Colours

Sometimes it feels your life is like a painting, only different at different times. Sometimes it’s as easy as a simple, hut and tree drawing by a five year old, sometimes it is a little more varied in style what a teen would draw in love and other times its all abstract and you try hard to find the meaning hidden beneath the beautiful textures. It can also be plain and boring like a white coloured wall, but the same wall may bring in a lot of peace and serenity when your insides seem to be revolting. 

Shades of black and brown may keep coming and going through the patterns of life but a hint of a little blue or green of life make all the difference. The whole time you try to figure out the best colour to complete your painting when that colour had always been around. You just don’t realise it until the incomplete painting begins to wither away and you hit reality. You want to complete it anyhow, you have to make it work, your difference between a need and a want is so clear now and now you NEED that colour only to make it picture perfect!!

                                   My Love

Far away on a tree, a bird is trying to say something, what does she want or is it singing its happy song? The tree seems to be enjoying the melodious rhythm and the nature is so happy to comply. The light breeze kisses my cheeks and I feel my heart stop for a nanosecond. How effortless it is to fall in love with nature. The new leaves bearing the lightest shades of green, the tall trees standing protectively, the light sound of water in the stream sounding like music to the longing soul and the mild, warm sun which makes every tiny part relax and you feel you have reborn on earth. The animated chatter of the kids somewhere makes you relive those naughty moments of your childhood. Running away from home out in the fields to play with your companies for the life, to climb those ever obliging tree branches, dancing madly to any song which comes to your mind, chasing the poor kitty your neighbour has and always having that carefree face and mind. It all seems so unknown now, as if you never lived any of those days, like you were never born or were born old enough to never have spent those minutes of craziness. Almost like a previous birth when you were all happy without worries, when the world seemed to be a better, no best place to live in, sneaking hot muffins from your mother’s kitchen and sharing the bits with friends, ohh how much you miss all of it now that you’ve grown past that time.

As I think over the past, some bitter memories come rushing too sticking with the good ones, almost like inseparable as if the goodness is starting to get bitter too. The poison will soon spread and then all you’ll be left with is more bitterness to come. I try to shake my head so I shake the unhappy moments away and surprisingly it works. Far away I can hear the sweet talk between two people, almost in love. I want to talk to the nature in the same manner. Will I get my answers? Or the beauty of it is again going to distract me for the good??  

29^th January 2013

11:52 a.m.

Reminiscence

Rummaging through my old books, I found a handwritten note, a short piece of verse describing my mental state. I must have been so out of place that this crumpled sheet is a proof of. Now yellowed and crunched up, it had to bear with my emotional stress. How a very small thing as this could bring a feeling which could set a thin curve on your face. How easily it can make you relive that moment of being silly, no wonder reminiscence makes you take a birth again. It brings back the beauty, the bitterness, the happiness, the sorrow and it almost feels like a new life because you had all forgotten about it. It had been all buried dead and deep so long ago, but now it feels like you lived through them and you want to all over again. A little currency note secluded in an old book has the most intriguing quality of bringing that twinkle in your eye. It isn’t the money which brings joy but reminiscence. It bears with it millions of memories which you feel so overjoyed to share with that tiny note. It has been an active witness of your life’s precious moment when you were small and a two rupee note which mother gave you, you decided to save it of forgot to spend it or gave it to be a companion of reminiscence.

30^th January 2013

9:47 a.m.

Simple Things

Walking barefoot on the soft grass makes one realise how simple things in life can bring so much contentment. Sitting under the rich shade of a tree and looking as far as the sight goes or just watching that little bird perched smoothly on a branch can take you on a journey to some other world where tranquillity is what you are rewarded with, where lying down in a meadow seems the most apt thing to do, where you never tire out and a new unknown energy revitalises you bringing that lovely glow on your face. That beautiful smile refuses to leave and nature makes you love it again and again. The so pretty and fragile petals when fall over your eyes, they seem to say a friendly hello and you respond with that brightness in your soulful eyes. The light breeze enwraps you in its embrace and your rest your head on its chest getting lost in the beautiful moment. You talk and the nature responds and you wonder how simple it is to be happy, but so difficult to be simple.

                                                       Confusion

Often when I take a look

at the new and refreshing pages,

it makes me feel more confused

and i keep on thinking for ages.

