Date:

We go out with someone to.. may be a restaurant, a museum or a theater or just be together and talk about each other, about ourselves, our likes and dislikes, our interests! How many times have we done that kind of talking? Many times?.. A few times?.. At-least at sometime?

One friend said.. Dates - need not be planned. They could just happen. (The other day one of my classmates came up to me and spoke about his fantasy. He showed me his drawings (in his class-work book) - an imaginary world that he had created and narrated a story. It had monsters ‘n heroes, guns ‘n gadgets, speed ‘n accuracy, fire ‘n flowers and someone beautiful, that could be called a boy’s fairy-tale..? You just can’t stop smiling at something like that. But I had to come out of that story and concentrate, for we had internal test in an hour. Huh! We cannot change the internal dates)

Other said.. Well, dates could be spontaneous but they need a ‘lil planning. (It was that day when she was angry over a mischievous act and finally decided to speak out. So she called up this friend of hers and shouted.. whatever she felt like.. without thinking much. When you don’t understand anything, you tend to do as the other says. It was then that things fell into place, at-least it seemed so. Such days are rarely forgotten)

Another said.. Dates - We do it online these days. (Chatting through the little windows, sharing thoughts and feelings with people far away.. and not saying a word to the person next to us.. yeah, the one right beside us. Uh! What game are we playing?)

I think I should stop here.

Re-Union

Many re-unions happening around here.. I found them to be of three types – 1. A school/college re-union where all batches meet, and u can see lots of faces, most of which will be unknown, and you’ll end up hanging around with your chosen group of few with whom you had decided to attend that re-union! Lol, So what difference did you make by attending it?

2. A class-re-union where the entire or most of your classmates meet-up and you spend some good time meeting people, recollecting forgotten faces and enjoying with them and finally getting re-connected with contact numbers, work/home addresses, etc including the discussion.. Are you on orkut? Kool, I’ll add you there. Or the lazier ones might say Add me! Anyways, fewer the better.

Meeting people after a long time is usually surprising, when they come along with their kids (a 6yr old, and another 2 ;) lol, that's when they leave you speechless, if it's too much for you to digest. That's not the case with my friends, not as yet.

And 3. Your group-re-union of intimate friends with whom you are always in contact and still wait excitedly to meet them and finally when you see them in front of you, happy eyes shed tears of joy (if not at the beginning at least at the end! ;) When with them you forget about time, and you just can’t stop talking even though you had talked the last night, or you talk nothing but still enjoy the silent conversation. Then, life simply seems worth living :)

Neat Untidy

My city is neatly lit up like as if in celebration of a wedding of some royal personality. All buildings and pathways along with the dividers of the roads shine with glowing bulbs using the same electricity that was saved by real long hours of power-cut throughout the city, leave alone the extension and rural areas. And mind you, we bared it for weeks while our electricity producers sold it to the neighbouring states. All the current decoration is just an outward show of marking the presence of our very own elected state cabinet in the city. They are here for a week to participate in the sessions of the legislative council. They are the ones who are supposed to take care of us – voters and local residents.

So how do we cast our vote? – On the basis of our voter ID cards. Last month there was a call for the required photographs of those who did not have their voter ID's. I was among one of them. My name was in the list already, but the member in-charge couldn't find it. I knew my name had to bein the list because during the last elections I had used my college ID and voted. Now am not so insane to imagine doing such a serious thing and claim it to be real. But the in-charge smiled at me (must have laughed in his heart) and gave me a new form to fill – form-no-6, so that they could add my name to the voter's list. God! Who will listen to this kid I thought after wasteful persuasion, took that form-no-6 and left. The next day I took my dad along, who found my name jumbled up in some other residential ward's list. Then they quietly took my photograph for the same. If it wasn't for my dad, I would have filled up the form again to see my name appear twice in the voter's list in the next elections. No wonder there's so much of invalidity with voter lists in our country. Regarding incorrect information I remember there was a priest having a beard (even in his voter ID photograph) whose gender was termed female in the same card. Funny mistakes, is all I can say. And today what are they doing with the ongoing sessions in our city? – enjoying the facilities and the attention provided, moving around the city during session hours, causing traffic diversions and trouble to local public.

