Chalk & Cheese and other Alliterations!

Picking your bags and setting off to lands unknown, there is always a spring to your step no? that palpable sense of independence? So in the five days ear-marked for solitude, 3 were at a secluded sanctuary cut off from civilization and 2 in the outside world. The stark contrast jolted me out of routine and was truly fodder for thought! Makes me wonder, how our circumstances totally influence expectations, impressions, likes, dislikes, yearnings, resistance, all of it! The first day usually ends up being most eventful and every moment is utilized to the hilt and that’s exactly how my first day at this spiritual sanctuary was! An obvious transition from a bustling city to a narrow path dotted with tiny sloped-roof houses, slight drizzle, open skies, and several green hillocks later, here I was! Working as a volunteer in such a vibrant place where everyone seemed to be charged with a purpose and a sense of sincerity proved truly transforming. Would I be just as motivated day after day to do this knowing that’s what I’d do all my life?? Definitely not! And that’s why maybe they say, to find a purpose beyond you is of utmost importance! Jolted out of slumber by a torrent of cold water, Walking barefoot to feel the grass blade caress, eating an absolutely vegan meal, being lulled into sleep by this mild afternoon breeze next to a Pillar with the sounds of birds chirping & water flowing, watching the sky change colors during the sun set and finally a content night’s sleep on a mat have painted super colorful hues on the canvas of what should be an ideal 2 day detox ! I also ended up watching an amateur play put up by kids, where Krishna who delivers pep talk to Arjuna before war ends up forgetting his mike and apologizes for it, totally had the audience in splits. Left with a heavy heart and vowed to embed every moment!

Opening an even heavier work Inbox made my head spin, acclimatizing slowly, got thru the work day and literally showed tremendous resistance to check-into an uber luxurious hotel room ! Left with no choice, I reluctantly walked into this glass-mirror-exuberant-wood-fluffed-up-mattress room! Felt this shock when my feet touched the super soft carpeted floors, a look in the roof to floor mirror made me realize I hadn’t looked at my reflection in 3 days ! TV was such a revelation! Suddenly made me wonder if 3 days made such a huge impact, what would it be like to live a lifetime in such a sanctuary and be pushed into luxury immediately. Does the mind go into a guilt trip thinking luxury is to be abhorred? Or does it over-indulge due to deprivation? Or is it more conscious of experiences and their impact when a stark contrast happens? Does the mind automatically put all things comfortable into the “Like” Box? Do we inherently incline towards the easy in Life ? *Thought Clouds*

Ode To Bombay - Part 1

There are certain things that Bombay-ites do that are so typical of them. And this typical Bombay-like behavior extends to every aspect in life, right from travelling (oh, the “locals”), being a “townie”, eating out, hitting the “suburbs”, being in “FYJC”(for all us non-bombay-ites that’s First Year Junior College), being star struck, living in “spacious” pigeonholes (paying a bomb for rent), to chilling at the “sit-out” area of any joint rather than in the air-conditioned section no matter how humid the weather is.
I’d rather divide my woes in parts and narrate it aspect-wise. To begin with, Travelling by the local trains in Bombay can teach you lessons of life that no religion or art of living classes could. Church gate station has to be a land mark in the lives of all travelers across bombay. You could find all kinds of people in the same predicament as yours and you consider the local train "empty" when you find a spot for your two feet to stand on. As soon as the announcement is made as to what kind of train is arriving, they would position themselves exactly where they predict that the train would stop (They would more often than not, make the perfect prediction with this). They would rush into a train the moment it hits a platform, irrespective of how many people already occupy that coach. There is always more space “created” by pushing or squeezing people inside. And not to mention the people who travel with clinging on to windows, doors or any part of the train they could hold onto, as well some of them who travel on top of the train. If the Singaporeans ever saw that we not only travel in trains without automated doors, or announcement and safety systems, but we also travel with clinging on to the teeny-weeny bit of door we could hold onto and could fall into the tracks when someone would as much as breathe out, they would probably have a cardiac arrest right away.
If someone who got in would not have a place to sit and they invariably wouldn’t, they would question with all the authority, all the people seated as to where they were to get off, and would “reserve” that seat with typical hand gestures, first pointing at themselves and then the seat. Gosh!!! Catfights over the silliest of issues are an everyday affair. People would travel by the train and would expect comfort levels of an air craft. They would start tsk-tsk-ing if you as much as nudged them or stepped on their foot unintentionally. As the train nears its destination, the passengers would start peeping out to keep a watch for which platform it would halt at, so they are right at the door when it halts and don’t miss a single jiffy. They would instinctively know and sometimes it would be much before the driver himself would, as to where the train would halt. At that precise moment every single person occupying that coach would swiftly turn to face the door almost as if bound by a spell. They would leave late for work, but would more than make up for lost time with squeezing into a really crowded train, pushing their way through, and positioning themselves right at the door of the coach right when the train halts.
And like the observation goes, in any particular area in Bombay, if there were a line of people walking as though with a purpose, more often than not, they are headed towards the nearest station!!