The journey..

Sunny skies and warm winds,
all you want to do is breath them in.
Till your heart's so filled with sushine,
that you can hold no more,
and your eyes end the lines
your smile had begun.

You can see the fall leaves blow
on the path you had just tred ,
with memories of smiles
with all  your new friends.
Food and wine, oh! the world is mine,
music and flashing lights,
Oh! how did i get here last night!

You sing a song and dance along
as your path you try to find.
You get knocked down,
but you're not out as yet
you'll learn to fight,
you learn to survive.

Evenings go by filled with clamor
and a few will be spent with,
a broken heart and none other.
The winds they blow Oh so cold,
you begin to wonder,
who steals the warmth from the hearts,
or is it maybe just the weather?

A few do come along,
hear your song and sing along.
Teach you what you would have never learnt
show you the right from the wrong
but as all good things have to pass
they too will soon say goodbye.

Dreams will build their sweet homes,
some will flow away with the seas of time,
some will keep you up at night..
Teach you to live, teach you to love,
teach you to see a brand new world.


You'll stand and stare at a sunset someday,
laugh at the sweet memories made,
take a deep breath and hold it all in,
taste the journey on which you have been,
take a step forward to live your dream,
Stronger more today than you have been,
Fiddle with your keys and hum for none.
Stronger even as you stand alone.

out of luck..not yet!

I am at the airport from past two hours.. reading a novel mixed with browsing so i don't fall asleep and lose my bags...i have 6 more hours to kill... no one to talk to..a blizzard alert at precisely the time my flight is scheduled to land.. and the fortune cookie that accompanied my dinner told me to share my good and my bad fortune with my friends (which under current pessimistic conditions i would have interpreted as 'might have to go back home after 8 hours of wait gone to waste', however i refrain from doing so to still keep some faith in the fact that a bad day could after all turn around...) .. i have been the last to leave this town which means after countless hugs and good byes at the bus stations (trust me nothing like a hug from a friend when you're going on a journey..) i finally left without someone even shaking my hand.. the bus from Bloomington to Indianapolis had just one passenger for its journey, me! and being Christmas all the possible shops at the airport are closed(which means no coffee and certainly nothing to eat...even the usual Starbucks that stays open 24 hours and 7 days a week has shut its shop at 11 today..)..sometimes you just run out of luck i guess.. I have kept some of the coffee that i got about 2 hours ago with me even though its gone cold now to keep me awake and alive incase i get too hungry..

A steady stream of people arriving from far away places disturbs the silence of the lobby every few minutes. Relatives wearing Santa caps give them tight hugs and take them along...makes me wish for august right in the middle of December when i could go home too..

12 hours later ....
I finally made it to New York.. amidst some really bad turbulence and a constant fear or flights being canceled...Its snowing really bad now.. probably the worst i have ever seen...The snow on the terrace opposite to my house started as just a thin layer and is now about a foot high flowing over the ledges..But i finally did make it..To NY ..away from the loneliness of a town that was nothing without the smiles that adorn it. Amongst a town that promises so many things to watch that you don't have the time to think about whats missing...

PS: In the pic the blizzard waited just long enough for me to reach here.

Somethings are best, unplanned...

What is this life if full of care... we have no time to stand and stare... :)
                                                   - Leisure by William Henry Davis
This trip has been like the ones many of us plan and never get to execute.. The one trip without any plans.
The flight braved through a lot of clouds and made me feel like i was on some bumpy, roller coaster ride. Me and my friend actually started wondering what our last wishes would be if this was it for us :P. One and half hour after we had been airborne we landed safely at (very wet) Cleaveland Ohio. The connecting flight was even more of an adventure as the pilot seemed to be an ardent fan or F1 racing cause he turned the plane on the run way in speeds that seemed unreal for planes to be reaching at least when they are on ground. and as soon as he turned instead of the customary stop that planes take before getting into the 'take off' mode just gained more speed and within a a minute we were airborne.. phew! that was ...well something!!

The drive from the airport to mad-mex (a Mexican place that is supposed to be famous but i didn't like a thing that they served ) gave me a small glimpse of  a beautiful town on the banks of Hudson. It kept throwing up bridges after bridges lit up in a million ways and each built with a new shape in mind. Somehow I always seem to take a walk in the new place i am in either by coincidence or intentionally immediately after i reach. A 1st feel of the place. As luck would have it, our Pitsburg friend had to drop off his zip car and hence gave e an opportunity to see pitsburg out on the streets. The walk back gave me a view that i knew i would rarely get a chance to see. A walk down the empty roads of a new town at midnight. A town bathing in its own beauty. Minus the people. Just the buildings that are lit up in their own glory . People studying in the library. Cathedrals that have their domes bright and shiny, as if looking over the town. A visit to a gas station to arrange for tomorrows breakfast and the fear in the cashiers eyes when he sees someone a little too much in frolicking mode enter the shop. The walk home with my breath heavy with mist as the wind got colder.

