Friending days…

Meeting them is always so much fun…old friends…who had once been a part of your life…a life in your life…not forgotten and yet forgotten…loved and yet not loved…missed and yet so much not missed…and suddenly u turn a corner to find them standing….waiting…leading you through an entire memory lane full with wonderful and colourful memoir.

This too would pass…probably this might not even count…and yet they seem to leave an impression which you believe would last for a life time!!!

I linger around…trying to capture everything…but of course…this too would pass!

Support system…

Vicky bhaiya seems lonely or is it a figment of my imagination? He is happy for his parents. They have an excellent support system back home. People who are always willing to help them, friends who celebrate diwali with them, relatives who stick by his parents through thick and thin. It lessens his worries, especially after the tragedy the whole family faced a few years ago. The tragedy has put an extra burden on the only son. He asks me to visit them more often.

Captain saheb is worried that he might be wasting his life in the army. Once an avid reader, he has stopped reading books. He is trying out new hobbies. Previously it was photography and now it is star gazing. Where do you live? Are you happy? A shack, rather a thatched hut – with a fixed steel fixture used as a table. I didn’t delve too much into the detail, for fear of not liking what I might have to hear. He asks me for a list of books he can read during his free time, which he has in plenty. Do I hear frustration in his voice? He complains about his job which doesn’t have much to offer in terms of variety. His mind keeps wandering off to various things, various issues. He discusses a couple of them with me and then suddenly goes silent. What gibberish am I talking? I encourage him, but the moment has transformed into something else, he has transformed into someone else. I can’t bring it back and probably neither can he. We chat for a while about general things people talk about on phone. I ask him to call me again and more frequently. He might and then again he might not. Should I be worried?

Singapore awaits me… and so does loneliness!

Faring well…eh!

Aeons have passed, and despite so many complaints and requests from few people who actually read my blog (not many are aware that I do have a blog…yeah, I am an epitome of modesty), I have been letting them down for long. So lemme just take stock of what I have been doing…

Singapura: Slogged and slogged…averaging around 18 hours a day (phew!). And not surprisingly, I did like the work. It was engrossing at times. And for the rest of the time, well! I just had to do it. And yeah! Singapura was fun. Motu & I explored all the exquisite cuisines Singapura had to offer, well almost all. Crabs, lobsters, cheesecakes…! And Gajodhar was a discovery…

Amritsar to Godda: 36 hours long train journey with mom, dad, didi and Archu. Spent hours and hours talking to di about how she plans to reform the education system of Bihar. She is some inspiration. She amazes me with her confidence in everything she does. And yet! I can feel the sadness beneath the surface which brings out the vulnerability in her eyes.

Archu was a revelation. The fear of sleeping on the top most berth still haunts him and yet he has matured in more ways than one. The PSP would have kept him engaged for all 36 hours, had it not been for the Indian Railways. For once we were thankful that not all trains provide facilities to charge portable devices. He was made to study a bit though, which obviously did not leave him very happy.

And the memories which hit me like a gust of wind. While lying down, I went through all of them, frame by frame, and was engulfed once again in loneliness.

Home: The house looks prettier now. Choti has done some amazing work with the living room and mom couldn’t resist the temptation of showing me around the moment I entered the house. But the room on the top floor (it’s supposed to be my room) looks lonely, with dull coloured sheets covering everything in the room. Would I ever stay in that room?

Spent considerable amount of time exploring the four (yes four it is) terraces, giving ideas to mom as to how can she convert one of them to a bar. She was furious; nevertheless she agreed to add at least a shed to one of the terraces, with sitting arrangements.

With Sarah: Wonderful! Would I be able to relive the times again? I wonder…

Flying Times

Days have passed by quickly, and I have acquired a lot of miles on my emirates frequent flier account, traveling all around the globe from India to Yemen to Houston to Sanaa to Dubai to India…..and back to Dubai on my way to Yemen. Have not been able to catch up with the blogging stuff. Hopefully would do so now.