Afternoon Musings
The hectic activity has finally subsided.
I have been running to-and-fro from my hostel to the admin building all morning and noon. The tasks were important, hardly the sort that one could let be labeled collateral damage in the indescribable hurry of b-school life. But I have been at them since morning. And they are done now! Not a small feat, by no means.
So now I take a leisurely walk down to the cafeteria, my eyes hitting upon the ‘big’ ThumsUp bottles standing teasingly in the freezer and I find I can scarce control myself. The bottle is brought out onto the counter. Behold! The beauty of the shape, the chilled surface laced with small droplets of moisture, each growing by the second and yearning to let gravity take control and hurl it down the smooth curves of the glass, caressing the bottle as it flows and meets others of its kind. Behold the deep yet translucent colour of the liquid filled inside, the light coming through in hues of brown, red, black and the like. And oh, look at the fizz bubbles collecting at the top of the liquid surface, so bubbly and immature, so young and impatient and yet lining the bottle wall in a dutiful circle, never straying too far to the center of the surface. God knows what binds them to the wall!
I touch the bottle! The chill runs through me, in a second running from hand to feet to spine to brains. A thin smile spreads on my lips as I carry the life-saver to a remote corner table, where I proceed to place the stools in a comfortable position by the wall and recline on them. Ah! I can now see the window and through it, the acad block of XLRI. I can see the greenery around it and the blue XL sky. I can see the routine fly-past of the white campus pigeons and the occasional colourful birds whose names I don’t know. And yes, I occasionally lift the bottle grasping it fully in my hands to let the chill do its job and take a sip! Ah…life is good!
This is the time when there is no one around in the cafeteria to disturb my thoughts and the mind slowly clears the mad rush of the morning hours and finds its own sweet pace and path. I think about the numbered days I have in XL. I think about this time two years ago and I look at all I can see and try to drink XL as much as I can. The fan overhead keeps good but silent company. I am about to sleep. And then I think about the mysteries of life. What triggered these thoughts I dont know. How come one feels so strongly about somebody, so much so that it seems no one else exists in the world? What’s the logic of this? God knows! Tricky issue and not very conversational but very bloggable I guess. Love, when reciprocated, I have seen to be God’s best gift to man. And yet when un-requited, I have seen the same love to be the harshest curse one can face in life. Mysterious are the ways of the creator.
My thoughts turn to the birds again who just flew by. The Dalma hilltop is visible from the window. It’s a damn clear day. I recall the time when a group of friends went on an overnight trekking trip to the hills and we lit a campfire right there on that top. We had food and drinks and the whole city of Jamshedpur lay before our eyes, the beautiful lights reaching our eyes while the harsh noises getting lost somewhere on the way. It was awesome. It was a day to be remembered for long. Distance does filter out the harsh things.
I have finished my ThumsUp and the bottle has been drained completely. It’s time to shake off the sweet slumber trying to overpower me and move to my room. I must find something else to do, to fill my time with good things till these few days in XL pass away. Hmm…right!
I have been running to-and-fro from my hostel to the admin building all morning and noon. The tasks were important, hardly the sort that one could let be labeled collateral damage in the indescribable hurry of b-school life. But I have been at them since morning. And they are done now! Not a small feat, by no means.
So now I take a leisurely walk down to the cafeteria, my eyes hitting upon the ‘big’ ThumsUp bottles standing teasingly in the freezer and I find I can scarce control myself. The bottle is brought out onto the counter. Behold! The beauty of the shape, the chilled surface laced with small droplets of moisture, each growing by the second and yearning to let gravity take control and hurl it down the smooth curves of the glass, caressing the bottle as it flows and meets others of its kind. Behold the deep yet translucent colour of the liquid filled inside, the light coming through in hues of brown, red, black and the like. And oh, look at the fizz bubbles collecting at the top of the liquid surface, so bubbly and immature, so young and impatient and yet lining the bottle wall in a dutiful circle, never straying too far to the center of the surface. God knows what binds them to the wall!
I touch the bottle! The chill runs through me, in a second running from hand to feet to spine to brains. A thin smile spreads on my lips as I carry the life-saver to a remote corner table, where I proceed to place the stools in a comfortable position by the wall and recline on them. Ah! I can now see the window and through it, the acad block of XLRI. I can see the greenery around it and the blue XL sky. I can see the routine fly-past of the white campus pigeons and the occasional colourful birds whose names I don’t know. And yes, I occasionally lift the bottle grasping it fully in my hands to let the chill do its job and take a sip! Ah…life is good!
This is the time when there is no one around in the cafeteria to disturb my thoughts and the mind slowly clears the mad rush of the morning hours and finds its own sweet pace and path. I think about the numbered days I have in XL. I think about this time two years ago and I look at all I can see and try to drink XL as much as I can. The fan overhead keeps good but silent company. I am about to sleep. And then I think about the mysteries of life. What triggered these thoughts I dont know. How come one feels so strongly about somebody, so much so that it seems no one else exists in the world? What’s the logic of this? God knows! Tricky issue and not very conversational but very bloggable I guess. Love, when reciprocated, I have seen to be God’s best gift to man. And yet when un-requited, I have seen the same love to be the harshest curse one can face in life. Mysterious are the ways of the creator.
My thoughts turn to the birds again who just flew by. The Dalma hilltop is visible from the window. It’s a damn clear day. I recall the time when a group of friends went on an overnight trekking trip to the hills and we lit a campfire right there on that top. We had food and drinks and the whole city of Jamshedpur lay before our eyes, the beautiful lights reaching our eyes while the harsh noises getting lost somewhere on the way. It was awesome. It was a day to be remembered for long. Distance does filter out the harsh things.
I have finished my ThumsUp and the bottle has been drained completely. It’s time to shake off the sweet slumber trying to overpower me and move to my room. I must find something else to do, to fill my time with good things till these few days in XL pass away. Hmm…right!
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