Bharati Nayak Fish Poems

By some error the story about the Cat eating away the fish sneakingly got published halfway while saving the draft.And I thought-Let it be.Not all things get to see their completion. Sometimes half told sentences carry more meaning than the full sentences.But I must tell the story.I cleaned the fish and fried the pieces in oil.My son relished two or three pieces.I kept the other pieces in the frying pan.Closing the kitchen door my son and me went for an afternoon nap for a while.We woke up to find that the kitchen door was open and there was no sign of any fish in the frying pan.The cat somehow pushed its way through the kitchen door which was loosely locked.My son looked sad knowing that the cat had eaten away all the fish.Perhaps the cat had overheard him while he was talking about fish curry.
Mama, What will Baba eat?
I asked him not to tell Baba about the cat eating all the fish as he would get angry about my carelessness.
When my husband returned from office, asked how was the fish.
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A for apple, B for ball, C for Cat-Building up a story with these three alphabets seems more challenging to me than what my little son faced when he was learning the alphabets.Twenty four years have passed since my son then a boy of three years started learning ABCs and counting 1,2,3, —-.Now he has grown enough to start a family for his own and may be teaching his son or daughter ABC within three or four years.Time flies so fast.
The little events associated with my children's growing up stages are etched in my memory. One such incident comes to my mind.My son was only three years then.He loved eating fish.But fish was not available always as we had to depend on the fish vendors. One day my husband purchased one kg fish from the market and handed me with the instruction to cook it nicely for his son before he left for his office.I was cleaning the fish and cutting it into pieces while my son watched.My son was shouting with joy and making unending queries about the fish.Just to stop him I said'Shh—'
'Why Mama? '
'Because the cat may hear.'
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