MATE - Part Two

Simi kept a keen eye out for Pritam, her beloved while her fingers twirled around the bow on her purse.  The plan was to meet in the train, he had his ticket and she had hers and one whistle had already gone off, but he was nowhere in sight. Then, with a final whistle piercing through the station, the train carriage jerked as the engine made its first move to pull it out of its home.  She searched once more through her small window, within the bustle of the crowd on the long platform, her hand ready to wave him down to her location.

The train moved slowly before picking up speed finally leaving the station behind.   The view from her window changed to a staggered skyline of multi-story houses, laundry drying on lines on the terraces, transmission wires networking over neighborhoods to extend beyond their limits, children walking, running or playing close to the railway tracks. 

A deep sigh escaping her thin, rosy lips, Simi leaned back into her seat.  Noticing the figure crouched in front of her, she offered her name and proceeded to make conversation with a deluge of questions.  Ria looked up, gave a curt greeting before returning to the screen in front of her.  Unperturbed, Simi continued to chatter commenting on the scenes they passed outside.  From the chaotic landscape to the unattended children so close to the tracks, but Ria offered no response.

Simi finally took the hint and relaxed back to gaze outside at the world passing them by.  Concrete jungle became sparser until all she could see were lush green fields ripe for harvest.  Dots of bright colors appeared at intervals hunched over with scythes in hand.  She admired the hard labor these men and women in the fields endured to feed the nation.  Her life had been of luxury where delicacies magically appeared at the table or her special requests accommodated without pause.  It was Pritam who opened a whole new world for her and helped her realize how she took so much for granted.

Simi turned to Ria again and asked if she was reading a romance novel, receiving a nod and a “mhhmm” in response.  Cheerfully, she went on to share, “I used to read those all the time, until I began to live it in real life...”  Ria lowered her e-reader as Simi declared, “…until I met my soul mate.”   Ria closed the flap, and looked up with arched eyebrows at her cabin mate.

to be continued.....

MATE - Part One

Ria’s one eye looked down at the tickets, the other up ahead down the corridor.  She squinted to read the numbers near and far, in her hand to match the ones on the cabin door.  With relief she slid the door, entered and set the bulk she carried down on the left berth.  Taking account of her duffle bag, backpack, a small suitcase and a laptop case, she carefully tucked them under the seat.  Extricating her e-reader from her oversize shoulder bag, she cuddled up in the corner, next to the window and soon was absorbed in a world of fantasy or was it a fantastic world?

Her head bobbed when her car pulled and tugged with a jerk as the engine connected.  She placed her feet up on her seat, knees drawn to her chest and relaxed her head back to read the words digitally appearing on her lap.  Cacophony of noise surrounded her as passengers looked for their cabins or seats, coolies harried to shed their loads, children screamed playfully or cried in fear with parents shouting at them to keep up.  A whistle resounded over the humdrum of the station as the train called all to attention.

Ria, oblivious to all activity around her virtually turned her electronic pages as she scanned words after lines after paragraphs.  Passengers boarded and settled in cabins adjoining hers or down the corridor, their chatter floating into her quiet abode.  Strangers introduced themselves all around her, inquiring of destinations, their missions, then divulging deeper into personal matters.  Before their parting each had learned of the other’s life story, their hopes and dreams coupled with all the miseries that befell them.  They had become lifelong friends but in their haste of pouring out intricate details of their lives, neither had bothered to exchange any contact details.  Strangers no more, parting as intimate friends, they remained strangers at last.

Ria ignored all the banter enjoying the recluse of her quiet cabin and the conversations in the fiction on her lap.  The door to her cabin slid open and a young girl breathlessly stepped in.  Ria gave a quick scan with a sideways glance at the new occupant before returning to the glow that radiated words from her lap.  The girl’s neatly braided hair had some escaped strands that flirted with her eyelashes.  Simply dressed in designer jeans that hugged her hips and red V-neck t-shirt that hugged her breasts, she sat down by the window, across from Ria.  Placing her medium sized red, white and blue kate spade bag on her lap, she leaned forward to look out through the bars of the window onto the platform, into the sea of people.  Her fingers fidgeted with the ostentatious red bow on her purse as her eyes darted back to front looking at both lengths of the station.

 

To be continued....

Motion in Stillness

A gust of wind scooped her off her feet, swirled and twirled her up above the clouds, across the ocean, over the mountains, past the pristine fields of red roses in bloom before depositing her on soft sand in the middle of arid land.

She licked her lips and squinted out into an endless horizon.  Her disheveled hair blinded her partially as it clung to her sticky skin, slithering towards her openings into her ears, up her nostrils, through her clenched teeth.  She turned and looked towards a luminous sandy hill, her eyes peering from under the awning of her shaky hand.  Her body whirled in circles to find direction before collapsing in disillusion on the soft, brown, sandy carpet.

Another gust blew around her, lifting up the earthy grains as they danced in circles heading nowhere.  The rim of her flowing skirt rose to join the dance, but her fingers clutched to hold it down.  She looked up at the open, clear sky feeling the weight of gravity grounding her.  Vastness of the circular dome invited her to expand, beckoned her fidgety feet into its limitless expanse while keeping her rooted in its circular confines.

A princess in a glass globe, her world was perfect and perfectly encased.

 

Wind in a Box

INSPIRED BY ONE OF JOSEPH CORNELL'S BOXES


It was all mapped out for her – school, husband, children;

she followed, listened, obeyed, submitted, and then she was 50.

 

Children grown and gone, husband passed on

she found herself surrounded by white walls.   Her perfect

life, all mapped out, carefully planned, followed a straight line

and had the richness of clean and white.  She reveled in its comfort

and its security;

 

until one solitary evening, from the whiteness of her room

she looked out her white window and saw blue --

a beautiful blue sky hung high beyond her reach,

it invited her into its serenity, beckoned her to observe its hue

 

of deep solace, as blue as peace.

 

She sauntered up close

to the clean lined edges of her perfect window,

climbed

to leave behind all that was planned

to melt blindly into a new blue bliss….

SILENCE

Shhh… listen to the absence of sound,

Cheerful birds are chirping

No more,
      they have flown away

rippling waters are gushing

no more,
      it stands still in river beds

still air is humid

no more,
      it hangs chilled and dry

falling leaves are rustling

no more,
      yet trees stand tall, bare naked

playful flurries are swift

no more,
      they linger for first snow

we linger and endure,

pause and wait,
      and listen to the sound of silence….