Help my doll mommy

Ritu is a mother. Barbie is her daughter's doll. What happens on Barbie land?

The story happened amidst a twelve hundred  square feet house.Of course, the smell of the tampered spices from the kitchen wafted into the living room there.  Crickets creaked into bed rooms through the windows. The water flushing in the toilets was heard at the dining space too.

Bob Marley was hushing  Buffalo  soldiers , FREEDOM on low tones on  Berry's tab that morning. Berry had tiny knees and Ritu had a strict Boss. It was a Wednesday. She dared not to allow her friend, Marley raise his voice any higher. It was clearly not Berry's day since the alarm rang. One minute at brushing , two minutes at breakfast happened on week days at Ritu's and Berry's apartment.

Ever since Ritu had been home, working from home,  the city had been locked down. Berry happily  tucked herself into her mommy's lap and watched over her laptop until the sun set . She snuggled into her mom in the night . They watched the shining stars and moon together.   A roaring washing machine and a displeasing door bell buzz disturbed Berry during  the day; stony stars shined too much into her eyes in the night. Berry's golden brown cheeks missed kisses from her aunts and uncles.  Berry spoke her mother tongue well , she was  five years old. She loved her mommy and her Barbie alike.

Ritu, her mom was an HR. She was sane and mean, working round the clock.

A  partial'lock down'  was declared an afternoon.  Corona frenzy began all around.  The state insisted on distance. People scampered into their burrows. Virtual life took off . Video games , Excel sheets, conference calls , people were busy with phones in hands. No body moved.

  'Rainbow apartments' a tall and fat building at the corner of the well-known street,  lost its sheen. Painted in beige , it looked dapper an year ago. Now, their marry- go- round swirls less.  Squeals less. Cars don't honk there. No one comes out. 

I'm a counsellor. These are my facts.

" Sreenu had only come once. He had dropped a can of water at the door step.  Supervisor had come an hour later. He talked about the shortage of water supply, frequent power cuts and untrimmed trees on the campus. A grocer, a vegetable vendor  have come. Other services were unattended at our 'Rainbow apartments' but I was happy with my machines, because they ran " Ritu said, overtly stressing on the vowels, sitting across my table  looking neat in her grey clothes. 

She went on from being a flame to fire , exploding words, breaking like a volcano. 

" It was 5 PM" she said, 

" time for many things at home. It was time I switched off my laptop; it was time Berry cycled ; It was time we bonded.  We wore best of our evening clothes that day and rushed outside for cycles. It was time to be seen. Be shown. Cycling, walking happened around us.

Berry begins her stories in the evenings ; story along with cycling is a ritual. Trees broken on streets ,  electric wires dangling from the poles , monsoon clouds flowing in the sky, cement drums  spinning in the back lane are never part of our  stories. Insane smokers blowing rings of smoke at each other happily ,women correcting  drapes of their bright sarees , children giggling at ice cream vendors were big part of our stories.  We ended our twists and swirls ; funny questions and climaxes every day before the stars knocked out of the night. 

How can you ' help my doll , mommy?' one day my daughter began her story,  whirling in the south winds . We had cycled into puddles, swerved at the ends of the roads ,waved at friends and planes by then already. 

We are complacent! Roads here are not spacious but we love our evenings on roads in this city.  

Here's Berry's story for you.

" Long long ago on an island lived Barbie dolls ; they were  walking, talking ; they were cute and tall; funny and smart. On the land of Barbies, Barbies ' wishes always came true. They had power to win everyone's love. Swans in lakes  and birds from skies came to kiss the Barbies on their land. Blue skies  had rainbows  whenever they wished. Pizzas as big as ten pizzas were made. Barbies on Barbie land lived in sky scrapers , touched stars in the night.

One Barbie was dull. One night she said, " Living on Barbie land is boring" .

"Why?" they asked her.

She said, " I want to become the fish who swims in the stream."  

"Why?" they asked her.

She said, "I want to feel waters however a fish feels them" . Help my doll mom " Berry screamed. 

I straightened the cloth mask on Berry's nose and said. "Why can't she become a fish ? After all, Barbie dolls' wishes come true on Barbie land! " 

Berry said, "True, but becoming another creature is not a wish, it's bigger than a wish. That doesn't happen there."

" Oh " I said. We had reached our home by then. We cycled an hour almost. We were both thirsty, tired.  "She ( the dull Barbie doll on Barbie land) should seek help of a bigger God from a bigger land then" I said.

"Yyeeesss" my daughter beamed, rocking her elbows forward and backward. Her eyes twinkled, her smile effused joy that stayed with us all through the three minutes of the elevator ride. She was smiling as we untangled our laces on shoes, as we opened a stuck door; It stayed on her lips all through the night through her sleep.

" I watched everyone close by, near by my daughter, next few days." Helpers and plumbers found my asking weird . They walked away while i was expecting answers from them. 

" What madam? !" they all said. 

My questions were simple though. I asked them to talk about their dreams, their belief in sorcery.

Ritu asked me, " Isn't the story a context in Berry's life mam?" Ritu had come to my hospital in the morning next month.

I said, may be you should have used 'different' as a prefix to God. "Bigger" is a trouble to you.

I was happy to see Ritu smile.

"Spend more time with your daughter not around her " I warned her, rang my bell to call my next patient.