         How do people easily pour out

their thoughts and what they feel

when i while writing lose even the tiniest amount of zeal

to jot down the most basic of things

like telling how was my week

i fall short of words and

the chances of it being a success always seem bleak

No matter day or night, joy or sorrow

Some people explain each detail

Be it today or tomorrow

And here is the worst part

they are too good at it

which surely breaks my heart

But now i have got ready

to make the readers heady

And

i am just hoping

to start writing like them

by pulling up my socks and racking my brain stem....

                                                             

                                        The dream

                              Knock knock!!!!
"Yeah? Who’s it?" came an elderly woman to open the creaking door
"umm…hi…my name's Samantha and i want to stay at some place overnight since it’s raining heavily and i can't find my way back in this situation and....." she was interrupted by the old lady
"ohh!!honey. Come on in...you are all drenched up" Samantha felt relieved that finally she got some place to spend the night as she had no hope and of course no courage too that she could go and find some other place. The old lady gave her an oversized frock and a long sweater so she could keep warm for the night..."...The frock smells of an old worn out lady...ah...what the heck...it’s still so much better than staying up in the rain all night.." she thought and looked for a washroom...the place wasn't well lit and there was a mushy smell hanging in the air all over the place, there was no T.V. and obviously she didn't expect a computer or an iPod for a lady like the owner of the place...she went a bit more inside still trying to find a washroom and she thought "man!!! this place gives me the creeps" and began wondering if it was the right decision she made to let herself into that place....who knows the lady might be an old witch…and would turn her into something!! She shuddered at the thought...
"Here...sweetheart" Samantha gave out a little shriek when she heard someone from behind...it was the old lady...
"What happened?? You look strange...and you still haven't changed??"
"oh-uhh..i was...umm…a looking for some place to change. And i couldn't..."
"ohh…come here honey...you see that bolted little door? That’s the washroom. Go ahead...and be quick or your tea would turn ice...it's freezing out there"
Samantha picked up the clothes which had fallen from her hand while she was petrified with the thoughts coming to her and went for the "little bolted door"...
"ahh...look at you...you look lovely in that pretty frock" the old lady seemed to be really happy with the way Samantha had tried to "wear" the old haggard frock on her tiny shoulders..
"Thanks" all she could muster was this little word after the beaming face and twinkling old eyes greeted her...
“Ohh sweety...come have tea..here"
"thanx..it's too kind of you Mrs...??"
"Vera. My name's Vera..and you are?"
"Samantha Mcoulloh"
"so Samantha..what brings you to this little village which is mostly in ruins now?"
"Well...it may seem a bit funny but i came here to...you know...to check on somebody"
"umm..i didn't get you..why should that be funny??"
"it's like two days ago while i was sleeping at my friend's place i had this weird dream where i saw this ruined village..and i saw my...umm..grandfather living in a lonely cottage here..."
"and??" Samantha had been able to rouse the old lady's interest in her reason behind coming to this place..
"and..i saw that he was trying to hold my hand and take me somewhere and…"
"so..were you able to find your grandpa??"
"umm..no the strange part is i've never met my grandfather only seen his photographs...i..just...had this bad dream..and wanted to see..you know..if the place actually existed..and i was lucky enough to locate the place on a map i found in the library.."
"And your grandfather??"
"Umm...he died some years ago..i enquired about him...from...from...an uncle of mine who lives in the south of Arizona and according to him my grandpa never ever visited this place whole his life...i hadn't heard from this uncle of mine since i was 6...the day my parents and my grandma left the world...it was…uhh…an accident…but still I wasn’t sure if my uncle actually knew anything about my grandpa…so…I decided to…." For a moment Samantha thought why on earth she was detailing this stranger….but she still went on
"ohh..am so sorry..you must be all by yourself since then??"
"yeah…I work and live with a friend of mine….its...actually…like...i never asked about him..cz..when he left us...i was just 3..and by the time i turned 6 nobody ever mentioned him...in the family" Samantha paused for a deep breath as if to take all the air inside and puff up the lungs for more energy..
"ohh...i am sorry honey.." Vera seemed sorry for her
"i think i should go to sleep...i have to catch an early train tomorrow"
"here...let me show you the guest room"
They both walked in silence to the bedroom and Vera showed Samantha a comfortable and cozy room to spend the night...the night wasn’t too comfortable though…”it’s raining cats and dogs” Samantha felt a bit tensed but she didn’t remember when she dozed off….

