(and) to meet again.

and to meet
through rose tinted glass
throwing emotions into blur edged vision.

and to meet
in the verses of a song
just to sing one last chorus.

and to meet
to touch fingertips
and wonder why we're really here.

and to meet
to see the shape of your smile
and lose ourselves in synesthetic joy.

and to meet
to exchange dreams
and make promises of cameos.

and to meet
when the sea touches the clouds
and the spray and the drizzle kiss each other.

and to meet
to feel alive again
and leave the world in monochrome standstill.

near or far
night or day
here we are
just to say
this last verse of summer sky,
sitting and watching the embers fly.


n.b. this is kind of the the continuation of To meet again, which i wrote while in pune the last time. met a few people this time whom i don't know when i'l me meeting next. months, possibly years. this poem is stunted compared to the earlier one, and i dont like it half as much. still... mata ashite.

Interlude (Leave all the days behind)

as always, booze somehow prevents me from sleeping very long. i was up at 830, and out at 9. pranjal was returning to his room and he dropped me off at the Corporation. i took a bus from there, which thankfully did not take long. i was at kondhwa by 11. tired as i was, i lazed around for a couple of hours, and then had lunch and took a long awaited afternoon nap which lasted for almost three hours. manyu came down at 6-ish. we chatted for quite a while about how our lives were going. a while later we went down to meet shiv at his place. it was a fun meeting, as usual, involving a lo of banter between the three of us. amit came down around 8, and we had 5 minutes where manyu and shiv did a good job of switching roles and confusing amit. it was a fun thing to do. anyway, turned out later that amit and manyu had a lot more common friends than any one of us might have guessed. we spent almost an hour chatting. around 9 we went out and up to corinthians in shiv's car, where we found ourselves a nice cost round table (with 4 chairs) and sat and talked people, places, tv shows, music and the standard types of bleh stuff that guys discuss. it was a lovely evening. we came down at almost 10. amit left with his bike, while manyu joined us for dinner. there was a nice hour then and just after when manyu, my aunt, gunja and me were sitting and chatting about school... after they went off to sleep manyu and i were discussing music and watching videos right till 3 in the morning. i was awake for an hour after he left, browsing around the internet....

Interlude (last summer)

a day like no other usually starts pretty similar to a day like any other. Not that i'm saying this day was anything out of the ordinary, but only if you put it into context, comparing it with the days preceding it and the day i look forward to. I managed to sleep till 9 in the morning. lazed around most of the morning. headed to daniel's place around 1130...was there for almost three hours, watching anime and doing timepass. headed for fc road to meet sayali just after 3. i had gone to this ice cream parlour last time which had opened in place of CCB called orchid fresh. went there again and both of us gorged ourselves on ice cream. it was nice meeting her like this after so long and talking for hours. we were there till almost 5, after which she took me to this shop called Voice of Paper, tucked niftily away beside the Oakwood hotel on Bhandarkar road. the place was absolutely awesome. only in Pondy have i seed this variety of paper goods, and the prices were really reasonable too. we looked around for quite a while and i bought 2 photo frames and she one. anyway, i called sagnik after that who was in our old room. went there, picked him up and came back again to that shop to take care of my residual cravings. i bought two more frames, this time A4 sized.
we took an auto from there and headed back to subhro's flat, stopping to stuff ourselves on Dabeli on the way. i was there only then onwards. subhro returned after a half day from work just after midnight, and we had the second round of my birthday treat, complete with RS, tandoori chicken and snacks. we were at it from say 1230 for almost three hours. we finally slept off way past 4 in the morning....

Interlude (waiting for the world to change)

Headed out in the morning. Went to abc to buy dvd flaps, and then to venus to buy a screen guard for my cell and for a lovely, lovely pair of vacuum earphones. Then went to vedant's place and spent a relaxing couple of hours trading stuff and discussing anime, music, movies, games, books and this and that. When it left it was raining and was windy too. More like darjeeling weather, actually. Came back, took a li'l nap, and went to daniel's place for dinner. Was there for almost three hours . His mom cooks the most awesome biriyani. I always target it when i come to pune. This time she outdid herself, absolutely. Anyway, he dropped me off around 11. Was up till 3 watching anime after that...

