The Silent World

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 35; the thirty-fifth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "...and the world was silent again"

 “How wonderful it would be if we could actually talk mind-to-mind. There would be none of this miscommunication”, I mused on my way back from office.

I had just discussed my annual performance review with my boss and I was unable to figure out whether his “Better than expected” translated to a higher incentive for me or no. Did he mean “I expected a lot from you and you have still out-done my expectations” or did he mean “Well! I expected you to make a perfect ass of yourself but you have not achieved perfection even in that”?

“You think the world will be better if you could hear what people thought of each other?” whispered a voice in my ear. “From now on you will be able to hear what the people close to you think of you”.

Uh! Last I checked I was all alone in my teeny car and hearing voices has not proved salubrious for people. Look at Joan of Arc. She too heard voices and now she is toast. Thankfully, the voice had stopped and the world was silent again.

By the time I reached home I had forgotten all about the voice. My wife had not yet come back from work. I made a couple of cups of coffee and, just as I was about to sit back and start on my cup, she arrived.

“Coffee is ready, honey”, I said.

“Thanks, Love”

“Like he has done a huge favor to me. And, some day, I must figure out how he uses the same coffee powder and manages to create something that tastes as though it is filled from a sewer”

What was that? My wife’s thoughts? She smiled angelically at me and went to the kitchen to pick her cup of coffee.

“Have to drink it, I suppose! The moment I tell him how awful his coffee is he’ll probably use that as an excuse to beg off all household work”

“Great Coffee, Varun”

I must be hallucinating. Shilpa could never be thinking this of me.

“Let me chop the vegetables for you, honey”

“For me!! Like he is not going to have dinner. And how he manages to get all sizes from a micron to half a foot while chopping one piece of eggplant is another mystery I will never be able to solve”

This was getting decidedly messy. If this was what my wife thought of me, I really did not want to hear any more.

Thankfully, my son came in. Children were messengers of love after all. His thoughts would be a soothing balm to my soul.

“Shit! Dad is home! Just as I want to go out and play a game of cricket. I’ll have to talk to him. And, why does he have to put on that stupid school-kid voice while talking to me? Whoever talked of quality time with kids ought to be shot”

Ouch! This hearing thoughts business was decidedly a curse.

“Go out and play, son”

“At last! Some signs of intelligence. Would have thought that an adult would take a hint. It has taken him years to understand that my idea of a good evening is not having a cosy chat with him  about what my maths teacher said at school!”

Ye Gods! I am done with hearing thoughts. Someone please take this curse off me. I really do not want to know what my boss and colleagues think of me as well.

“Done”, said the voice in my ear. And the world was silent again. Blessedly!

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