Tik Tok

Your past was the present; your present will be nothing but the past and your future is the present waiting to happen. This is time. What you accomplish and where you fail is bound by your own aspirations and governed by selfish expectations. Every fleeting moment is lost in planning for the one to be lost. Achievements are mere milestones providing an illusion of an elusive end.

They say life is a puzzle; the irony is the final picture is ever evolving. You entrust yourself to a set of actions and define it as your role, a role in the theatre with infinite options, each one ever more appealing. History is merely and always will be a story in the past, probably worth considering while one plans for his fleeting future.

Does any of this make sense, probably not and mostly all of it. It’s a state of mind and yes, it will change with time. As they say, time is beyond being.

A Solo

I have been recently asked, how do you live alone? I say, it takes getting used to. Ironically like any other living condition. I think my situation is the easiest to settle into, I am dealing with myself. It gets pretty interesting sometime. Men have various personalities residing in them which surface under different conditions. So, I don’t live alone. I live with myself.

My mind talks to me, my heart replies and a conversation brews over a coffee. Lyrics inspire and a good beat dances with me. Characters animate me, some force me into corners of the mind I fail to avoid, some take me to a journey into the past and some gleefully leave a smile. Like love, words have always been the soothing effect to a tumultuous battle with myself and dreams company me into the bright smiling morn.

So yes, for now I am a happy lone self walking the boulevard of life.

Togetherness... a bliss

Every relationship has its efforts, it has its compromises. Relationships give you stability, they give you responsibility. Fun is an integral part of every love life. Couples tend to forget that each have a set of expectations from the relationship. The two people care for each other and try hard to make things work for each other. Sometimes they try too hard.

One forgets the limitations the other may have and the other forgets the expectations. Communication is necessary and words need to be backed up by actions. Promises need to be kept, but love never asks for proof. It is human to be disappointed. Expectations bring agony. Dreams build hope. Disappointment is the derivative of failure from your partner and elation is the integration of their achievement. Satisfaction is subjective and happiness lacks objectivity.

Reason or rhyme, in that order, fail to make sense and togetherness is a given irrespective of bitterness. Intentions are always noble and caring is a given. The complexities of the feeling associated directly to the heart makes it only more confusing, compulsive and characteristic of the pangs and pleasures of being in love.

I believe that life is too short, enjoy it whlie it lasts.

Life through a Beer Bottle!

No, this is not a story of a drunk, romantically foolish depressed soul. It is not an account of a regale over some futile achievement. It is a realization. It is not intoxication, it is an illusion. It is a dream, not a dead end.

Sitting on my roof top, a green bottle poured golden froth endlessly. At 70F and a casual wave of breeze it was perfect. How better can it get? 7 months in the US of A, at 21 I think I have seen the true colors of life. And surely it’s not a 12 box of Camlin, it’s a box of Crayola with not less than 96.

Dream machines zooming past you and getting lost even before you catch a glimpse. Buildings taller than my dreams. I, just hoping to get to the top of one. People rushing at a pace my thoughts even don’t. I sit here dreaming to be one of them.

But let’s talk; I have come a long way. Long way is not across oceans, it is across opportunity. A long way of learning, a long way of hope, a long way of expectations.

I was, or rather am a boy, lucky in life. With parents considerate I could have asked for, forgiving as forgiveness itself, I have had a childhood I cant complain of.

I sit here trying to figure out my way, to the top, I hope! With so many arrows shot in various directions, I wait. I wait for a counter attack. I wait to know what I have to surmount and who I have to beat. Yes, you have to beat someone; there is always one place at the top.

I have learnt that work and rewards are not proportional, only hoping them to be exponential. But you got to try. An effort they say never goes in vain! Every pain has its gain; or rather every gain has its pain sounds more apt! I am ready to go through it. Not that I have had an experience I can complain of. My life has been a Bed of Roses. It’s just that the gardener forgot to prick the thorns off!

So at 21, I sit here as it gets dark and the starless sky stares down at me. Its eternity only reminds me of my endless dreams. The mottled moon gives me solace that even universal entities are not perfect. Every one has their dark sides. It’s just that I want to be the light across the night so my faults go forgiven.

It’s not the end of my realization but the golden froth has stopped flowing. I see my face in shattered green glass, I smile, a smile of disappointment, but of realization. I am happy.

