Marina

It was the eve of a Friday. Me and my friends, Nanda and Ragavendar, boarded a train and headed towards Ritchie Street, hoping to retrieve a camera we had given there for repair. We carried enough money to settle the expenses, and a few extra bucks that would come in handy if we built an appetite along the way.

We got off the train and journeyed on foot towards the shop. The walk was long and tiresome. Our hunger levels started crossing wildest expectations, but we were bound to keep our desires in check. We had a job in hand.

We paid the camera guy his wages and had about 200 Rupees to spare. Surely it wasn't enough to feed the three of us satisfactorily. We were as hungry as a bear. With a mighty effort, we tamed our raging tummies. We had to. We had other plans in mind.

Ragavendar had suggested that the seashore would be a wonderful place to spend the evening. It also came with plenty of food stalls. I thought it was a brilliant idea. We started heading towards it once the job was done. The walk back to the station exhausted us, but we managed to board a train somehow.

A short while later we were on the shores of Marina. It was a little before dusk and a full moon glorified the evening sky. It was a marvellous sight, but it took little of our notice. We had something else pressing our minds, Food.

We were very careful in spending the little money we had. We thought of buying a two litre bottle of Pepsi, but that would have dented the budget and left us with no money to eat. So we contented ourselves with a bottle of cool water. We then started strolling on the loose sand towards a food stall that lay ahead of us. The cool winds wiped the perspiration off of our foreheads.

We ordered a plate of bhaji for each of us and gobbled it down like a pack of hungry dogs. We ordered a few more, but our appetites grew insatiable  We soon ran out of money and had to force ourselves to stop. The only money we had left was for the journey back.

We then decided to move closer to the sea to have a clear view of the torrents. Night time had fallen upon us. The moon had the whole place dimly lit. The breeze grew stronger as we moved forward and a beautiful sight awaited us. The moonlight was so intense that the seawater glimmered in it, forming a patch of light on the tides. It almost looked as if there was a highway laid on the seas. I have never seen a view as such. We lingered near the salty waters for a while, admiring the scene. The shore that stretched to left of us appeared as if engulfed in fog- with yellow lights, from the food stalls, emanating from it. The winds from the ocean were making our times memorable.

Later we sat on the sands, a few feet away from the water, took a collective deep breath and eased our muscles. Even if I had been alone at a place as such, I would have had a good time; being with my friends made it better. We had the usual chit chat, passed jokes, laughed and had the time of our lives. The occasional gusts delighted us. A kid approached us with a tin of snacks and pleaded us to buy some. We weren't able to get him to leave, not until we promised him that we had no money left. We had a good laugh about that too.

An hour passed by as such and it was time was for us to bid goodbye to the shores. We dragged our heavy footsteps away from the beach and parted ways, promising each other to spend another evening together at the waterfront in the upcoming future, only next time, with a lot more money.

NightFall

The break of dawn has a soothing breeze, that calms the senses, and a warm sunshine that so often lifts the heart. But we tend to forget that nightfall has its own share of delights.

Every once in a while, there comes a day filled with so much nonsense that, at its end, my mind finds itself in a turmoil. At times as such, the star studded night sky has always been the one I look forward to for comfort. 

Lying on my back, on the grounds of my terrace, I dreamily gaze at the dots of light glimmering in the infinity and heave a sigh of relief, as my pent up stresses begin to melt away. There are hardly a few things that are more beautiful than the night sky, and occasionally, the full moon grants its presence, like a crowning jewel, making the view all the more spectacular. And one thing that comes as a topping to all this divinity is music.

Plugging in to music helps rule out all the exasperating noises that attempt to distract me from admiring the spectacle. A melodious tune works wonders each and every time.

Time flies by with no notice and when the hour gets late, I am left with no alternative but to drag myself down the stairs. But once it’s all done, I always end up with my spirits lifted and my mind appeased.

     The Gods of the night sky will always have my gratitude.

Possessions

There is always something that comes by in your life, time and again, that you dream to possess. Possessiveness, as we know, is human nature.

During my schooling, at the time when cellphones were becoming popular, I had an obsession for this particular song that I heard over the radio. I wasn't able to strike the tune off my mind. It kept lingering on and on like an old saying. But I didn't know what movie it featured in, so the only way I could listen to it was through the radio if and when it was played. I would spend hours in the evenings tuning in to different stations, yearning to hear that song one more time. I wasn't always left disappointed. The song would eventually present itself. But the movie name was unclear. It took me a few more days to finally figure it out.

I then requested my Sister to download all the songs from that movie onto my Mom's cell phone. I eagerly awaited as the downloading was yet to reach its completion. The song had something very unique about it that made my inner self levitate. I'd been so much at peace with myself whenever I listened to it and in a short while it would be mine, all mine. I would be able to listen to it as I pleased.

Once I had the song with me,I plugged in my ear phones and hit the play button, waiting for that feeling of bliss to spread within me again. But this time, there was nothing, the song felt empty. At first I had no idea of what went wrong, but later I figured it out. When I had been listening to it on the radio, there was a possibility that it might be the last time that I get to hear it, it might never been played again. At the least, It might take me a few more days to listen to it once more. Such thoughts made me value the music. I would live and breath with the tune for as long as it was played. The outside world would hold no significance to me for those few minutes. But now, things changed. I had it in my possession and realized, for the first time, that things remain beautiful or stay interesting only as long as they stay far from grasp.

One thing I could've done at that time was to delete the song files and to go back to listening to it on the radio, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. A part of me wanted to cling to it even at the expense of losing its worth.

Possession ruins beauty and more often it diminishes Love. But possessing is all we try to do.