Dud Sea Scrawls The Writing, clearly, is not on the wall!

I was doing shooting practice with an air rifle with a moving target. The target moves from left to right and when it comes near the line of the rifle the sound obviously increases. That’s the indication for me to fire at it. It was the all too familiar ‘Zzzuuuuuiiiii’ sound. I miss the target few times and suddenly I hear the sound coming from right too. Target is moving from both ends! I change the telescopic lens of my rifle and wait for it with a renewed determination. This time I don’t miss it. Why is that I am feeling so warm? ‘Coz of my helmet? That’s when I wake up to see blanket I am using is causing the trouble and the ‘sound’ is from the mosquito!
Ahh me and my dreams !!!

After sitting in the plush air conditioned bus in one of the better seats ( strictly in terms of comfort ) I asked the driver about the choice of films. I should say I was lucky to get that seat. I came late and only seat I could get was the last one. Luckily some one wanted to exchange their seat as they wanted to two seats together. As I was waiting for the bus near the ticket counter lot of people came and asked the person in-charge about the timing of the next bus. He patiently gave the same answer ’ Don’t know sir. Not many buses today due to elections. You will have to wait’. I overheard an interesting conversation between an anxious passenger and this official.

‘How long will it take for the next bus to come?’
‘No idea sir’
‘Will there be enough seats’
‘I hope so’
‘Are all these people waiting for the same bus?’
‘How will I know’?
“Why are they waiting here?’
‘People wait for so many reasons, sir’
‘Why should they wait here’
‘People wait for various reasons sir. Some wait for their bus, some for their lovers, some for their families, some just sit here to spend time, some sit and read’
‘How will we know whether all these people want to go to the same place?’
‘I really don’t know sir. People will have their own reasons to come and sit here and I cant ask them why they are here. You will know when the bus comes’
‘When will it come?’
‘Dont know sir’

As it turned out the only CD the driver had was ‘Apthamitra’. I wanted to watch this film from a long time. I had watched first half of the movie in one of the bus trips and I wanted to complete it! I could have done that easily by renting a DVD but I was not that desperate to watch it !! For those who dont know, ‘Apthamitra’ ( Best friend ) is the remake of the original Malayalam hit ‘Manichitrathazhu’ and ‘Chandramukhi’ was remade from ‘Apthamitra’. Though I don’t like watching the same film twice I was looking forward to this as I had to spend time and also I liked to hear a particular song in that again - a beautifully picturised and wonderfully written kite festival song.

It compares a kite with life and describes how one should understand that Life ,like a kite, has its own ups and downs and how one should be modest and unpretentious irrespective of height they reach in Life. This always reminds me of a very famous poem ( Mooduvanu Ravi Mooduvanu written by Kannada poet Kuvempu ) we were supposed to learn by heart in Standard 2. There the poet talks about Sun and tells us though it climbs high it looks small ( meaning we should not forget modesty while climbing the ladder of life ). Though I could not appreciate this poem much in second standard I did that pretty well as I moved ahead! Second standard will remain in my memory forever for two reasons. One for this poem and other for our class teacher ‘Chandra miss’

She was easily one of the best teachers I have ever come across. She was also sister of our family friends. During the first standard annual vacation, she had visited our family friend. Mom had called her to our house for coffee and during the conversation Chandra miss asked whether I was studying second standard books also. When I answered in affirmative( Yes, I was a good boy then. Later I grew up ), Chandra miss immediately asked me some question and I answered it correctly and she said ‘Good’ !! Somehow I remember this incident very much though it happened years ago! Sadly Chandra Miss died due to some illness some years later.

Coming back, I enjoyed the first part of the movie and was eagerly expecting to watch the second one which I had missed out earlier. At that particular time some one sitting in the front asked the driver to switch off the film as most were sleeping ( it was almost 11 pm ) and the driver promptly switched it off! Godammit ! If there is something called KLPD this is it !!

That was not the end. The stupid guy who told the driver to switch it off started talking to someone in his mobile. I think the other person was his girl friend or fiancée. He was talking so loudly that now I know what he likes to eat, what work he does, what are his expectations, what does his family do, who are his friends and all that crap. I even told him that he is disturbing everyone. He lowered his voice but did not stop the conversation. What the heck, I could still listen to him! I was hoping the mobile signal will become weak but it did not! Added to that, person who was sitting next to me was snoring like anything. Wish I had sat in the last seat itself but such is life , goes up and down like a kite!

Ever since I gave my bike to service two weeks back I have tried to keep it clean! Before that it was in such a horrible state thanks to all the rains. One problem parking the bike under the office building lintel is the trouble of bird droppings as there are lots pigeons. So I have started keeping the bike on the other side though it means it has to bear the sun light. That’s better than cleaning the droppings everyday. On Friday I see that bird sh*t on my seat though the bike was not under the lintel. What a coincidence to have the bird dropping only on my seat cover that too on rider’s side!
Moral of the Story - “If sh*t has to fall on you, it will”