Date: 31/08/2026
All Rights Reserved by the Author
Every house seems to have one chair that belongs to someone.
Nobody officially owns it.
But everybody knows.
One evening, a guest came to our house and sat in that chair.
There was complete silence.
Nobody said anything.
My wife looked at me.
I looked at her.
The guest smiled happily, completely unaware.
Finally, someone asked,
“Are you comfortable?”
“Very,” he said.
That made everything worse.
For the next ten minutes, the entire family behaved strangely around him.
Nobody explained.
Nobody asked him to move.
We simply waited.
Eventually, he got up to take a phone call.
Within three seconds, someone else was sitting in the chair.
The family relaxed.
The guest returned, looked around and smiled.
“Ah,” he said. “I understand now.”
We all laughed.
Some things are never written down.
The favourite cup.
The usual side of the bed.
The television remote.
And, of course, the chair that belongs to nobody—but somehow belongs to one person completely.
Rajat Chandra Sarmah
Guwahati, Assam, India
Email: rajatchandrasarmah@gmail.com
YouTube: Converse With A Smile
@conversewithasmile
