I, The Living.

Winters are setting in. The days are getting shorter and the air cooler. The evening today had a tinge of pink to it. The sky was resplendent with a feeble sun which peeked through a fluff of clouds for a change as it went down. I sat at the corner of this evening, gearing myself to get out of the office when my thoughts went out to you.

Probably we had spent one such evening together. Just can’t remember if it was this life or a previous one. It seems so long ago when I used to look at the setting sun. I have forgotten the days which gently faded into the dusk and churned out bright starry nights. I guess it was a different sky altogether. This moon does not know my name and I can’t recollect its face. The stars shy away behind their blanket of clouds. Difficult to say if the fog is shielding them or is it just the mist on my eyes. Really can’t say.

I get on my bike and fire it on the road swerving and veering through the dragon tail of the traffic. It’s a long daily ride back home. The truck ahead brakes abruptly. I stop in time to avoid ramming my head into it. I look up, half indignant, half relieved and notice the hues in the sky again. Deep purple almost turning into the smoky shade of black that is so characteristic of these still early days of winters.

The traffic light turns red again. A beggar crosses over, a traffic policeman signals and stops the procession of cars at the other end, an elderly lady gets off a bus, a tired looking man turns off his scooter, some one abuses another some one in an angry tone, a street urchin spits his ‘gutkha’ on the road...

Life moves another inch. I pause, exhale and acknowledge my being alive.