A touch of humanity

I tell you, all this rain is not so much of a good thing.

Another day gone by with the sun setting without much of a pomp. I mean, it's okay to have rains once in a while, you know, just to loosen things up a bit, a touch of lethargy for the mass of people hurrying about everyday, not even bothering to look at the roses. But the damp sky, the wet weather, the dull faces, filled potholes and slush.....oh man! Soon, it gets on you.

Now, I have a slight cold. The most infuriating thing about it is that the sneeze is about to come, and then it doesn't. You have your face all screwed up and your eyes squinted, ready for a good, nice, long sneeze and then it doesn't happen. That is the worst sickness ever.

Anyway, that's not what I am here to talk about. I was just crossing the much populated Poonamalle High Road today, with the inevitable drizzle carpeting down on us all, when I saw this other guy trying to do the same. I didn't pay much of an attention to him. He was of the wrong sex ;)

Then, we both reached the corner of the road at the same time and I stepped forward a bit. He instinctively touched my arm, just at the wrist and checked my progress. I looked to see a two-wheeler barelling down the road. It zipped past us. I wouldn't have been hit if I had taken that step. We then crossed the road, and he walked off without a word.

I looked at him for sometime. He din't know me, I didn't even see his face. But, at that instant, I felt a wave of gratitude sweep over me. I know he didn't exactly save my life or anything but that slight gesture restored my faith in humanity. No matter how late you are, how much you want to get to where you want to go, you always must and will find time for others. We have never lost humanity. It has just changed colors. In this world where any form of physical contact is more an intrusion of privacy, we yearn for the touch of another soul. Not the physical touch. But rather the reaching out of one human to another. Long live the people.

A different world

Ah...Chennai!

I swear I never expected to talk about Chennai's weather with a contented sigh, except probably on the return journey when I usually am glad to leave the place. But right now, it's 'Ahhhhh...Chennai!'

Before you read this, let me tell you I am not an insensitive lout. I know people have lost lives and livelihoods, that their loved ones are seperated, their beloved possessions all gobbled up by the rushing waters, rich and famous suddenly finding themselves in deep waters (literally).....all of it is making me feel more than sorry for these people. They have already gone through hell last year and now, this. There is something personal between the Chennaiites and the water.

That said, it is heavenly when you look down from the seventh floor of Alsa towers. The city wears a new coat these days. A coat of shimmering gray that softens the hard edges. Through the dull fog, the whole place looks surreal. Rain doesn't fall anymore. It drifts down gently and lands lightly on your fingertips, tentatively cooling a very small area the size of a needle prick. You rub your hands more often now in Chennai. And blow hot air at them. The breeze is what it ought to be in the beginning of December. Chilly with the memory of a night time in the Bay of Bengal. I never thought I would live to see this day. The only thing that needs to complete this vision of ethereal beauty is a canoe and some gentle stringing from the banks.

For those of you who still think I am an insensitive lout, I suggest you read, 'On running after one's hat' by G.K. Chesterton. Very illuminating.

I am staying for the next seven days. I may have to change my mind about the rains but right now, I haven't gotten out of the Ahhhh......

Memoirs of a memory

The musty smell; cobwebs making wierd patterns on the roof; dust coating everything; and the ever-permeating tingle of age and antiquity - in my head.

Has it ever happened to you, when all of a sudden, your thoughts come from that part of the brain that you haven't seen for a long time? You can almost feel the magic lying like dust on everything. Familiar, long-forgotten sounds leap and grab our throats from once upon a time. Smells and sightings remembered from an age older than history.

It is weird, this room in my head. There are a lot of things here that I didn't know existed. Like that old glimpse of Jayadurga - my first ever crush - lying in that corner over there; the broken image of Herojet - my first cycle - clinking its bells from the other corner; the tattered page of Clucker - the comic strip that I invented long time back - looks about to break apart.

And of course, in the middle of all these souvenirs, lies my own innocence. The part of me that I decided to trade for knowledge, grinning at me knowingly. I think he says, "I told you so!"

I look at him yearningly for a minute. That was me, ten years back, full of hope, of happiness, of love. He is stupid, of course, not knowing there are vipers in cuckoos' nests, not knowing that he can't trust that many people, not knowing puberty, not knowing that twenty is a curious age to be in. Curioser than ten, anyway.

"You are an idiot," I tell him, with more vehemence than I wanted.

"And you are confused!" He says. Again, that knowing smile.

"I know so much!"

"Ignorance is bliss."

"You don't know how wonderful it is to be on the threshold of making it big in the world."

"You keep standing there and you're going to fall off the edge. It is not a threshold. It is a precipice. When was the last time you laughed with tears in your eyes?"

Of course I have laughed. Haven't I?

"See? When was the last time you wanted to DO something? When was the last time you felt you could change the world?"

"I am not a superhero!"

"But I am!"

With that, he turned away, trying to polish that Herojet. The talk ceased. I looked at him for sometime. This guy was seriously mistaken. I know a lot more than he does. I can carry on a conversation with a babe without having my tongue stuck in the roof. He couldn't. I can drive a car. He can't even do a wheelie in his Herojet. I am taller.

Well, this room is not all that fun. I think I will step out. Probably visit some other time, when he has grown up.