A gun shot, deafening, now deadly silence. The blood pool creeping down the floor. The fallen wine mixes with it giving the sweetness of a smile from the killer. The door clicked, a few gasps from the dead. The sun set, moon rose and gave way to the fresh morning lark. The door clicked, he entered smiling. Those days with her he had dreamt of would come true. The bright sunshine turned to cloud covered gloom. A sky piercing cry in the heart and a deaf silence on the lips. He had found out.

Walked out, dragged himself to the nearby tavern for his morning’s first Churchill and one more cognac from last evening. Soft as breaking dawn, innocent as her smile and pretty as a nymph, now she lay there dead, lifeless. Did she deserve it, he asked himself. Those escapades on the weekend, those trips to the beach, all were what she wanted them like. Evening gowns and tuxedo’s, champagne on the beach, talks smooth as the sand. He had just been a bit late, her husband had her executed.

What was to come now? Would he just walk out of her life, leaving her in the blood pool red as when she had blushed on their first kiss? Would he call the police and report it, would he call her husband and give him the news he awaited. Walked back to the apartment, kissed her on the cheek. Down across to the phone booth. Called her husband, left a message, told him she was dead.

Took a train back to New York. They would find him. He would leave home someday and never come back. His wife would weep and children would cry. He waited for that day all his life. One solitary evening with his customary scotch he sat on his balcony overlooking central park. Children played, wife sang and cars zoomed. The phone cranked. It shook him like news of death. It was indeed.

The conversation was short, he was perspiring. Picked up his hat, put on his coat and left without a word. The children played, wife pondered and cars zoomed. Down on the street, taste of his evening’s first Churchill, more to beat the tension than the cold. What was he going to say? Those 3 blocks seemed to be like a walk to the end of life. The cars cutting across the avenues seemed to be like death around the corner coming to get you, which one you don’t know. He opened the large clamoring door. The ornate altar had seen a marriage that morning. Walked softly to the confession box not to disturb the lone soul searching peace in God’s haven.

“Father, there was blood all over the floor. The wine glass shattered like our dreams. She, beautiful as ever lay on the bed, motionless. Her eyelids fallen, hiding all what we had evinced. Blood had stopped, leaving nothing but a stain on her soul. Bent over her, kissed her on the lips, petals of rose, just lost life. Walked out, shut the door behind me. A chapter of life I will always regret and someone else had to and will have to pay”

The cold breeze bit him. The conscience felt more. He thought about what he had done in the last 30 years. What had he lacked? What had he gained? He had love, had he loved? He had inherited a fortune, what were his kids going to get. He had a wife any man could die for and his mistress just got killed.
Careless Whispers hit his ears. The poor artist played the saxophone staying in the shadows of the dark. Will he ever be able to dance again? Hands around her slim waist, eyes looking straight into hers, filled with love and breath heavy as if it was their first one. The train pulled in blowing his thoughts. A child cried, a pretty young thing pulled away from her first embrace, the pierced punk licked his poodle’s ear and the young professional darted across to get behind those closed doors, his wine waiting on the table. 3 stops and he would be behind those bars, iron bracelets stifling those hands he had fed his children with. But why! He had not shot her. It was her husband. That rich oil tycoon from Texas who had no time to love the love of his life. Those green eyes were deep enough and he ran after those green bills which could never be his.

Was he a culprit? A culprit of law, no. He hadn’t murdered, nor was he an accomplice. It was some cold blooded sharp shooter and a vengeful husband. Yes, he was a culprit. The culprit of faith and family. How would he look into those eyes with true love, the eyes of his wife. How would he embrace his daughter with those arms which were the ring around Susie’s waist? He felt pathetic, he felt like a loser, a waste, a non deserving brat.

He felt it. Hadn’t been used for a decade or more. A beauty, the painter’s perfect brush to color blood. A gun shot, deafening, now deadly silence. The blood pool creeping down the road. The flowing sewage water mixing with it giving it the disgust he deserved. A life he regretted and paid for it.

Anonymous!

Pleased to meet you, hope you know my name,
Deceit is the nature of my game!
I was born when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt,
The wicked and the witches are a part of my clout.
Leaves petrify as I pass by and flowers start bleeding,
Last night, peace left my door pleading!
I was Hitler’s idol and Mussolini’s dream,
To me an ecstasy is a scream.
Heartbreaks are my art and tears the colors,
A hurricane thunders in my presence and the cupid shivers!
Hatred on the platter and smirks characterize me,
Pain is my whim and morose faces suffice me!
Pleased to meet you, hope you now know my name,
Evil is what they call me, for misery me they blame.

