Old trails

It was a beautiful Sunday morning for a nice day out..
the wandering hearts wandered about streets,
taking random turns.
sometimes left, sometimes right.
sometimes up and sometimes down.

there was banter, complaints, worries, sharing and caring.
and before long, the unknown paths led to a path familiar.

a path that was part of everyday,  once upon a time not so long ago.
Or..
has it been long, actually?

Memories keep playing tricks, don't they?
Some feel like yesterday,
and some get buried somewhere decades ago.
And there are some that come back as surprise gift, making one wonder as if it happened at all...
all while sprouting at the same time, in the same place...

As the feet trod the the leaf strewn sideways,
eyes could not help looking at the other shore of the road,
ears could not help tuning out the banter around,
and tuning in to the rustle of leaves, the chirping of birds and the heavy rumble of traffic... searching for the familiar memories...

there was me walking along the path on the other shore,
sometimes to south and ...
sometimes to north.
in the warm sunny days,
in the cool cloudy days,
in the cold winter nights,
and the nights with pink skies.
among the wet leaves,
and on the snowy grass.

she climbed onto these very steps I am climbing on.
she was right here in this spot in another time.

memories kept playing hide and seek like the shadows in the woods,
familiar at one moment and, distant and surreal in the very next...

The place had gone through little change,
sounds did not change much...
the scent was the same.
How was her heart though?

a little heavy, a little sad, a little hopeful, and a little determined.
filled with a sense of discovery, and a lot of rumination.

She stared back at me.
... with a gaze piercing through me even from far!
with a stone-like face determined not to reveal the storm within...
perhaps asking me, "How is your heart now?"

well, the heart was not sad anymore, I wished to tell her...
the trails are the same old,
but my heart is lighter,
my eyes shine a little brighter,
and the smile is broader.
with roads getting a little smoother...

the wandering minds wanted to take a different turn ...
and the feet started treading on different path...
and eyes discovered on the different views

...my thoughts left the old trail,
and the old me, 
and the old memories,

so familiar yet so distant.

The bird man

 

If you are local to Seattle, you know Denny Way is one of the busiest roads in Seattle. For a long time, I would frequent one of the high traffic areas along Denny Way; the cross-road between Denny Way and Aurora Avenue. It was a weird arrangement of roads. As you head north from Denny Way, you would see a tunnel (I99) emerging from underground. The normal traffic entering from the south along 5th Avenue North would skirt around the tunnel entrance and eventually all the three roads would merge into Aurora Avenue North. The spot on Denny Way right above the tunnel opening had a little of pavement like space acting as a boundary from the road traffic. On a typical weekday morning, you would see a lot of buses and cars moving past the cross road, and a crowd consisting mostly of Amazon employees scuttling with their hoodies and backpacks. For a while, I was a regular part of that morning crowd too. There was another person in the crowd too. But, he was not in any hurry to go anywhere. In that environment of busyness, hurry, and rush that breathed an anxious air, a general intention of doing something, or reaching somewhere, he was relaxed and content. He had no intention of doing anything and no worry about reaching anywhere. In fact, that little pavement seemed to be his very home. Day in, day out, I never failed to see this person. He would be there with his typical cardboard asking for donation along with all his belongings stashed in a corner. But he would be very busy doing something else... that is feeding birds. There would always be a frenzy of pigeons and sea-gulls feeding on food scrapes he threw for them.

This man, was an anomaly to his surroundings, as if solely taking the responsibility of balancing out the energy of the place.

I would never fail to notice him; however I would just feel amused and move on as I got immersed in the ongoing crowd, trying to reach somewhere, worried about doing something. This write-up is collection of memories of him and the emotions they evoke rather than a recollections of my feelings at that time. Frankly, I don't recall how I felt at that time.

Any way, after sometime, my typical route to work changed and I did not pass by Denny and Aurora as regularly. I would nevertheless find him whenever I would pass by that junction.

Sometime later, in 2019, the tunnel got demolished along with the famous and ugly Seattle viaduct evoking much nostalgia among the people of Seattle. The weird tunnel opening at Denny was now demolished and construction work continued for most of the year.

Now a year later in 2020, you would find a changed landscape and ... for the better. The awkward arrangement of the two narrow roads and tunnel opening is completely gone. In its place now runs a nice and wide highway giving a sense of openness. I still visit that place only occasionally. And a few times, the thought of this man has crossed my mind. Not much though, just for a fleeting second. 'What happened that man? I hope he went somewhere nice and is doing OK. I won't be able to see the frenzy of birds again.' And my mind would move on to some other pressing thought.

Until...

....one day, when I took a bus going from downtown to up north. As the bus approached Denny Way, I saw a frenzy of sea gulls at a junction slightly to the south of Denny Way. I was surprised. 'Sea gulls? In the middle of downtown? What's going on?', and peeked from the window. And what do I see? A homeless man, holding a bag of food, grinning ear to ear while feeding the sea gulls.

