it was one wild night. no, it wasnt the farewell party, but a rather grim event, with a lot of tension and confusion till the nth hour in the air. but all is well that ends well. or so i hope. at least we gve it our best. the rest is left to the Forces. and after it all got over, the fun began. what with dancing to nelly furtado's powerelss at 5 in the morning to the realisation that being tucked in a small ledge is definitely not a substitute for a good bed, but what the heck, is definitely a lot more fun. and then, there were none. and as ususal it was time to prty, what with songs from our very own scon "neta" and the nasty adaptations some late late night/early early morning video shows in the audi, and then we were off for breakfast, and of course the cutting chai. well almost. cos the eight of us left on bikes after much cajoling (for the two Soniyes in Viru's words) and some scramabling for the bikes. after all 10 kms is not a short distance, and more so if u r in hill country. n then there it was in the middle of all the madness, the first signs of an impending sunrise. the lilac sabdwiched between two clouds ... ahhh. i was supposed to go with Mots, who finally decided to call it a day after none of the other scon members wanted to undertake the ordeal. and so i set out alone in the pursuit of the company on his bike later, but in fact i feel i was lukcy cos, the glimpse that i caught of the sunrise was simply breathtaking. the pics i clicked from Sam's cell are a testimony to it. by the time i left, it was already pretty bright. and dressed like a tennis star (please no comments on this... i convinced myself with great difficulty that i didnt look like a joker in the sweatshirt and shorts by repeating this to myself) without a worry. in fact this is where the blog should have begun in the first place. there will be a couple of other blogs again on this whole issue from each persons experience, but my aim was to seek answers and to write them down so that if i ever forget them in the future, i would look back and start afresh. afresh was exacly the feeling i had. and the movie buff in me started bubbling with "maan kahti hain ki agar thakaan door karni ho to ugte sooraj ki taraf dekhna chahiye" from the movie Seher. and my tiredness was all gone. and on that bike ride came the reiteration that there was life beyond the mundane, beyond what everyone has to go through. and it was this life that made each one of us special. and then the most startling realisation of them all. the more things change, the more they remain the same. what with deja vu in the truest sense of the word after all the deja status messages, when i could feel that same small time quiet in Kunnamangalam and that feeling of belongingness came back to me as if i was an eighth grader in Jhansi. hearing the cuckoo sing took me back to days so old that i even doubted if my memory still had them. man those mango treess, the small "chabootra around them. the cracks in the "chabootra", the grass work on the rock garden, the running around of the trees, the climbing and hanging from th branches... it was all there some two thousand kilometres and half a lifetime away from the scene of the action. the return journey was even more surreal with the golden rays streaming in from behind the clouds as if to say that someone up above is trying to reach out to those below, only if they would see this and realise it. that feeling of bliss overpowered me. everything was beautiful on this day - that unfiltered tea with dregs that usually have me jumping up and down, those socks hanging from my waits, partly tucked in my shorts. "tan ki thakaan to door ho gayi, ab man ki bari thi" even though there were avengers and pulsars parked around, i felt like God. even on that passion i borrowed from Mots. thanks again Motwani.
