On Retrospect: A Tale of Respect

The scene: Ding dong. The bell rings and nobody appears. So I say "yes, who's there?" And a man who seems furious appears. "Is your car 9291?" he spits the words out. Taken aback, I whisper, "Yes uncle". Divya and Rishi seem perplexed and we exchange looks. He now begins to shout, and for a minute we don't know what he's trying to get at, "How will I take my car out in the morning? Is that your car? Take it out right NOW". So we all get up and I mumble, "okay uncle, yes uncle, we'll take it out" I come out to the balcony to see where Hussain had parked the car and I think HUH?

Uncle's car is parked snugly inside his house. Hussain's car is parked against his compound, the tip of his bonnet an inch in front of uncle's gate. And he's screaming, why again? Hussain picks up his voice and retorts, "why can't you take your car out uncle, just take it out and move left". That infuriates him further. Aunty comes out and attempts to hurl mean looks at us standing upstairs. Uncle doesn't know what to say, "This is MYYYY House, you park your car in front of YOUR House". There are two bikes in front of our house. Sigh. I try and speak from my balcony, "aunty....aunty...". Nobody takes notice. Hussain continues, "this is the street uncle, why can't you tell the people behind my car to remove their car as well". Uncle again has nothing to say. "No, you remove your car", he shouts. I try to scream out again, "Aunty...", she looks up "don't call me aunty!" and storms off, following in his footsteps.

All I was trying to say was this, why scream at us? Firstly, it's the street, you don't OWN the spot. Secondly, we respect that you don't want anybody parking outside your house, so tell us, talk to us, speak to us the way you'd like to be spoken to. Just because you know we're 20 odd year olds, you think it's okay to shout? You fling, hurl, spit your words out, why? Is that the way you talk to people at work? Or do you think it's convenient to take out your day's worth of frustration on us. Time and time again I've been proved by the many people around my house that people are waiting for an opportunity to yell, blame, complain. When was the last time we complained about somebody taking our parking spot, playing music too loud, leaving the gate open. You know why we don't complain? Because we don't let it get to us, there's always something to be irrate about if you really wanted to be. Tired of being taken for granted by the "elder, apparant more mature" generation. Tired of being "screamed" at like I'm an irresponsible immature person. I earn. I pay taxes. I pay rent. I don't deserve to be spoken to like that. Speak to me the way you'd like to be spoken to. And then we shall talk.

Untitled Still

How abstract is abstract
And ambiguous is ambiguous
What measure or scale or depth or breadth
Lies in a Déjà vu, a memory
What sets the bar, a threshold
For fear and courage
What Math goes in to trust and what Physics
In that moment of a leap of faith.
How do you quantify humaneness
Who’s kind, benevolent, compassionate enough
Who’s a friend ‘enough’.
And yet we seek to compare
To rationalize, fit a thought in a black box
And nod in all our modest glory
To you, you and you,Who 'knows best'.
I seek, to be understood.
(written on Jul 22nd 2011)

Only Time Will Tell

Pinkish amber flooded the setting sky
As I looked on from my Kingfisher window
A bothersome man filled the other half,
Of my quite distracted, tired mind.
To rest or not to rest my arm, ah, so let him be.
To read or not to read, Archer had managed to capture my attention.
‘Only time will tell’, profound, Archer style
I plod on, through the prelude,
I hold the thought a moment longer,
And rewind, ‘Only time will tell’?
How much can time tell, time heal,
Time make you un-feel,
How much can time make you forget,
Want you to remember?
How much can time teach,
Make you repent? Regret? Re-learn?
And yet, how much can time give, forgive
Allow you to savour that one extra moment.
The big man moved, it irked me, I lost my thought
And suddenly, the aircraft dipped
I slipped, my heart tensed and the old man snorted.
The second one came right after the first
This time he awoke, “Kya hua, what’s happening?”
The stewards rushed to their seats in obvious hurry,
The captains voice echoed through our fear
“Please don’t worry, we’re running in to some turbulent weather”
And as he rattled off the rest of his re-assurance,It hit me.
As it hit them.
Panic, confusion, the thud of your heart
It can’t be happening, it can’t be true,
And yet, the earth gave way.
Despair, oh where, do we go?
A crack in the earth, a mighty tear in it’s wake,
In that moment I was transported
To Japan, to pounding hearts and gripping fear
And as the kingfisher steadied itself
I tried to focus on a moist page
Only time will tell.