Funny Side Up - Spinning tales...Talking Stories

There are million stories floating in the air. If one blinks, one misses a story. They gently move about – floating, sensing, feeling and sniffing for more stories. “Once upon a time, there lived a clerk. He woke up and never went to work” Stories pick up these lives, record them, write them down and replay them in the night. Sometimes I wonder if my story is being written down, taped for use later – when a little child refuses to eat without the accompaniment of a story.
The most interesting real life stories I have heard have been in the form of gossip over dinner table, when garrulous aunts talk their hearts out. How would you like to follow up on the cousin's neighbor who went out mysteriously in the nights, after dinner? On further investigation, the story turned a little lame – the neighbor went out to eat “paan” at the faraway “paan” store. How about the uncle who was a part of the army – and has been “out-there” and eaten snakes, out of sheer hunger (this is said in pride of course)? How about the valiant robbery that the grandmother prevented, by keeping jaggery at the door? (Oh, this one is a masterpiece)
But then, I have also seen some stories brew right in front of me. Poor Renuka, giving me a vehement “I don't like that guy”, poor mom calling to find out where her son is, poor son hating “upma” on breakfast bar! Phew! Poor street dogs menacing poor street cat, poor spider, poor fly. How about the story where the householder waits for “painters” to come in early, so she can rush to work?
But then, I have read that many more stories. Every three hours a writer is born somewhere, trying to force a story down someone's throat. The murders, the gory details of a war, the “flip side” to everything, the tale of a midget and a mouse, its the never ending list. Most often, the more unsaid the story, the better its told. A twinkle in someone's eye, a tear, a halo over someone's head, the sparks that fly – makes some interesting read.
And one starry night, when there is no one talking, one can look up at the sky – and one will know, that there a million stories, and then some more.