Good Morning!

Morning!

Early morning crowded metro station leaves me in a fix every day. I see people running like mad to catch the train which is standing at the platform. The hurry is to reach before the doors shut. No offense but I laugh at them many a times, not because of those weird expressions on their faces when they are about to bang on the closing door but because all this reminds me of that wonderful place where life was never in hurry. The mornings used to start when the matador would start its first trip – that too dependent on the seasons. People never used to rush for anything. They had their own targets but were not afraid of the consequences they might have to face if they don’t complete them. No wonder why people in ‘city’ attend motivational classes of some gurus where they teach them how to be 'fearless'. Fear bounds you. Fear of expectations. Fear of performance. Fear of getting late. Its all too specific in city. The ‘9:15’ Metro which will come in ‘01’ minute and would take ‘51’ minutes to reach the destination. And there, people enjoyed being there in that moment. No one ever shouted on the conductor for prolonged halt at different places. No one even had the answer to the question, “Gaadi Kab aayegi?” What all they could say was, “Aajayegi abhi..” Maybe that’s why we used to treat it as the 'country' space. There is no fear. There are no expectations. The life goes on like an organism, which functions smoothly as all the parts are working in coordination, opposite to the city. I always used to call Mumbai a city of machines, where people act like machines operating on some pre-ordered instructions. Delhi is no different apart from the fact that this machine is noisier. 

These machines travelling in Metro are so stressed that they use different ways to ‘disconnect’ themselves from regular things. Some shut their eyes and murmur the names of their gods and some plug in the headphones, shut eyes and concentrate on the music. What they all are doing is ‘forgetting’ or erasing their memories temporarily or getting ‘high’. People in ‘country’ never shut eyes while travelling so as they can see the beauty lying in the nature. For city we have songs like “There’s a big hard sun, beating on the big people, in a big hard world” (Eddie Vedder) I, personally, never like to see the sun when I am in city. And back there, we used to gaze right into the rising sun early morning. ‘Accept’ is something that a city teaches very well. Being one of the ‘machines’, I accept the conditions and try to forget things listening to music. But every time I plug in to “Paradise” (Coldplay) and close my eyes, I find myself in Sahil's room, the place which relates to the song very well. Or while listening to “Don’t you worry child” (Swedish House Mafia), I find Him Anshu sitting next to me doing nothing… 

“Next station is Nehru Place”, time to stop. 

That’s how I start my ‘city’ mornings!

Wake me Up when September ends...

Saw one 'yogi' on my way back to home and was listening to this song..  and you can see the result 

The Super Hero

(Text and sketches by D.B.)

While walking through a crowded market space, street or a commercial ‘hub’, we seldom notice an uncommonly capable race of Super heroes – The Office-goers! The breed is extensively available and is very ‘normal’ in appearance. They look like any other person walking down the lane. They wear no badge or ‘sign’ on their chests nor do they wear their underpants over the trousers. They don’t have laser beams striking out from eyes nor can they fly off like a bird. Still they beat out everyone on the list of Super Heroes. What they actually posses is the immense will power; power to work under any circumstance. Be it any season, any weather condition, any emergency, until unless there is a national holiday (that too, not applicable for BPO employees); ‘The Office-goer’ keeps on working.

The Carriage of the 'Hero'

He wakes up every morning with the list of ‘things-to-do’. Daily, he carries with him the load of work which he couldn’t complete the day before. He rushes from his place before time so as to catch an early bus (his carriage) so that he can reach office tidily. The moment he leaves his place, his struggle to thrive in this cruel world starts. He faces a tough competition at the bus-stand itself. There are many others just like him. He finds that he’s not alone in the world. Like him, there are many, who want to board the bus. He manages to stand one step ahead than others in a hope that the bus would stop just before him. As soon as he gets the first glimpse of it he gears himself up for a ‘clash’ that would decide whether he is a good employee or not. (Remember, it doesn’t matter how much hard working you are, if you are late, you are dead!) The clash becomes difficult when he realises that his conveyance is already overloaded! He brings up all his powers and steps into the huddle. The moment he steps in he senses one ‘shoe-mark’ on the left side of his ‘properly-ironed’ black trouser. After a second or two, he’s been dragged by someone through his shirt damaging the crease on his right. His bag is being pulled by someone continuously. His pen (in shirt’s pocket) is almost ready to jump off. The lens of his specs is being ‘disabled’ with some oil deposit from someone’s head. Those who have the ‘average’ height, senses the ‘aroma’ of different kinds of hair oils and hair gels. This is possible only in the morning. That’s the only time when one can sense the fragrance of the Super Heroes.

The Super-Bus after the crowd enters

The slaughtered Super hero realises his importance and grabs a nook in the bus. His whole journey passes in attempting to reach as closer to the window as possible which, he discovers, is jammed (due to the rust that was deposited in the last rain). Signs of efforts to open that pane could be seen easily on the hook that is being bent and thrashed by the members of the same race, earlier in time. Our hero, now, has the responsibility to open that window so as to relieve the human race from the heat that is being built up inside the bus. He draws together all his powers and opens the jammed pane followed by appreciations & gratitude flowing in from all sides. Once again, he saved the human race.

As he reaches his destination, his fight with the time begins, again. Why the bus took three minutes extra at the last traffic light? Why the ticket collector had to stop this bus only? Why don’t humans understand the value of time? Why the roads are so narrow? Why the buses don’t use the BUS LANE? With such thoughts in mind and an eye on his wrist watch, the Hero starts rushing towards the office. On his way, he notices many other heroes, but as he is late by three minutes, he ignores all his mates and moves on.

Finally, he reaches the place where his own powers are of no use. The place where there are other heroes but they too lose their powers; the place where his heroic deeds and stories are ‘too common’; the place where his efforts to save the humanity are futile and ineffectual; the place which is headed by a Higher spirit, not good, not decent, for sure. As soon as the hero enters, he’s welcomed by the messenger (another hero in his own sense) of the ‘Higher Spirit’ with a message, “Come late by five minutes, again, and you’ll be marked absent!” Thus, the Hero & his heroic deeds are shunned off and he loses all his powers. The place is ‘The Office’ and the higher spirit is ‘The Boss!’

And thus once again our Super Hero works and prepares himself for another battle! Battle with time & submissions.