First acquaintance
Comments(2)Sometimes, some people become acquaintances. By unconventional ways. You see them on the same bus everyday and they are like you who take the same bus everyday. Waiting for the same registration number in a BTS bus everyday. Well, queer as it may sound, I used to do that.
You see them often when picking vegetables, discarding one beans while picking the other. You catch them do the same with lady’s finger, all in the corner of your eye. You rarely acknowledge their presence nor they do to yours. But both of you know each other exists and it’s a pattern.
People waiting at the bus stop, the ones at the gym, the ones that come to your video library, book library, the ones that jostle for space and stand outside the ration shop. It is funny, you know them, yet don’t know them. You know their faces, the clothes they own, the footwear they wear and can guess at what they might be doing. Yet you don’t smile or say hello to them.
Well, in all these days of going to the park every morning regularly (all these days – 1 month successfully so far) I know the regular 20 – 25 of them and can distinguish them from the other random ones that pop up. Anyways, I was walking as usual and took a break after 4 rounds to do more all the time concentrating on the green in the front. I heard – ‘sustha?’ I thought mind must be playing games. I heard it again ‘susthaa’? And looked up to find an old man, who is a regular, by the way. I said ‘haagenilla’ and then proceeded to walk.
When I encountered him on my next round, he asked me to stop for a chat, told me I could join the exercise learning group if I wanted to. Then introduced himself, and said he was from Mangalore. He belongs to the club that maintains that park and his wife is the secretary of the ladies club. Also, there was a cultural program today at 2pm. I see.. I said ok, smiled and then proceeded to continue with my walking.
Well, tomorrow, I may try to talk to the burkha clad woman whom I banged into once while jogging, or might ask the red haired guy, if his hair is actually red in colour or he painted it that shade. Or might try to talk to the very old man who comes in every morning with biscuits, a bottle of water and a newspaper. Maybe he has a story. A son who snatches his newspaper, perhaps! Who knows??
Word’s work (pun intended)
The walks in the park continue
Amidst sprained knees, I admire the view
Watching people young and old
With hair brown, black and gold
Concentrating beyond their conversations
Turning a blind eye to their appearances
Blocking the traffic that zooms around
Ignoring the school kids and their sound
The focus now is on the trees so green
Pleasant and soothing, say the eyes seen
I plonk on the parks seat overlooking windowsills
Hoping to write the next version of Daffodils
A new beginning..
Like a tiny bud, as a morning dew
You are a rare gem with a golden hue
You fought it out when it required a fight
And still through everything, made the burden light
You persisted with patience, with hope in heart
With true faith, age-old myths you did thwart
As you embark on this new exciting journey
Made meaningful by everything that you personify
May life turn blissful with every step you take
And present you with joy at every turn you make
Adieu
At first, seemed so distant and non-existent. There was no recognition, leave alone a relationship. In the past five years, it has suddenly come to mean a lot and parting suddenly. There were signs that I chose to blissfully ignore till it avalanched and shook me hard to sink the fact in.
I got introduced when somebody I was waiting for months, landed and it was a sweet meeting with fond memories and remembrances. It also became associated with some not very happy encounters and has nurtured me like a mother when I fell sick. If I could always count on one thing and feel at home and comfortable, it was this.
I remember my near and dear ones vouch and embrace it with the same warmth as I showed it and basked in the feeling that everybody liked what I liked. It was a sweet phase. Was? Yeah. It’s over. Almost. I stood with moist eyes when the realisation caught me unaware. I was staring at the half demolished place, incapable of accepting that the place was no more, the relationship was no more, the comfort of someone being there no more. A vacant void filled the mind. I looked away, trying to reminisce the building in the mind’s eye. and all memories associated with it. Alas, one glance of the half demolished building reigned supreme in the mental picture causing even more agony.
It all must come to an end. Good things just don’t last, like I’ve learned often. Even though it stayed for a short while, I’ll remember it always with the fondest memories it holds for me.
With a heavy heart and sinking feeling, I bid farewell. Good bye, Woodys. To Woodys as I knew it.
A walk in the park
A morning at the park..
Finally, after making many mental notes to myself that I need real exercise, I went to the park to take a walk. It was more for seeing how it all looked after the heavy rains last night. To see the drenched trunks, droplets filled leaves and feel the wet ground. Anyways, saw this whole variety of people there. Silly me, to think people come to just take a walk. I actually sat down for sometime to observe all the different kinds and amuse myself.
My space is me + 2 arms length: This person waves his hands all around himself, starts from the sides, takes it up, then forward and back and down. Repeats this throughout the walk. I don’t care there are others around. All I care is for my two arms length of space.
I tell you aunty: A fat middle-aged lady, or shall we say old lady who has 2 species of similar kind and keeps narrating to them endlessly about trivia that happened in her life the previous day and the other two listening, interjecting nods and hmms at appropriate times. While I took numerous rounds, I was curious to know what she had to say. Here are some excerpts.
1. maneyavaranne nambakke aagalla. Amele thane horaginavaru (Can’t trust family members itself, the others come later)
2. Bandu TV haaki koothkondre.. abba.. (if he/she comes and switches on TV and sits down, oh my God)
Well, maybe it was important that she share it with the other 2 ladies at 7 in the morning so that they know what it’s like.
