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“Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.” – Barbara Bush This year, I had been waiting for Santa on Wheels (SoW) since October. Having missed it in all the previous years, I just knew for a fact […]
He rushed out of the bathroom. Five past nine. Gosh! He was late.
He couldn’t miss meeting her today. It was an important day at work, but she was his lucky charm. He glanced at the clock from the corner of his eye as he brushed his hair.
9:15!! Time was flying today…faster than it usually did. But then time always played these sly games with him every time he had to meet her. Conspirator!
He couldn’t be late today, no. She hardly ever waited for him. She had left him and gone alone in the last two days. He couldn’t make it three days in a row. No, he just couldn’t.
The wall clock seemed to be glaring at him, as he began to hunt for a decent pair of socks. 9:25! Shoot. Why did hostel life have to be so messy? He made a mental note to clean the room up and re-arrange his cupboard. Grabbing his bag and the keys, he raced out of the building.
9:28. He was too late for his daily share-a-cab routine, he realised. He’d have to hail a private cab. Over-budget by Rs.10 early in the morning, he thought. Sigh. These calculations always played at the back of his mind. He hated it.
He briefly glanced at the sea that he was used to seeing. Perhaps the only posh thing about his hostel was its location. He couldn’t help but think about her as he continued gazing at the vast expanse of blue water on his left. Honestly, her usual maroon-red dress code was so repetitive. He was bored. He hoped to see her in another attire sometime.
9:35! Oh no! This Pizza by the Bay traffic signal always played a foul game with him. Hmpf. He’d have definitely jumped the signal had he been driving, the angry thought occurred to him. Maybe that is why he wasn’t, he smiled to himself.
9:37. He was racing against time. As he waded through the sea of office goers at Churchgate station, his head was throbbing, too. Will she be there, or won’t she? Will she? Won’t she?
Running past the overly crowded ticket counter, he stopped abruptly to look for her. Panting, he was trying to suck in all the oxygen he possibly could. But the strong aroma of coffee made it so difficult for him to breathe. His shirt dripping with sweat, he stood there. Defeated. Still panting. Bending to hold his knees.
She had left.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Andheri ke liye 9 bajhkar 38 minute ki 12 dibbon ki jalad local aaj deri se chal rahi hai. Yaatriyon ko hone waali asuvidha ke liye hume khed hai. (The 12 coach fast local for Andheri, leaving at 9hrs and 38minutes is running late today. Inconvenience caused to passengers is highly regretted Continue reading
Yeah, it’s October already and even before we know it, it’s going to be December and then December 31 and we’ll all be celebrating the end of an amazing 2012 & the beginning of (a hopefully better or equally good) 2013!
That I don’t want this year to end is another story, cuz it will, anyway. But I have a list of things I want..ok I WANT to do before this year ends.
So here it is!
1. Eat the pav bhaji & jinny dosas and the mayo cheese grilled sandwich outside college! No, I am not a food deprived kid tying to get my hands on all the food I possibly can. It’s just that..every single day, I rush to work immediately after college. Leaves me with no time to enjoy myself..to enjoy college..to enjoy all those things that I am really going to miss in a few months’ time.
2. Do an overnight stay at my nani’s house with all my cousins there! The last time all of us came together and had such awesome fun was…ok wait….umm..way back?
3. Travel from first station to last station on:
— Western Railway line
— Harbour Line
— Central railway line (This alone might take me one whole day! :P)
4. Go chaat- tripping across the city! All of us have our favourite chaat places -Elco, MM or the awesome pani puri waala near juhu circle! Why not try all of them out? 😉
5. Publish at least 15 more blog posts 😛
6. Finish reading all the awesome books that have currently piled up in my drawer. Trust me, it’s not easy with my crazy schedules 😐
7. Give all my friends their long overdue birthday gifts 😛
8. Click as many photos as I can – of college, friends, family, the city, the sea and all things I love.
9. Maintain a good work-life balance i.e.
Work – 10, Life – 90 😛
(Now hoping against hopes for my office folks to not read this :P)
10. Watch as many movies as I can. Re-watch the POTC series and all the Nolan movies 😀
11. Visit the Gateway of India and take a jetty ride! The last time I visited the place was like 13 years back! 😐 
12. Get my best friend a girlfriend.
13. Attend a music concert!! Like seriously..it’s high time I attended one. (Oh! and watch a live match, too. Koi bhi sport chalega yaar..any match..just one live match!)
