I met this little boy in the Jodhpur fort. He performs with his father in one of the fort alleys through the day. He seems to have been trained well, because he would dance with the tune whenever there are tourists around. He would be dancing, and even singing along when he pleases... But he wont be distracted by the attention he is getting from those around him.

This child showed no interest in the curious tourists who kept clicking him... At the end of the performance he would go to them and ask for money. We offered him a chocolate. He took it, went to his father and dropped it at his feet. He came back to us and said "paise?"

Its perhaps not the first time when you would have seen a performance like this. It is one of the commonest sights in this country. Its just that the apparent lack of any child-like traits in this child that disturbed me a lot....

Yes, my life has come to a full circle... Yesterday I found myself walking around Hill road, navigating through the dug-up patches. And the sense of deja-vu was so strong that for a moment I thought I have travelled back in time.

About 3 yrs ago, I had landed in Mumbai in search of a new begining. I was extremely excited at the prospect of living in this city once more... The city which had given me the mixed taste of freedom, power and responsibilities.

I have always loved this city, especially the spirit of Mumbai... I have always found great friends here, unexpected kindness from people, and a lot of warmth... Lets hope this time around the city lives up to its promises again...

So the countdown has begun. I am all set to wrap up my life into my suitcases, a backpack and a couple of cartons and get out of this city. Its funny how easy a task that seems, given the fact that I have done this about a thousands times in the past. But is it that easy to wrap up your experiences in neat little bundles? And even if it is, how many of those bundles should you really carry around?

"Balance"

"Reflections"

Photograph Courtsey: Mr. Inamdar

Afternoon musings

Its one of those hot summer afternoons when you do not feel like moving even a finger. You want to turn into a sloth and vegetate in some water body. But here I am, sitting in my office, trying to decipher some illegible script and entering some life-altering hardcore 'qualitative data'....

My office is supposedly air conditioned. But I guess after coming in the Blue Star people will remove their ad... This one freezes just one person... the one sitting directly underneath. The rest of us are supposed to fend for ourselves....

My colleagues, all looking very busy, are perhaps in a similar state of irritation. How else can you defend the msgr. chats that are happening across desks which are literally on each other? Yesterday, I actually got caught talking to the girl in the next desk on yahoo. But no one seemed to be surprised. I guess they must have found it funny that someone cared enough to point out I was upto something 'no good'!!!

My laptop is so hot that I cant rest my hands on it. I get cold water from the fridge and it turns luceworm in 3 minutes. My diet coke ofcourse tastes like piss after the first 3 sips.... The earphones are also getting hot... This afternoon is slowly beginning to feel hellish... So all I can do is sit and hope there would another batch of evening showers to soothe my scortched soul...