Interlude (on a day like today)

It was my birthday yesterday. Which means that even though i'd gone to sleep at almost half past three, poor old me was taking calls from 630 in the morning. Anyway, its something i've gotten used to. The taking calls, replying to messages and to people wishing me on facebook went on all day, all evening, right till 1145 in the night i think, when puja called. Anyway, i didn't do much in the morning. Lazed around, mostly, watching anime and taking calls. This went on till afternoon, when 1. I had lunch 2. The power went, and 3. Kapil called and told me to come over. I was at his place from 130, i think. We watched anime and sitcoms and talked shop and discussed stuff till amit came by around 430. Then it was the three of us till we went and escorted daniel, and shanky came by at half past seven. The evening had the easy familiarity of friends used to the company of each other. Vedant was the last addition, and was a bit late in joining us. It was brilliant fun all the time. Reading manga, watching funny stuff on the net, discussing absolutely random stuff. Anyway, after some deliberation, we ordered our dinner, which was delivered within half an hour and consisted of chicken, chicken, everywhere. We greedily dug in while watching top gear, and achmed the terrorist. The fun continued once we had finished off our dinners, and it was only after 11 that the party broke. Vedant headed home and the rest of us headed for ice cream. Dan left right from there, and the rest of us were there, chatting for a while till we returned to kapil's place a couple of mins before midnight. We all wished shanky once the clock struck, and then the two of us headed out, he dropping me off before heading back himself. I got back a quarter of an hour past midnight, spent an hour with the spoils of the day (anime, movies and sitcoms) and was asleep, tired and happy, sometime after 1.
So sum it all up, a brilliant, brilliant day with my brilliant, brilliant friends...

Interlude (across the universe)

Overslept on the bus. Had to take an auto back to my old room as a result. Pranjal wasn't in. Packed in all my old cassettes. 70+ of them. Also an old album which i'd thought to be missing. Headed to subhro's flat from there. Nice place he's got. Freshened up and then left to meet sheetal. Got dragged all the way to kp burger king. Ordered more than i could eat. Even though i was famished. We chatted about this and that. The pointless chats which take up oh so long and leave you with a surprisingly full feeling inside. Heh. We left just after nine. Dunno when i'l be seeing her next. But she remains one of my favourite people. Headed back to my room where i was picked up by mona da. Returned to subhro's flat around 10. Cooked chicken for dinner, and then had it while watching The Rock and attending calls and replying to texts. Watched favourite bits of gto after that. I'l be sleeping off now, because i'l have to be attending calls from 6 in the morning, i think. Subhro shall continue with gto. Looking forward to tomorrow. Hoping everything goes smoothly and according to plan...

Interlude (half the world away)

The problem with two days, one night train journeys as opposed to two nights and one day is that whereas you can get through the latter with the help of one reasonably thick book, you need atleast two books for the former. As a consequence, i've already finished off two of the three books that i had, and even though i left then c/o lando and borrowed trainspotting instead, they might not be enough for the rest of the trip.
But for all the cons of my train being half a day late, i got to see some breathtaking scenery, the sort of landscape that i rarely associate with this state. Mile after mile of fields and meadows and hills, green, utter green, brooks and streams and rapids running wherever their imagination takes them. Hills crowned by clouds and fog, and the train pushed past curtains of rain lashing out at everything, biting my skin whenever it could reach me. Awe inspiring. Once i reached lando's place, i relaxed and waited for him to return. He's put on a bit of weight. We drank beers and listened to oasis. Then we went out to eat and drank more and then called up auto and bitan. I got pretty drunk. Haven't been this drunk in ages.
As a consequence, i slept off by midnight and was up at 5, after which i couldn't sleep at all. Lazed around all morning, watching anime, listening to music and making calls. Headed out at noon, and here i am now, relaxing in a bus heading for pune and secretly hoping it rains on the way and i get to see this place the way i like it best...