Walking I tell you aunty: Burkha clad in the park, they walk slowly, one talking and the other 2 nodding. Here, the conversation is short and crisp. The other 2 ladies are disinterested here and just look ahead with an empty look on the face. They step ahead occasionally to leave way for the others who walk faster than the snail speed with which these ladies trudge the trail.
Family issues discussers: Ah.. we have enough issues(pun unintended) to take care of, that we bring them to the park, and we walk and talk. I walk to the left, my wife to the right. We don’t walk straight. We take one step to the left and one to the right alternating so that our shoulders do touching-touching once every two steps. These couples leave no room for the other walkers who embarrassingly stand till one steps away and leaves space.
Bored husband-wife: What I’m guessing is, these people spent a good time in the parks before they got married. The spark is off now and they are trying to rekindle it by coming to the place where cupid struck first. They occupy the seats at the center of the park and stare vacantly into space.
Amidst these, there are the regular walker folks, the Reebok show-off dudes, stretching uncles, juice wala with 20 kinds of juices that includes grass juice, radish juice, etc..etc.., the kids who sit on benches and doze while parents walk, the silent meditators, housewives in hawai chappal and of course, Yours observingly.. 
Beautiful Day..
Morning starts so late..the time could make one scream and run to work
But I wake up slowly, surely, with a light spring..
It’s a beautiful day..
The paper is crumpled and lying down..
The milk has not arrived, I smile slowly..
It’s a beautiful day..
A strong, rude mail, tells me things are tough and hard
I read it, think nothing, feel a sense of being light
It’s a beautiful day..
Work piles up, moves slowly and sluggishly
I listen to a melodious soothing song..
It’s a beautiful day..
Sometimes, events that occur just don’t matter
Because some days are beautiful days..
And today, it’s a beautiful day..
Just wondering..
The silences..the stolen glances..the smiles within..the joy untold..whatever happened to romance the way I knew it.. Today, it’s defined by the huge bouquet of red roses, teddy bears, jewellery, candle lit dinners and to top it all, a specific day for you to express your love. Sigh!
Was watching mounam elanOyi.. Beautiful! Such a welcome change from all the loud, pompous and garish expressions. The pining, the desire, affection all in such a subtle way.. Yet so strong and so true..
Am I the only one who wishes for simple, silent expressions of affection?
Just asking?? Oh well, save the energy
Trrnn.. Dhoom machale.. The vroom of the vibrations.. Well, these are the ringtones that blare out all the time catching sound sensitive people like unaware. It’s not as much as the ringing that bothers, but the sense of ubiquity that people try to assume possessing a mobile.
Why is it so hard for people to leave mobiles behind while they go to meetings? They stick to it like the dog following Yudhishtira to heaven. It’s not that the cellphone is going to lead them to it, nevertheless, most don’t know why they carry it around. There’s a call from an angry wife in the shrill tone – ‘Where are you??’ This question never fails to amuse me. Did you mean to ask – ‘Is it a good time to talk to you?’ Well, grrrrrr!!!
Questions that irritate to no end:
- Where are you?? – On earth, of course. Where else would I be if I’ve actually answered your call?!??
- What are you doing?? – Breathing and blinking. This somehow doesn’t convince anybody I’ve tried it on. It’s so true. Yet, people fail to accept it as an answer.
- What plans for the weekend? – This is one question that makes me go pound on the person’s head and return. Already, I’m looking at my mundane automated existence and wondering whatever happened to that spontaneity of just letting a day unfold. And you want me to plan something that totally does not need planning??
- How’s life? – What are you asking here, specifically? My life? Life in general? And what answer do you expect for it? You’re not even listening to whatever comes next. It’s like this filler.
- Had lunch? – No.. I was planning to starve till a soul really cared and asked me about it. What difference does it make to you?
Deprived Dreams
The full moon stood a silent witness
The hope it kindled, it wished to harness
Everything it created painstakingly
To show the beauty in the world
Every wish it promised to fulfil
Merciless, it put the trusting soul in peril
And stood shining as bright as ever
As though nothing in it did waver
Unmindful of the integrity it professed
Stood without life in the sky it caressed
It cared no longer for the sky nor the breeze
It had light but no more shone among the trees
Bereft of hope and tenderness, it resembled a white sphere
And made the heart wish for a night sky true and clear..
Couplets.. and poemlets (this term is getting into the dictionary soon.. Really!)
The post is new. But the writing is not. I wrote this 3 years ago. Not obsolete. How can things go obsolete when I write them? Enough.. Let me copy paste the stuff now.
It might be this way till writing oozes out and I can write again new stuff.
1. No rhyme no reason
To my soul, a treason
2. Something abstract, can’t find a name
In the whole scheme of life, this is, but a game
3. For my own talents, I don’t find a use
An angel, a demon, whose is the ruse
4. Where, does the fault lie?
In me or the world?
Can’t see people in the eye 
5. Every single obstacle encountered
Means another stone in life not unturned
6. Pleasure found in talking abstract
Where every single word otherwise insignificant
When combined in this specific manner
Acquires a meaning so profound
An implication not very common
To every soul in question
But each gets his answer
In this strange phenomenon
Who gave the answer, the one who spoke?
No, the answer is your own soul
Helps break free the clouds of confusion
And pushes each one closer to his goal
7. And MY FAVOURITE:
Everything around seems like an illusion
In my own soul, I feel like an intrusion
