A day in the Life of...

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Miles to go before she sleeps...

Ironic, the timing of these words (and this piece as the first on a blog that had its inception way back in 2006)! But indeed there has to be a point to start at and this is it – the many miles to go before she sleeps; the 13 plus miles from 1/124 Mount Poonamallee Road – the many miles that come September will no longer be.

The irony however lies herein – that she pens the description that follows, of the little joys that lie in this not-so-little commute, at a time when in just a short while she will no longer ‘have’ to travel the mentioned distance. It also lies in the fact that these words strung together had formed way back in 2008 where this journey began but are surprisingly only now being etched in typeface at this, the point where the road takes a turn and the journey takes a detour!

Initially the working title in her head was ‘A time for peace’ because the little joys she found along the way on that long to and fro between a place called home and that place on Mount Poonamallee Road always brought her a peace she cherished. But the titles in one’s head change just as the times and people do – especially when she knows that there now are miles to go before she sleeps.

And she wonders how it got to this as her thoughts drift;

from the placidity of the lake under the bridge with that tree that stands in solitude at it’s centre – unchanging and unperturbed despite the vagaries of the weather – to the late night rickshaw rides with a bespectacled and chivalrous Mr. Golla who’d see her to her door before carrying on a few more miles before he too could sleep

– to the sunshiney yellow and black painted cement board that says Chetpet ;
the weather-forecasting, jamblam-seller on the platform who’d say with a happy certainty that it IS most definitely going to rain;
the mildly disconcerting person at the ticket counter who’d ask inappropriate questions and wonder aloud about whether her shorter hair was brought on by the onset of another Madras summer before handing her a ticket with a smug grin set on his mildly creepy face;



the stretch of flyover at Kathipara that is her imaginary roller coaster and a cross-over she takes everyday to another dimension – the road ominously named ‘Butt Road’ with its fast food joints that have name boards that make her smile. These are the many things that she will reminisce when this become the road less travelled.

Almost everyone she knows knows of her insomnia but today despite her pensive mood, her eyelids feel heavy and the sandman smiles over her shoulder and as her mind floats past the dream-catcher on her wall these words echo softly; borrowed from a band of punk artists who originally strung them together and sang, “Wake me up when September ends.”

P.s. for more brilliant brilliant pics of the lake visit this flickr page! Thanks Mr. C! :)

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4 Comments:

Blogger Praveen Pinto said...

Hey.. Really nice blog.. Loved the style of writing. Proud of you. Huggs. Keep it going..

6:00 AM  
Blogger Rochelle said...

Very well done sis! Now I see we have one more sisterly thing in common...writing. I'm gonna start blogging too. Too much stuff we carry around in our heads....gotta blog it down someday!:P

10:07 AM  
Blogger Ken Macklin said...

welcome to the blogging community for real .. as for ur first post .. only when u lose somethin or miss the same, do u sometimes fully understand or appreciate the value perhaps, my thought cud be wrong ,, but then good to c ur blog in action !!

10:32 AM  
Blogger Ken Macklin said...

from Insomniacally Insane to Insomnically Inactive, wats happ here ??

1:31 AM  

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