    Knock… Knock…

Samantha heard a light bang on the door and wondered who it could be. She checked her watch...it was 2 in the midnight or morning she thought...the person at the other side of the door kept on banging but nobody answered..Samantha wondered if the old lady was fast asleep..she got up from the bed...thinking it might be some poor traveller like her and wanted to stay overnight….
she went for the door..
"yeah???may i help you?" Samantha tried to make out who was at the door as she stood there all alone and nobody was to be seen…she closed the door thinking she might have imagined things…since it was pouring heavily….nobody could make out if there was actually somebody at the door…
On reaching the room she was staying that night a little box was neatly placed on the center of the bed…she checked if there were any windows and remembered how creepy the house looked when she had first entered here and had badly wanted to see a window but couldn’t find one…
the box had a little key in it and a yellowed note...that said "for my little sugar sam"
and chills ran down her spine when she looked at the signature below..Lawrence Mcoulluh..her grandfather!!!
she saw herself falling off on the floor unconscious...
"hey..open up now...are you fine??" Samantha saw the old lady Vera’s anxious face and the place around her..she was still in the same macabre old house she had visited last night except that it was morning now but it wasn't raining only windy and chilly too..she got up from the bed and looked around in confusion as she suddenly remembered about the small box...
"did you find any box here while i was.." and the old lady instantly got up from the bed and came back with the box Samantha wanted to know about...
"Is this you are talking about?" and again that uncomfortable feeling ran through her when she held the box in her hands
"I found this on the floor this morning" Samantha looked at the woman's worried face and opened the box...the key and the note was still there..the only thing she didn't notice was the back of the yellowed paper...it seemed like a little riddle and she couldn't get what did it mean...
"You didn't hear a knock at the door last night. Did you?"
"last night? No sweety..there was nothing except the rain..but where did you get this box? it looks like it’s from Harold’s old shop down the block..did you shop around?"
"no..it's like last night..i heard somebody...wait..what did you say? Harold’s shop? Where is it? Can you temme the way" and Vera could see Samantha getting restless all of a sudden..
"yeah..yeah..be a bit patient..i'll take you there..first you change into your dry clothes and we can..but what about your train? you don't have to get back?" Vera looked around for Samantha’s clothes
"uhh..no..i have to go to this shop you are talking about...but first temme did you find anybody in here last night?" Samantha hoped silently in her heart that vera would say yes..
"am afraid so..what are you talking about? nobody can get in here unless i open the door with that long old key of mine and the key is always tied around my waist and i remember that i haven't used the key till now after letting you in..look here" and she showed Samantha the key hanging from her waistband..
"but..is there any chance that you forgot to lock the door last night..i mean you know"
"i aint that old yet honey..you must've had a dream..come on..change and we'll go to this shop..what on earth were you doing last night...i hope i don't have a drug addict at my house" she laughed and went out
and Samantha could feel her hands go numb…she wondered what if somebody was playing with her but then nobody knew her in this wretched village and she got up determined to find out where did the box come from...
the shop was on a secluded spot and isolated..."this is a very old piece...but definitely bought from here" the man at the counter inspected the box..
"can you please temme..who bought this box?" Samantha was getting impatient now..
"well missy..it looks like it's a hundered year old box and i aint going to the stock and sales records to look for that box's owner.."
"ohh...son!!!We could look for it ourselves..if you could just help us a little bit..it's a matter of life and death you see" interrupted the old lady vera..and to Samantha’s surprise the shopkeeper led them into a small room full of big registers and record papers and lockers...
"there you go...all i can help is that this box has a little date inscribed under it...1953..and you should look for the record in that shelf....now i'll leave..and please don't let anybody know that i let you inside this place...it's like i just can't say no to old ladies like you..you..you remind me of my mother..she died when i was..."
"aww..poor you..don't worry about that" vera tried  to shoo him out...Samantha meanwhile began shuffling through the records wondering why the lady was being so kind...
"oh my god i found it" after like an hour or so Samantha screamed in amazement...
"it's bought by a man named Lawrence Mcoulluh..." and Samantha couldn't trust her eyes..
"hey look..there's an address below..maybe the man lives here..."
after like 20 minutes or so..both of them reached a place uphill...a little cottage...nobody was in there..
"hello??Anybody home?" Samantha tried to find out
but nobody answered...though the house was too out of place and ruined mostly…Samantha suddenly remembered that it was the same place she had dreamt about that night which had lead her to come to this place..only difference was that the place in her dream was furnished well...
"there must be a little kitchen here" Samantha looked excited and Vera followed her..
she was right..."how do you know this?? have you ever been..." Vera was still trying to comprehend what was happening...and Samantha held her arm and rushed outside to a little outhouse..
"ohh...god...this is exactly what i saw" and she went to open the door...and her eyes could see a beautiful little black Bugatti...and she could hear herself saying.."this can't be possible..this must be a dream..this is all a dream..a dream..."
and then she remembered the riddle on the back of the old note...she quickly opened the box....
it read..."uoy pleh dluow arev retsis elttlil ym" and she couldn't understand the words written...she tried to figure out if that was some other language or just some puzzle meant to be solved…but how…the big question…she felt helpless and all of a sudden remembered Edgar Allen Poe’s The Purloined letter based on the fact that people can be deceived with the obvious and she looked for a mirror for a brilliant thought flashed in her brain…the words maybe a mirror image or written just backwards…
Voila!!! The riddle was solved...it said
                             "My little sister Vera would help you"
…the mirror fell from her hand and she looked around to find the old lady but all she could find was an air of desolation and in front of her was the most beautiful car she had ever seen...

