On my way back

It was October, and I was on my way back from Delhi, having some nice pieces of photography I’d done in the rare outskirts of the railway station. The two seats in front of me were occupied by two ladies in their late teenage, most probably heading towards the same destination as mine. As we left the ISBT (inter-state bus terminus) Delhi, everything seemed to be so normal; Delhi was facing the routined day-end quiet early, the month being October. Coal-burn-smoke could be seen through the window.

The bus was not yet full the seat next to me was still empty. So I thought of having a nap, as I was a bit tired of the photography stuffs throughout the week. There were disturbances, horns, the shouting conductor while he managed hanging, with half of his body outside the bus`s entry. My nap was not a deep one though, I woke up every now and then as the bus vibrated, looked here and there for a while, checked out for some new passengers, expecting them to be coetaneous females (As I was still inside the Delhi-Territory) and again went back to sleep.

The two ladies I specified earlier began their chit-chat which started gaining my attention. As we moved and as the sky went reddish, their conversation went really interesting. They talked about guys, their interests, food, and some science. Now when you hear science from gals, there are two categories of reactions that usually come out of normal people:-

(1)Annihilating frustration followed by an intuition that might end up donating a tight slap or a further intuition of a suicide due to ‘why am I still listening to them’ phenomenon.
(2)Remembering the exact sentences used and sharing them with your friends, which might end up changing their perceptions about you and you getting the throne of the funniest person in the group.

Their innovative talks about ‘The various shopping spots in Delhi where you may find some smart and rich guy who may afford you for the whole evening and who don`t have the guts to ask for your phone number’ and ‘What to wear in which weather’ let me figure out that they were typical Delhi locals. Around 30 minutes later they had nothing more to talk about. So one of them took out her iPod and the other kept looking out through the half opened window.

My eyes opened when we were at the midway halting for some refreshments. I went down to have something for my stomach as I hadn`t done my lunch that day and was terribly hungry. It came to my notice from the driver who was smoking his brand 101 bidi, that we had been halting since the last 10 minutes and were about to leave. I decided to carry along some packed stuff. Thinking about the available options, I headed towards the dhaba. I saw those two sitting comfortably on the chairs, relaxing. I kept thinking why didn`t the driver tell the same thing to every passenger. I got a pack of lays and two packets of chocolate cream biscuits. I looked at my watch; I had a safe and clear 7 minutes in hand before the bus was to leave. After getting my change back, I heard the conductor shouting, calling each passenger to board the bus, requesting to every one of them in the most modest way possible and then I heard the two girls ordering – 2 pav-bhaaji, 2 patties, 1 chowmein and 2 softies once the rest of the order had come.

Re-Union

Once I`d said and no one believed, “Closeness is inversely proportional to the distance and the time we spend away from each other”. I still remember my last day at school, the bid-farewell-day. People having mixed types of emotions, guys hiding out their tears, blinking their eye-lashes in an abnormally frequent rate, maintaining fake smiles and rushing to the wash-room each time their eyes overflew. After all they were the studs of our school. Gals getting their scrapbooks and stuffs filled by the teachers and other fellow mates, spilling out the excess (though it had no limits) amount of water off their eyes each time a teacher wished them for their futures. After all they were really good at that.

During our final touchy moments, after the function was over, we found out that there was not a single camera we`ve got to capture that first time when none of us had any reason to argue (It seemed quiet awkward though), but each one of us made a promise to stay in touch for life.

But now after 5 years, when I see some of the re-unions in my neighborhood, I see two groups standing in public, one of the guys and the other being their once most hated species back in school, facing each other as if an interrogation is in progress. Parents are aware that their children have entered a critical stage of life and are required to be kept under continuous public supervision. One of the teams throws some general questions on the opposition, hard to sort out who is its final destination. The answers come diplomatically from people some of whom searching the sky for fascinating images, don`t seem to be much interested.

That`s what happens when you talk to someone after a long time, when you never called during all those times before this day and after the day you made a promise.

Some of the general questions I heard:-
(1)So, how is it going?
(2)How are studies?
(3)What about your brother/sister/uncle/aunty?
(4)What will you eat?

Some of the answers I heard:-
(1)It`s fine
(2)Study`s good.
(3)Yeah, they are all fine.
(4)Anything! What all stuffs do we get here?
No, I`ve eaten already (actually they are ashamed to say that they are under a diet).

The re-union ends up peacefully after a silent meal and everyone greets each other again making the same promise of being in touch for life.

I remember the days when we used to hang out in someone’s terrace, pulling out someone out of his/her house, banging him in the 12th hour of the night during those birthdays, going out on long walks to an unknown destination, each ending up with an hilarious little story…….

I still want to close the refrigerator`s door with my foot in their houses,
I still want to keep my legs stretched out over the coffee table when we watch cricket,
I still want to talk to their parents about the kind of soul mates they are going to have,
I still want to help myself down in their kitchens.

