It must have been nearly seven years ago.
That was the last time I heard that delightful sound...the last time I enjoyed watching the lantern swaying gently... faint, flickering...
Today, an hour before sunrise, as I opened my window facing the street, the world greeted me with a curiously familiar swish of morning breeze.
The streetlights were out. In the darkness, I could barely make out where the front gate stood. It had been raining all night. The scent of paala flowers still lingered on in the frigid morning air. Then, it happened again...
The breeze, gathering the scent and sweet chillness into a bouquet, rollicked in through the window, brushing the curtains away...and teased me as if to make me remember, as it caressed my face and broke away, withering the bouquet along, shredding the scent and chillness upon me...and then, flooding along with it - a memory..
it was déjà vu all over again!
It was on a day exactly like this that I had seen it and heard it for the last time.
Yes, I remembered now - Every morning, an hour before sunrise, a bullock-cart would trudge along the street.
The clitter-clatter of footsteps, the melodious percussion of the cartwheels going around, and the tinkering of the bells that adorned the beasts' neck.
Suspended below the cart near the front, there would be a lantern burning out its wick, showing the way, dancing to the rhythm of the cart shuffling along...
A moving portrayal of the gentle pace of life, drifting past my window nonchalantly, in no hurry to fade away into the imminent past...
I suddenly realised I may never get to savour such an experience again, for it had retired into the bygone once and for all ...
As I wallowed into nostalgia, several such recollections from the past fleeted by...
The squirrels that came running for the promised handful of groundnuts every morning...the mynas that chirped and tweeted about the day's agenda...and the debonair spinach vendor ringing his bicycle bell, gliding by... Occasionally, one could hear a cuckoo perform from a tree branch, and sight eagles sitting atop the Arts College building, scanning the skies...
They're all fading away...melting into oblivion...
I fear that our next generation would, perhaps, never get to enjoy such experiences at all!
I picked up the day's newspaper. On the supplement, the headline appeared to scoff at my thoughts.
"Mobile, TV are Life Enhancers" - Ajay Puri, Director, CEO - DTH, Bharti Airtel
No wonder! Sigh!
That was the last time I heard that delightful sound...the last time I enjoyed watching the lantern swaying gently... faint, flickering...
Today, an hour before sunrise, as I opened my window facing the street, the world greeted me with a curiously familiar swish of morning breeze.
The streetlights were out. In the darkness, I could barely make out where the front gate stood. It had been raining all night. The scent of paala flowers still lingered on in the frigid morning air. Then, it happened again...
The breeze, gathering the scent and sweet chillness into a bouquet, rollicked in through the window, brushing the curtains away...and teased me as if to make me remember, as it caressed my face and broke away, withering the bouquet along, shredding the scent and chillness upon me...and then, flooding along with it - a memory..
it was déjà vu all over again!
It was on a day exactly like this that I had seen it and heard it for the last time.
Yes, I remembered now - Every morning, an hour before sunrise, a bullock-cart would trudge along the street.
The clitter-clatter of footsteps, the melodious percussion of the cartwheels going around, and the tinkering of the bells that adorned the beasts' neck.
Suspended below the cart near the front, there would be a lantern burning out its wick, showing the way, dancing to the rhythm of the cart shuffling along...
A moving portrayal of the gentle pace of life, drifting past my window nonchalantly, in no hurry to fade away into the imminent past...
I suddenly realised I may never get to savour such an experience again, for it had retired into the bygone once and for all ...
As I wallowed into nostalgia, several such recollections from the past fleeted by...
The squirrels that came running for the promised handful of groundnuts every morning...the mynas that chirped and tweeted about the day's agenda...and the debonair spinach vendor ringing his bicycle bell, gliding by... Occasionally, one could hear a cuckoo perform from a tree branch, and sight eagles sitting atop the Arts College building, scanning the skies...
They're all fading away...melting into oblivion...
I fear that our next generation would, perhaps, never get to enjoy such experiences at all!
I picked up the day's newspaper. On the supplement, the headline appeared to scoff at my thoughts.
"Mobile, TV are Life Enhancers" - Ajay Puri, Director, CEO - DTH, Bharti Airtel
No wonder! Sigh!
