Works of RK

I had two ways to deal with my frozen shoulders, work less or workout more. I chose the second option and got myself a membership in an Olympic size swimming pool run by the Town. I have at best been an unwilling swimmer. There was a pool at school aeons ago, and I remember drinking most of its water the first time I tried my hands at swimming. I knew it was time to drink some municipal water as well and I was game. It has been over a month since I have been swimming. I drink less of water these days and keep observing the people splashing around. There are the kids, most less that 7 or 8 years of age and they streak through the pool like tadpoles, they are all around, and had our mouths been a little more accommodative, us adults would have actually swallowed a couple of them accidentally and no one would have known, they are so small and all over! Then there are the frogs, the experienced swimmers who keep their head down in the water most of the time and float around like large toad...

It feels like yesterday when you were with me. The clear skin glowing through your sleeveless green churidar was a sight for sore eyes. The silken spread of your hair would let through glitters of sunshine from the window sills, you smelled of fresh jasmines on a warm winter night. It was only yesterday that I breathed you in, only yesterday, it seems, that I could bathe in your nearness, your presence. I wish I had told you, when there was still time, how much you brightened up my dreary life, how you used to slow down time for me, how you used to fill more of life, in every second you were with me. Its has been a long time since I went out on a walk, long time since I have looked out of window sills and longer still since I have seen a sunrise. Everything, reminds me of you.

When I came to live in the suburbs of Secunderabad 6 years ago, the place used to have all the old world charms of a very small town. Traffic was scanty and people had loads of time. "My Family Cafe" was round the corner and there used to be an old waiter who I fondly called Kaka who used to work during the day and live in a small room nearby. Kaka vanished some two years ago. There used to be a cobbler who used to run his business out of a one room shop quite close to my apartment. The shop is now a Air conditioned beauty parlor. The cobbler too disappeared a year ago. So did the cycle repair shop, the tiffin outlet and the ladies tailor.  The small suburb is now a congested city with bike showrooms and super markets. The rentals have gone up and so has the cost of just about everything. The cities do not sustain the poor anymore. The poor fight for survival and then they disappear. Its almost Kafkaesque!. I have survived, but the poorer in my community have disappeared. If ...

When the hymns are sung and Krishna comes to life, when the chants reach the skies and the incense smells divine, I ask HIM if HE knows how this story ends. Pat comes the reply with a smile, and then, silences fill-in where noises until now ruled. Where one story ends, the other begins. Its a book that I could read for ever and forever will the pages run. I have seen the edge of the world, it is round. If I start tonight, I would simply come around. Caught among the strings of chapters intertwined, is one meandering life.

Can I share a story with you? Have I heard it before? I am not sure. Ok, go ahead. Twenty years ago, when I was in school, I fell in love with one of the most beautiful girls in the world.. Do I know this woman? I am not sure. OK She was like a summer breeze, she was like spring time, she was all those things you hear in fairy tales and see in Hollywood Movies. One day, we met outside school and went on a long drive. In one of those lost lanes of life's highways, I kissed her... and that was my first kiss.   Why are you telling me all this? I am not sure Ok When I held her face up close to mine, I smelt her perfume and it was divine. I have never smelt something as memorable as that again. I saw that her lips were pink and not red almost like a Cherry that had lost its blush! and her face was as fair as a Russian Princess. We kissed and the evening sky lit up with stars, the Moon quickly brightened up and lighted her face. I remember that we kissed for eternity. I still remembe...

And then someday, when I walk into a room full of strangers, I shall feel your presence and look around. When I find you, I hope you will remember, once we were friends. I hope you would look into my eyes and remember to smile . I always loved your smile. Someday at a traffic junction with no name, I shall hear a honk and look behind, right into your eyes. And when I see you, I hope you will remember, together, we had traveled once. I hope you will look into my eyes and smile. I always loved your eyes. Its such a long life!

The day before was Holi, the festival of colors. For a civilization ever waiting for a reason to celebrate, Holi is the perfect excuse. It’s a riot, it’s a holler, its insane. As the day broke, I could hear children from my apartments slowly geting into the Holi mood. There were a lot of climbing up and down the stairs, and then came the shreiks of delight and loads of splashes! I went down to the apartment gates and was immediately welcomed by the Rajesh Uncle thoda color, Rajesh Uncle thoda color (Rajesh uncle, let us put some color on you). I bent my face down to the little ones so that they could reach my face... they applied some red color on my face and as I turned to go back to my flat; they bombed me with little balloons filled with colored water! Little rascals all, you made my Holi memorable. Thank You.