I still want to get into a fight with a gang, their siblings bring in,
I still want to select dresses for them to be worn at parties,
I still want to spend my nights talking to them, when they are in hospital with a broken leg,
I still want to be picked up by them at the railway station when I return home.

I still want to fight with them whenever I’m bored,
I still want to tease them over the person they like,
I still want to read secretly their personal diaries,
I still want to give them some self-defense tricks in case someone tries to harass them,

I still want to talk to them all night even the one before the final exams,
I still want to go out for those awesome December picnics,
I still want to have my birthday cake cut at some uncharted location,
I still want them to be near always.

Alone in the dark

I still remember the day when I saw Anindita cry for the first time. It was the year 2005, the day of our traditional annual picnic, we got late and it grew dark. I took a step beyond the line of limits which is not to be crossed ever, so much involved in my mischievous amusements, I forgot she was Achluophobic. We left her alone in the jungle, thought she would scream at her normal pitch, but......

28th December, 2005
07:45 PM
Jatanpur,

Hey you,
Each time you cracked a joke on me, I laughed.

Each time you left me waiting, I din`t even say a word.

But I am afraid of darkness, don`t know what to do here....

I don’t want to walk alone in the dark
Hold my hand until I breathe some air in.
Don’t go too far, stay close
Give my heart the strength and the courage to beat.

Talk to me,
Keep me away from all those contrasting frequencies.
Talk to me more,
I`ve always waited for these moments, just you and me.

Come close,
That I can hear your breathes, every single incoming,
That you can hear my heart beating at double the normal rate,
That I can feel the warmth, every single outgoing.

Look straight and deep into my eyes,
That I can`t see the scary images in the cloudy sky,
Let my eyes speak the words for me,
That I haven`t been able to since so long.

Let me feel safe into your arms,
That no soul on earth can hurt me when you are around.
Let me lie over your heart for hours,
Let me sleep in peace.

Walk with me,
Till the light touches my eyes.
Stay with me, for better, for worse,
For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.

Till death do us part.

This was the diary entry she made that day. But now when I find this page along with the rest of the diary in my school bag long after the incidence, I feel scared.

Stay away

There are some things which we never want to notice but they get themselves enlightened with the spontaneous flow of time. These are some of the words that came out of that guy I recently met in a book store searching for a decent, thick novel that could be my any time-personal roommate during my stay in the college campus for the rest of the summers, who too had the same intention as mine, to get one as his companion all his way back home and suggested ‘The Afghan’, a novel by Frederick Forsyth.

This campus had been my home for the last 4 years. When I was leaving my place for this new home, it was brought to my notice by some of the friends of my elder brother who`d been in similar campuses about the abnormal sex ratios in the IITs. After my stay in Kota for the coaching stuffs, I already had a rough idea about the abnormality people occasionally talk of. But as the days passed, I observed some abnormalities in the abnormality I had the idea about. This led the "females" to "non-males" ….

He stated some of the similarities and some distinctions which create an environment of confusion between the males and the non-males-

Similarities-
(1)Both of the species have similar varieties of hair: long and short.
(2)Both have an extended portion of the hair all over their cheeks and the space between the nose and the upper lip, which is generally given the term beard/moustache in case of males.
(3)Both have a very strong intuition from time to time that something`s going the wrong way.
(4)Both of them find the synonymous gender relatively comfortable to talk about the other.
(5)Both avoid skin-to-skin contact with their counterparts even for a second.

Differences-
(1)The non-males get the perks and privileges of receiving all sorts of condolences from the respected professors.
(2)The same species has a unique quality of getting their work done by their counterparts whenever required.
(3)They are least involved in any kind of fun-related activity, there do exist some exception though.
(4)They have an extreme and incomparable power to mug up things, which make them deliver exceptional academic performances.
(5)They usually speak of equality, but whenever in a state of complication, they follow the quotation of naari-shakti and perform the call-the-dean operation.
(6)They are packed with tremendous volumes of supernatural egos, which are habitually overflowed in the form of sophisticated jealousy within the same kind, which comes out as a source of entertainment for the other.

Now that fellow moved his lips so frequently that I can`t recall each and every word he said. Actually he had his train at 1900 hrs, so we had our way back into the campus to his hostel. During the last convocation in front of the main gate, these are the words from him--“ stay away from them”.

For the first time

It happened in the year 1997, couldn`t realize though. The year 2009, recalled and called, narrated the whole story, she just laughed.

Sometimes it`s hard to see what`s been there all along
Sometimes we`re sure of everything until we find out that we`re all wrong
Now we`re standing here face to face,
Nothing feels the same.

How did we ever end up here?
I don`t know, but it feels so right,
The last thing, I ever expected, is happening, it`s you and I.
There`s something real, I can`t explain and nothing feels the same.

I can`t find the words
For how I feel about you, just want to be around you now.
I never imagined,
That someone could make me feel the way you do.

For the first time, I realize, something I didn`t see before
For the first time looking in your eyes
Suddenly there`s so much more.
Something we both feel inside, for the first time.