Post the Hiatus

Its a long time since i rote and rambled: the last was the summer, and now its winter (we call it for want of another word), and typical to the travails of time, so much has changed. and i wanted to fill you in. For this post wasnt meant to tell you how much i miss college, or when i last turned psychedelic as so many posts are nowadays. its just a stop- gap one, to fill you in.
and how.
the past summer was hot (torrid, tepid and dull) and through mesmerising May, I discovered the bliss of nothingness (this you all know). June was different. In short, I changed continents, and went to America (for you it maybe the land of the Capito(a)l- ist, for me it is the haunt of uncles, aunts and cousins, and far too many at that). one month, of new yorking, washington-ising myself, and discovering the perils of a boston slang in new jersey was wonderful. and there was some lovely whale watching too. oh, and i saw bush in the passing- not HIM, but his outline as the motorcade sped into the white house.
If may was for the bliss of nothingness, june was nothing but bliss..
September, and Trichy beckoned- the first year of studying 'core' engineering. the last year was useless we were told, it was all just the crust. now was the real thing. and yet, amidst all the all- encompassing reality in my core years, i had no core labs. apart from being prosaic and quite rythmic, it is also true. in my first semester as a chemical engineer, i had mechanical, civil and electrical labs.
College as always, was a blur. A nice blur, the one that you can reminisce about, but a blur nonetheless. From mass bunking class, to persuading others to bunk, to bunking when everyone else attends, the plethora of play is overawing. And there were new professors, nice ones, and the not- so. There was the college culturals, the Festember with an F, and an inter department culturals where I played an Oscar winning role. I am not being encomiastic, many renowned critics will agree.
And it went on. And like all good things, I was back at home. One month of the loveliness of holidays, this time, with a three lettered acronym called ipt. at iocl. cpcl, manali. it was, in retrospect, enlivening. but that was it. it isnt worth a paragraph here at any rate.
i am now reading the much revered V S Naipaul's Bend in the River, and wondering if i should give the publisher a prize for reading the first draft fully. But thats about it. for this period of nothingness isnt very sprightly. its like a warrior after the battle thats over. He's done with it, and theres a quite contentment over how things have gone, and an assurance, that when things come back, he'll be ready for them.
The warriors tired now. For the massiveness of the Void is overwhelming. 40 days of holidays isnt merely rhyming, it takes courage to see it through.
What now, you will ask. it was a Hiatus for so long. a sweet, cuddly pause.
and amidst all the clamouring, the warrior, who wields a pen, trudges back into the niceness of nothingness. back into his hidey hole. into the warm wintry comfort of himself, home and holidays (three words he waits months for, and then wonders why he did so). Till next time then... Bloglubber!

Of HolyDays and Of Nothing

Its holiday time.. Two months of that rare period in the year when we are (or at least, i am) wondering what to do instead of what not to... When man (and the occasional wo(e)man) is left to their own free enterprise- to ponder, procrastinate and proselytize to the limit of their imaginations. When we can freely, and without the faintest touch of guilt in our conscience, reply to a question on what we are doing, NOTHING. Yippee!
And yet, there is that rare, but consistent flock of people who insist that holidays shouldn't be long. Not this long at least. (2 months for me). They say they become jobless, that their academic faculty is put to rest, that boredom grips them, that tv is not interesting, and that the world is torrid, tepid and dull, that life loses its meaning during hols which are THIS long.
I say, God save them. The queen is in pretty safe hands at the moment. At least she's old. These people are Young, and are on the brink of insanity. I ask you, How can u get bored when u have NOTHING to do? I mean it.. How many times in the year do u do NOTHING? When there's college, we chat, listen to music, watch tv, eat, then chat, go to the occasional class (which the professor doesn't bunk), sleep (there), and then repeat the cycle many times. So in college, we do many things. We don't do NOTHING.
And in the holidays, we go to the cinema, we roam the streets of our motherland admiring the wonders of the civic drainage which so beautifully condescend to give u a live demo of their internal functioning, we listen to music, orkut, surf, chat, chaat, play, (and ponder, procrastinate and proselytize).. and of course, we also do NOTHING.
In the road that stretches itself out for us, where companies, and salary checks glitter at every turning and speed breaker, every day we bunk is treated as an opportunity missed, a client betrayed, an organisation let down, an enterprise failed, a nation whose potential is reduced by one. So we cant (or at least, don't) bunk. We again have no time (in the midst of family, music, friends, chat and chaat) to do NOTHING.
And so, back to today. Enjoy. The only time you'll get. And fling yourself free and jump till your shadow stretches beyond the horizon and the Earth pants for your feet have battered her, and gleefully proclaim, that its your earnest desire and profound wish, that you want to do NOTHING.
W H Davies once said,
What is this world so full of care,
That we have no time to stand and stare...
If he was me, he would have had two full months to do it!