 

I too, smiled ear to ear. 'Hope he is doing well.'

A tale of perfumes

I was excited about going to the Saturday meetup today. I had not been to the meetup in a long time and was looking forward to it. As a result, I got up early, freshened up, packed up my stuff, and was all ready to go out instead of sleeping in and having a dull start to  the weekend. I hurried down to the entrance of the apartment building as I had only 1 minute before my cab arrived.

Luckily, the car just pulled over right in front of the gate I just came out of the building. Talk about perfect timing! I opened the cab door while feeling happy about the timing. And Bam! My nose was flooded with a strong sweet scent of a kind. It was nice though. I complimented the driver, "Your cab smells nice, what scent is it?" expecting him to tell some flower's name. But he said, "Oh, it is the perfume of the passenger I dropped off right before picking you up!" We both laughed. That was unexpected!

I wondered, "Did he tell what perfume it was?" The driver said, "Yes, he said it was Chanel. And I was like, damn.... I just finished my bottle a few days ago, and why didn't mine smell so good! I only recently changed into Giorgio Armani." Then he showed me a tiny perfume bottle and asked me to smell it. I sprayed a little on my wrist. The smell was too strong, and I immediately pulled my face away from my wrist. As I handed the bottle back to him I said, "It is pretty strong!" Then he joked, "Don't go home with this, otherwise your husband will suspect you , why you are wearing a male perfume!" and laughed. I was amused thinking to myself, "Oh! interesting. I never thought like that. I can't believe I am having this weird conversation!". I told him, "Oh, so I need to wipe it off before I go home?" He was concerned, "When will you be back home?" I said, "Don't worry. I won't be back till late in the day." He seemed to relax a little bit. 

He perked up immediately though and told me, "Well, you should wear perfume every now and then, you know, to feel ..." and jiggled up to imply "to feel nice/cool/sexy". "...but not these ones, they are male perfumes, and pretty strong." I asked, "Do you recommend any to me?" He said something like "Chloe" (confirmed after further research). I thought, "Point noted, Sir."

Then I went on saying how I don't like perfumes because of the loud smell, and he went on how perfumes should smell, and how they should make you feel, and did the jiggling again. The dude surely was really really passionate about perfumes. He mentioned different price ranges, and kinds of perfumes. He also mentioned how some perfumes like Burberry give him headache and he does not like them.

Soon, my destination came. My driver told me, "See you again" as I left the perfumed car out into ordinary mundane world. I giggled and smiled at myself for having this weird and amusing experience. I can't believe I learned so much about perfumes in mere 15 minutes than I had learned in my entire life.

I am still smiling ear to ear and I will always remember this experience every time I talk about perfume, buy a perfume, or walk through an isle of perfume in any shop.

Well,

Dear Cab Driver,

thanks for perfuming up my morning. I am up for a happy long weekend for sure.

 

A poetic day

Some days fly by just like that without you even taking notice what's going on. And then there are some days, that are just like poems; everything looks fuzzy and glossy and bright, everything smells nice; there is nice soft music playing in the background; there is a rhythm in your body; you feel like floating. That day was one of those rare days... poetic.

6 March 2019

the dog that could not take its eyes off its reflection as it climbed up the stairs...

the toddler running towards its Mom fearing that it will be left behind, and the  Mom and the Aunt waiting for it with a knowing smile...

the sweet warmth received from two strangers that are more familiar than acquaintances... 

the happiness in two pairs of shining eyes on meeting after long time...

the simmering city lights in the lake water...

the ecstacy of a flock of geese flying over head before quickly landing in water...

the ride in a fun car with the mood of a disco...

the box of chocolates that my day gifted me with these beautiful memories as I huddled up in my blanket at night....

smiling to myself... and thinking, "I had a poetic day today... When will I have one again?"
 

When they show up just like that

I had only 1 hr 35 minutes layover in Dubai on my way back to Seattle. I was prepared for the race though. I made sure I got an isle seat closer to exit. I carried only one backpack to save exit time. As soon as we landed, I was ready to leave, and started pacing on the first chance.

I hurried past other passengers in the hall way to catch a glimpse on the gate from which my next flight was supposed to depart. It was B23. Then I started pacing towards the gate, trying my best to make optimum use of the travelators.  Who knows how far the gate is? And I am walking, and walking, and walking, and the gate does not show up! Although I was sure I had enough time at hand, I did not want to delay. It still showed on the sign board that B gates are straight ahead. I kept crossing crowd of people strolling around the shops, and dodging them on my way. My legs started hurting and I was trying to motivate myself, "next turn", "hold on a little more", "after that pillar", "don't panic".  I would stop by the flight sign boards, and it showed my flight was already "currently boarding". I was confused. From my mental calculation, I still had about 20 minutes for boarding to start. "What's going on? Did I lose track of time? Damn, there is no clock around here." I wanted to turn on WiFi, but thought it would be better just to walk fast. Did not have patience to do mental math of the time difference between Indian and UAE. Finally the B series of gates started. I crossed one gate after another with lot of pep talk until I arrived at my gate.

