Of Exams and Bus Conversations

24-9-2015

Today was the destined last day of my B.ed Exams. I had my English exam and as easy I thought it would be, the exam turned out to be total disaster. But that is not the purpose for writing this blog.

I got up on a busy 6no. Bus to Lankeswar at around the scheduled time. The bus was packed but by the good grace of god, I managed a seat. It was drizzling outside, and I sat silently pondering over my preparation and trying to recall whatever I studied. At the Jalukbari bus stand a handicapped man got in. During this course of one year from Maligaon to Lankeswar, I had often come across this man. He works in the forest department. This I know as he gets down a bus stand before me and I often see him entering the office of the forest department. From his appearance all that I could make out was that he had some problem in his leg as he was always carried a crutch. He occupied a seat behind me. He shared the seat with another man. Gradually they started conversing and suddenly I found myself over hearing their conversation. The other man with whom the handicapped man was sharing his seat also had certain physical disabilities. They shared about how they had reached such problems. Little tit bits over how the situation had hardened over the years. The other man than said “We are the sufferers. Let’s see what is in store for us after all this. I am sure it can’t get tougher than this”. Finally they bid their adieus as they had reached their bus stops.

I am blogging this particular incident because I want to remember it in the longest of my life. Such positive and jolly natured people. Despite all hardships, they are leading quite a normal life. Neither are they complaining about anything nor are they living a lonely life aloofing themselves from the little pieces of happiness life is offering them.  Such people exemplify the saying “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”.

 A source of inspiration to me and million others.

~ The Kite Runner ~

For you, a thousand times over

Guwahati Metropolitan Urban Winter Festival, 2014

Held at Shradhanjali Kanan Park, it was a beautiful chaos of people from all ages.

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"You are at once both the quiet and the confusion of my heart"

Earlier romantic love songs, were just plain songs. With useless  lyrics. Black and white lyrics, that I couldn't relate to.  The engine of my existence was chugging along, alone, on the track of life. And then you happened. And the bogies of happiness, alacrity, purpose, zeal, ambition and reason – all joined on. Love songs suddenly became all the more romantic. All words, all sentences I related to you. You bought a different kind of meaning to life, that was earlier missing. A different kind of care, an unknown sort of happiness  that I was alien to. My black and white life found its own reasons to be colourful enough. Losing sleep became a reason of happiness. I had atlast  found the tiny streak of light in my dark world. I was happy, despite the fights and small misunderstandings. Then one day you left me. And you never returned. You promised me happiness forever and with you left my only reason to be happy. The reasons, let it be inknown. For in my heart I know, you were never wrong. Still, the heart is a stupid organ. It still makes me miss you. Moving on is just a myth. Life is again back to square one.

~Dil ka mijaaj Ishqiya~

Aisi uljhi nazar unse hat ti nahi

Dant se reshmi dorr kat ti nahi

Umra kab ki baras ke safaid ho gayi

Kari badri jawani ki chhatti nahi         

Vallah yeh dhadkan, badhne lagi

Chehre ki rangat udne lagi

Dar lagta hai tanha sone mein jee

Dil to baccha hai jee

Thoda kaccha hai jee

Haaaan dil to baccha hai jee     

Ta ra ra rararar raa

Ta ra ra rararar raa

Ta ra ra rararar raa

Kisko pata tha

Pehlu mein rakha

Dil aisa baagi bhi hoga

Hum toh hamesha samjhte the

Koi hum jaisa haan ji hi hoga

Haaaye zor kare kitna shor kare

Bewajah baton mein aaive gaur kare

Dil sa koi kameene nahi

Koi to roke

Koi to toke

Iss umra mein ab

Khaaoge dhoke

Dar lagta hai ishq karne mein jee

Dil to baccha hai jee

Haaaye thoda kaccha hai je

Dil toh baccha hai jee

New year 2014

This new year, things were a bit different than the usual years. This year instead of visiting the Kamakhya temple, we visited the Umananda temple and the Uzan Bazar ghat. Also this year there was an additional member to the usual number. I, and Gita were accompanied by Gita's youngest sister. It was an awesome day. Had oodles of fun.

Date a girl who reads

“You should date a girl who reads. Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.”

― Rosemarie Urquico