Anand's Musings

The sun is about to set in the west when she enters the room, as always, without knocking. He tries to push the white book below his pillow but an edge is still visible. Things are hard to conceal from people you love, especially from her. She sits in the only chair lying by the bed and asks him how does he feel. He says its better now and the pain hurts no more.

In the stark whites and greys of the room, she is the only one reflecting colours. Life. After a comfortable silence of few minutes, she asks if he was reading something. The white book, he remembers and answers in negative. Her hand moves slowly to get hold of the book. The cover astounds her. She doesn’t know what la recherche de l’innocence means but the face on the cover of white book is hers.

Please don’t read it, he says, looking embarrassed and relieved at the same time. It is getting hard for her to continue as she realizes that not only the cover but the whole book is about her, for her. He is looking at the birds outside the window but can’t hear them chirp.

First silence and then tears sustains them for a while. She looks into his eyes demanding why he never told her. He holds her hand and can feel the softness of her old skin. I love you, he says.

pic: secret vespers

Okay, so you are thinking do I know this woman who wears wooden necklaces and visits historical monuments and bitches about Delhi. The answer is no because there are about eighteen million people in Delhi and the probability of us crossing paths in such a large city is miniscule. Almost zero.

Wouldn’t you like to know more about the woman who wears wooden necklaces and visits historical monuments and bitches about Delhi? Of course, you would like to know the answers to questions like:

1. Why does the woman who wears wooden necklaces and visits historical monuments and bitches about Delhi wear wooden necklaces?
2. Why does the woman who wears wooden necklaces and visits historical monuments and bitches about Delhi do at historical monuments?
3. What does the women who wears wooden necklaces and visits historical monuments and bitches about Delhi is doing in Delhi.

So the answer to the first question is quite easy to understand. All women like jewellery and since I am a woman, I also like jewellery. That was simple. Wasn’t it?

Now about wooden necklaces. When I was a little girl there was this little plant in my courtyard that shed a large number of seeds every third day. I used to bead them together into necklaces and pretended to be Cinderella. So I hope the wooden necklaces part is also clear now.

To understand the answer to the second question – Why do I visit historical monuments? – you will need to open yourself up to some abstract concepts. Ready. Okay, so the woman who wears wooden necklaces likes to visit historical monuments because there are so many of them in this city that I feel there are less apartments than historical monuments. Its hard. I mean the history staring in your face. You can’t ignore them.

And being an art major I like clicking pictures of pigeons on empty verandas and ghastly maroon corners with too little light. They are magical and therefore I visit historical monuments to discover the magic of the lost ages.

Now the answer to the question which happens to be the last but also the most popular one – Why does the woman who wears wooden necklaces and visits historical monuments bitches about Delhi? Well the answer would have been clear as hell to you had you ever spent a weekend alone in Delhi. The only way to let that feeling out is to bitch about Delhi and that is what I do. There are secondary reason too but lets not go into them. Time is money and I saved a lot of yours and mine. I owe you now.

And since I am at it, let me answer YES to a bonus question for you – Will the woman who wears wooden necklaces and visits historical monuments and bitches about Delhi leave Delhi?  – which I just thought of.

But don’t get too happy because being the woman who wears wooden necklaces and visits historical monuments and bitches about Delhi and where else am I going to find affordable wooden necklaces, so many historical monuments and a constant supply of bitching issues.

Ciao.

Wind in Andes always had this characteristic smell of sand which reached there travelling across the deserts. The sunlight was struggling to pierce through the scattered clouds, painting them a magical crimson. As they moved towards the summit – leaving a trail of bodies behind – they prayed for clouds to go away. It will take a bit more time and then they will reach the place they had always dreamt of. It was once in a lifetime opportunity to see the sun dissolve into thin air and then the moon to appear from the same spot. For a moment, the refraction and reflection from the heavy and moist wind will conspire to create the illusion of sun and moon combining into one. Very soon they will be one like the Sun and the Moon.

Note: This is a prequel to Pieces of The Broken Moon – 1