LOVELORN

The howling wind whispering your name,
The crashing waves sound the same!
Waves recede and memories come flooding to me,
Fading sun sets over the sea.
The palm sways and the sands so clear,
Emotions play and the darkness in near.
The sand bathing as the moon glitters,
Wave goes silent as the shore it nears.
The stillness in the wind creates a picture of you,
It will last all night and reflect in the morning dew!
Sun will shine bright in the morn,
Without you, I will sit here lovelorn!!!!!

Shines like sunrise, soft as the sunset,
Lost myself to discover love when our eyes met!

The short walks seemed like gliding on air,
A feeling of care is what we share.

This nymph seems to bless me,
My future in those eyes I see!

Why does the earth seem like heaven?
Friends say, u are in love!!

Sky cry!!

No birds in the sky, the winds very still,
I see the fading sun over the dry hill.
The darkness taking over and silence killing,
Waiting for the moon to come out shinning.
The clouds mingle and a stroke of lightning,
The tumult in the sky on the rising!
I walk home as the sky weeps,
The farmer dreaming of what he reaps.
The child spatters along as it downpours,
Curled in their nests the birds grieve as the cloud roars!
The trees smile down at me as I stroll by,
They seem to stretch for more to the sky!
Happy and hoping that the rain god never leaves,
He’s pleased it seems, and to show it he weeps!!!

Sinister

The waves of fear drown liberty,
The others, struck by population and its poverty.
Extremism still at its root but mayhem at its acme,
Man for his desire to supremacy will dearly pay.
Paris went up in flames and the Dark Age ended,
Man today, a picture of greed and grief, blended!
Obsession to omnipresence created the glorious Empire,
Unification to purpose has unity on the pyre!
Power trying to unleash the rein,
Insanity leaves humanity slain.
The flood of faith will swallow the fear,
It will douse the fire and cool the sphere.

Shadow under the sun!

The bluntness pierces and silence cries out,
Survival seems to be in doubt!
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,
With time, relationships getting colder!
What about kinship, what about smiles?
A world we live in is ruled by guiles.
To a cherubic smile from tears in the eyes,
Only a human for this problem will suffice.
Lust usurps love and money is power,
Simplicity is the blessing we need to shower.
Motives are ulterior and attitudes selfish,
World will in no time perish.
Our children will look down upon us in disdain,
We will ask a question, what did we gain?
Dearth or affluence, be it what may,
Lets stop existing and start living is all I will say!

Plea

Seasons have changed and winds blowing cold,
I remember the haunting stories I was once told.
Swishing of the snakes and creaking of the door,
Shivering in fear, a tear down pour.
The waters murky and the sounds meek,
The silence crying out as the bats speak!
Curled in bed a child prays to thee,
To be intrepid, prayer is the key.
Seasons changed again, its bright sunshine,
Confidence soaring, the child feels the future is mine.
Cattle grazing as the bells tingle along,
As if last night nothing went wrong!
Sails fluttering as the fishermen toil hard,
Amused and inspired the child ready to play his card.
Fuddled about future, child prays to thee,
To be intrepid, prayer is the key.

Make up!!!

Low waist red bottoms and a diaphanous top,
She is hot and happening, really she may be not!
A striking solid and a contrasting tie,
Not necessarily a smart guy!
Clothes hide bodies and not your attitude,
Your aptitude decides your altitude!
Deceit is in fashion, people dress to make an impression,
Its hyperbole coupled with simile and personification!
So, don’t judge people by what they wear,
Criminals could comfort and sages could scare!!

BLACK HOLE

Fate turns its face, such is my case,
Success suddenly a hazy place.
A conflagration in the heart, belly full of fire,
Question is, can it take me higher?
A hunger to escape my life of vain,
The avarice to success only gives me pain!
Achievement is all and nothing else matters,
Dreams lay low and confidence in shatters.
Sky is the limit, it never ends,
Trying to reach it his life one spends.
All ends well, they say, on the funeral pyre,
Still the question is, can it take me higher?

The distances grow and emotions surge,
The quest for future and the lingering past merge.

A dream you want to chase, the future in a haze,
Look back, the heart, and to the fore is what the mind says.

Reason is the brain, rhyme is the heart,
For a symphony, all play their part!

Silence is music, realization is speech,
Dreams the pathways and destinations you reach.

Live the moment as its end is near,
From arrival to the ashes all happens here!

BEMUSED BEINGS.

