the trouble…. We have this one problem for this house…. We should have checked well before buying it… The Market is next to this house…. The continuous conversations, screaming, music playing, shoutings and all those sounds…………. We made a life time mistake…. OK, we are back…. Please freshen up………”