Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Forever - Veiled

The place was almost packed. People belonged to all kinds, race, size, nature.
She slowly struggled her way through the crowd getting crushed and squeezed on her way,then finally found a place to sit. What a relief, the window seat was a bonus.
She pushed opened the glass window with her tender slim hands and maximum force that she could give it and sat back. The cool tender morning breeze making its way through the window grills, dried the sweat off her face. she could almost smile at it. She looked around. There were more than a dozen pair of male eyes gazing at her. She wished she could get up and burn all those eyes off, scratch their faces, like they were never there. But, the least she could do is ignore. Look elsewhere. Act like she never saw them. She pulled out a book from her bag and started reading. She carefully lifted one of her legs and crossed it over the other, pulled her blue kameez down to comfort. Her pink churidhar was matching her pink earings, pink dhuppata and pink footwear. Her bindi had traces of both the colours and so did her hair pins.
She was reading her book with all the attention, may be she had an exam/test in college or she was just reading to divert herself from the people around her.
After a few stops, traffic signals and jams the bus finally was approaching her stop. She got ready to get off. She pulled out her bag, placed the book in it and removed a piece of cloth from inside. A Blue one, to match her kameez.
Without the slightest hesitation, she folded the cloth into two and wore it down from her eyes, the other half was hanging down. She then took it up from behind and used it to cover her hair. Within a minute it was done. she had a blue cloth all around her face and hair. All that could be seen of the pretty face that was there till now was the confused pair of eyes and the double coloured bindi. Wearing her bag around her, she again pushed herself through the crowd and got off to go join a dozen other girls waiting for her, like her, veiled.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Shell , Space, Mine.

My wings come out and let me fly,
say my words, dance my steps;
Nothing to feign, no one to hide,
everything here is loud, clear and right.
Its my space, my bubble, my world.
Love fills in every little gap you find,
language spoken is sense and people here are my type
all to do all day is laugh, cry and rejoice.
Not everyone is welcome home;
cause its my shell and everything here is just plain mine.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Adding to the Morbid Confusion

The choking and suffocating roads are already cutting our throats enough, the BMTC drivers are only adding more and more to it.
Any regular commuter in the BMTC bus will be able to understand the situation. I am not a regular commuter, but i try my best to take a bus rather than an auto when i have to use public transport. While doing this can give a hand to the environment and traffic issues in the city, the lethargy and bad attitude these drivers makes me wonder if its really worth it.
It was around 9 30 am on a weekday morning. After a 5 minute wait, a bus dragged itself to the stop. It was comparatively empty, but pushed itself into the narrow road, which was already flooded with vehicles in a turning. Firstly, the bus does not have a conductor. Second, The driver conveniently halts the bus on a side, occupying 3/4th of the turning, giving out tickets to people who were boarding the bus. Two more buses reach the stop and start honking incessantly , which was quite obvious at that time. After 2 minutes of hearing the horn, the driver slowly moves ahead, still distributing tickets. He actually, steers with one hand and gives tickets with the other hand. A traffic cop at the spot came to the bus and started tapping the bus , signalling the driver to move. But, even that did not make a huge difference to him. Though this site kinda gave me shocks about the way he was driving, it was pretty normal to everyone in the bus as they keep seeing such instances every day. They were jus used to this behavior.
The amount they charge for the ticket purely depends on their mood and the person. I end up paying anywhere from 6-9 rs for the same distance, on different days in different buses. You really cant question if you aren't sure about it.
The Volvo buses are surely a relief. They are convenient, friendly and comfortable. A definite boon to people travelling to ITPL and EC. But what about other commuters who want to make use of public transport? Forget the convenience and comfort, the least they could get is cordial drivers. I dont blame all of them. I myself have met a couple of sweet people on bus. But i kinda feel the majority have a negligent attitude. Alright they have a boring job. Accepted that it is horrible to drive on those roads. But that doesn't mean they add to the pain where they spend most time of their lives. What did the poor commuters do?

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

When Parents are that and more

Its a funny thought. But it keeps striking me more often now and more clearer than what i thought it was. The thought about how relationships over a period of time, camouflage into multiple shades that means different things at different phases in life, especially parents. This is one relationship that you grow up with and means a lot to most of us.
I still cant believe that i realised this fact so late and take every opportunity that i get now to enjoy this process.
I still share a very different relationship with each one of them, the one that i have been having since childhood. But slowly and very subtly an insignificant change grew with it. The mom things and dad things still remain, the lectures , the gossips, the difference of opinions and the fights of course.
I can laugh at them now for silly things, I make fun like never before and get back love enough and more, they have grown with me.. to understand my silly and weird ways.
My suggestions still go unheard though, it never made sense to them. But that doesn't seem to change anything and makes me feel like me in the end.
The gap still remains, much much narrower now... but what feels changed is that both of us have shifted to new levels, and keep growing to never really understand that we do. One day i think the gap will fade... and slowly close.
I sometimes feel its a myth that the generation gap widens with age and thoughts, i can see it fading and we growing to fill the gaps.
But i realized one thing can just never be changed and i am glad that it doesn't. However time passes, whatever you do in life and come back... you still get snubbed for being a kid! :)