Dreams, passion and desire,
A small spark causes fire!
Two stones collided, you got light,
Man like animals still believes in might.
Living by the rivers he is scared of floods,
Water, a need for food to tickle your taste buds.
Goes up on Mt. Everest but is scared of heights,
Man is still confused about human rights!
Calamities bring them together, differences tear them apart,
Together, we came to an aero plane riding a bullock cart!
Shakespeare and Saddam both were great,
One ruled by love one controlled by hate!
Means don’t matter and motives mostly ulterior,
All humans, but still some superior and a few inferior!
Hope, these differences die fast and forever,
Man finds the right balance of life and loses it never.

Rendezvous

That hesitant smile, she with herself in debate,
It felt as if I had a nun on a date!
In a crowded street, on a deserted square,
Life suddenly seemed like a fair!
Lost her, in the twinkle of her eyes,
Felt like love in disguise.
Couldn’t escape her, could even submit,
A candle in the frosting winter had been lit.
The light spread and the candle melted away,
The burnt wick remained and the wax on the table did lay!
That last smile, the debate was over,
Waited for the miracle, it came never!

The golden mountains and the waters green,
Soothing winds and the sky serene.
Glow fading away to the dark,
I sit here like a child amused in the park.
It dives into the water like streaks in the sky,
In the beholders eye beauty does lie.
The frost melts and the snow ball gleams,
Thoughts fade away, reality seems like dreams!

Ask silence what is meant by words,
Ask the lonely what it is to be in herds!
Ask the moon what is the dark,
Ask the desert what is a park.
Ask an orphan who is a father,
Not answering, he would cry rather.
Life is short; enjoy it while it lasts,
May not the future frighten you and don’t be haunted by your pasts!
Men get lost and memories remain,
Remember the ardor and forget the pain.
Live the last mile as the end is near,
Arrival to the ashes, all happens here.

Falling apart

You are not gonna moan or cry,
Wipe away the tear drop from the eye.
I know you feel the pain,
Someone close to you is leaving again.
Here is your another little chance,
While away those days and that little dance!
The dream is over, or has it just begun?
When I look into your eyes I no more feel the same,
Nothing lasts forever in this constant world of change.
Love is always coming; love is always going, walking away,
So I need to tell you, so I need to say,
Loving me is like holding a candle in the cold November rain,
I know, you still feel the same, you still feel the pain.

Live

May seem cliché, but why does the flower bloom,
Why is it so hard to smile, and so easy to wear a gloom?
The sunflower facing the scorching sun, feels so bright,
It is heat what we call it and not light!
In opportunity risk is what we see,
After death man feels his soul is free!
Life is a gift, strip off the wrapper,
The finishing line in sight, not the opponent and the clapper.
Live not to be remembered, remember to live,
It is not what you have matters, it is what you give.
The wind is not scared to blow, the sun bright as it burns,
To be happy is what man needs to learn.
May seem cliché, but why does the flower die,
Even when happy, to show it, man does cry!!!

VERVE

The mountains green and the waters blue,
Breathtaking beauty, the leaves drenched by dew.
Sun just peeping in and the moon fading away
Birds back to the sky, chirping happy and gay!
Gentle breeze breaking the still morn,
Shinning bright golden is the waving corn!
Life is beautiful, an endless maze,
Never follows our own ways!
Birds went silent and the breeze insane,
All I heard was the barking Great Dane.
Scared in anticipation of what had to come,
One more day, to nature, man will succumb.
A happy innocent smiles on this gloomy day,
Life, at last finds its way!

Cloud 9!!

Those lovely eyes looking into mine,
Of love, I am searching a sign.
A riot in the heart, let it ruin or rapture,
Love the predator and I the capture.
Feeling of ecstasy and joy knows no bounds,
4 letter magic making my world go round.
A Romeo in Italian and Juliet Spanish,
Boundless in love, where all boundaries banish.
Still searching for the one is the lonely me,
For love, in those eyes I still see!

ANSWER TO FLAMES

Smokes rise and humanity falls,
Fires illuminate the skies and future darkens!
Stab and slay is all what prevails,
To the folly of few, the sense of many fails.
Ruins and rubble, all over the road,
You fear to tread where you just yesterday trod.
Criminals and cynicals are free,
Spreading crime like fire and banyan tree!
What a paradox!
A few miles away death is the fate,
Here we admire just another face,
And we call the world a small place!
Power or peace is the desired result of every single futile feud,
In its course every selfish mind is stripped to its perfect nude.
Communal harmony is the ask of the hour,
Because to bloom is scared a small little flower.
I hope, it comes to an early and everlasting end,
If death comes this way I have nothing to defend.