There were not many people. Weird! I reach at the counter, and the agent wants to see my boarding pass. I ask, "Can I get some water  and be back in 5 mintues?" He says, "Boarding is almost finished. You better get in." "Whaat!", I say to myself, but meekly show my documents to proceed towards the gate.  Once I go downstairs, I understand what the real deal is. There is another custom/security check, where they open up your bag and check your contents, scan your laptops, mobile phones (hmm... I remembered just then that they skipped that check when I moved out of my arrivals), and then there is a huge hall in which all the passengers were sitting. I finished my security check, and took a seat. I was not able to receive WiFi, and was worried about connecting with my family. I asked a fellow passenger, but she did not know. Damn! As I am looking down trying to connect to WiFi, somebody calls me, "Swagatika!". I shift my attention towards the caller, and the person is standing right in front of me. I look up. And it is a senior from IIIT! I was so excited! 

All my worry and sense of rush vanished in a moment. I gave her a big hug. She was my  senior in IIIT, and I always looked up to her and asked her for advice whenever I needed. When I left IIIT, she had gifted me a sketchbook in which I had sketched her. But I never took the sketchbook with me to USA until this return trip. As I was packing the sketchbook in  my bag, I thought, "I will contact her after I go back to Seattle." And here she was standing right in front of me! Boarding started soon enough, and we boarded the flight. I could use her phone to connect to WIFI and reach my family too. Thank God! Once we got down, we chatted on our way back through security and custom. She was visiting Seattle on a short visit for job interview. We met again for short time and I showed her around Seattle Spheres, and we had heartfelt conversation on many topics during that period. It was great connecting with on of my idols, and her encounter was nothing short of any beautiful surprise! 

As I bode farewell to her, I thought to myself, "I am gonna be happy for next two days :) "  You don't meet amazing people everyday. And reuniting with them by chance is even more rare. It was definitely one of my lucky encounters.

The egoistic person detector

One of the benefits of moving to USA, making a decision to move into a studio despite my apprehensions, is the amazing experience of meeting with people from all different walks of life. I get to meet people from different countries, ethnicities, professions, linguistic backgrounds, age-groups. Talking to other people, and learning about them has been as boon in many ways. I not only learn about them, but also about myself.

One of the many lessons I have learned on the way, is to understand someone's personality from a brief encounter. I have noticed that everybody likes being asked about themselves. I usually ask people about them out of curiosity and many stories build from there.

Then the conversation that follows from the initial small talk defines a pattern. Typically, there are two types of patterns that I observed.

First, the non-talkers. They do not encourage communication. You ask them, they respond. They don't ask anything in return, and the conversation stops there. This acts as a sign not to badger them anymore.

The second category, obviously, is the the talkers. They generally get enthusiastic and ask a question back and conversation flows from there through the exchange of questions and answers.

Although these two types define the course of interaction in the next few minutes or hours, it does not always define their personality types. Everyone can fall into any of these categories depending on the topic, their mood, and various other intangible factors.

However, recently, I am noticing a third pattern. And I am almost reaching to a conclusion that this relates to a person's personality type. Lets dissect the third type.

These people, are not interested in asking you a question. You ask them questions. They do give you a response, but form then onward, it is all about them. Whenever their answer ends, it ends with "Ask me another question", and the cycle goes on until either time is off or the questioner does not have any questions left to ask. These people, my friends, are "egoistic people", who are not going to ask you a question, unless they consider you superior to them, and the whole conversation is going to be either about them, or about how you should fix yourself.

The moment I realized this, it was my "Aha! moment". I felt I like I found my secret detector, that I can carry all the time. Now onward, if you want to detect an egoistic person in your first meeting, just ask them a question, and sit back and enjoy the drama being unfolded. You will get your answer within few minutes.

 

It's getting all philosophical

On a Friday evening, four of us went out for dinner. Then we walked to a hilltop to watch the sunset from the other corner of the city. The sunset was beautiful.... Sun hid beneath the clouds, emanating its rays in all beautiful colors, and was slowly receding behind the mountains.

We had a bird's eye view of the city too, a highway running right below the hilltop, and our eyes were drawn to the mesh of roads spanning north-south and east-west, a straight line leading upto KeyArena, the beautiful Space Needle, complimenting the evening sky, the hilly terrain, houses, skyscrapers, commercial buildings, all together. The cars zooming past the highway were leaving behind a low frequency noise...zoom...zoom....zoom...

And as we savoured the scene, the following conversation took place among us..

First person: When I see this highway, I wonder how this all looked before this!

Second person: All these cars running on the highway.... why are they always running?

Third person: Some are running away from something, some are running towards something.

First person: Why do they have to keep running? Why can't they be happy where they are?

Fourth person: This is all getting philosophical ...

Then we stared at the beautiful view again :)