Tranquil treasures...

I AM BACK MA!!

Ma - I have come back. In the last one year that I was away - I missed you so much. I missed all those things that always brought me closer to you each time you held me and showered all your affection on me. Maybe I could not, or did not - express my loneliness to others. But, the vacuum in my heart was always there. When the going got really tough, and when practically everyone and everyone became a stranger to me - I missed you all the more.

But now that I am here, there is no need to worry. The vacuum is gone, and my heart is so abundant now. And I am so happy to see my brothers and sisters as well. They seem more happy than they probably were a year back. Did you compensate for my absence by giving them your eternal love and expecting nothing in return, as you always do? Maybe you did.But that makes me more happy - to see that all your children are enjoying themselves. My brothers always seem to be so cheerful, even in the sweltering afternoon heat, when they are trying to make others' lives comfortable by giving them the brightly coloured liquids to quench their thirsts or offering those caps or umbrellas. They seem so enthusiastic to help my other brothers and sisters survive the tyranny of the sun god.

My sisters also seem to be so happy. It was only yesterday that I saw two of them board the Metro railway train that I was taking to office - they were very brightly attired and were two drums. They were constantly smiling and looking at the instruments - which come to life in the modes of transport above the ground and which are their source of sustenance.

And the gastronomic delights that you dish out still continue to amaze me - from jhalmuri to chicken rolls - you seem to have something for everyone. That is why, when some of your children seem to be unhappy, they regain their lost happiness through a contented stomach! But Ma, there are quite a few of your children who continue to be unhappy for some reason or the other. That is why, they are always angry and want to give vent to their frustration. Somehow, they cannot seem to do it and thus they always feel that others are responsible for their failure. Maybe this is true, maybe it is not.

But Ma, you always want your children to be happy, don't you? Because you are the City of Joy - Kolkata. You are the mother - Ma - to all those who have settled on your soil. And since Joy is attached, I am sure you will never disappoint your children in always making them feel happy and safe in your bosom.

Passages....

Avion firma exists within terra firma, just like so many lives that exist within one. From the life of an easy-going undergrad student to that of a journalist in the making out there and finally to the live newsroom- these are the passages that I have walked through till now. Each time, things have started on Ground Zero..and each time - things have been done and undone.Obviously, the family feuds of South Indian politicians or lip-locking controversies are not exactly what concern me in these transitory stages. Hence, dubious devotion. It is the apprehension, anxiousness, the first bead of sweat trickling down the neck - the so many aspects of that 'first time' that matter. Just like the fact that only one's wife or girlfriend happens to be the most beautiful female on the earth for her partner. Whatever be the outcome of each stage in life - there is a beauty in it - something that my inner eye is only learning to see right now - after the various stages of learning and unlearning.

This is the avion firma for each one of us - the imaginations and the observations that are firmly gripped by the subconscious atmosphere. So, it is stronger than terra firma...and it is transcribed in the diary of the mind as memories - real and unreal - that can never be discarded as excess baggage.

Let the devotion be dubious - for all things material and immaterial. But, let it not overshadow the journey of the avion firma...