A Night Gone By

I was on vacation at this gorgeous place - lush green landscape, tropical rains cooling down the temperatures every so often, keeping the air pristine. It was the last night of the year. And I was sitting out on this porch. Hardly a light to be seen; just the dull haze from the night lamp inside the room. There was a screen on the outside to prevent bugs from bothering people and I could hear them croaking and cricketing to glory. The skies were shedding their weights and raining in rage. The breeze was beautifully pleasant - the winds from the rains drizzling spray everywhere. I could almost smell the earth, or maybe I did. The water in a nearby stream overflowing down the hill and gushing its way into oblivion. So forceful that it was the only reason I knew it existed. There weren't any fireworks harping the new year in. But nature was putting on its very own show.

I was alone on the porch. And I'm glad I had that moment to myself. Nature, a new year ahead and me.

These Days...

After being away the last two weekends, I have started to realize that I miss home.

Home is now the place where the bed is made the way I like. Where things are in their place and so I don't end up leaving my cell phone behind. Home is where I can lie back and wallow in being alone. Sleep in till ungodly hours and wake up when I please. Watch what I like on TV and not have to wait for my turn. Shower forever and not hold up others.

But then again I got reminded of what home was.

It was where Amma got my room dusted and ready for when me and my allergies would get back. Where no matter what I forget behind it wouldn't matter as someone would always travel with me or make sure I carried what I needed. Where I would lie back and wallow in a story book while Amma toiled away to make me my favourite food to eat. Home was where I would wake up to a tall glass of bathai juice squeezed fresh and waiting patiently for me to wake up. Where I snatch the remote from Amma's hands and browse through channels till I find something I like to watch. Where a bath is meticulously prepared - hot water in the buckets, kunkudkai with mandar akkullu mixed in as conditioner for my hair and sunnipindi for soap.

And then I realized why the place I'm typing this from can never really be home and wait for the arrival of the one person whose selfless love makes all the difference.

Resolution

Today I've made a resolution. When I see something very pretty/I like, I shall stop and take a picture if possible. I'd love to browse all those pretty sights again.

I sometimes wonder if taking a picture would make the memory weaker? The pictures is my mind are so fresh, I can recall them at a moments notice. No matter how long ago it is from. But then I'm sure I'm losing on the details. But are details necessary? Not really. Or so I think. But it would still be good to have a picture to share the memory with others.

There are three pictures that I particularly cherish. I shall try to describe them here in words - and in the process I will probably make it obvious why the picture is needed :)

One is from my college days. It was night time and we were at the back of this really dilapidated and probably very unsafe block of apartments. This was next to the Raritan River (I went to school at Rutgers). There is an old bridge over the river about 15 blocks away; a bridge with street lights all along it. The river was flowing calmly that night and there were no ripples to disturb the water. No moon to speak of brightening the skies. Or maybe I never noticed it after looking at what was right in front of my eyes. The bridge and its reflection in the water formed these perfect O's. It felt as if it was the gateway to a different world beyond. It was magical.

The second is from a night of camping. We'd all had our share of food and drink and were in a happy place already. And then a few of us decided to take a walk on the beach. The moon was bright and glowing that night and the waves effervescent. The sand were bare with none other than us present. At the back of us were these tall woods and small cliff almost blocking us from the world beyond with the sea water spreading till the horizon in front of us. The sands were white and the reflection of the moon on the sea water painted a divine landscape; one I'll probably never forget my whole life. The waters splashing against the shore the only sound surrounding us. Beautiful. I want to write so much more to make you understand how pretty it was there; but I'm sure I can never match the sight and sound of that night in words.

The third is from a very recent memory. I was backing out of my garage and in the distance could hear the sound of the complex gardener sweeping the leaves away with his air blower. As I was backing out, I caught a glimpse of the sunlight filtering to ground through the tall trees next to the footpath. There was a haze of particles floating around in the light - probably leaf shreds ruffled up by the gardener or pollen parachuting lazily. It was ethereal. The perfect green leaves of the trees as from fresh rains; the air heavy with dew and the soft golden light of the early morning; the floating bits and leaves disrupted the sheet of sunlight forming rays.

An Acknowledgement

I've always been happiest while playing something. Anything. Ping-pong, volleyball, badminton, scrabble, pictionary, cranium... and all the n things I dig up. Or my friends dig up.

I meant to write about how "play" is what I like best. But while writing I got to thinking -- is it really that? Do I ever go out there by myself and have as much fun as I do when I hang out with friends? Doing whatever it is we end up doing.

Hanging around the house doing nothing but just relaxing and watching a movie together. Going hiking on the coldest of days. Driving all the way to the city for a music gig just to get turned away at the door due to a sell out. Testing each others reflexes with ping-pong. Going for real long and drunken lunches and topping it off with a crazy drive -- all on working days. With girlfriends -- dressing up just for the sake of it. Going shopping; window shopping. Restaurant hopping -- picking up fav foods from fav places and making a meal of it. Exchanging favourite song links. Freezing your butt on a powdery evening having a snowball fight and burying each other in the stuff. Going to those dance clubs you're sure to come out of totally deaf. Get high on excitement, enuf to run into ice-cold beaches just for the fun of it. Foray into beaches at restricted hours and ending up on the most breathtaking setting ever (I'll never forget that night in Big Sur). Decide at 3am to make it a night out and catch the sunrise! Getting drunk on a camping trip and bellowing out all the picnic songs you learn at school. Walking to downtown on a cloudy night to get some hot-chocolate and ending up walking through murky canal water in a downpour :D

Its definitely friends that make life exciting. So here's to all my friends -- you are the best!

Delhi 6

Happened to get up early today and have been listening to Delhi 6 songs since. And I love them! Considering how short lived my music obsessions usually are, I just felt I had to leave enduring footprints of my love for these songs -- in the hopes that I stumble on this post and enjoy them one time more. Am being optimistic here that I will stick to this blog for a while and not abandon it anytime soon.

All ye pirates out there, this isn't meant to provide you with free songs!