A Day in the Era of Sentimentality

6:15 AM

As I sat in the balcony, swirling and clanking a spoon in the freshly prepared Earl Grey and watching the vapors waft from the tea cup, my eyes wander at the traffic light below. The sub-urban area where I reside has a road going directly beneath my building and I sat there watching the early morning traffic. I observed the light turn amber, red and green and watched the cars move. I let out a sigh, basking in the glory of a beautiful morning and sipping my early morning brew. This fascinating display of rhythm kept me engaged for some time before I was jolted, almost dropping my tea, by a screeching halt and a honking followed by cursing. The car in front had taken not more than 2 second to hit the accelerator after the light turned green that the mini-truck behind slammed its horn, the aggression disrupting the peaceful moments.

I shook my head and finished my tea, heart silently sniveling at the glorious moments being ruined.

7:15 AM

I got ready and headed out, still spirits high, dusting off the ruined moments of the morning. I boarded the bus, greeted the driver with a smile who made a futile attempt to smile but then went back to the chore of driving the bus and gulping coffee.

Hands clutched around the new-found book, I went to find a seat near the window. I sat down and stuffed my purse in my lap, trying not to encroach the seat next to mine. After getting comfortable I opened the book to the last read page and sunk down in my seat to have 40 peaceful minutes of reading. After 5 paragraphs in, a lady boarded the bus and sat next to me. Her elbow inches away while she dove in her purse and scavenged out a bulky makeup kit. While she dusted some powder on her face and sprinkled some eyeshadow on my book I decided to turn off the overhead light and sit back with my eyes closed. I fished for my ear plugs to listen to some motivational number on the phone.

“Isn’t that the book that has been turned into a movie recently?” she pointed at the book cover I had in my lap. The book had been turned into a movie and all the recent publication had been made to have the movie poster rather than the original book cover.

“Yes.” I smiled and nodded, getting back to unknot the earplugs.

“I don’t like the book covers from movie posters, takes out the originality. An avid reader should never buy a book cover that is not original.” She said with her chin high.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter to me afterall never judge a book by it’s cover.” I said in a feeble attempt to lighten the situation and got back to the headphones. She gave me an aghast look and went on to rant about the importance of book covers. I fumbled with the damned headphones trying to unknot the tangles that had decided to not budge.

After half way through my journey and a lecture in the importance of withholding originality I was left in peace to listen to a podcast.

8:00 AM

I was out of the Bus terminal and onto the pavement, and decided to walk the way from the Terminal to the office, trying to enjoy the pleasant summer morning. The plan was ruined in minutes with people sprinting past me and a few nudges and elbows later I had decided to sprint towards my office. The leisurely pace left for the garden near home rather than storm of morning commuters.

8:15 AM

Walking into my office I saw Mr Dean with a swollen arm and a thick mass of bandages covering his arm. I looked at him with a gasp and hands on my mouth “Dear Lord Mr. Dean, what happened to your arm?” I resisted from adding the “strong, muscular, manly” arm.
He looked up from his desk, injured hand being carefully moved around and said “Oh this! This is just a new tattoo I got.”
“Oh My God!” I said hands folded across my chest. “That must have hurt a great big deal.”
He shrugged and said “Nah, just a little bit. Totally worth it!”

The “it” being “Bragging Rights”.

8:30 AM

I went to get the morning coffee and found a prettily dressed Mrs Sanchez in the coffee room who was heating her breakfast.

In an effort to strike conversation, I complimented her dress and said the home cooked meal smelt delicious. And asked if she could forward me the recipe. Big Mistake!

Apparently the meal had been prepared by Mr Sanchez and I had offended the feminist soul of Mrs Sanchez by assuming that she had prepared the meal. I mumbled apologies and scurried out of the pantry.

11:45 AM

I browsed for lunch options and zeroed in on the one that would deliver the fastest. As I was ordering my thin, lean and super fit, fitness freak colleague stood behind me. I eyed him sideways gulping nervously and looked up after hurriedly pressing the ‘Order’ button.

“Oh Hi Rajesh! Didn’t see you there.” I smiled sheepishly.

“You ordered again from that place.” He said accusingly pointing to my screen that flashed the sequence of steps in processing my order.

“It is the most convenient.” I pouted.

He pulled a chair and sat next to me. This is gonna take forever. I rubbed my scalp.

“Do you know how many calories they have in their food?”

Needless to say what followed was a detailed explanation on the caloric chart and the raising health issues followed by a finger pointing towards my increasing weight and a display of photographs showcasing his 8 perfect drool worthy abs.

