Hey You !

 I suddenly remembered my condo in Bangkok. On a high rise, where from my bed I could see the lights shimmer. I always felt sad when I had to leave it. It all seems to be a different world. A different time. And I feel like an outsider, watching a movie unfold. Unpredictable, unknown and uncertain. We have never seen times like this. And we take so much for granted. When we come out of this probably it will be a lesson for the rest of our lives. May be we shall learn to actually be human(e). And the lights are much brighter these days. Maybe they are shining at the end of the tunnel. This too shall pass! 

My surgery came at a time when the world is going into the (s)hell! Quarantine, self isolation, shutting down the shutters. It seem prophetic that Bill Gates had said in TED Talks that it not the missiles but microbes that will kill us!! From cholera to corona, we are still humbled by tiny microscopic mites that miss our eyesight. I grew up with horrors of Cholera. My Dadu's father died of Cholera, while he was studying medicine in Kolkata. Dadu often spoke of the telegram and how he had seen his father's apparition bidding him a goodbye. And he was clinically cruel about our cholera shots each year during my summer vacation. I reacted terribly, came down with fever, fainted, dramatized the entire inoculation issue, but no escape. Even after he was paralyzed he continued to ensure that the compounder did not miss his date with TABC. Dadu also ensured that we gargled - and we escaped the pox, joy bangla and most of the seasonal diseases thanks to the regimen. I  am talk...

The messages kept  popping since midnight . Ode to awesome, superwomen...mothers, wife, sisters and friends. Old young and middle aged. She impatiently looked at the clock. Almost 11 and time to leave for the all ladies meet at a restaurant that's celebrating Womens' Day with a 50% discount on the bill. Still no sign of the maid. Impatiently she picks up her bag and and phone for the Uber , when the bell rings. Irritation, impatience, she is ready to vent when she notices a tiny face peeping at her. Her maid with her 3 years old. - Deri hoye gyalo go didi....Maiya ta kichutei eka thaklo na. Khub bhoy peyeche go. Amader bosti te ekjon k bhoot e dhoreche !! Kyamon korche. - Ki j bolo !!! Amar deri hochche . - Omaa ! Tomake ki shundor lagche ...Party achche? She melts a bit . - Jao shaban diye shobai haathe dhuye nao. Ja Corona r bhoy ! - Tomake na Kareena r moton dekhte....amar ma bole ...A tiny voice says. Kareena , Corona now she is all mixed up ! - Kothaye jachch...

The wheels of Karma... Inescapable!!!  The lady who was on it was respectably rustic and as scared as me about the CT scan. Our line up was one after the other.  - Maam aap ao. Mata ji iske baad.  Inside with the drip fixed I heard - Mataji ko paani pilao Amid all that trepidation, machine beeps my antennas were ready to protest - Main mataji nahi... Maine bohot pani piya!!!  And I was back to Ma'm!!!  On second thoughts I am as good as a Mataji!!  The wheels of time.... inescapable!

We belonged to an era when we were told - Expiry date er ek maash por O oshud theek thake, kicchu hobe na! Kheye nao. At the medicine shop today Bhaskar met this little girl, all of 5 checking the expiry date on medicines! Good and bad. Maybe we lasted because we overlooked the expiry date! Or maybe he could duck my knife at the nick of time!!!!

Rearview Look back. What do you see? Lights That follow me. Stop a while Before you move on Check what's behind But don't dwell on. What's gone may be forever, May not be yours now or never. Life goes on Go with the flow There are lights ahead, You don't yet know. Mirrors reflect the outer me! What's inside is yet to see......

In days when tears come easier than smiles, and we close on the expiry date, we need to bottle moments. Wobble, dabble, hobble... but what we need is enjoy each moment that comes! Apna dil... Maange more!