I don’t know.. it must be my nth attempt to finally ‘find time’ and jot down something… and now today
when I have run out of this excuse (thanks to a headache or pensiveness?) I find it herculean to really
come up with something.. oh boy!! I started writing something in Hindi only to find google transliterator too slow to keep up with my mind…
There is always this overarching question at the back of your mind when you blog… to play to the gallery
or to put up your own true feelings out there… and it goes without saying that this is what separates a
popular read and a soothing personal diary… but I found that trying to write too much for the audience
decreases the intrinsic motivation to write… there is this nagging feeling of your piece of writing being
nothing but a commercial venture .. (so I really don’t care how this one turns out) …anyways…
Today, I paid a visit to my childhood friend, neighbor and muhboli bahan!! She has been happily
married for quite some time now. It becomes quite difficult to keep in touch with her.. all the more
because of my 6 year exile from Chittor.. actually my examination center was in the same mohalla
where we used to stay and she still lives nearby..I cant remember how long it has been since we met..
might have been a year or two I guess..
She introduced me to her kids as Mama Ji.. they refused to oblige with a handshake (Damn my beard!!
).. after talking about few things here and there , she popped the question I had been dreading…
“when did you come back to Chittor” she asked (I have been here for about 3 months now)
“15 days”, I stammered…
she could not understand
“About a month or so”.. I tried to bluff again
"What !! and its now that you found the time"!!
I tried to blurt something.. I was busy preparing..playing basketball… Its too hot these days.. and
changed the topic…
she eventually made me concede that I was here for about quarter of an year now…
Coming, back from her house, I was naturally engulfed with thoughts like how time runs away and
whether I shall even ‘have the time’ be able to cherish the ‘good old days’ gone by..and how things
change with time.. Lokesh is going to XLRI and I am anxious the he will make new friends there and
forget us ..
As I neared the new bridge , I slowed down a little.. perhaps to recollect the college vacation time when
I and Ravi Jain , out of shear boredom, would come loitering till here…and then there was a sharp blare of the horn from behind.. asking me to speed up or get aside, making me realize that there is perhaps
‘just not enough’ time for all such things..
Reached home and it was about time to play… was searching for something to look forward to.. and
then it struck me ‘Oh Yeah! The girl who jogs’… my spirits got a shot in the arm…finally something to
make me swim across this ocean of nostalgia…
She came … as usual with her father (yeah, I am ashamed of being part of a society where girls cant go
and play without someone for their security)… and I tried to steal a glance or two during the game of
basketball.. and again .. . got submerged in thoughts of the Gym-G athletic tracks, the hockey field and
those deliberately miscued shots so that some pretty girl ,while jogging, might oblige and return the ball .. and finally to give that nostalgia a deserving tribute, I decided to blog
again today .. feels good !