                                         

Emissary of the latest DU trends bears an infelicitous fetish with the burning tobacco. So what about the so called smoke free zone messages fixed outside the colleges? Find out with me… 

Honking through the busy streets of the Delhi University campus and making my way towards the Delhi School of Economics, I struggled with my car to somehow adjust in the mad rush. While waiting for autowala to move, I ran my eyeballs for a quick glimpse of the place. And here I was- Big boards and hoardings prohibiting smoking and use of tobacco in the vicinity seemed to be standing with pride. I couldn’t escape my quick glance. By merely looking at these big pieces of declarations, any non-DUite would feel as to how much the university is considerate for its students. But those who belong to the university know the real story behind the scene.                                                  
  

THE STORY BEGINS…
                                Swaying away to the tunes of ‘Sutta’ and ‘Dum maro dum’ which have almost become like national anthems for most of us; students can be seen smoking away their joys or sorrows in the air. Already declared a smoke-free zone almost two years back, the campus is not ready to ‘chuck the butt’ yet. Sitting by the support of a ‘NO-SMOKING’ board and chilling out with the burning poison, the GEN-Y often spends a big part of their life dying slowly. “All my friends smoke and to your surprise, their smoking zone is under the billboard ‘No Smoking’ zone. To me, these boards hardly worked with the mind-set of a young smoker” says, Farah Sheikh, student, Delhi University.

DISCOVERY OF A SUTTA POINT
                                                    Smoking inside the college premise may lead to fine or certain repercussions which may even lead to rustication. The young smokers are ultimately compelled to head out to a secret hangout zone to toy with the grey smoke. Each college has its personal, unofficially official sutta point so to say, which contributes to the increasing popularity of these hideouts.
Being at the Sutta Point in itself, is a matter of honour for some as you may be counted amongst the studs of your college, as explained by many. Sutta points also give ample opportunities for not attending lectures as sometimes you can be out with your joints and sometimes at home because of having those. Also, being a part of the regular visitors to the Sutta point can make you understand the problem of global warming much better than the non-smokers as mocked by some active debaters and future parliamentarians.
The marijuana generation bickers away that Sutta points aren’t all that bad too, as they may have a pivotal role in bringing about a thin ‘you’ for all those fatsoes who revel in the blowing up of soot. The constant burning up of the tube will definitely lead you to wither away slowly and you may find yourself contesting for the next MR/MS fuchha....Kudos to your pipe! One may also espy that a cig leaves a smoky essence to one’s wear which no one wants to share specially with parents. So as they say every problem is born with a solution, one can go in for a pack of chewing-gums, which ultimately leads to a pearly white denture too! (*wink*)

AT THE END…
             Yeah! Why not, it’s not atrocious at all…in fact it adds onto the cool quotient. When that process of withering away starts, you can surely be amongst the MR/MS Watch Out Circle contestants but only to lose out on those who don’t have sunken eyes or a lack-luster face which by then will have become your beauty spots. Also, your girlfriend might even ditch you because you’ve got bad, well not bad, worse blackish yellow teeth which surely no gum can cure. You might also feel like a loser but don’t dishearten my friend, after all…who knows being a looser too, might become a ‘cool’ status like your current smoking at sutta point,  isn’t it?