A pinch of smile

16th august, 2008

It was Rakhi, a festival which is celebrated throughout India to uphold the bonding of a brother and a sister.On this day, sisters tie a string of thread on the wrists of their brothers to share this bonding and love.

However, as usual I was on my way to college but due to certain turn of events my classes got cancelled and i decided to go down to my friends house in Tollygunge.
I was waiting at the metro station when suddenly i noticed these kids running up to every passer-by with rakhis in their hands and asking their permission to tie it on their wrists.They were kids of not more than 5-6 years, all dressed in colorful clothes and carrying bunches of those threads of love in their hands.From their appearances, one could easily make out that they definitely did not belong to well to do families, that their education or even for the matter daily food was a questionable entity and yet they were so happy, so cheerful and so filled with life.
They smiled to every passer by and extended their hands to tie the pieces of thread without any discrimination and without any reluctance.Seeing them i wondered, from where then do these negative traits develop among the adults and the matured?
As I kept indulging myself in this short pastime activity, 2 of the kids walked up to me and smiled at me in a way which just overwhelmed me.No thoughts, no decisions and no judgments were made, my actions simply echoed in an involuntary way and I extended both my hands to both of them to tie me a rakhi. i could feel the positivity around me, could sense the belonging I had to the entire human race and to the common "thing" that binds us all.
I asked them what could I give them as I did not have any gifts with me.In return they smiled...just smiled and left and i stood there gaping at my own self. I still do not know why they kept tying rakhi to very passerby without a reason or did it just happen to me?
Sometimes i still think about that day and try to put some adult logic into it but I end up feeling so small infront of those kids.
They taught me something very drastic and in a way which perhaps a heart as pure as their's can do.Today i still think about that smile, a smile which made me realize the beauty of life and its intoxicating flavours.Flavours which otherwise would remain incomplete if not for "the pinch of a great smile".

The Stranger

Nobody knows you, nobody cares
Like a shadow, u survive away from human glares.
Trekking along the winding roads alone and independent
Ur hopes are your only friends…u know it and u have placed your trust in them.
Ur life is an illusion, your dreams-- a mere fantasy
Oh stranger from the unknown lands, what’s your story?
U lost love or did love lose you?
Have you ever been broken or had wounds, u bled through?
Is your pain lost in silence and is your smiles drowned in your pain
Do u feel the sunshine now or is it still the cold, cold rain?
Words have forsaken you or did you leave them behind?
Have you kept all your secrets buried so deep for us to find
Did u fall in love and want to go, all the way along
Or did you just give up, thinking it was wrong.
How can I tell you what to believe and what to beholdUnless you hold my hand and walk beside me on this lonely road

lines written in early june

I am just a dreamer who is searching for a way…..today,
I am just a dreamer who is dreaming my life away.

The window panes are hazy and blurred from the moisture. The sun has risen but the light is not yet coming through. I am seated at my study table staring at the partially visible and obscure sky. It has been raining incessantly for the past 36 hours now and doesn’t look like it is going to stop anytime soon. I decided to open the window in spite of the rain drops swishing in due to the gusty wind outside.
A spurge of wind hit my face. I turned away my face due to this slight discomfort but then gradually began to enjoy this tease. The drizzle was growing stronger now and so was its sounds which had this amazingly enchanting rhythm about it.
It was like an ocean on the street and I could see the naked urchin in his indomitable spirit splurging away in this sudden found freedom and I wish I could be down there with him to explore this freedom.
With Concrete jungles spinning around at every corner and empty spaces fighting to stay alive, freedom is not what it used to be. I have found my freedom in the interiors of my drawing room, my hopes and aspirations circumscribed by the “routers” and “gateways” of modern times.

Ironical as it is, that’s freedom for us perhaps closer than in any other form.