Though, I must mention the notable improvement in the attitude of policemen especially the traffic police, who are on their toes - day and night. The usual roads with potholes are now looking better than never before, with radium lights and well directed markings. All government offices are working 24 hours a day. The poor villages display painted walls of all houses (even painted taps) in one single uniform colour to welcome the visiting ministers with a clean look that was never seen before.

Whatever all this means, to us localites it just brings a thought, that hopefully they will discuss on some implement-able strategies for the city's development, which would make a noticeable difference in the near future. Even though we know that this neat looking city will soon turn to be untidy as before, there is always the urge to expect the unexpected.

Whom are you messaging?

“Who is that messaging you so late in the night?” Mind you, it was just a while past 11:15 pm.

Arey yaar, you just can’t stop yourself from being amused on reading a joke-sms. You tend to smile, usually alone – simply because the others around don’t know about the joke. Butterflies start fluttering in your stomach and you giggle.. by yourself, in a very controlled manner, yet displaying external signs of your amusement to the others around.

Things get worse if you just can’t read out the joke, aloud. You quickly want to share it with someone and select the ‘forward’ option and there it goes..

Within no time.. rather, at an unexpected time.. you hear mom’s voice..

“Who is that messaging you so late in the night?”

You hear.. “Who is that still awake?”

You to mom – “Chill mom! Am just forwarding, not chatting.”

You to yourself – mom! Its just past 11. Don’t expect everyone to go to sleep so early. Am the only one, ********, of that kind. The world is out there, totally awake and alive!

Just then you get a chat-sms – a comment, probably, on that joke u just forwarded. And you are in a fix of mixed emotions. Expressions dont know what to say.

Yes, your heart jumps, eager to continue the chat. But first your eyes look at mom’s whereabouts, the fingers waiting desperately to start playing on the keypad.

If the field is clear, you enjoy the singles.. else, grumble on your invisible handicap! : )

The proposal

Ah! It was a wonderful day. Princess and her friends were together again (at another bachelor’s B’day party), talking out through long hours and having fun. They spoke, spoke and spoke. Discussions that lead to no conclusion are always the favourite topics among guys, coz they love debating with girls on the silliest topic on earth. Bla bla bla.. it went on.. They began speaking about relationships, proposals, etc.. Then they made pairs/groups and enacted some funny acts.. (Now, the dialog between Princess and her friend while they were asked to enact the proposal scene..)

“If I were your crush, how would you propose me?”, Princess asked.

“I’d do anything that u’d want me to do for you..”, he said.

“Anything?”

“Yes..”

“Ok, then.. Would you sing for me?”

“Sure..” he said and bent one knee, as-if ready for the show..

“What would you sing?”

“Anything that u’d like..”

“I like Christmas carols.”

All eyebrows up! Eyeballs turning left and right.. Bursts of laughter surrounded us for a really long time. It was fun!

: )

Magic..

There was a bird I thought,
At a distance.. on that tree,
Ya, it looked like some creature that could fly,
So bird I called it, but which.. I wondered.
It had a long tail, like that of a peacock,
So peacock I called it.
It was sitting on the tree, and suddenly, to my surprise, it flew.
Now peacocks don’t fly so high.
It flew up till the building’s height,
A few stories may be, and up into the clear sky.
Then made circles in the air.
Magical rings they seemed to be,
With colours of shining yellow and gold.
Strange, but beautiful; and I stood in awe
Watching it dance to the tune it felt so.
Round and round, it swayed in curves,
Making beautiful shades in the dark sky.
With beauty, grace,
A happy smiling face,
And no one to comment,
It danced to its heart’s content.
Then left a bubble in the air,
That grew so big.. big enough to swallow it in.
Still, it danced inside, though I thought it would faint,
And left another bubble, that grew as large, but slightly smaller,
Which pulled the big bubble, and the bird,
And its wings, and its head..
And everything else..
Until it disappeared, like as if magically dead.
A dream it was, I was sure,
Yet it seems to be so real and near.
Ya, it was magical, that is true,
It made me write another poem, for you.
:)