After the hour I had somehow lost my appetite.

2:00 PM

As I went down for a 20 minute walk, my daily ritual, I saw Rita from HR taking candid photos with a green oozy bottle of something that looked remotely edible in the nearby park. She waived at me and I followed reluctantly.

“Hey!! Can you take some pictures, I want to post them on my blog. There is this new cold pressed juice in market that all the big celebs are apparently drinking” She shrieked in her nasal tone.

I solemnly nodded, insides flaring at the interruption of my precious moments.

After 50 such photographs she grinned at me as she uploaded the worthy ones on the internet. My 20 minutes were up so I reluctantly followed her back to office.

“How was the juice?” I asked.

“Meh.. Too healthy for me.” and she tossed it in the nearby dustbin as I gawked, my jaw hanging open.

5:00 PM

I went to get my evening cup of green tea. As I smelled the wafting vapors and inhaled the aroma of a grass being boiled in water I saw another of my colleague walk in. I pretended to scroll through my phone and prayed silently to be invisible for a while.

“Ugh I am so mad!”

“What’s wrong?” I reluctantly asked stirring my tea with a wooden stick, after I could no longer find a way to exit without being noticed.

“Apparently I just went down to get a tall cappuccino and the lady at the counter gave me a glance. Top to bottom. Can you imagine?”

No I couldn’t imagine why a random person would give another random person a “look”.

I just wobbled my head utterly confused and in utter lack of a response.

“I am pretty sure she fat-shamed me?”

I rolled my eye and wobbled my head again. A person who had half my waist was complaining about being fat-shamed left me with no option but to nod.

“Thank you! This is very helpful. Let me start a petition.” And with that she stormed out.

7:00 PM

After the long day I had, I pulled out my phone on my way to home on the commute. 50 notifications! I pulled up to see a series of comments on the article that I had shared from one of the magazines for the humor of it.

The comments had included a debate from my Social Media Friends about whether I should have shared such offensive piece.

I accidentally dropped my phone in a drain on my way home that night.

9:00 PM

As I slumped on the bed with Ben&Jerry in my hands and Tom&Jerry on TV I wondered if the world had just become a prism refracting various –isms in different directions. I closed my eyes and cuddled my knees together, trying to gather all the courage I could to face the braggart and bigotry of the next day.

PS: This article also appears on medium under https://medium.com/@swatipareek

A Stroll in a Concrete World

I went for a stroll, for some quiet and some peace,

Fluvial marks tranquillising any bubbling and bleat,

I sat down next to a stone by the side

I realised it wasn’t a stone but man made block of granite

The park offered a beautiful respite

I paved and jogged and reached there with might

As I settled and picked a spot so perfect

And lowered myself to sit on nature’s carpet

I felt my behind being pricked by thorns

I bolted upright and realised it was a carpet woven ordered and port

The flowers, ah so beautiful

The roses and their lovely stems, in delight they shook

I went to take a sniff and pic

The roses, as my luck was, were made from felt and plastic

Finally I heaved a sigh

Looked at the towers surrounding so high,

The water is quiet and the birds chirp,

The flamboyance is exciting to see,

The geese flock near my feet,

And whey they bite I timidly flee.

Wish

A fairy came by tonight 

To ask my wish when I die 

Her site made me mesmerised

I blurted out after a gasp and a deep sigh 

O my fairy, please hear my plea

Erase the memories and set me free

For this birth was a difficult one 

And I want it all to be finished and done 

O my fairy don't let me carry 

All the pain, the regrets and the fury

The misunderstandings and the accusations 

They made me cry and worry 

O my fairy please do me a favor

In the next birth please give me a friend

a friend who would be with me till the very end

Who wouldnt let me be alone ever

Who would hold my hand and never let me cry

O my fairy, in the next birth don't make me a butterfly, 

Who can flutter her wings but is forbidden to fly...

The Beast

The tickets sold for millions, at $100 a seat the show was a steal as many chirped. People were getting on top of each other to get their hands to the ticket to this amazing show. If the advertisements were any true then this would be the show of a lifetime. The happy faces an indication that the struggle to get their hands on a handful of tickets had succeeded. Once inside the showground the big celebration was all worth the trouble. Young kids frolicked around carrying their treats from the candy store or their loot from the firing kiosk, where you would fire shots at Timmy the Rabbit or throw a punch at Hira the Tiger, and watch the effigies crumble to the ground before claiming your price. Big posters everywhere and the fun music had everyone put on their dancing shoes as they walked in between the various Kiosks towards the big Marquee where it was all going to begin.