14. Start writing a diary. Multiple reasons for wanting to write one – eg : I’d love to laugh myself crazy, when I open the diary and read it years later!
15. Start studying for my board exams. OK, that’s asking myself for too much, but just a *little* bit of studying will save *major* dark 
circles, no?
16. Wear a sari. Also attend a wedding, maybe? I’m one of the major-wedding-haters. But doing CA makes one make weird choices, no?
17. Join some dance class and learn some dance form! What a stress buster dance is!
18. Go to Colaba causeway! My first time, it will be. *runs away*
19. Take my brother out for a good meal to wherever he wants! This is long overdue, too! (I know he’s not going to read this, so it’s ok to say :P)
20. Learn to cook and write more meaning stuff on the internet. Bye!
Photo credits : mumbaidailyphoto.blogspot.com, inmumbai.org, scox.org
I must agree that the last few weeks have taken a toll on me. Sleepless nights, project completions, burning deadlines, presentations, exams and life in general.
I am assuming that is a common man’s definition of being ‘stressed’.
So yesterday, I was all sleepy and slow, and I realized how fast everyone else was. Everyday!
Maybe I took a couple of seconds more to get the cash out of my wallet to pay the rickshaw-waala when I saw him make a face. I was waiting at station, waiting for my train to arrive and I couldn’t help noticing all those passing by. Someone was busy shouting over the phone, someone engaged in an animated conversation with a friend, someone listening to music and rushing to climb the bridge, hordes of people climbing down the bridge, numerous passengers walking in to station and so many people walking out. So many people, so many lives. Yet none of them bothered to look up. Neither of them saw the trains or each other. Each of them just looked down and walked. Rushed, to live their busy lives.
Ah! I was a little slower than the rest as far boarding the train was concerned. But I bet I felt someone push me in. Maybe I was a bit slow in getting off, but that was enough for the ladies behind to push me and make their way out fast! Time was indeed precious, wasn’t it? And here I always wondered what difference a couple of seconds would make to anyone’s life.
It was yesterday that I really thought about how our city is often addressed as the city that never sleeps. Well, maybe it doesn’t breathe either!
Given a chance, our idea of the best birthday gift would be an off from work, to constantly pray to God to give us longer days & shorter nights and to hope against hope that we’ll be robotic enough and never miss our daily train!
Conclusion:
We’re all in a hurry. All the time. We rush to sleep late at night, hurry once we wake up, run to college, then rush to office, then finish our work in haste and then we try and rush out of office as fast as we can, run to catch the train to be able to reach home on time, hurry to the best seat in the bus so that we can read that book we’ve wanted to read all day long, rush through dinner because we want to complete our assignments, hurry with the assignments because we want to watch that favorite TV show and then rush to sleep again because we have to haste through another long day!
Moreover, I think we’ve become so used to the rush, the haste and the hurry that we don’t even mind missing out on some of the most intricate and beautiful moments of life. Moments that will never come back to us again. Moments, that we will only wish we had lived a little longer. Moments that we will wish we had lived at all.
Maybe we need to stop worrying about when we’ll reach office or when we’ll leave. We need to stop thinking about the long day that awaits us or the pending work.
Maybe we just need to cherish all the little joys that we so easily overlook. Maybe we need to just live life as it comes. It’s OK to miss a train or two sometimes, isn’t it? It’s OK to bunk work and go for a movie instead.
Maybe we just need to do what we FEEL like. Maybe we need to spend some time figuring ourselves out and not the train schedules. Maybe we just need to stop, feel and live.
PS : This was just a random thought. I felt like penning it down. So I did!