Have never waited for exams
But now I do,
For it feels like finishing it off
In a day or two.
Wish they were now
In about a month or so,
Never mind the struggle it’d take
Confident, I’d make.
For I see no friend or foe
Only long ‘n lonely distances, to travel alone.

3. (Royal Welcome)

It was the end of autumn and summer had just begun. Nights ended sooner than usual. For a change, Princess decided to go for morning walks – all for fun, it was. But as expected she snoozed the alarm, twice. Heard a voice teasing her that she couldn’t keep resolutions. Then finally got up, ready to take up the challenge, lazily got ready and slowly tied her shoe-laces and set out. Little did she know about how wonderful it would turn out to be!

The moon was out there waiting to be seen by someone atleast, like, for the last time for that night, as if to say that it had done its duty, and now saying good-by for the day. The stars had already left. They are too proud of themselves being *stars*, but the moon is much more humble. So, the walk began.. it was cold and dark everywhere. Princess was wondering what she was doing at such a time on the national highway. Felt like going back home, and into the bed.. oh how nice and cozy it would be, but she continued just to keep up the resolution. Yawning while walking didn’t seem unusual at all.. After quite some time it was getting clearer ( is ‘getting closer to dawn’ a proper sentence?)

Pretty flowers of the Gulmohor and similar trees had begun to shed their petals. And they all lay there on the ground, as if to welcome the morning walkers. The pathway looked like a carpet, coloured in patches of red, orange and yellow. Some places were patched with dry leaves, and the rest of the road was bare. Wow! What a wonderful sight it was! Quiet a few vehicles rode that way, but surely they must not have enjoyed the sight enough. Then at a particular point, at a crossroad, one could hear the sound of water, trying hard to gush out, but unable to do so, probably because of a very small outlet. That was a starting point of a water pipe, a valve may be. But the sound of the struggling water was so pleasing to hear. And after some more time, on the way back home I mean, one could see the sky changing colours beautifully, from the initial darker shades of blue to it’s lighter tints, then to a mix of orangey yellow, and then bright, really bright. And all this setting for a delightful sunrise, which occurred in moments you couldn’t even count. Ah, so lovely!

Indeed it was a Royal Welcome!

2. (Involved)

“Seriously yaar, it’s been enough; enough of running away from boredom and these weakening thoughts. Enough of being idle”, Princess thought. “I’m gonna get involved, into some activity or the other. After all life’s motive is this, right? -to be involved into something until you never know what happened to you!!

Complex, is it? There could be complexities even more complex.

So, involvement is the key to a life of simplicity. Isn’t it?”

1. (Dry weather and the Diary)

It was a warm afternoon. The sun shone bright outside. Even a peep out of the room seemed to be eye-cracking. There was a power cut. So neither the fan would work, nor the PC, nor the TV. The radio was spoilt, and the i-pod had lost charge. Princess was bored. Dull day, so to say.

She went up to her diary. This diary was the first lucky one that she must have ever used as a diary. And since this was a rare time of the year -one of its kind- as she had got a good long holiday, Princess had decided to make it beautiful. It was her responsibility, she thought. Indeed, it was this Dry weather that led to the birth of the Diary. She noted down random things and events that either occurred or were planned. She decorated her diary, literally. It looked good. Indeed, the year was being made fondly memorable. Though, the diary had many things hidden, while mostly revealing the fun part of it. Only Princess would know, and may be a few others. The rest was buried in memories to be forgotten. Now, this had turned out to be one asset she would never want to loose. Experiences and attitude, the outcome and their memories, were recorded in there. The rest was left to history.