Beyond 'S'

If you’re A poet A misfit A dreamer A schemer A rebel A loner A doer A thinker Please For the love Of the universe Don’t change A piece of blue paper with these words on it was handed to me on a bowl with many others, with different quotes to it. The universe chose this for me, amongst all the other chits of paper, stuck between my fingers as I lifted it from a ‘bowl of quotes’ placed at our table along with the bill at a café, in the narrow lanes of Udaipur. With partially digested pasta with pesto and a shot of caffeine in the form of Irish coffee, I was hit with strong words making me ponder about- What am I doing? - in middle of the largest state in the country. Of all the café’s in all of Udaipur, I walk into this and this little blue paper falls in between my fingers. I was lost in a sea of thoughts, each word playing on repeat in my head as I walked down the narrow lanes towards Bagore ki Haveli, again. I couldn’t hear the words of my friends, just s...

A city where the Silk roads doesn’t seem to move smoothly like its name and places named after LIC policies- impatience is available on the go. As the metro moves seamlessly without disturbing the life below, a couple of ‘not so’ strangers (who know each other) decide to get a cup of coffee, in a Fortune 500 US Based Outlet in a mall, which is considered an architectural beauty. Travelling up the hills, away from home to meet a person who travelled towards home, from the state of ‘Amma’, a day late, as the roads weren’t silky enough. The orders were placed and they both would forget what they were about to drink, especially the one who just said ‘Anything is fine’, as it was being placed. A brownie was added to it, which wasn’t cursed. They didn’t have anything to catch up, but sitting on a wooden table next to each other with exotic cups of coffee placed in front of them, looking out into the lives of people that didn’t matter and looking into each other’s life as it would change dr...

The leaves are starting to fall again. Wow!! Looks so beautiful! Why do they fall?? Why is it happening in slow motion in my head, is it because I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately? They are falling down as the wind plays with it, spins it around, caress it, feel it- so romantic. Does anything like that exist in this inexhaustible variety of our lives? They are dying and yet they are loved, they’re old and on their final journey and yet they’re loved. Maybe it’s because there is no expectation from the wind or the leaf. As it touches the ground, it’s dead. Moved around in its grave by the speeding vehicles, by the kicks of disapproval, heartbreaks that we experience- As their soul moves to a new tree, ready to blossom, to grow as a new leaf- The repetitiveness of life, the never ending cycle. What is he talking about? Does he also get lost in his thoughts while I’m talking? Why is he dressed up so well? Did he get placed? Or is he telling how they rejected him? Does he actually...

I could hear my heartbeat, ‘lup dup lup dup’ and my footsteps echoing as I walked out of my workplace. The narrow passage with the overview of the city on one side and the other was a glass wall overlooking the lab I used to work. Now it was just a room, a computer and a lot of respect. I kept walking out as the lights installed on top switched on and off along with every step I took. A piece of technology installed and devised by myself, to save power or maybe it was my way to compensate for the long drives I took by myself for no reason-“Maintaining the energy balance”. The shadows forming for an instant and vanishing in a blink of an eye and the city never looked better with all the lights. It had rained earlier and the refraction of the city lights through the drops on the glass, something I ignored. I didn’t know what time it was and it didn’t bother me. I wasn’t wearing a watch anymore because time had lost its importance in my life. It never ran slow, it did when I gave it too...

I kept staring at the chandelier, the way it reflected it’s light all across the hall. A few more chandeliers in the room doing what exactly the one above me was doing, but I didn’t bother about the rest. It was like how in a Bollywood number, we look at the actor or the actress rather than the background dancers who are doing the same steps. I had a glass of wine with me and was trying to get the smell of it and move the glass around, just to make others feel that , ‘I knew my wine’. But trust me I had no idea. The color of wine shined in the presence of the chandelier which was the reason I noticed it at the first place. Looking over at the crowd that was dining a top notch dinner, I was waiting for a special person and our table to be ready. Right then, a girl in a wine red cocktail dress, a high pony and black stilettos just walked past by me as I kept sipping my wine. She sat couple of seats ahead of me and moved the strands of her hair behind her ears, waiting for her table, ...

I had made into the city, a bag of clothes; a will to persevere with no dreams whatsoever.  I was out on the streets roaming around with no clear goal. The light’s my source of inspiration, the chaos in the city- music to my ears, the smell- my food, the sea breeze-my refresh moment. Every face unknown, unfamiliar, yet had a bit of apnaapan in it. The old buildings were my getaway spots when the monsoon struck, when the sun was at its best it was the marine drives- The city presented to me in a way I wanted it to. I was being a part of it bit by bit, part by part. During Dasara it was the temples that fed me, Ramzan it was the flavorsome biriyanis at the mosque and during Christmas it was the churches. I was devoid of any relations to the things that mattered to a common man. I was in search of a life, a dream that the city had promised me as I left my own. A dream of a better me, a goal to bring in a change within me and around. I was quite lost in the fast moving, unparallel, i...

“So many books, when will I get time to read all of them”, I thought. “A story lurking at every corner of the store”, I said to myself picking up a Gabo. A lady was standing beside me, gave a stare, the one that said, “Were you just talking to yourself” and I smiled. “Hi”, I waved at her. She waved back. “Advaith”, I said. “Snighda” She picked a book, I couldn’t notice the cover and then she moved to seating area. She was pretty, not so tall, long hair in short the general characteristics of a beautiful woman. I carried my Gabo and sat opposite to her. “Do you like Marquez works?” she asked. “Yeah, actually I do. The way he develops and presents the story is very intriguing” “I’ve read one of his books” “Which one” “Love in the time of Cholera” “Haven’t read that” “Ok” “By the way, what do you do?” “I’m a dentist. You?” “I’m a writer. Someday you might see some books of mine” “Ah, writer… What do you write??” “Anything that comes to my mind- The conver...