There and back again

I think it would do no justice if I write all that happenned during the short holiday I took. I will just say that it was a journey of life's many, with all the ups and downs.

Now that I am back, I shall continue with my search for the meaning of life.

Taking a Break

Another time has come to take yet another break from the normal humdrum of life. It is dangerous to put one's feet on the road, for one may never know where it will sweep you off. And unwisely, I have put my feet on the path that can lead to the Mirkwood or to the lonely mountain. I bid adieu to you gentle reader. Until we meet again.

Nostalgia - A phenomenon

I had got over any such taste as I might once have had for ornamented and redundant composition, and come to prefer what was plain and homely. And as such, a tide of Nostalgia flushed over the composition of my being, overwhelming the general consciousness of mine. I didn't realized that the past is so heavenly sweet -- and so deadly sad, that to reminisce one incident of it would dissolve my courage and break down my energy.

It is said that to the elves memories are like living moments. But to us, mere mortals, it is not so. The memory cannot fulfill the exotic stimulation of the present which so much excites the mind. A reminisces of the past is not like the living visit of the moment, however fresh and vivid one's memory may be.

Yet, to be reminded of the happenings of one's past by the true force of one's memory, one staggers to face the happenings of the time that went by. I remember that time when all hope have left me and I was felled into despair; when I saw the end beyond all doubt. Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt! May your eyes never shed such stormy tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agonized as in that hour left my lips.

In such incidence, I am glad that we are not elves but simple mortals, for to live the memories again would be agony beyond all misery. But now, I look forward to the future, which to me is an awful blank, something like the world when the deluge was gone by. Yet, a promise lives that all green things will again grow.

Winter's Heart

Let me tell from the start that my regards for the season of winter is not a very nice one. Since I encountered Her at the very beginning of my life, I have always detest the way she manifested herself in the cold blooded way. Still I didn't had the power to tell Her that She is an offence to the senses.

The way she glides along here and there, extending Her icy fingers to catch the unawares, her lithe grace befooling simpletons, making Her way into other people's houses without any invitations, Her crimes are limitless! She may suddenly swoop down an old person and BAM!! The elderly didn't knew what hit him/her.

And the friends that She puts up with, they are despicable. There is this Pneumonia who thinks she is the prettiest of all, and the Common Cold, a sick old bastard who love torturing people, from her neighbourhood. They are the worst. They will strut around together with no care for the others, pulling pranks on some small children, or some old fellow, the list of their crime is endless.

I will be glad when this season who calls Herself Winter would take Her long vaccation. Life was quite and content when she was not around. But she is now for stay for another month or so!! I don't know how I can put up with Her for that long.

May the gods have mercy on those who were touched my the icy fingers of the Winter!

I thank my maker

Once I got sick, not life threatening but seriously ill and much painful. During that time, a friend came to visit me and ask cordially how I am feeling, I told him I am getting better everyday and to keep up the conversation, I asked him how was his day, He said, "I watched three movies today and played many games of TT(table tennis), but I feel bored," he take a look at me and continued, "But you must feel pretty much more bored lying down own your bed all day.

I gave him a surprised look, "Me bored", I exclaimed, "How can I feel boredom when ever breath I take is a fight with death, ever moment is a struggle to keep alive"

He was surprised. And after some moments, he went to play TT again. What I didn't told him is that, in between all the fighting and struggling, I thank my maker, that in the midst of judgement, he has remembered mercy and kept me alive so far.

The Holiday

It has been an exhilarating holiday. I will recapitulate the incidents of those days in as exact a manner as possible. First, I went to Vrindavan, where my mother was at that time. The next day along with all the Iskon people, we went to Jaipur and came back on the same day on an appalling bus, which flattened my posterior. Then I was at Vrindavan again. It was lots of fun waking up at 3 am in the morning and taking a not so warm bath to attend some ‘mangal arti’. And that was nothing compared to the excellent 22 km barefoot walk for the Vrindavan Parikrama and the following 24 km barefoot walk for the Govardhan Parikrama the day after. The sole of my feet is never the same after that. The next day, a visit to all the important temples took all the time for sun up to sundown, and by the time we reach back to where we were lodging, I was surprised that I still have my feet with me. Since my feet are intact the following morning, we again set out to conquer the intricate labyrinth that was the market of Vrindavan. As expected, it took us all the daylight out of us when we returned. My mother was not to be put down with such minor things as physical exhaustion, so we again set out for a tour to the city of Taj, where awaits the romantic Taj Mahal. I never understood what is so romantic about big scrapes of marble on a tomb. Ofcourse when we were returning we could not skip the beauty of the city of Mathura. Those were my days during the first half of the Holidays.

On the day after returning from Agra, we left for delhi. And that day, my mother left for home, and I stayed behind at my brother’s place. For 3 straight days I sleep and eat and sleep again. But I came to know that it was the season for fest in the colleges of delhi university. So, promptly, I went to my friend’s place, who is a student of a DU college and together we went to many college fest. The first one was at SRCC( Sri Ram College of Commerce ). On the first day they called Bombay Vikings. It was good but not that much good. Next day we went to Ramjas and just absorbed the college spirit. It was fun. And yes, the Jam session was quite rocking. The next day, Aryans performed at Ramjas and Band of Boys at Daulat Ram at the same time. We chose Aryans. Later, we went to SRCC and enjoyed live Rock from ‘Them Clones" and another band called something like ‘Helgas Fungus’. After all those, I again came back to my brother’s place and took up sleeping and eating again. And with that my holidays came to an end.

Holiday season again!!

Quite a winter it has been. And since the exam is all done and well, I am off to another holiday now. I am going first to Vrindavan, then to Jaipur, then to Delhi, and whither then? I do not know.

Bilbo once said, "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to. Do you realize that this is the very path that goes through Mirkwood, and that if you let it, it might take you to the Lonely Mountain or even further and to worse places?" He used to say that on the path outside the front door at Bag End, especially after he had been out for a long walk.

And after that he used to sing softly to himself,

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

And whither then? I cannot say too. But I am sure the road will sweep me for another 20 or so days.

Von Voyage to me.