Driving fast,
eyes riveted to the winding black
ahead;
The sole morning task
to be performed
till ten a.m.;
When I was suddenly
drawn to
a flock of unknown birds
(herons or mynahs, who knows?)
flying discreetly,
filling the blue expanse above
so very purposefully;
elsewhere.
Did they know I was there?
Did they even try to guess?
I don’t know;
Could we have been
the many daily
acquaintances, anonymous;
one gets so used to,
who meet as if never to meet again,
and yet do the same thing
over and over again?
Till we know them
from their gestures, overdone facials
cheap cologne and cigarette smoke!
Let me guess!
A lone kite crisscrossed them,
as if avoiding them,
the wholeness of it all
like mesmorised ripples
spreading slowly, so very slowly,
yet slipping away
from me.
Or was it rather,
like nanos suspended
so quiet, peacefully in known dimensions
of hourly existence,
borders of
AIDS, abortions, pollution, the ozone layer
and caste-wars;
more well-known
to me and my world?
The brief fling with
tranquility
shattered me, subdued me.
The only respite coming
from the certainty
that surely their’s is a different,
a rather make-believe world
of simplicity and joy.
I cast a doleful eye around
and a huge sigh of relief
as do the sane!