(18 July, 6:16am)

I am at mom’s balcony… the one adjoining her room, from where the Holy Ganges could be watched…. It flows out here and over the bank…  

As if some sudden merry thought prolonging the good feeling of a dream..

XXX

Have you noticed how we have conditioned our lives to not realize the good things around us?

I got up at 5am today, and it is such a sweet feeling to feel the breeze against your face and watch the river flow..

To watch clear outlines of boats starting from the bank and then disappear in the feeble light of the dawn, in which much of the river cannot be seen..

XXX

It reminds me of my school days, when mom was particular we slept early and woke up early…

Today men find peace in the virtual world within the net.. they have abandoned the happy feel of birds chirping around and waking you up from sleep, for the dull silence of late midnight!

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I am leaving for Cardiff day after tomorrow.. Actually I am leaving for Kolkata on Saturday… 

Where the Das Guptas, our old family friends will host me, and see me off at Dum Dum airport on Wednesday dawn..

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There are two plants here…  the only ones from mom’s little, make-believe garden to have survived… 

Sometimes I wonder I love them perhaps above everything else.. Perhaps I would keep them even if I had to let go everything else..

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But I know I am past that age.. and hence I need to decide wisely… 

I need to weigh and compare things wisely and then prefer that wisdom over fleeting thoughts..

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When you are a child, everything is simple… even your decisions…  You are at liberty to love unconditionally..

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But then, I also feel I have never lost it.. the power to love unconditionally…

I never can!

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Cardiff… then hopefully some human rights reporting in Kashmir for couple of months.. where I would also begin my debut novel…

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I have to tell you a lot of things.. I am not buying time.. I am only flowing with the flow of time.. I can afford that now.. Because these are finally good times..

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I love my house...I love mom..

All people do… But only that I love it with much the same intensity with which a child loves it loved ones!

XXX