Its apparently been over 2 months since I penned anything down here... Not that nothing happened in these past months. On the contrary, its been one heck of a weird time. Around 7th August, I was under house arrest due to the Surat floods. Over a week without power, running water, new provisions, milk and absolutely no way of communicating beyond the range of your own voice (our relatives all over were super worried, apparently). Thankfully (for both of us), my parents had landed here just a day earlier and I had bought provisions for them. We peacefully 'survived' the flood.
One of the things I did in those 7 days is what would take any sane person over a month to do; I read "Of human bondage" by Somerset Maugham. Its a marvellous book, drawing from the author's life experiences and containing vignettes of astute observations. The drawback is that its a VERY slow book. Its in stark contrast to any rivetting novel that you would've held on to through the night (Not as rubbery as Ayn Rand though). The flood situation with its extremely limited set of distractions gave me a good chance to finish the book in one go.
One other amazing thing was learning to cook! Amma is an excellent teacher. The testament to this is the praise accorded to my sabji preparation by my co-workers today. And the best part is that I discovered that I actually enjoy cooking! yay!
Which brings me back to the topic of this post. My parents moved into where I live, early last month. It consisted of 2 rooms with walls, the decent kitchen and of course, the loo. But when they left it yesterday, I could in a very slight way call it home. Home with a grouchy landlord (they live in the floor below), a leakin roof, absolutely no furniture... But home nevertheless. Suddenly am shrouded in solitude until I set out on almost a week long work (and fun in between) trip. And solitude in qutie scary at first. The worst is the silence. Not necessarily because you would be yapping otherwise, but just the presence was enough. The silence here suddenly turns eerie. Thank goodness for my computer which is working perfectly , showering me with the flourescent aura of Chandler's snide remarks and Jerry's repeated victories over Tom.
What I am trying to say is.... Heck... I am not trying to say anything. Its just that the home's empty, but I am going to enjoy every ounce of solitude that I can. The chirpy phone will keep me connected regularly, but I have the gift that many others crave for and even crib about at all times. Here's to living a grandpa's life at 22! :)
One of the things I did in those 7 days is what would take any sane person over a month to do; I read "Of human bondage" by Somerset Maugham. Its a marvellous book, drawing from the author's life experiences and containing vignettes of astute observations. The drawback is that its a VERY slow book. Its in stark contrast to any rivetting novel that you would've held on to through the night (Not as rubbery as Ayn Rand though). The flood situation with its extremely limited set of distractions gave me a good chance to finish the book in one go.
One other amazing thing was learning to cook! Amma is an excellent teacher. The testament to this is the praise accorded to my sabji preparation by my co-workers today. And the best part is that I discovered that I actually enjoy cooking! yay!
Which brings me back to the topic of this post. My parents moved into where I live, early last month. It consisted of 2 rooms with walls, the decent kitchen and of course, the loo. But when they left it yesterday, I could in a very slight way call it home. Home with a grouchy landlord (they live in the floor below), a leakin roof, absolutely no furniture... But home nevertheless. Suddenly am shrouded in solitude until I set out on almost a week long work (and fun in between) trip. And solitude in qutie scary at first. The worst is the silence. Not necessarily because you would be yapping otherwise, but just the presence was enough. The silence here suddenly turns eerie. Thank goodness for my computer which is working perfectly
What I am trying to say is.... Heck... I am not trying to say anything. Its just that the home's empty, but I am going to enjoy every ounce of solitude that I can. The chirpy phone will keep me connected regularly, but I have the gift that many others crave for and even crib about at all times. Here's to living a grandpa's life at 22! :)
8 comments:
Finally a post!! And it's nice to read that you are still into reading; I hate people who say their jobs leave them too tired/busy to read!
Am not really in angst :) humor was what I was going for...That Ramanujan letter is from an excellent book( I am sure you've heard of it) called "The Man who Knew Infinity"
I knew there would be some write-up today:) Just checking on you;-)
the flourescent aura, the whirring of the phone, the silence, the whole thing sounds comforting... peaceful to find collectiveness..
cheers!
hey fatty grandpa... long time no see.....
and enjoy the solitude while it lasts........
tell me abt solitude and The Silence,man!...I have a room which is quite far removed from any busy 'straße'(street)..very few ppl live there,and the Pader river flows at a distance of 10 metres..its more of a stream than a river tho..but crystal clear water and very serene...and the silence is deafening!!...its so silent that i can hear 'The Buzz' in my ears..on my first day yesterday i was actually missing D-block!
hmmmm....
Atlast a post. I was wondering if you had lost your password. It's really nice to have some solitude. But too much of it gets boring. What say Mr.Suddu?
@subbu: almost lost that habit in between... more or less back :)
@hema: Scary!!! :P
@babushka: Collectiveness isn't necessarily found in solitude
@psycho: better a geeky grandpa atleast... (UGH!!!)
@C-125: Atleast you have those beautiful sights. I guess even a river of humanity around doesn't imply company :)
@aarthi: Wht 'hmmmm'? :)
@moron: TOo much of anything gets boring.... Hmm.. wait a sec... mebbe not anything..
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