Umbra by Kishore Murthy

Weekends usually involve spending some family time, going out, meeting friends, cooking some Desi food at home, etc… but watching a pigeon convulsing was not something I expected.

My wife who was on the porch noticed a pigeon that seemed to be stuck in the space between the curb and the sidewalk of the parking lot. I go down to check it out.

At first look it did seem like it was stuck in the grass in between the sidewalk and the curb. It was flapping its wings, head bobbing up and down into the soil… I could see one of its feet repeatedly kicking away. At one instance I saw it move forward a bit and realized it was not stuck but sick. I wasn’t sure if I should be touching it or not, for I did not know what it had. I decided not to and wait for Animal Control to show up.

My wife called Animal Control and I sat there keeping an eye on the bird. After a 20 min wait they showed up. The lady comes over and takes a look at the bird and informs me that its most likely poisoned. She had seen a lot like this before and told me that these birds died a slow and painful death. Apparently it happened more frequently with pigeons as the poison resembled corn and pigeons seemed to go for it a lot more.

I am like, WTF… who poisons a bird?? Come on now… there is a Botanical Preserve behind us, there are plenty of birds around and its wonderful to have them. They may be a pain when they rip your plants or poop everywhere or build nests in places that make you pause and say to yourself ‘Oh! No, not here’. But that does not mean you poison them so they die a slow and miserable death. THAT IS TORTURE!!

The pigeon was most likely put down.

Two weeks ago, on a Monday afternoon I noticed the sky was overcast. I step out on the porch to check it out after all it was sunny like two minutes ago. On the far end of the horizon I could see lurking some bad ass dark clouds.

After my previous experiences with the weather here I did not want to take any chances. I decided to head out immediately and pick up my daughter from day care. It was a good thing that I did for it started to pour, not cats and dogs but monkeys and gorillas five minutes after I got back home. A crazy cocktail of high speed winds, lightning, thunder and rain.

Now my worry shifted to my wife who was waiting for the shuttle back home. And just as I was thinking this, she calls and informs me that the shuttle is late. I tell her to go into one of the shopping malls or something and wait until the weather calms down. I switch on the TV to catch any updates / warnings on the weather.

POOF! Before I could even tune into the right channel the power goes out in sync with a lightning flash… a brief silence followed by loud rumble of thunder.

I am now on high alert with my imaginary antennae out, while my daughter happily sucks on her bottle of milk. She seems to have no care in the world whatsoever. But I have seen the news before… shit happens and it can happen to anyone. Half hour passes and the weather seems to get better. I get a call from my wife, she is finally on the shuttle and manages to get home safe. Phew!

We sit around waiting for the power to come back and trying to keep our ever-active daughter engaged.

What next?? The fire alarm for the building starts to scream… with so many previous false alarms we cuss, moan and groan and manage to get ourselves outside. Our wait is answered by sirens in the distance and the fire truck finally arrives. This time around it took them a little longer than usual and it was only one truck. It was a fire truck from the Fairfax county and we find out that the fire department is having a busy afternoon.

And yes, it was a false alarm AGAIN. The apartment maintainence better fix it once and for all.

To think this to be end of our woes would be stupid. We still did not have power and it was now dinner time. I switch on the stove as per my wife’s instruction only to realize that it doesn’t work. Argh! The F#@#$#@ thing has an electric start.

I head out to the CVS nearby to buy a box of matches but the store is closed as there was no power… and they were not the only store to be closed. Back in India power cuts are so common that almost everything has a back up / alternative and life goes on. But out here the power cuts are so rare and the dependence on electricity so far reaching that life seemed to have practically stopped.

Luckily Giant was still open and I run in quickly to grab myself a box of matches and a flashlight. I did not know when the power would be restored. In the last storm some of the neighboring counties did not have power for more than 24 hrs. I wanted to be prepared.

I had done the grocery shopping that morning and I prayed that the food in the fridge didn’t go bad. The worst thing is when food in the freezer defrosts and then refreezes. Its almost inedible.

We had our dinner, my wife made some real good Quesadillas. Anju passed out for the night. The sun set around 8:30 something pm and the power was finally restored around 9:00 pm as light slowly faded.

I had the opportunity of meeting my cousins on the weekend. My second cousin S lives in Washington DC. Her parents who live in Alabama were driving down to Boston to attend their son’s graduation from MIT and did a stopover in DC. It felt great to be with family members and it seemed to placate the gnawing homesickness I have been feeling lately.

Driving into DC makes my wife and even me a little batty. I was happy that she was the one driving, after all she knows the roads a whole lot more than me. We had printed out the route from MapQuest and it pulled a number on us and took us in the wrong direction. My wife spotted it before we were completely offtrack and figured out that she was better off without the stupid map. And soon we were heading in the right direction.

S lives in a beautiful and very cutesy apartment. It has two floors/levels… the upper level has the living space, dining space and kitchen. The lower level is connected by stairs and has the bedrooms and bathrooms. There is even a common rooftop deck with a good view. Having a space that opens to the sky especially in the city is a treat.

My cousins who drove from Alabama got to meet my wife and daughter for the very first time. The evening was filled with lots of laughter and chitchat. S whipped up some really good Italian food which I thoroughly enjoyed. Salad with caramelized pears with almonds and goat cheese, pasta with pesto sauce and some zucchini thrown on the side. The meal concluded with cake, strawberries and whipped cream dessert that my wife made. I had a wonderful time and I hope everyone else did .

Anju behaved very well throughout the evening and went to sleep around 2100hrs. As we bid our goodbyes I tell my cousin to have lots of fun and a blast. How very apt and appropriate of me to say something like that to someone on a Road Trip?? My cousin was gracious enough to remind me and I wished her again ‘Have fun but don’t have a blast‘ .