The Neighborhood

Life is settling down these days, I can feel routine's tentacles trying to grab hold. Even the train is becoming routine, which is heartening for me.

Two little guys, kids who live on the street, were scampering between the tracks. I am disturbed that while I watched them the image of the little rats in nyc subway scamper in the same benign way popped into my mind. I was watching them in the same way. A little worried about them, but they seemed to know what they were doing. The kids seemed old for their age. They had a pet puppy with them, a stray who was scared to leap down to the tracks, so one boy hoisted the spotted pup over his shoulder and they ran to the other side of the tracks ran on the tracks toward town a bit and then hopped up onto the opposite platform. Thank god they were not in the tracks when a train was arriving. Those kids would be interesting to talk to. I got the feeling that I could learn quite a bit from them.

I changed my routine a little today, so I feel a lot better. I walked around the neighborhood, had a litte lunch and I took an auto rickshaw to the train station. While in the auto I looked to my left and saw Bandra Lake. I did not realize that I pass that lake everyday. I knew that I had to walk some way around it, but I never saw it. You know why, because I am busy looking at the ground to maneuver the uneven roads and dance around beetle juice or I am looking forward to dodge people since I still haven’t quite figured out the rhythm of things yet. That was eye opening, I missed a lake.

I notice that people tend to move in groups, especially women. I did not realize until now how much time I like to spend alone until now. Bombay Dream and I went to part of the Mumbai festival (the festival is a citywide celebration that is happning around Jan.15 and Jan.26, Mumbai marathon and Republic Day respectively. There are workshops, performances, fairs, craftsmen selling their wares, etc.) tonight and then walked around my neighborhood. Happily we found a little movie theater within walking distance of my home. So at least I can pick up going to the movies by myself again. I love to go to the movies by myself, it’s so relaxing, no commercials after the movie’s started, no one wants to change the channel, and I can get completely lost in the movie and hold on to that feeling for a longer period of time. Luckily Bombay Dream gets this as this is a hobby we, sounds strange I guess, that we share.

Thanks for many e-mails. I am a little inside my head these past few days, bear with me. I’ll peek out again soon.