Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Its winter now

The noise, honks had returned to the city that had crept into an almost weeklong holiday. It still made me wonder that this very busy city had been quiet; the dwellers vanished into their homes in the various parts of the country. I turned my wrist to see the time and it was already 3:00 PM, there was no way I could reach at the venue of an inauguration program. It could have made me regret but it didn’t, to be indifferent to things can sometime save one from anxiety. Why would I regret, I was just an invitee not the chair person of the program or anyone who would be invited to dais and who had to address the mass. I didn’t have to please anyone and that gave me comfort. Being trivial and inconspicuous has its own advantage.
More than the program I was involved in observing the city I was born, the city that has changed with every fleeing year, the city that has seen developments and destruction. The city that has been the city of opportunity to so many people, just few days back this very city was silent and asleep, which still astonished me. The process of its waking up was very abrupt, there were no transition. A day back it was calm and quiet with few vehicles owning the roads, rolling with pride and the very next day the city had gained its business, the offices were open, the people had returned, the music from an audio store lost among the noise.
I didn’t bother to look into my watch when I was at the venue, looking at watch is often just a formality, just like blinking of an eye the involuntary action. The minister who had to address the mass had not come and I pondered whether the minister didn’t come in time because the audience never came in time or the audience didn’t come in time because the minister never comes in time. I heard a staff hurrying towards the gate anxious and worried. I heard him say its already 4:30 PM and the minister had not come yet. That again saved me from pulling up my sleeves turning my watch turning my head lowering it looking into watch interpreting the sight in my brain and acknowledging it was 4:30 PM. Just to see time one had to go through so many trivial activities. A little later the minister dropped in. He spoke on everything except about his ministries and its work, he told things of which even a Kid will be well known and after he finished the hosts appreciated how he had shed light on so much important thing that gave me a nausea. My head being lethargic and dull, I took leave from the hosts exchanged pleasantries, laughed on things I would not laugh otherwise, appeared cordial, grinned and just few minutes later I was in the back seat of a local bus back to the thing I had started enjoying long back. A girl at the other end pulled up her shirt and tucked her head in. That made me realize the winter was already making its presence felt. I could see tiny blisters on my arms left open by my T-shirt, I felt cold as if I were shivering. I rubbed my right hand with the other hand, the red sun which was already very low in the sky seemed to be smiling. The headlights of the vehicles had sparsely lit the road apart from the street lamps which were themselves sparsely located. I thought I was late and this time I couldn’t resist watching my watch which said it was 6:00 PM. This very city was bright with no tints of darkness just before the holidays were now dark and black, the days had really shortened. Winter is my favorite season, the sun is loved most in this season, the moon is most beautiful, and the bent flowers give impression as if the nature is itself resting, hibernating to revive for spring. My reasons are vague as there is no strong reason why I like winter. I thought from tomorrow I should get the full shirts, warm clothes out from the closet. While I was getting over these things, the crimson sun was already replaced with golden moon. I looked at it for a long time before I got down at my station. On the road the cool air which I had blocked from the window in the bus attacked me, I bent a little and I gathered pace excited for no reason. I was at home very soon.