WISTFUL MEMORIES

A PROLOGUE

Phew! What a year it has been…I am not talking about the big things--- the big successes and failures, the reasons to fear and cheer, the sights that blurred and left many more clear. I am talking about a much more mundane and ordinary concoction of thoughts from a nobody’s point of view.

2008 began with a Tuesday and ended with a Wednesday; 2009 begins on a Thursday and ends on a Tuesday. So what’s the big deal? Nothing. The sun rose from the east like an oversized orange on that one Tuesday a year ago and this year round it has no chance to look like a pear or a jackfruit. It will still be an oversized orange with a flair of ruddy streaks across the horizon wrapped in a cloak of rich mist. Nature remains unaltered…but the revolutions of the earth has seen shocking changes… from glory to ignominy, from tilt-down to meltdown, from overriding passion to carnage and of course from Osama to Obama. So what! It’s a new year and for me and you its just another 24 hours.

But even then, no matter how insignificant it is, it’s just not a new calendar on the wall and few good pictures to admire. It means another chest-ful of memories for you and me. Soft linens of fondness, moments of laughter, a stolen smile, a silent tear, moments of kindling and re-kindling of the sagging morale and the undying spirit to remain afloat at the end of it all. I am talking about the little gifts wrapped in cheap wrappers laden with love, I am talking about the bus you missed and missed with it the face you thought was only meant for you, I am talking about green blades of grasses that tickled into the ear as you lay on your side watching a lazy sun take a dip into the western waters and about the sprinklings of dreams that made the journey easier.

I am talking about me…Someone you won’t notice in the teeming millions. Nothing to remember about me…so ordinary yet so myself. The year began on a jet when I decided to call quits to my career with the pen for a new avenue with the boom-microphones. It was a dream start…I filled my lonely moments with new yearnings and new learnings…the urge to perfect the trade I am plying. The chemistry was just making sense when I went back to my regular quagmire and uncertainty…and it lingers on like a long faithful friend who won’t just give up on me…

I will remember this year going by for many reasons, but a few will be special. The year has taught me never to lose touch with the ground I walk on… for it takes just a scissor from reality to clip the wings of fancy you ride on. I have learnt that love is a word that forever will be the arch I chase along the winding corridor of life. I have understood that I am as good as my power to overcome my worries. I have learnt endocarp forms the inner shelf of my heart and down its bogs walks a miry way still yearning for someone you call your own.

This has been a year of special gains…have gained some friends whom I like to keep for life. And have lost some who I guess were never mine. So as the year falls through my clenched fist grain by grain…what remains are memories of some good time, some tingling smiles, some melodies and lots of lonely moments of sighs.

But never mind I am determined to peel off the giant orange and bask in its glow. Feel happy and be a better human being. Open my gates to new aspirations, lift the veils from my desires and taste life like licking clean the last dregs of hot chocolate flowing like a guerrilla river from the brim of my cup.

No matter what comes, I will stand by those who matter, will dip my heels in the cool water of hoogly and whistle a wistful tune to the memories of the years gone by. Get up brush the dust and pains of my dress and walk ahead…

THE STORY IS 2009….