History Strikes Back!

In a rather cold morning today, I was waiting for my mother to come out of the airport. It was her first air travel and that too, alone. Her flight had landed about 45 minutes back and she had still not come out. She was not carrying a cell phone and due to the Republic Day security, no visitors were allowed to go inside the arrival terminal. With every passing minute my worry increased. I was really anxious to see her now. After a fidgety wait, I finally saw my mom coming out of the airport. Her baggage trolley was fully loaded and she was accompanied by a young and beautiful girl.

I waived to my mother but she didn’t notice. That girl saw me and conveyed it to my mother. They came out, I hugged my mother and then she told me that there was some baggage problem which took so much time. She introduced me to that girl. They had met at the Delhi airport and she helped my mother a lot during the travel. Although it was her first travel too but still having a companion makes things very simple. The girl called her brother who was supposed to receive her at the airport but had not arrived. He was coming from a far end of the city and hence I guessed that he would take atleast another one hour to reach there.

She looked very young, probably a higher secondary student but she was actually a teacher by profession, pursuing M.Com. in Delhi. For courtesy sake (actually mom’s sake) we had to wait there till her brother arrives. So we went to a nearby coffee shop. I was already stunned by the level of comfort they had with each other. She was touching my mom more than I would and my mom was talking to her as if they’ve been friends forever! While my mother got busy calling my family back in Delhi to inform about her safe arrival, we started a pep talk. She was not fond of coffee so I got her juice and coffee for me and mom. I was not at all surprised by the fact that she already knew much about me. “So, is HCL a call center or a software company?” she softly asked. No need to laugh on this, most Delhi girls (who don’t work in corporate) would ask you the same question almost boasting that they can differentiate between the two.

Then she started asking me about Bangalore, the weather, the hang-outs etc. She had a sweet voice, quite complimenting her cute face. Although she wore braces but that was definitely not the first thing you would notice about her. She was quite disheartened to know that her ‘aunty’ would stay very far from her in Bangalore so she won’t be able to meet her easily. At this point, it was quite easy to ask for her number but as the connecting link was my mother I refrained from that.

After about an hour, her brother arrived. From no angle he looked a three years younger brother to her but I had little choice in believing that. Then we did a hurried bye, my mother hugging her (ofcourse) and we proceeded towards an auto.

“Aditi’s brother looks very old for his age, isn’t it?” my mother asked after boarding the auto.
"Hmmm.." I nodded uninterestingly.
“What... what was her name?” I asked after an uncomfortable pause.
she plainly replied,“Aditi Gupta”.

Meeting parting meeting parting….

Science & Tech is supposed to simplify our lives. Its main aim is to make our lives easier, happier & more comfortable and it’s anybody’s guess that the reality is absolutely opposite. We are more prone to tensions, diseases, discomforts and dangers than our previous generations. There sure are better people than me to talk about the ‘technical’ or ‘technological’ hazards we are facing today. What’s bothering me today is the psychological aspect of it. What mental effect does sci/tech have on us? Atleast one aspect of it is that our “social” circle has lost its boundaries.

Meeting and parting is the way of life…
In earlier times, we had to believe that once parted we wont meet again, which is sad, but which is so good too. We just needed to “live for the moment” and then forget everything. Do whatever you want without thinking about future. Your past would never reflect on you again and hence you are absolutely free! Every time you are free to start relationships afresh without any tensions of past goof-ups/ experiences. So, meeting & parting was such a great way of life!!

It’s a small world…
With the development of communication channels & all ‘izations’ happening, the probability of re-meeting people increased. Now we were just not sure if we are parting for ever. There grew a possibility of planned or unplanned meeting in future. So we started becoming cautious. If not all “well & good”, atleast we tried to end on a good note (so we prevent future embarrassments). But still, we could fairly believe that we would not meet atleast 90% of people we part with.

The ORKUT world…
Now has come the time of all misery and trouble. We are creating a web of ‘contacts’ in our life. Each and every person whom I left in history is coming back now. So much so that people I had met for a few months.. or weeks or just once(!!) are coming back and they talk as if we never lost touch. (and btw… many of them fan you too)

By friends I mean a bunch of few guys I relate with.. like to spend time with.. and can share my thought with. Do I need hundreds of “friends” for that? I really don’t think so. Another problem that has risen is that now I cannot part with people. Would that mean I’ll just keep adding “friends” all my life? And when I’ll die there would be almost a national mourning?

