(March 26, 8:41pm)

This time im not gonna chronicle it day by day..
although thats usually how i do when im home, and holidaying...

Depends..too many things happening at quick intervals..and i guess that cant be reflected on entirely!

XXX

Still, 21st evening was more nostalgic than others..and strangely i didn't see anybody that day..i was just killing time idly..

It was dusk and the tv was on..though i wasnt really audience..we have a large sitting room...some 800 sq-ft..with windows greeting the river at the back..and the ones on front offering you tempting views of the sky and parched lands..

There are too many curtains...like you see in the movies...long and broad ones...to divide the hall...otherwise it seems empty and secluded...

Wind was coming in gusts, and there was nobody there...nudging the 25 metres of cotton and silk on all sides...and swinging them effectively..and with rustling sound..

But it wasn't eerie still...the diya and the gods were right there..in the anti-chamber beside the couch..

XXX

I was just sitting there...without watching the tv...and without thinking about anything really...like the sad ladies in the illiads do..wailing silently while the soul-mate is away..and when the wind, and the rains, and the silence- in that vision- all come to torment your spirits!

XXX

And suddenly P***** came..an unsought visit...but a very adorable one..he had taken days off specially to come and see me..Holi, he said, was less important...he studies in final year B.tech...in NIT Jamshedpur...and has been one of my loyalest friends..

Many people at school liked me for my mettle..but he's been one, who wouldn't desert me if all of that was gone, even!

XXX

I offered to make him tea, but he said, that was less important again...he's always been encouraging..he says i'll become a very good writer..he says, the Harry Potter author too had been in similar situations...in solitude and without money..and that will work to my advantage!

XXX

Although brief, his stay that evening- like a wonderful punctuation amid grey notes- has stayed on in my memories...we talked about so many things together...

XXX

An ACJ friend rung up and asked me if i was aware about the nasty comments put up on my posts.."Oh yes," i told her..

"Why not give a befitting reply then?" she was baffled.
"Of-course we trust you, and do not really need to hear anything from you." "But others might be reading that too..others who may not have known you at acj, and who do not really know about your sense of discipline."

"And why don't you delete the comments between?"

XXX

The talk couldn't be completed...as work was beckoning, i had to excuse myself...but really i need to answer her..

okay..hope you don't mind the response coming over this blog, dear!

XXX

First, regardless of what the bandit and the false duke think, im not a coward..and hence, there's no question of deleting comments..if that was my way, i could have done that so many times earlier..but anon 1 to 99 to God knows how many, are witness i never looked the easier way..

I respect people for their views, and would never stifle them from saying what they think of me..but of-course, it has to be decently-toned..and of-course, ill respond only if there is some meaning there..

And that answers the second question...why i'm not replying to their malicious after-thoughts...some people are just sick..and you cant change them..

XXX

But yes, she has a point..while my acj friends all know (irrespective of whether they like me personally or not) that i've been dexterous at work...and always finished my assignments on time, and been sincere otherwise, others might not be really knowing that..and a silence on my part may goad them into believing rumour-mongers..

I'm referring to the deleterious comments the bandit and the false duke have been posting regularly..

XXX

When i checked my blog stats, i was taken aback...some 117 ppl have read my last post..and obviously the comments too..but it's gods' bounty on me, that none of them have bothered to rung me up or seek answers, or gossip...thank you my dear acjians..

Anyway..for those who constitute the 117, but ain't from ACJ...I'd be answering you soon..and responding to each one of the comments..stay tuned..

XXX