Skip to main content

Rains and votes

Mornings and nights in Mysore are just wonderful. With hot and nauseating middays, it is a relief to come out at night and relish the cool breeze which seems to have a tiff with the sun as it refuses to meet us when he is present. The breeze peeps out to check if its archrival sun has disappeared, and slowly flows out. Early morning walk is quite enjoyable with no sign of commercial activity except for the long-drawn, oft-slurred cry of the woman who carries leafy veg in a basket, newspaper boys who would bring gold in Olympics discus-throw, men who walk wobbling on the road after a boozy night inside a ditch, daily wage labourers who arrive in city from various sub-urban villages wait for contractors squatting on roadsides...
Though all these were a common sight to me every morning at 7.30, today it was quite different, delightful and clean.
After a night of rain god's fury at its best, I was waiting to come out of the house and enjoy the bus ride to office. Fallen trees and scattered leaves & branches everywhere, the only topic of discussion at the bus which had some wet seats, was rain and the havoc it caused. The city and its roads, rooftops of shops and other buildings were clean, seems they were washed off their years of dirt. It seems the rain came to clear the minds of citizens which are clogged with 'naive' faces, speeches, beseeching, dirt-throwing by politicians who are ready to fight the democratic war of elections tomorrow. Now, voters can vote without outer influences marring their judgement. Just a hope!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Caterpillar or butterfly?

'Caught in a strange land in a net with other butterflies, I'm a caterpillar yet undecided to remain a caterpillar and perish or turn into a beautiful butterfly and live a life full of joy.' Readers don't laugh. But I came up with this one night recently when I was travelling in a train. I tossed and turned, not being able to sleep, upset over unexplainable things and frustrated over events not in my control. Then it occurred to me that our life and its usefulness depends on our decisions -- whether to remain a crawling caterpillar whose existence otherwise is either ignored by all and sundry or who is cursed for just being there and thrown out with a stick, or to develop wings of life and metamorphose into a beautiful butterfly whom everybody adores for its beauty and colour, for its flitting liveliness, for its service to the flower's pollination... I thought that I should be a butterfly, of service to others, but then again I thought, anyway, who really cares? 

The next step forward

“ What is the feeling when you're driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It's the too huge world vaulting us, and it's goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” -- Jack Kerouac (American Poet and Novelist) From what I have seen and admired in humans, they are eternal optimists. Goodbyes seem to break us, but we straighten up and walk, holding our head high, blinking away our tears. And as regards the specks of people dispersing, when something moves away, something else comes near. Guess that's how laws of nature move. If a time comes when nothing else comes near, it's when we will become really alone; alone to live and love life without any reason, taking the next step forward.

Parents extraordinaire

My friend told me a story today while we were travelling in bus. It made me think of human emotions and the ways they are manifested in relationships. On Monday, my friend got into her bus as usual and sat on a vacant seat near an old man. He was bent with age, possibly carrying the life's burden. After a while, he started talking to her, asking about the time and her destination. When the city bus stand came near, he said he had to go to Sayyaji Rao Road to buy dosa, come back near Town Hall to buy churumuri and go somewhere else for some other eatable. She just nodded thinking why he was telling her all this. He then said it was all for his son. My friend asked him what work does his son do, to which he replied 'nothing.' He is well-educated, with good computer knowledge and intelligence enough to work. But he never steps out of his house and this aged dad works for a living, not only looking after his grown son but also cooking for him and lovingly serv...