One Stop Destination

I looked towards the night scene visible from the window. I could see nothing except the colour 'Black'. The night sky was absolutely dark with no stars visible. Absence of moon was not a comforting thought either. I tried to close my eyes and pretend to doze off, but then, sleep eluded me. What an irony!!! It appeared at that point of time, every little thing I needed that night had conspired together to stay away from me. I was lonely and I was tired. I was weary of lying down on a cold bed, exhausted by the eerie silence surrounding me and draining out all the energy that was left within me. I could not stop myself from getting out of my bed, like a whining schoolgirl, and walk towards the window. I was standing near a widnow on the thirty ninth floor. I sat at first by the window sill and looked around. The sky was indeed empty, as empty as my heart that night. And yet, it had a strange glow (like the calm before a storm!!!). I could see the city way below me, all li

I had kept you, all locked up, inside a trunk. Yet, you made your presence felt in some way or the other. Be it as a commendation badge on my uniform, or the present rank ribbons on my shoulders, you made yourself visible to the world. I thought I had had enough of you around, but knowing you, I could never be too sure. I knew you had something up your sleeve. I tried harder to lock you out of my sight, but finally got cornered by my own tryst with Destiny. The world wanted an overall, and I had no choice but to seek you out. I could visualize a smile on an imaginary face, a smirk with an 'I told you so' writ large on it. I went with halting steps to you. After all, I had to take you out of a steel trunk that had been locked up three years ago. My hands shivered and my heart cried. I searched and searched through the painful reminders of moments that would never return. Newspaper clippings, a pair of flying boots, a book on 'Chicken Soup For Fathers and Daught

Life is a constant teacher. Every milestone you cross and say "This is it," life smiles and replies, "Honey, there is more!!!" Living like a widow is never easy. And for a defiant one like me, its even more difficult. I can't live wearing only whites (its not the favourite colour of the man I loved, still do and always will!!!) I can't live without smiling (because thats the only way I can hide my pain!!!). Maybe, these are what make me even more vulnerable to comments. If I say that I am unaffected by everything negative, I will be lying. I ponder, shed tears in private, get upset. I can't fathom why one needs to be insensitive to another person's feelings and hit where it hurts the most!!! Its so easy to point fingers at others, seldom realizing that in the bargain, their own fingers are pointing towards them as well. Anyways, I have neither the zeal nor the drive to turn back and squabble. I already have enough on my life's platter. I

Life is full of chances. Its up to us to grab or let go. That besides, isn't it really boring if we stop challenging ourselves and live a mundane life?? It was on a whimsical note that I decided to take a plunge back into the world of books. I was a bibliophile (Yes, you heard it right, I WAS in the past). As I got lost in the humdrum of routined life, I realized that this was not what I truly wanted to be. I lost my hobbies, my inherent dreams and my wishes. I felt that I was slowly losing myself and my sanity.  As this regression was slowly devouring me, a small inner voice slowly questioned me "Whats new???" It was with a sudden jolt that I realized that the answer was a mere NOTHING since a long, long time. A control freak to the core, I decided that enough was enough and I needed to do something about this life of mine. A quick introspection, and voila, the world if books called me back. Like a child taking baby steps, I restarted my journey, one book at