Amrita

It was a bright sunny morning I remember. I'd woken up early and decided to go for a walk. With no prescience of what was to follow I stepped out. There was the early morning chill in the air, but the sun was making it pleasant. As I was walking across the neighboring park, a girl sitting on one of the park bench caught my eye. She had a face so pretty that I haven’t seen before; I kept walking and kept stealing glances making sure she doesn't catch me staring at her. Her hands were folded down resting on her lap, her untied hair flowing with the breeze and she seemed to be staring at the trees in one of the corner of the park, she looked so engrossed in those trees that she didn't seem to notice anything else. I had passed the bench and left her behind when I decided to turn back and get a final glance. She was still looking at those trees; she looked on without blinking an eyelid. I looked at her, then at the trees. My failure to find anything interesting in the trees made me curious. I wanted to talk to this strange girl. I made sure that that my footsteps don't make any sound, I went near her and was taken aback when she said hi."Hhh How did you know I was here", I stammered, partly surprised, partly ashamed of being caught staring. "It’s okay, sit down". Still concentrating on her trees, she continued, "you know, there is a fabric in the nature, it’s over our heads covering all of us. When you were looking at me, I felt someone pulling it away from me. I felt it slipping off my head and that's how I knew somebody was here". I sat down on the bench beside her, still figuring out what she had just said.

"I am sorry I've been watching you for some time and I can't help but ask why, you are staring at those trees"."Which trees?" "Those” "Ah, those trees. How do you know I am looking at the trees"? "I just figured that because there is nothing else to look at there.” A slight wind was blowing and one of the strands of her untied hair had landed on her right eye, without bothering to remove it she continued "What if I say there are no trees at all there?"

I sensed the conversation was leading up to something, "I walk past those trees every day, I know they are there" I answered. "Then, close your eyes, thinking that the trees are not there". I don't know why I was following her, but I was, I closed my eyes. A few moments later she said, "Now forget that you ever saw those trees, unbelieve your eyes". I did what she said, I was curious like a small child, in the anticipation of learning a secret. I erased the memory of the trees completely from my mind. "Now can you find out if there are trees there?" Here I was completely lost, and as soon as I started with "What are you ..." in a very calm voice she said "You can".

The calmness of her voice settled me down a bit, and I started with the exercise, how could I know the trees were there or not. I couldn't see anything and I was finding it hard to concentrate because of all the noise around me. There was the sound of a school bus as it went past, a little child was crying at some distance, footsteps as somebody just jogged by, more footsteps, they sounded of school kids in a hurry, some children were on a swing, which was making a squeaking sound, a vendor seemingly very proud of his vegetables was shouting at the top of his vocal chords, finally some hustling of dry leaves, but they were of somebody sweeping them, no signs of a tree. I tried to listen everything again, concentrating hard. A slight wind was blowing, starting and stopping intermittently, every time it blew it would make a hissing sound in my ears, but there was another sound which I had missed earlier, every time the wind blew, there would be a sound of leaves, and this seemed to come from a distance, this certainly was from the trees. My eyes still closed, a slight smile spread across my face, not from the fact that I had found out the answer, instead I had found the question out. Things don't stop existing when we close our eyes, but with our eyes closed we need a different way to find them. Sometimes there are things, situations, feelings which don't present them to us in an obvious way, but that does not mean they are not there, they are there, we just need to find them out."Amrita Let's go", a little boy's voice, brought me back to earth. The little boy helped the girl stand up, held her hand and led her away. I watched them go, and drifted into the thoughts of this strange episode again, when an annoyance on my ear disturbed me. It was her strand of hair, which had broken off. I picked it up, blew it in the air and walked away.