PPS : I plan to follow this post with a poem (which is currently half written.) I felt the poem would make a lot more sense after reading this post. Hoping to finish writing it soon and I hope you liked this post!
She knew not why she was there. It had been long since the last time she came here.
“The skywalk is so peaceful”, he had always said.
She stood there, overlooking the traffic, and smiled to herself. Smiled over memories of the numerous times he’d kept her waiting, all the fights they had had, the arguments, the disagreements, the long ‘skywalk’ talks, and the most ordinary, yet amazing friendship.
The memories were flooding into her head. There was a part of her that had always been unsure of her feelings for him. Maybe that is why she was here today, after so long and all of a sudden…to reminisce.
There was not a day when they hadn’t spoken to each other. On the days when they hadn’t, there’d be a mutual feeling of emptiness inside both of them. But now, it had been months since they last met. She was confused. Was she getting used to being without him? Or was she there because she was missing him? She eagerly wanted to know if he was missing her as much as she was missing him. Was he thinking about her as much as she was, about him? She had always thought she was strong enough. So why this outburst of emotions in her head? Was it because she really felt for him, or was it normal for her to feel that way about her best friend?
She missed those days. Weren’t they the best of friends? Why was she missing him all of a sudden now? She hadn’t really given much thought to this before. Why had doubt suddenly started creeping in then? Why was she thinking so much about him? Had she really fallen for her best friend? It couldn’t possibly be…
There were so many questions running in her head, and she wanted answers to all of them. For how long would she keep running away? She had avoided herself for a very long time now.
She was still unable to understand why she was there, at the skywalk.
Maybe it just reminded her of him. Maybe it made her realize that college was long over and that lost time would never come back to her again. Maybe it made her believe that she did love him..more than a friend..
She started walking down the skywalk, smiling again. The strong wind had now begun to blow the tresses across her face..
She wondered, maybe, it was just right that she had let things be..
On an early day off from work, I decided to walk back to Churchgate station from Nariman Point. Not surprising, because there is something about the Queen’s Necklace that gets people to come back there. Again and again.
The cool wind was brushing across my face, and joyfully messing up my hair.
The waves danced all the way and happily hit the rocks with loving care.
I looked around and observed that there were so many people walking there.
It felt like the city, after all its hustle & bustle, finally had a few moments to spare.
The sunset could easily make for the most beautiful site.
Yes, this was supposed to be a city that never sleeps, not even at night.
It wasn’t the setting sun alone that shone, there was some other shining light.
Every passerby had a fierce dream in his eyes, gleaming with all its might.
The little girl must have come here for her study break
Wondering what she must of her future make
Was she thinking of how much more effort she’d have to take
Before she could chase her dreams, for her parents’ sake.
There was a group of middle aged women that was walking by
Gazing at the sky and, maybe, waiting for a chance to try
Maybe it was time to let the apprehensions die
Maybe it was time to break the traditions and fly very high.
The old man must have come for an evening walk
With nothing much, but only memories of the past to stalk
It felt like he dreamed of having with him his grandchildren play
It looked like he just wanted the happy moment to stay.
The man sitting on the carved stone held his gaze
Maybe he was wondering why his life was such a maze
He could have been dreaming of how, some day, he’d make it big
And waiting for the day when he’d be the undisputed king.
Maybe the love struck couples, too, were there for a reason, after all
Waiting to take that one last call
They might have been dreaming of a bright future that lay ahead
Why were they then, still so scared?
The tiny tots running up and down also caught my eye
The happiness on their faces, not a million dollars could buy
How they lived each moment at a time was so inspiring
The innocent smile on their face, I was silently admiring.
The walk to Churchgate station wasn’t a bad idea, after all. The beautiful Queen’s necklace had managed to leave me enchanted once again.
Sometimes, I just cannot help wonder – Why is Mumbai called the city of dreams?
We’re all strangers, but then how can we still each other’s minds read?
Photo courtesy : A beautiful image by Pranav Negandhi – http://www.pranavnegandhi.com
Postcards and poems 