The problem is not as simple as it sounds. Now I have to watch my every word, every action and every thought because there is nothing like “buried in the past”. The mistakes I did when I was 8 can ruin me when I’ll be 80! And that means I have to please everybody now. For God’s sake… how can I please everybody at the same time? Previously it was so easy to just let go. But now this attitude can have lethal repercussions. Imagine.. I slapped a girl in kindergarten and my wife calls me misogynist for that!

No… I am not blabbering… this is not just a bizarre fad… today I “met” a guy with whom I explored my genitals in my early adolescence!! Imagine the level of my embarrassment! I mean we didn’t do anything as such... you know what I mean. I can’t say or think more about that. I’ll throw up.

SOS!! Please give me a permanent way to part with friends!

That Morning...

For us it was a drift from bad to worse. We had made a niche for ourselves in a far end of the city where we stayed for almost 2 years. My job compelled me to shift to the middle of the city, take a costlier yet worse house and inhale more dust and pollution everyday.

It was our first morning there. After a tiresome session of shifting the previous day, we had just started settling down in this new house. You could not even call it a house. It looked like those deserted jungle lodges. Walls and floor darkened by dry algae on the cement, decades old paintings and posters hanging on walls, dimly lit lampshades most of which were broken and about to fall, barely minimum furniture lying here and there like a rat’s nest and above all, the place was unusually silent.

At first it really felt like an adventure trip in which we are left behind by our group in the middle of a jungle. The silence was so loud that it seemed to engulf all other noises. Even our own voices sounded like unwanted disturbances there. The only thing we wanted to do at that point was to somehow break that stony silence. We switched on the TV, refrigerator, fans etc. and started talking louder than usual. Then life started pumping into that deceased shack.

Sleep was the only agenda for us then. The room, again a dingy crash pad, was haunting enough to take away our sleep and breath. With almost half the lights on in the house (for obvious reasons), we managed to get some sleep. We slept over an untold quest if we were at the right place.

Next morning, we got up quite early. Another unusual sign for us but there was no probable reason to deem the house responsible for that. I got up and went straight to the bathroom. When I came out, still rubbing sleep off my eyes, another scare was waiting for me. I could not find her anywhere in the house. I thought she would be in the kitchen but she was nowhere to be seen. The place still had its unusual lull and the door was left bare open.

I stepped out and a cool splash of fresh and cold mist softly touched my face. As if I am far from the toxic city of Bangalore, amidst the snowy abodes, the springs and the streams, the orchards and the tufts of nothing less than heaven. With a slow recovery of my instantly benumbed senses, I noticed stairs in front of me which seemed endless in that mist. I climbed up each step and the dry leaves crumpled under my feet making my rise significant and conscious. My eyes reached the terrace before me from the top of the last step and there was a divine sight waiting for me. Just across the terrace, at the far corner, there was she, in her off-white satin gown which gelled completely with the morning mist. Inseparable yet distinct like moon and moonlight. The hem was reaching the dark floor to make it appear inferior in contrast. Her one hand rested on the wall while the other held a cup. Bearing such warmth and passion in them, how could they both look so serene, intense and cool.

Her lightly flowing hair on the neck looked as if the night is dominating the day and asking it to wait a little more while dreams crown up and minds onset. Her eyes gleamed like first rays of sunlight that embrace the ground and her lips looked like a kiss of fresh dew. I saw her gazing at the sky as if streaks of light were cutting the heart of darkness and reaching for the horizon.

It was a scene to behold. As I panned my vision through the terrace, everything had a pious and soothing effect. I almost forgot the world for sometime and just lived in that moment of ecstasy.

As the last leaf crumpled, the din of life came back calling. Although the feast was over, we savored the taste. We had a satisfactory smile on our face which needed no explanation. The next one hour, we were involuntarily a part of the silence around us. There was no more a wish to disturb the sanctity of that silence and it felt as if now the silence had started speaking. There were words, there was music, there was joy and there was calmness. We let all our windows and doors open and the mist and silence seeped in and filled every corner of our soul with the celestial grace.

Now the house didn’t haunt, now the city didn’t daunt. It was not just the beginning of a day, it was embarkment of an exploration.