Grumps and rants

I grew up in a city, studied in an English medium school, went in a school bus, had access to high-end facilities at school such as library, playground and such. For me saying "My name is so and so" was easier than cutting cake, mention my father's name, address, city in English; I was adored in my village more than two decades back. It was unheard of someone who can say one line in English.  Village where access to electricity is somewhat equivalent to water accessibility in cities like Bangalore in summers, now. There would have been successive days where one had had electricity for say more than five hours. To me back in city it was rare to have electricity shed except summers, or early mornings. I can say I had had a fancied childhood, a fortunate one. Touch wood. In summers I played marbles, did mischiefs all around in weddings, house inauguration, looked at night full of stars, made wishes for good marks in grade exams gazing at falling stars, wondered at shift of ...

It was snowing in morning. Light snow flakes, ones hampering your visibility, intermittently falling on eyelashes, melting on eye-glasses. The chills weren't there, it was cold. Such mornings make my knees go weak. It's not the work, or routine, it's the moment I want to sit in my room, gaze outside, see the town get coated in white dust. I get overwhelmed by these moments. Rush to work, lines on the forehead, thoughts in the subconscious mind fade away. It was similar to stomping my heart for something I cared less. I breathed in the cold air, stood in the snow at station close to office, smiled and braced self for the day ahead.

Past couple of weeks I was on the road. Traveling, again sightseeing, checking out places. Shopping was inevitable and so was late night wakefulness. Neither any amount of sleep nor food had done a great justice to bring me back to the full enthusiasm equivalent of the day bygone. I seemed to lack something. Travel or schedule wasn't packed to the full, either. I saw many faces, many people, families, groups and sea of people at most touristic places in the world. If anything I enjoyed besides walking, getting rattled whilst being lost in navigation during travel were toddlers, infants. I dote these little creatures. Toddlers, I wish I can weave my thoughts for these enthusiastic folks. They are unstoppable with their cries, energy, wails, countless attempts, reticent smiles. They are going to do anything, everything within their reach. They never seemed fulfilled with any action, however small or big its might be. Their tiny little hands racing, eyes scanning surrounding, tiny...

Living in a small town gives a lot of mobility, or so I believe. Excuses for not checking out new things, events, places or even revisiting places you've been to get depleted. Of course, it's applicable to things you're interested for otherwise regardless of location, size of town, buildings, theaters, gardens, popular spots remain for namesake. May be for some clicking selfie though. It had been a long time I had gone to museums or attended any performance. Some how spaghetti situations got hold me, yikes. Visiting museums is delightful to me albeit not for many people whom I know. Others find museums boring, just throwing looks as if checking photos on smartphone with no interest or insignificant joy. One of the many reasons I enjoy museums in the District of Columbia is that they are free, yay! Not all are free, but mostly. There are wealth of things to look, read and learn from these places, free of cost. If you enjoy graphics, high-resolution colored photos, read...

A lot has changed since the time we've moved to new office. Fridays tend to get bit desolate as the week prepares for week-end. Few weeks back I was going nuts with deadlines of performance review. As scheduled I had a call with supervisor which went fine. Tiny tweaks here and there things got streamlined. I was about to wrap up from work then I heard foot steps and few chatters. Upon looking, I see dean of the department with 2 more persons. She knocks on couple of office doors to see anyone is there, but I told her none is around and are working from so and so place. With a bit disappointment she manages to pull herself and talk with other 2 people. Shows the terrace area and was about to leave. Upon looking closely I realize the person she is with is a billionaire. But to me a billionaire is all fancy person with suit and bells and whistles. This person outrightly dismissed my view of a billionaire. Whilst I'm still in shock billionaire exchanged pleasantries addressing ...