This winter, like every other, is urging & inspiring me to write. Alas, I'm not moved. Maybe there is nothing specific in my head I can put down. Maybe there is too much, I don’t know. But, for this splendid winter’s sake, I sit, pen & paper in hand, & let a good old fashioned random rant out..
It has been some year – form last winter to this one. Take South Bombay for instance – the once elusive, land of far far away soon became a terminus on my Railway Season Ticket. Churchgate wasn’t the mysterious, seldom visited part of the city anymore. Now, it was all about the train schedules, bus rides, rickety cabs, ganna juice, cold coffee (the saviour), pocketless trousers, jaywalking..articleship, to sum it all up. Soon enough, this phase ended too. Churchgate, once again, became the land of far far away, to my relief this time. When I went back there, a week after 26/11, I felt uncomfortable. I knew the streets too well & for once, I truly missed articleship. After a week of partial insomnia & watching my favourite part of the city on news channels, it was good to be there & see it like it used to be; only a little tattered & crowded now. I slept well that night. Can’t wait to renew the Season Ticket!
Also, in winter I’m most prone to a nostalgia attack. So when I met a few school friends at a college fest recently, I got thinking about how carefree school & JC life was & how I’d tell them (my science stream pals) “Don’t worry, you guys are frustrated now. After 2 years, I will be!” Given my powers in clairvoyance, here I am :P
Amidst all the irritation, humour is easy to find & it’s what keeps me & my girls alive at the end of 5 hour-long lectures on direct taxation. In an accounts lecture once, the professor asked the class to come up with the solution to two of the toughest Schedules in the question, in return for which he would solve the other two Schedules, which were a cakewalk anyway. In response, albeit (& gratefully) not too loudly, Mudra told him – “Sir aap humein khoon do, hum aapko aazaadi dengey..” At a seminar cum pep-talk, a speaker was telling us how some married women also, even after giving birth to children, have cleared professional exams; to which my involuntary reaction was – “Wasn’t labour pain bad enough?”
My thoughts, like my parlance, have become very textbook-centric. That’s why, when someone asks how long I’ll take to get to class, I reply – “30 minutes. That includes a provision for slow-walkers & TCs at the station. Might reach sooner if no TC” When a friend asks if she can borrow my book, much to her annoyance & my nerdiness induced pleasure, I counter question “But under which section?” Then again, change in thoughts, like in people, is inevitable, no?
And in present day, after over a year of longing & craving for the freedom to wear jeans & a tee instead of trousers & shirts, I finally have the liberty to do so. But when I open my cupboard, it’s the casuals that are the hardest to find. As an annoying pg. 3 columnist would put it, ‘such is life, dearies!’
So as my merry musings end & I wish the 4 people reading this post a nice, normal New Year, I know for a fact that my ‘2 oh-oh 9’ is going to be anything but normal. For starters, the next 4 months & 14 (or so) days are probably going to be the most somber 4 months & 14 days of my life. And I am all geared up for some cyberspace hibernation. Till then, so long! ..and thanks for all the fish! :D
Cheers. Keedas (but limited). Peace.