The opposite of "Yes"

“Does it”. The voice demanded “Yes it does” he replied. “Please try to understand its gravity” a female voice from the back of the room said. He could anticipate the hope in the voice, he felt a sudden affinity to it, and he was familiar with it but failed to put a name on it. A glass of water and a few silent minutes later, “does it?” he asked again. Almost involuntarily the muscles beneath his voice box flexed and he muttered a “yes”. How did that happen? Why did he say “Yes” and what was it they were asking? “For god’s sake please say it.” The voice now almost pleading cut him into half. He tried turning back to see who she was but found himself blindfolded and unable to move. All he could do was listen and so he did. He heard her sobbing and he heard footsteps going towards her, he closed his eyes and with all his concentration tried listening instead he could in fact see everything. He could see a man comforting the lady. Could he see? He hurriedly ran his hands to his eyes, he was still blindfolded yet he could see everything clearly. He saw her face but again failed to recognize her. He saw a child clinging to the lady, who hasn’t uttered a word till now overawed by the situation. Unable to speak he wasn’t even sure if he was alive. He looked all around the room, although blindfolded he could still see everyone in the room. Was this a miracle or was he dead, the latter possibility scared him before he realized it was the power of human mind, if you feel something as strongly as he was feeling you could actually see it hear it and live it. Could this be the reason he was here. He knew everybody was waiting to hear just one word, the opposite of ‘Yes’ but as much as he tried he wasn’t able to say it.

An hour in a class

I hurry to the class and reach a minute late. I have no interest whatsoever in the class, but I've taken it because its a requirement. A discussion on some obscure topic is going on. I quickly go at the end of the lecture room and grab a spot in the last row. I missed the India vs Sri Lanka match last night, so I open my laptop and log on to cricinfo.I start reading articles at cricinfo, finish all the new articles, check the time .. still half an hour to go, I pretend to look at the white board, its too bright cant look at it directly .. so i am back at my computer screen, alternating between orkut and gtalk, wishing somebody will scrap me or ping me. I write a couple of scraps but everybody seems busy. No reply. I check the time again... 20 minutes to go. I take a look around in the class, the girl beside me has her head down and is sleeping, another on my left has her head up and is sleeping. The chinese guy in the first row, just yawned. Thats bad, if you have to do that, you should be in the last row like me. Swearing on the poor guy, I scan the class again. One guy has his hand on his forehead, cursing the time he took this course.I see another one scribbling something on his notebook, I don't think it is anything even remotely connected to the subject. Not everybody looks uninterested though, there are two guys on either side of me. who are discussing something with the prof. I try to listen and understand whats going on. No use, they are using some weird words and terminologies I have never heard before. I check the time again, still 15 minutes to go. Holy Babe! Has time stopped moving? I curse everything. I've ran out of cricinfo articles to read, what am I going to do? It is then, when I hear the golden words,"Do you want me to continue or should I start the next topic in the next lecture?".
In a very low voice I say Yes, please stop. Others like me who are bored to death, shout a bit loudly. I thank them, and run out to get some fresh air as soon as I can.

The Leaf and the Rose

A thousand leaves got blown away by the wind, some fell on the pavement, some on mud , some on grass and one leaf fell on the ground near a rose. The leaf thought that he was the luckiest person in the world. He adored the rose,he was awe-struck by the beauty of the rose and smitten by its fragrance he fell in love with it,forgetting his origins, forgetting his roots, his past his limitations and his future.For a moment in the sane madness of love , the leaf forgot that he was no different from other leaves who had fallen of the tree,and that his future was nothing but to get buried in the ground with other leaves. He could not go near the rose because of its thorns and the rose had its own leaves , but still the leaf loved the rose's company.

There were nine hundred and ninety nine other leaves, but why did only that leaf fell near the rose, there must have been some purpose, some divine purpose, something that brought them togather.

The leaf lived his whole life in the moment of his love with the rose ,and his happiness was incomparable to anything in his lifetime. But a strong gust of wind broke it all. Once again the leaf got blown away, and blown away with it were all his dreams, his desires, everything that he had imagined. He saw his dreams crashing down,the image of rose fading away as he was swept away by the wind. Perhaps the wind will bring with it some other leaf to the rose.



In case you happen to read this and you are still interested, you might want to answer this.

Was the leaf indeed lucky to have loved the rose for that fleeting moment, or was he unlucky to have suffered the pain of a lifetime in return for a moment of happiness.