Another February... another rainy evening... looking out of my window, I can see the earth’s contended smile. Freshness everywhere... the aroma’s unmistakable... a thick, earthy sweetness. Bliss. Pure bliss.
And so I walk... nothing left to do, I say myself. Just walk. A slight drizzle follows me as i hit the road. Far in the distance, dark clouds gather up. A faint rumble hits the ground. Its all set. Picture perfect you might say. I smile.
Its been long. Long since I had smiled for anything from the heart. Somewhere between my learnings and my searchings, I had lost my smile for the winds. How did I let this happen? Why did I let this happen? I had always loved nature. I liked summers... I liked winters... and I loved the rains too... Where did I lose this love? Had I become too big for Mother Nature herself? And maybe that’s why she promptly took my smile away...
I keep walking. The drizzle’s given way to a steady pitter-patter. I didn’t mind one bit. Memories came rushing in. How I loved to jump into puddles... How I loved to climb slippery trees... how I loved to catch squirrels scurrying around... How I was happy.
Dad had always said, it’s always the small things. How very true. It’s exactly these small things that I miss. If only. If only we learnt to appreciate the world beyond our lives. That we live with walls all around has been forgotten. We are afraid to move out. Too afraid to look beyond the obvious. Too arrogant to act beyond courtesy. Too busy to think beyond money. And too dumb to accept the fact that our brains are just to show us how, and NOT what. That’s the heart’s job. We are our own boundaries. We are our own prisons. Condemned to forever wallow in self improvisation and materialism. And we wear masks... Day in and day out. And not one, but many. Way too many. Where is the time for being ourselves, we ask?
I turn the corner, and then I see them. Nothing extraordinary. Just a couple holding hands and walking in the rain and whispering sweet nothings maybe. They look beautiful. Both of them. And as I walk past, I see their faces flushed with laughter and mirth. They live in their own world. Oblivious to the beauty outside. And quite rightly too, for the beauty is within them. Another smile escapes my steely face. And suddenly I know I am happy.
The rain switches back to the drizzle mode as I turn back. I light a cigarette and turn on Andy Mckee’s “Dreamcatcher” on my mobile. As the first guitar strums hit my ears, ripples of pleasure run through me and my hair stand on their feet to applaud. The guy’s a fucking genius. People like him are one in a billion. We make the other part of the billion. And I still remember the question he was asked in an interview, “How hard did you practise for the songs, that you realise, will be spoken about for ages?” His answer is probably the most beautiful I’d ever heard. “Love should never be hard work. Music is my love” Damn!! If only we all understood what he really meant, there would never be pain in this world.
As I enter my hostel, that has been my world for a good part of my last 7 months, I realise how intoxicating the walk was. And yeah, I hope to look beyond my walls now. Beyond my obvious too. So, until the next edition of my wanderings and blabberings, Sayonara!
But wait! I forgot to tell you something. The princess. I miss her. I miss the “darling of the smile”. I do. I really do.
