It has been ages since this has happened. I can see the sun outside my room making stretched shadows on the bland wall that faces my bed and it has been at the same spot for as long as I can remember – or the last 10 minutes. Maybe I am being a little too observant of things – writing a blog after a …well frankly, a long long time, can perhaps do this.
Things have changed in my own life and in the lives of those around me. And the interesting part is that it has always all been for the better, even if it appeared to be exactly the opposite in the short run. Of course there are problems. Everyone has problems. Even the Pope has problems. And right now, even the planet has quite a few problems that would put yours or mine to shame. But problem shaming and victim blaming are games for another day.
Have you observed people these days? On the buses, the trains, the streets? No? You really should, it’s a lot of fun. For example, yesterday, at one point I realized that all the cars around mine at the signal somehow had short drivers whose upper torso was barely visible from outside of the car. Individually, this would be quite a normal sight as there’s nothing funny about anyone’s height. But collectively, I have to say, the effect was quite comic during moments of an anxious waiting for the light to turn green.
In these observations lies the story that all of us seek – the answers that will someday come to many of us who are eagerly looking for it. And that’s why, you have to keep looking – at the two friends locked in careless banter, ignorant of all that’s going on around them including the discomfort of others, at the strange group of seven short men who distinctly remind you of the seven dwarves of Snow White, at the strange rude shopkeeper who seems totally out of place in your current city and a remnant from your old city, at the girl who is confused whether she should take the bus or call a cab, for all the monetary reasons or otherwise, at the long haired office clerk guy who always ties a ponytail but never wears casual clothes – somewhere, these people and their anomalies hold the answer to all your questions. Just don’t go ahead and ask them directly, alright?
P.S It doesn’t matter if, in all this while, you’ve stopped reading what I write. If I can start writing again, I am sure I can ask for a couple of minutes of your undivided attention everyday. In return? Perhaps one of your answers lies with me.
Arnab Mukherjee 