The kite is still flying

Why doesn't the kite fly the same way it used to?
Why has the wind changed its direction?
Why am I muscling to keep it afloat,
Whereas yesterday the wind was doing it for me?

No longer do the colours flash in the background of
Sun playing hide and seek with strange shaped clouds.
It's a plain white kite moving lazily across the horizon
Trying to cut clear of the antennas and tree tops.

Waiting for a gust of wind to get it into its elements again
The kite stays afloat with the candle of hope burning
I look across the expansive sky and spot a movement in the cloud
Is it the old breeze blowing up or just an illusion?

Murderous Intentions

One thing I desperately want to do right now is to kill Himesh Reshamiya. With the slum people playing his "noisy n nosey" songs since yesterday at more than a 100 decibels, I feel like tearing my hair apart.

God, why does he vent out his frustrations on innocent souls like us?

I never knew that singing through the nose in a cacophony of all kinds of tech music is a cure for constipation.

An evening at the Maidan

The other day (the evening before my B.Com Hons paper) I happened to take a stroll down the Kolkata Maidan, my hands clutching a book and my eyes following a couple of kites, each trying to assert its supremacy over the other, in the background of the majestic Victoria Memorial and I realised that heaven is not far away, that is, if you associate heaven with freedom.

To see young kids play cricket brought back beautiful memories when even I used to spend half of my summer hols with a bat in my hands and the other half either thinking about the day gone by or planning for the upcoming day. (I have lost count of the number of times I must have played cricket with Sachin, sometimes at the Lords and at other times in my backyard, in my dreams).

There were others playing football, and though I haven't played much football, Ankur and I had a hearty laugh remembering the racket I, a 9 year old kid, had created at home, when I wanted spiked football boots for some silly interhouse football tournamnent and was promptly refused. In fact, playing football in muddy slush still appeals to me, but I neither have the time nor any company to do the same.

And then there were the kite flyers ... the street kids belonging to the same clan as I do. For me, kite flying is more that just a passion. It has a symbolic importance in my life. And that reminds me that this season I shall be flying kites with Rohit. In fact, had it not been for kites, maybe he and I woudn't have been as great friends as we are. Together, we have created a little universe of our own, in which we have our own lingo, our own methodology. Our dress code is usually ultra short pants, faded t shirts and sunglasses. The fore fingers of our right hand get scarred, like those of Arjun, the only difference being that his fingers were scarred by the string of his bow while ours get scarred by that of the kite.

And then there were the species that you expect to find at any public place in this city ... the eternal lovers (bhalo basha couples). The protocol I noticed was that the couple came on a motorcycle, parked it at any empty spot in the vast grassland, and made themselves comfortable under the coziness of their vehicle. It was something new I was seeing and it kind of amused me. I was also slightly jealous of them. The weather that day was good and it would be nice to have a walk in the anonymity of the maidan with someone special. Just that I am yet to find that someone special. [and just to clarify that even if I would have found my Ms. Special, I would not like to get as cozy as those people, in the public !!!]

Today I carried my latai to Varun's place and we had planned to fly kites in the maidan, after studying for tomorrow's exam for an hour or so. But alas, the Rain Gods weren't too pleased with our plans, so I have deferred my plan of flying kites at the Maidan to some other day.

And yes, to conclude, I did get hold of the No.10 Argentine jersey today (as I had decided to do, while writing my previous blog).