Sumitra Kumar
A Smooth Ride
The elderly taxi driver driving us from Connaught Place to Agra is a good guy. He proposes to take us to a few shops after visiting the Taj Mahal. We are not typically shoppers on the day, but his persistence has its way.
“You should check out the local crafts, sir. The artisans love showing them. Seeing costs nothing. I am sure, ma’am, too, agrees with me.”
He halts at a shop selling bedspreads. Obliging him now becomes unavoidable despite our tight schedule to catch the return flight from New Delhi the same evening.
“We add an organic compound to our yarns that repels insects.” The dapper sales attendant throws open several pieces of a premium collection with a resounding swish.
In his unmatched style, he further expounds on how the shop owners arrived at their secret formula. We must stop his spiel because we are running out of time.
From a lot that is of the reversible jacquard type, we quickly pick a burgundy and gold weave, ready to pay the asking price for which he grants a discount of his own.
After we arrive home, a whistling hubby is changing the bedspread while I fix our dinner. The glorious sheen makes our room perhaps even brighter than the bed chambers of Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz’s—yet, something’s amiss as I enter…
billowing curtains
a mosquito
in my mouth
About the Author
Sumitra Kumar has published articles, poems and travelogues in the lifestyle magazine Women Exclusive. She is a passionate blogger and poet. She has won many awards in national writing contests conducted by Inner Wheel. Sumitra makes her home in Chennai, India, working with her husband in their packaging and automation business. Her poetry/art website is: https://www.sumitrakumar.com