The next day was exactly how  I could not have planned it.  It was raining when we got out of the house. The wind was cold but the streets filled with students. Again a different side than what i had experienced the previous night. Both CMU  and UPit are beautiful. The buildings are a good mix of old and modern architecture. Some even a 100 years old. Every hallway smells of fresh brewed coffee and old books. Every corner filled with students and laptops. Concert rooms humming with live recitals still ring in my ears. A little farther down the hallway a course on bagpipes mesmerizes you.Sculptures made from soft white stones adorn the hallways and there at the center of the campus stands a huge art work called "a walk to the sky" which is actually a huge pole slanted at about 30 degrees and has people walking on it skywards. Seems a little out of place but who am i to judge when IU campus has a mermaid and a huge red 'almost circle' as artwork. However  all these places reminded me of my school back in Bloomington and how everything about it is so much more beautiful. It also makes me realize i need to go explore my neighborhood more. That the best parts are yet unseen.

Next came the best part of the trip. A random walk without any plans made ahead of time, that made us take an impromptu break at Starbucks where I had some divine Cinnamon flavored coffee. Against the cool wind the burning hot coffee tasted like 'life' itself...A few steps ahead and it was time for another break, this time at the CMU museum of natural history, but as all unplanned things go we ended up chatting in the cafe for an hour rather than visiting the museum itself. Sitting at a place and watching the town go by tells you an entirely different story about any town. Students that crossed the roads. People huddling up close to each other as they walked passed. A lot of colorful umbrellas. A woman with all american clothes and pretty Indian earnings (jhumka's) that walked past with a huge smile on her face. A family enjoying a sumptuous meal on the table next to us. All of them a part of this town, its all of them that make this one different from the rest that exist. This town was more of youth and less of business suites walking around. This town was more of books and coffee and less of football. This town was more of food and museums and less of bars.

We did ultimately reach our destination (downtown) at about 6 in the evening. Ate at a Chinese restaurant where we ended up ordering just a lot of vegetables and no curry.  The fried rice was the best i have tasted or maybe i was just very hungry.  my friend looked at google maps and i looked at the shop names. Guess who was to discover the Burlington coat factory first?? I can't believe i beat google maps to it. Spent a lot of time trying on different hats, almost all the shades that were on display and every shoe that was available in a size larger than 8 (Disappointed as there were not much that were that big). Then some crazy impulse overtook us and in freezing temperatures we went to McD's and got ourselves some even more freezing mocha's. Up untill now only our bodies were cold now every inch of my body within me was freezing too, but it was a sinful experience none the less. A perfect unplanned 1st day ended with a sumptuous meal at an Indian restaurant with some really fantastic Indian food all complete with Samosa's, Naan's and Punjabi vegetable curries with paneer and not the usual tofu we find at every nook and corner. A meal where we ate cause our taste buds wouldn't allow us to stop even thoug i am sure if your stomachs could speak they were screaming bloody murder. A walk back home into the warmth of the night and the onset of diwali completed my day 'in another place', 'another town' and 'another everything'..But it will always be back to you.. just not today! Let me unplan for a few more moments here.

Pics: a bridge from the many during the drive from the airport and the freezing frape mocha's that two freezing souls devoured just on impulse.. :)

Fairytale

you sit across the river so far away,

you there,and me over here,

we have so much to tell, but nothing to say.

i can barely see your eyes but i see beyond,

you can barely read my lips but follow every twitch,

none in a hurry to be gone

the air that you breath ,whispers my name

Slowly it flows between my hair, my fingers

we want to cross over but we are enjoying this game

you try to be charming running your hands through your hair,

sun's shining on your face, my dimples give me away

i want to run to you but  i sit and stare.

the winds change and i close my eyes,

your  image lingers,so does a smile

the day crumbles underneath the night skies

everything stays but you're gone,

what was it i wonder

a dream ? an apparition?, but it felt so strong

what just hit me i cannot comprehend

where did the part go where we run into each others arms,

perhaps thats just how the love stories in fairytales end.

PS: Image taken from  photos.igougo.com