Friendships – Do We Have Time for Them Today?

Time is the most precious commodity nowadays. Strangely, it is the only commodity in the possession of every human being in perfectly equal quantities, irrespective of his social status or any other humanly devised taxonomical term. In the age of globalization, when people get paid for devoting their time for any particular task, do we have time for people?

One day you get a call….”Hi…how are you…Remember me?”

Now that is quite a dangerous question… You have been in this situation before and you know it’s a deadly trap.. If it is one of your long forgotten cousins – you had better camouflage your poor memory by humming a hawing and keeping up a small general talk until mother arrives in the scene to take charge of the phone and at least save you by telling out aloud the name of the person at the other end. Then you sigh and forcefully take the phone from her and say.. ”Oh Satish… How is your girl friend da…Sumi right? You still have to give me a five star chocolate as I did not tell your dad about her the other day.. It has been 5 years since you got married to her!” (As if you knew all along that it was Satish to whom you were giving details like the exact altitude and dimensions of the clouds today)

But there is one breed of people and the memories linked with them that one shall never forget… Even the little tug of war you had with the bunny rabbit toy in LKG… The way you both had tried to bury your fallen milk tooth in the school ground… The exact number of idlis he took from your tiffin box during Chemistry class in the tenth standard…. The chalk pieces you threw at each other… The hours you waited for the result of the semester exam… The cups of coffee.. The movies… The teachers you had made fun of.. The classes you bunked for a nice afternoon siesta…

Is there not one huge archive of memories that seems to evade any new age memory ruiner like job stress or marital problems or the omnipresent traffic.. Don’t those memories always bring a smile to your lips when you reminisce about them… Don’t you leave out everything and rush to the hospital when you hear that your friend has met with an accident…? Don’t you plan your leave to attend your best friend’s wedding? Don’t you pray (albeit hurriedly) for your friend too when you stand before the gods every morning in your pooja room? Don’t her triumphs make you proud? Don’t you think of your friend when you get news about something she is desperately in need of…? Don’t you pick up the phone just to listen to her voice when you feel down?

Well…. Did anyone just say that people do not have time for anybody these days?

I say, we always have time, for those who matter, for those who care, for those people whom we care about.

Blood ties - we have none.

We dont always have fun

We are not colleagues

We dont meet up all days

We do argue

confide and giggle

We think things through

We laugh and we tickle

We are there for each other

Now and forever!

My dear friend,

Let us be the same

Till the end!

Let them fall…..

One of the games I have seen children play is blowing air near floating feathers – to keep them floating. How beautiful and graceful it is to watch the light and cute feathers gently rock left and right like a small boat on waves….. How our heart goes out to the pretty thing….. We blow air to keep it floating. After a period of time we tire of pushing air out of our system forcefully….. Did anyone ask us to keep the feather suspended in air? Did it request your breath? Did it say it did not like the comfort of lying down on mother Earth?

A feather or anything similar that obeys the law of gravity like leaves, dandelion, dust, raindrops or even a ball, is bound to fall down. And let me assure you, they do not mind it! Indeed they want it!

What is the point of trying to do something to change something which you know does not need to change? Or what is the point in holding on to something that you have to let go, in the name of silly sentiments? Why should you exert yourself for something that does not require your effort?

Let us learn to let go of things that have to be let off….things which have to be let go, things which do not require us… things which hurt us when we try to hold them back….

Let the raindrops tumble down… Let the feathers float…. and also…. Let them fall….!

Am I alluding to something here? Let me let you think :-)

Monday Morning Blues

The dawn of the day that heralds the monotony of one more week of “Back to the same old routine”, traffic, “oops! Am late! “, “Where is my ID card, mother? “ and many more utterances of the average Indian…. The day that breaks the languor and leisure of the weekend….The day that is not especially liked by a majority of normal human beings who are not workaholics (and studyaholics or whatever those addicted to attending every single class in college are called  ) – No special prizes for guessing the answer – Monday - the first day among the five that separate one weekend from the next.

The major hurdles that one needs to manage are - the time one has to wake up is in the wee hours of the morning, before the sun greets the earth with his radiant smile.( One does not wake up with that kind of smile, for sure), the dynamics of the body has to be doubled up in speed, reflexes have to be faster and most unfortunate of all, one simply cannot afford to dilly – dally in the front porch and indulge in harmless and unproductive chitchat with one’s neighbours.

No haggling with the vegetable vendor… If he does not accept your terms of bargain – just give the lucky devil the amount he demands (this is what ladies like my mother do) otherwise just ignore the fellow (my grandmother’s technique) and go for the one next to him – he will definitely give in to you, having heard of your bargaining skills and the looks that you bestow upon less fortunate people like his colleague sitting near him the next time you pass by.

Prayer time? In the morning hours? Sure… But definitely not the kind of time you get to spend on holidays. No time to maintain the great rapport that you believe you had established with the almighty during the weekend. Of course a hurried mumbling of the few sacred verses that you know since childhood and a mental consolation “God will understand…He knows my schedule…after all, he intends it to be this way!” Of course my dear, God understands, completely.

Phone calls to friends and relatives just do not seem to be able to fit in within the weekday schedule and if indeed, you do manage to make a call, there is no guarantee that Vijaya mami at the other end has the time to spare…what with her kid’s homework and her husband who just returned from work, demanding coffee instantly.

There is no substitute for Monday. It is like an icebreaker for those fresh from a good Sunday night’s sleep. It enables you to imply the enormity or importance or gravity of a situation by likening the situation to a Monday morning. Everybody knows what I say is true… Are you all not nodding your heads in agreement while reading the statement? (Well, I am, at least nodding my head!) Can you not liken the expression of foreboding and fear and similar feelings that cannot be put in words, on the face of a ten year old when someone mentions casually, “Tomorrow is Monday” ?

I am sure many adults will now appreciate what R.K. Narayan sought to imply with the opening lines of his first novel – Swami and Friends … “It was Monday morning”.

True, the same weekend lag (like jetlag) will exist, if Tuesday were the first day among the weekdays. I totally agree with Shakespeare’s words, “What is in a name?”.
But the day after Sunday has always been and still is Monday, is it not…? And so we shall never be able to substitute with anything else, the phenomenon that the morning this day is famous for – Monday Morning Blues!