Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Beyond Reason


A silent tear in a shattered sky.
An unsure walk through a foreign street.
A day that gives you no excuse.

For you my friend, I pray for strength.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Objects in the Rear View Mirror

As a kid I loved those Sunday afternoons. Get back from church after Sunday classes, have a long and elaborate lunch, and wait till 4 pm when the regional movie would be played on DD-1. Remember those "handovers" from national to regional television?

"The next transmission from this kendra will be at 8.30 pm.
Over to regional kendras"


But five minutes before a bright blue screen displayed this message, almost every week you would see this:



Then the age of DD-1 passed, and the song lay forgotten like a dusty old book that had fallen down the shelf into the corner near the wall.

Today listening to it brought back a wave of memories, many of those of the good old DD-1 days, when the indo-pak cricket match would be interrupted by the half an hour news I didn't give a damn about. Of tuning my TV over and over again to listen to the Superhit Muqabla countdown on DD-2 even if I couldn't get the video. Of running out of the school bus to watch that children's show at 5 pm every Wednesday. Of Chitrahaar and the "a gift for someone you love" Amul ads. Of the Piyo Glass Full Doodh song.

And that when you're so far away from home, joining everyone together with one voice seems to make a lot more sense than it did ten years ago.

Just a Short-Term Thing

Ever had the experience where you can say anything to people to hardly know? It's not because you suddenly discover some hidden connection that sparks to life. Probably it's knowing the fact that even if they know every dark secret of your life you still wouldn't care.

For me that's the beauty of short-term relationships. You can tell them just about anything and not worry about it. That you smoke 20 cigarettes a day. That you once fell asleep on the college sidewalk after a night of heavy alcohol. That you've fallen in and out of love four times. That the ring on your finger was actually a gift from an ex-girlfriend which you never bothered to return. Pretty much anything you want to say, because you don't care about what they think. And they don't care about what they think either.

Life's good.

Disclaimer: The examples above are just that: examples. I have (probably) never had anyone/most/some of those.

Saturday, September 08, 2007