Here Comes The Rain Again...

Yesterday
On the way to office, while I was waiting at a redlight, a dark grey Bentley glides by like a silent jungle cat and parks itself on my left. Underneath the simplistic body and chrome, I could feel the pulsating throb of its bull engine and what it was capable of. At the same time, it could give me the experience of luxury in as small a space as that, wood panel finish, 6 cd changer and all that jazz. I turned my head the other side. A white grizzly bear with the initials Lexus Lx470 rumbles by and comes to rest on my other side, fumes coming out of its exhaust pipe, while the stunning offroader flirted with the smooth Delhi gravel. I move on ahead. The light on the Rajpath signal is green and yet the traffic does not move. I curse under my breath, its going to be late again. And then from the road emerging from Rashtrapati Bhavan, with a scream of red flashing beacons, a convoy of 8 white Toyota Corollas whiz by. Clock precision driving, each car within 3 feet of the one ahead, doing 60kph, each carrying some smug looking firangs. With a sigh, I turn to look ahead, beyond the driver of the green and yellow Bajaj CNG auto-rickshaw I was in.

He has a sadist streak in Him.


Here comes the rain again
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion
I want to walk in the open wind
I want to talk like lovers do
I want to dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you

Here comes the rain again
Raining in my head like a tragedy
Tearing me apart like a new emotion
Oooooh
I want to breathe in the open wind
I want to kiss like lovers do
I want to dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you

So baby talk to me
Like lovers do

Here Comes The Rain Again
- Annie Lennox

Today, something died

a hope
a relation
an emotion
a bond
a desire

a lifetime

With a flick of my finger I cleaned the speck of dust that chose to sit on my sleeve.
Something that had been building up over a long time just crashed under its own weight.
Noiselessly

Today, something died.

This pic defines the time

(click to enlarge)

I have a 'booze coaster' from one unforgettable evening with friends at TCs in Delhi, obviously used as a tea coaster in office now. It was one of the media nights at the place and 'The Doors - Live' sponsored by VH1 was being screened. The coaster, autographed very lovingly by friends who I was with that night, has that very very recognizable black n white image of Jim Morrison. Along the edge is a quote attributed to him - 'When you make your peace with authority, you become authority'. This, from someone, who apparently died of an OD.

I also had two car stickers from that night. One, with the same face, said 'Riders on the Storm' that I stuck on the board in Office. It was taken off by somebody. I can't figure out why. The other had U2's Bono saying 'Things You Cant Leave Behind', which I stuck on my travel bag. It came off somewhere too.

On the lonesome train journey back, I kept staring out of the window. Passengers got up, others got down, I kept staring out, watching the sun make its journey across half the sky. Somewhere on the same train, there were two acquaintances from back home, but I wish they wouldn't disturb my space. My space in that overcrowded second class train compartment and that long distance train journey. The weather changed from the hot humidity of the Nizammudin railway station, across the heart of the country, into the western hinterland. I had some packaged food, lebanese falafel, packed from the hotel where I had had two baths. A lady was sitting on the opposite chair, a working woman and yet the pallu of her maroon saree draped over her head. She looked older than she must have been, a leather strap wristwatch on her hand. She kept staring out too. Perhaps, she was going back home from where she had been working, to someone waiting back home. Her creased forehead and the wrinkles besides her eye kept speaking to me in an unspoken language. I should have asked her if she would share my dinner. She would have probably given me that little smile that rose up on her face once in a while, while she was staring out of the window. And politely refused.

I didn't. She got down a few stations later.
I resumed staring out.
I hope she was going home to someone.

On a wagon bound for market
There's a calf with a mournful eye
High above him there's a swallow
Winging swiftly through the sky

How the winds are laughing
They laugh with all the their might
Laugh and laugh the whole day through
And half the summer's night

Donna Donna Donna Donna

"Stop complaining", said the farmer
Who told you a calf to be
Why don't you have wings to fly with
Like the swallow so proud and free

How the winds are laughing
They laugh with all the their might
Laugh and laugh the whole day through
And half the summer's night

Donna Donna Donna Donna

Calves are easily bound and slaughtered
Never knowing the reason why
But whoever treasures freedom
Like the swallow has learned to fly

How the winds are laughing
They laugh with all the their might
Laugh and laugh the whole day through
And half the summer's night

Donna Donna Donna Donna

- Donna Donna
Joan Baez