FOREVER YOURS

Loving a loved one is sometimes all in vain,

The pain makes me feel more insane.

With sweet memories to be cherished,

Hopes of happiness have surely perished.

Emotions, with time, getting stronger,

Those feelings pursue to stay longer.

With life no more a beautiful song,

For you, in vain, all my life I will long.

LOVE

It all started when man was redeemed by God,
A gift in the form of a heart by all mighty the Lord.
A feeling of caring which has no reason,
Not like frogs, where it’s pairing in a particular season.
To some its alpine friendship, to some its mere attraction,
To me, love is caring about the imperfect with sheer perfection.
May it be the Greeks, the Nazis or the Huns,
A feeling after which roses replace guns!
A resonating feeling which one heart to the other sends,
Love never has a sad ending, because it never ends!!!!

REMEDIAL DISEASE

Hundreds die, a country jubilant,
Revenge wanted, more war evident.
The want to kill, bloodshed at the border,
Leaves the globe again in disorder.
Future darkens and problems persist,
Still the insecurity of life does exsist.
Fathers grieve over the grave and mothers do proudly cry,
Children of the country for noble cause do die.
War is raw, fails to follow any law,
Exposes the complex human nature and all its flaw.
What an irony,
War happens and violence does cease,
A tough penance giving us the blessings of peace.
I hope, of it, we have no more,
Helpless, I pray knocking on heavens door!!!

NYC

They went at blitzkrieg, sounded like thunder,

The reality made my dream surrender!

The fallen buildings stand taller than they were,

She weeps on a bustling night, through them I gaze at her.
Smiles from around the globe light up the square,

Business is overlooked by the religious chair!

A ramp on the road, the bull charging through,

I know now, why so many men it drew.

That chocolate on the top and ice at the bottom,

An empire to which, one day I want to come.

The lights blur as bridges widen the gap,

I see her with arms open around me, waiting to wrap!

You wouldn’t know I was crying. The rain lashed on me and my face was drenched with sorrow. Those flowers I had got was the most I could do. Dressed in my only black suit and the only tie gifted by him, I, after 10 years of his death went to my father’s grave. The stone said, “Life is a precious gift.” I sat there thinking.

What have I made of this God’s gift? Drunken solitude was my only friend. 10 years before I lost my only friend. Worked hard, made money but was still forlorn. That smile was so tough even to fake. My mind churned with thought and emotion. Few days back a man met me down at the bar. He asked, “Son, what is a young man like you doing alone at the bar on a Friday night?” Well, I wanted to tell him, this young man had never grown up. That always smiling, balls to the world guy had suddenly been hit by the ball, in the face. My father was buried that evening.

Today on a Sunday morning I couldn’t even find my way back to that bar. I wanted to talk to that old bearded man, but I thought searching for his grave made more sense than searching for the bar. Time passes and you grow. You realize or you get lost. Chasing your aspirations you forget the rhyme and follow the reason. You can buy a house but cannot make it home. You have enough money to go to Tiffany’s and buy a pretty lass a diamond, but you don’t care enough to buy some bread for a poor child in Harlem. You may scale heights but the thorns on the ground prick you. You are scared to live, to be happy, and to give happiness. Today, on his grave I smile. A man, who did all I couldn’t and maybe will never do it, lays in peace.

This smile, I searched for 10 years. In a woman’s arms, in a plush office overlooking the Hudson, on the top of Alps and the bottom of the Canyon, never found it. They say smile is sunshine. I had lived in a gloomy world, a world of loneliness. A world where I had all, but nothing.

Not that I have reached the acme of my achievements, but yes, my drive to scale further heights had dried out. That belly has no more fire to douse and that mind wants to rest. I get up, one last look at the smiling face. I said, “I don’t know when I’ll see you next.” I walk off, now bright and sunny. No tears. Yet another 10 years of trying to smile in vain, and I am sure I will be back again, to smile.

A black Mercedes SLK 350 at 120mph across the stretching deserts of Arizona. It is burning hot and the blaring music makes it boiling. I am on a high. No women, no weed, no wine! It’s the speed and the loud leads from Guns and Roses. A screeching stop, why, I don’t know! Just felt like. The smell of burning rubber and the wind cutting across your skin, so intoxicating. With no destinations except the roads and no fears other than fuel, a life I dreamt off.

