Little Bits Of Life

 I have been fascinated with libraries for the longest time that I can remember. As school going kids, we had to buy at least one of the four books recommended apart from course material. And at the end of term, we had a reading quiz competition where the teacher basically prepared a short quiz of 40 questions from those 4 books, that you were able to answer only if you had read the books thoroughly. So, that ensured that you not only read your book but exchanged the books you’re your classmates. And one of the books was always in Hindi. I dreaded to read because that did not come naturally to me as our mode of education was almost entirely in English. What started as reading just 4 books annually in class 3 or 4 soon turned to lending books from school library that were issued for a period of 2 weeks to eventually making my own library card for the Central library in my city. My mom is a huge reader and would always encourage (and still does) me to go to the library and let me pic...

It has been an idle day. The rain has been pouring on and off over the city for the last 48 hours now. Since I live on the top floor of my building, and fortunately my window opens to the city side, I have the luxury of not being bothered by the moving traffic and seeing just the cars, roads, and entrances of houses for view. My balcony overlooks the city center to the mountain on the other side which has a few houses scattered here and there. The city in ancient time was fortified and the remains of the outer city wall is next to my place of stay. There are two towers which are nearly the same height as our building. In the past two months alone that I have been here, I have seen the terrain change already. The mountains were brown initially or occasionally covered in a white blanket of snow and one could only see the houses as far as one could. I would not call them eye sore because most of them are idyllic old houses, with traditional red and brown slant rooftops, and timber frami...

Aren't we all prisoners? Prisoners of time? How nothing seems to change From one day to another, And yet when you look back  after months or a year, It doesn't seem to be the same?   Oh, Wait. Don't get me wrong here. The very sights and scenes are familiar, But the people who shared those days and laughter, seemed to have...disappeared?   Aren't we all prisoners? Prisoners of our memories? Do you remember? the evening skies, and the twinkling stars, Of pockets of stillness spread afar. Or  The cool breeze and the sound of the stream, As you walked along the narrow street. Or Reminiscing the days, and finding solace, When you see a happy face. Or  The smile that unknowingly forms, Seeing pictures that your room wall adorns.   Aren't we all prisoners?  Prisoners of our own thoughts? How at times, We let ourselves be defined, By those who know us the least. Fighting battles that are not meant to be fought, Undoing and unlearning, that needs to be not. ...

Dear Puma, If you could read, I am sure you would have still ignored this. Like you do; indifferent to most things. At least from a human point of view, which I am sure is filled with biases and limited to our narrow perceptions. It has been a little over a year since I saw you for the first time, sitting in a perfect zen master’s pose meditating outside your building. I and a friend of mine instantly had the urge to pet you. While my accompanying human was excited and she did smush you, I stood behind observing you and her. I remember sitting eventually, bringing my hand closer to your chin to offer greetings and to see how you reacted. I know some of you can be extremely particular about the human touch and I respect that. But you were your  gentle self   I cannot care more self  and allowed me to give you a chin rub, head rub, and an occasional stroke on the back. You seemed quite big for your size and I am sorry but you were named ''Fatte Catte'' at that very ins...

I had promised my friend(s) that I would soon put up a blog post. Here’s for you people  😉 Thanks for being ever patient, for the humiliation, for being stubborn, and for the constant nagging. You never know what works for me. I never know what would work but please continue with the same zeal as you have been. At least this way, I do end up writing one way or the other. And it does more good to me than to you. I cannot, however, promise how soon I will put up a detailed post for you about my stay in India this time but with your constant motivation and rebukes, I am sure it will see the light of day soon. First things first, it was lovely meeting you all after all these years. And it feels good to come back to the city and still find you guys there. And a little cherry on top, those of you who were not in the city had to be in the city because of work from home conditions. And a few of you just happened to be there on a given day or made sure you were there. Either way, know ...

It has been quite some time since I posted anything publicly. I could not make up my mind if it were the right time to show or express for any occasion or what had I painted or how finally after months we were out from sub-zero temperatures here or how the beginning of spring had started to look like. Trust me, spring, or temperatures somewhere around 15C is a big reason for me now because I had just been seeing grey skies, snow, sleet and rainfall, and trees without leaves or the same colored dull and heavy winter clothes around. It felt almost cruel and uncalled for to post things over social media when people at large are struggling with basic facilities in few parts of the world and especially back home. As a reader/consumer of information, I was, and I still am furious with how things are being managed wrt pandemic. It is not okay for people to look for themselves to arrange for medicines, beds, oxygen, or get treatment. Agreed the world is facing challenges as to ho...

The past few months have been odd, An acceptance of the new norm has still not dawned upon. Days and Nights and Dusks and dawns, Spring and Autumn have come and gone. I sit. Still. Solitude, they say Takes time to make its way. But hadn’t it started to look better? The streets were bustling more than ever! The leaves, Crimson yellow and all its hues, Danced around as the cold wind blew. Then came the winters. Days were shorter and quieter, And things were again, back to the way we have been taught to adhere, as it had happened the very first time. The streets are empty, deserted by nine, The shops are all closed, we are again confined. But oh! you can go for a walk or to work, As long as you have a mask tucked up. It has been long, Long since the sun had shone, Every branch and grass of every inch, Till a few days back were covered in silver tinge.  Don’t get me wrong, If it has started to sound a bit gloomy all along, After all, I haven’t seen the sun nor the very many people, who...

It has been a crazy month now and I do not see it ending anytime soon (personally). What started off as a regular rather dull month because of the semester ending and many of us looking to fly back home for semester vacation or renew room contracts or decide the future course of action in terms of academia here in Freiburg, everything has suddenly come to a halt and how.  I and my group of friends decided to stop meeting outside initially during the 1st week of march after seeing and listening to the situation in Italy, to gradually meeting indoors and making sure the first thing we did was wash hands and face thoroughly and not touching anything in trams by 2nd week and having to stay indoors by the end of 2nd week up till now where we are just texting daily to the point of discussing even minute details such as spotting a pimple on the chin to celebrating grand events like birthdays over calls.  It is such an unsettling feeling of not knowing what will happen next ...

A strange nostalgia kicked in after having watched TVFs Cubicles. Not that I could relate to it, nope. Not at all. On the contrary, I was a bit amazed (read: guilt) that I wasn’t able to recollect the floor plan of the place I used to go every day for almost 8-9 months. I was able to recall the second sitting space I was assigned to, a short stay of 6 or so months perhaps, although I still have not been able to remember the layout quite very well for the latter too. I don’t remember where the lifts opened to, where the entrance door was, where was that secret/bigger elevator but what I do remember are the people and their idiosyncrasies; the library, the lunch zone, the cooks (strangely) and the girl at the counter who used to collect Sodexo coupons, small garden space where we used to walk on purpose to kill time post-lunch and the staircase where I and my small gang often had shitty tea and coffee whilst we planned systematic disappearances from ODC during my stint in the ...