At my own pace

Life is progressing at a breakneck speed. As it mostly does, with the usual thirty-something's passion for work, and picking up delicatessens at the supermarket, impersonal conversations with friends about politics and the environment and car brands, skipping breakfast, catching a glimpse at the morning-newspaper muting the television late in the night, contemplating on starting a fitness regime, or saving up to buy a house, texting, emailing, and falling asleep with the cell phone by the bedside.

And when I helplessly listen to someone who is in pain, or I watch a movie that brings tears to my eyes, or I abruptly remember the people who taught me how to read a clock or fold my dresses and put them back neatly in the cupboard returning back from school, or as I see all the things that I plan to do in the remaining half of my life and I ask myself who really ever promised me the remaining half- everything, everything around, appears to slow down, as if for me to disembark, and get walking, at my own pace.

Summery days

It's a holiday today for Labour Day. It feels good to have a holiday after just one day of work in the week. I did plenty of work yesterday, and I have a lot to finish tomorrow. I often wonder it would be great if we always had a holiday in the middle of a week- maybe two working days and a holiday and two working days and finally the weekend! Actually, we might end up working harder because we have to finish 5 days' work in just 4 days- but that's only my idea and seems like a lonely religion!

I am sipping my cup of tea. It's a bright morning, and still very, very quiet. The world must be lazily waking up. And it's mild. The temparatures have dropped in the last couple of days, with some rain off and on. Otherwise, it has been serverely hot. The summer has come much before its time, and it's going to be long before the monsoons arrive. The heat is unbearable already. All around it's dry, and still, and parched up. Everyone is talking about the weather.

Everyone talks about the weather anyway. They say one of the most common things people around the world talk about is the weather. They talk about it with friends, with neighbours, with co-travellers and even with strangers. They talk about it on the street corners, in their homes, and at their children's schools. They talk about it while buying grocery, while jogging along the park alleys, or while filing their tax returns. They talk about it over brunch, over the long distance calls, and over everything possible. I do too, as I am doing now.

And while I am at it, I must mention, on these summery days, I dream of a retreat to the mountains, camping in the tranquil, soaking in the quiet and spending a low-key life.