The only life form you see is a cactus and a chameleon clinging to it. You think how many colors have you changed. Which was the one you did not fake? You seriously don’t know! Who are you? That guy your wife married, that son your mom dreamt off, that boyfriend the petite lass dated, that friend he counts on, that drunken rebel in the pub last Friday night, or not any of the above. But chuck it, who cares. Back behind the wheel and Whigfield churns out Sexy Eyes. A mood swing, right! Don’t we all have them! Were they blue or hazel or green or brown? Well, they were my ocean only for the evening. You ask yourself, “What is love?” Well, is it caring, is it sharing, is it sacrifice, is it compromise, is it an addiction, is it a gift, is it a decision, is it a mistake? What the hell is it? I mean come-on, the world lives on it, or no! Is it hate? I think love is symbiotic relationship where you help each other grow.

I see hazy signs of habitation. A few sign boards and you slow down, well its still 100 mph. Too fast for pierced punk and his pretty poodle to be lifted. Sandstorm by Draude hits me. The electronics pierces my ears and fries my brain. I lose it. The accelerator hits the floor and the end seems nearer. Neither the end of the road nor the end of my life. The end of my fuel tank. Well at $1.70 a gallon the desert seems enchanting. Back to full I beat the dirt and swirl onto the strip again to cruise.

Zion from Matrix thumps the car and I start grooving to the beats. Rhythm, the cardinal element of music. Lose it and you are dead. Is it not the same with life? Lose the balance, the boundaries and you fall to some place from where there is no rise. It seems I am hitting straight into the setting sun. Cielne Dion soothes me with ‘A new day has come.’ What an irony, the night fall in sight and such a song. But isn’t it true. Everything begins with an end. You don’t want relationships to end, but to begin new ones you have to let the old ones to wear off. Nevertheless, every story in your life leaves a mark on you and so will this wild speed run. I just hope it’s a mark I can savor.

100 miles

The trees swished, clouds roared and the tyres screeched. I stood there hoping. With memories washed away and a fatigued body I stood there to cruise in the red machine as if it were taking me to the land where smiles were not plastic and greetings not so dry.

The glass rolled down as if the cloud passed over the sun. The smile was eternal and her eyes blue as the sky. Her hair fluttered like the waving golden corn in the field waiting to be harvested. The machine had power to zip through space in a wink but it was silent as a mourner. Music was soft as her voice and she said, “Hop in”. I said “thanks” to be heard and “heaven” under my breath.

She called herself Elena or that’s what I heard, too lost in my thoughts of where I wanted to go. It is a state of mind every body is always in. My eyes peered through the dark, straight ahead. I didn’t know where I was going. Her scent lead me into exotic lands and I lost touch with reality, again. With eyes shut and breath heavy I went into a trance. Very aptly ‘Too much of Heaven’ by Eiffel 65 cracked itself on the radio. We had not spoken a word since she had been grateful to me. The silence spoke aloud. She in her world, in a hurry to get somewhere, I don’t know and I, confused about my destination.

The headlights sped across us as I hit reality with a jolt. The board on the roadside glowed, ‘New York--- 100’. Her bare foot on the metal told me she was in a hurry to get there. How different people are, though how similar! We were both in a hurry, one with a destination, one aimless. The silence broke; words flowed like champagne for celebration, her voice soft like silk from the east. She said, “Hello, how are you?” I with a voice coarse as the craters of the moon lied, “fine”. Forgot the thank you. “So where are you heading to?” we asked together. A laughter, and that broke the ice.

She said she was going to New York to meet her fiancé. Lucky chap! Now it was my turn, I didn’t know. “New York”, I said. At least now I had company for 100 miles. A lonely soul searching companionship, I felt good. We talked how lives of people change with changing times. I lied all the way through. She talked about her job and the relationship and I made up a story about a flourishing business and used it as a tool to explain a recent divorce. Her phone came alive and she blushed, I knew who. The conversation was short and soft. That told me the relationship was stable and that it had a happy history assuring a bright future. Felt happy for someone after a long time.

The traffic seemed to thicken and so did the fog. We went under a cluster of bridges, the confusing convolutions made traffic flow so smooth. An irony of life, I thought. All those confusions you go through tell you what not to do so you don’t screw up. Words were hard to find and her face told me the story of her life.

I woke up in the sky, it seemed. The water gushing below me felt like clouds still roaring. The silk felt like, “You slept off”. I responded with a smile like the setting sun, giving way to the gleaming moon. The skyline, tall and imposing hit me in the face. New York, I thought. A hundred miles of quick realization. Flew across the clouds and reached a land of fear and future. The door clicked again and the silence said it all. The red machine glided past me with the elegance of the driver.