After the treats everyone gathered around the Arena and got in the queue behind the rest to enter through the small opening. The gatekeeper would punch the ticket and the queue would descend a bit though the opening and into the tent. The Marquee was magnanimous, the oohs and aahs a proof of the grandeur. People would look around them in awe and trip a little here and there before getting to their seats to absorb the entire enigma that surrounded them.

As everyone settled so the show began. Lights went out and slowly from the middle of the podium were coming up a cage which had the largest beast confined inside. The largest feline the humanity has seen was trapped by the fellas at the circus and that marked their soaring popularity. The cage lit from the bottom cast a shadow on the ceiling of the tent to give the beast even a bigger appearance than it already had. The cage surfaced and the ringmaster whipped the beast and when it roared the kids could be heard crying, or the crying infants too stunned to speak, and the adults could be heard sighing at the magnanimity of the scene that had unfold in front of them. The master wiped his forehead and looked at the beast in his eyes and held his gaze and moved his hand, the beast used to the beatings moved his head as per the burning beacon lit in front of him. The cage door was slowly lifted and the crowd went quiet, as the beast unfurled out of the cage the silence could be felt like a sheet engulfing the entire arena. The ringmaster had its chain buckled in this hands held it tightly as his life dependent on it. The beast had been smuggled from fairytale world of a neighboring country and had been beaten up to train since last 10 days. He had warned everyone that they were not ready but the manager hell-bent on making money could not see anything beyond the green colour and whiff of the crisp notes that would come in. He had been correct though; the cash flow had flowed in like a dam broken by the floods as soon as the news got out. The ringmaster didn’t like the idea of beating the animals to make them work and took his time to understand them, but the manager had appointed 2 other staff to accompany the ringmaster to tame the beast. Brutal as they were, their job was to beat the beast black and blue as soon as he arrived, the ringmaster would turn his gaze at this dance of cruelty in front of him and would pass a plate of food to the beast when those other 2 left. He could see flicker of his own helplessness reflected in the eyes of the beast both slaves to the circumstances.

The ringmaster shook his head and concentrated on taming the beast in front of him. As commanded by his manager, he held open the whip once again and mock waved it in the air to command the beast to sit like a lap dog. Alas the beast was not meant to be tamed, as soon as it saw the opening it flicked its tail and roared and gave a nudge to his head. The crowd gasped in horror as the nudge caused the chain to break and the beast to be freed from the clutches of the cages with nothing in between them and him. The beast roared aloud once more and then the panic broke in the podium as the crowd splattered in every direction. The ringmaster took up the beacon and tried cornering the beast to get him once again in the cage but the beast that had been confined to an 8X10 cell was not going to be reclaimed that easily.  These past 12 days had given the ringmaster and the beast an understanding which they communicated through their eyes but today all that could be seen in the eyes of the beast was the wilderness of the jungle and a longing to break free from the binds he had been subjected to. He jumped atop the ringmaster on the opening that led to pavilion where the manager sat with his 2 brutal pets counting the notes that had come soaring in. The beast knew he had to finish one job before he would fling across the walls and move to the jungle behind the circus ground.

Rendezvous with a Honey Bee

Sitting in the cab back home from work, just when I was thinking life is so boring I heard a buzzing sound reverberating across my right ear. Scared as I was of that sound I turned my head slight uncomfortably in the direction of creator of the buzz. Not more than 15 cms from by gaze was a honey bee. Looking this deeply into the eyes of the bee it appeared to be a gigantic monster about to gobble me with one flicker of its tongue. I squirmed uncomfortably on the seat trying to go as far from the bee as possible and probably from its venomous sting that could paralyze me. But then again as luck had stored in for me, it suspected my move and started buzzing in rhythm of my movement. I hadn't ever thought honey bees could read mind, since some of my movements were so much as a part of my brain rather any physical movement but still it seemed to sense them.

Scared and paralyzed with fear my throat seemed to have lost the voice and alongwith it the shriek that when allowed to come, must have crossed a mile.

Finally it lifted its tiny wings and started fluttering them. The act scared me more than a surprise test scaring a child. I moved my hand to turn the handle and open the window sill to let it out, but sensing my thoughts that mind reading monster of a bee fluttered and flied, not away but in the front of the cab, and settled peacefully on the window pane. It seemed satisfied with the achievement of scaring a giant that day.