Works of RK

It takes a long time to make sense of relationships. Sometimes I feel that it is well nigh impossible to make sense at all. I list some of the greatest mysteries that exist between human relationships: It is difficult to read other people’s minds. It is difficult to comprehend me as other people see me. What I think I know of others is an older version; the file keeps getting updated quite frequently. Most assumptions that I make in relationships are conditional. Sometimes I believe that I am important in the other person’s life, most times, I believe that I am not. Either of the beliefs does not really matter, since I know neither for sure. My assumptions are based on my life’s transactions with the other person. The higher the sharing of thoughts, laughter and worries, the closer I believe I am to the other. The absence of affection, care, and physical touch makes me believe that I am not important. I need to be touched...

I saw crackers burst over the night sky a short while ago. The little mount church nearby is celebrating some festival. There was another night sometime ago; a night steeped in folk songs, crackers and loads of laughter. When the last embers of each cracker burns out, and the night sky awaits another burst, there is a short period of silence between showers of lights. Thoughts of you fill these silences. You ignite my memories with each burst of crackers. I see your eyes catch the gleam of sparkles, I hear your laughter in the cheering crowds. Today, as always, you are with me in all my celebrations, and the silences that follow.

I hate to travel by road. It has something to do with my absolute dread of accidents. But then, 12 hours and 750 kilometers later, I reached Chennai safely on my basanti (Sam calls my car Basanti). In the past two months the word Autumn has crept into my lines more frequently than ever before. It pops up in my poems, in my blogs and in my every day conversations. Traveling through the ghat roads, autumn followed me all the way to Chennai. There were some trees, especially the neem trees that had finally decided to grow some leaves and blushed green all over the roadsides, but the others, they were still in mourning. I now begin to realize the connection between human emotions and nature. Even as I felt the need to shed some leaves and leave them behind, I could see the trees doing the same. Someday soon, when the longing for what was is no longer as strong as it is today, like the neem trees, I will grow green leaves and bloom again. Until then, let the songs of Autumn play on. My boss...

A colleague of mine told me today that she noticed perceptible changes in me since Feb'2010, and that the same  opinion is shared by a few others too. The most noticeable changes being: I am not as frequently loud as I was before. A semblance of an emotional being is now visible I seem now to feel need for people to be around me (sociability) I said yes to all the three and thanked her. If these are the first few steps, there are miles to go until I am perceived like any other normal human being. I am on the way.  When asked on the reason for change, I shared something very simple. I told her that I somehow started believing that its ok to share what I feel and let some of the normal emotions become visible to others. I have always been interested in people around me, especially colleagues who work with me, its just that I did not want them to know. Now I feel it is ok to let them know. I am not very sure whether this is going to be easy. There is less to lose and much to gain...

I have been increasingly thinking wishfully about this remote control. A remote control that would allow me to fast forward my life to two or maybe three months ahead of today. I am still in love with my life, I want to live it until the last day, however, there is something about this season in my life which wants me to earnestly “not live in these times.” Thinking aloud about this, I asked my cubicle colleague, Sharon, what option she would choose if I were to give her one such remote; a remote that had stop, pause, forward and play on options. Surprisingly, she opted for the fast forward option too. I wish this could happen. But then something happened today that made me feel very good about living this day. Today was Priyanka’s birthday. Priyanka works with me and I consider her as a friend, not sure whether it is the same the other way round   : ) So we had two sessions of cake cuttings, lunch at the pizza hut and the complimentary song from those lovely folks who make the Piz...

I put the first step forward to make amends today. I had muddled up my relationship with a very precious friend of mine. Silences followed silences and they stretched many a miles into my life. It started filling my idle thoughts; it started popping up when my mind was otherwise filled with noises. I knew I had to make amends where there was still time. I did just that. I am not very sure if all is well now, some stitches, hurriedly sown together, stands out longer than others. I cannot vouch her forgiveness, all I can say is I did what I thought I must do. Looking back at the reasons why I took the initiative, I realized the following: 1.      I started it. I had to end it. 2.      I am leaving for another town for a long period. I wanted the last thoughts I leave behind to bring a smile, not a frown. 3.      She is very important. I would not like it to end this way. 4.      Two months is a long time, lots...

It is amazing what people can do when they come together. I am in Belgaum for the last four days managing some recruiting related activities on behalf of one of our clients. Shivanand is our local employee based out of Belgaum and his presence in Belgaum was probably the only reason why I took up this assignment with confidence. We had four high energy students from local management campuses who acted as full time volunteers, two senior faculty with industry experience in the interview panel, a very co-operative campus that lent us space and office staff for infra management, the district administration who readily provided us with police personnel and the district employment office who had helped us with press releases and space during the initial selection related processes. The interviews went off seamlessly and ended peacefully an hour ago. Do so many varied entities come together and work together perfectly all the time… I guess no. They came together because of three reasons. Fir...