Traffic rules

signboard in Thekkady, Kerala:

IMPATIENT ON ROAD
PATIENT IN HOSPITAL.

Twilight

The light begins to fade
And darkness begins to fill in.
The Sun begins to sink
As the stars begin to appear.
Here begins the end of Day
And beginning of Night.
As Day bids farewell
And Night makes her entry,
The twinkling stars accompany her
With a silent lullaby.
And tomorrow becomes today

The Gift

It was her 10th birthday. Her parents had arranged for a nice Birthday Party. The event witnessed a fair amount of guests. The girl was extremely pleased by this fact, as her greedy eyes wandered to the constantly mounting pile of gifts. However, one particular red box caught her attention. It was neatly packed with an attractive red wrapper. Her expectations rose like the mercury in Mercury.

Her imagination began to run wild, like the wild boars of India. She imagined that the box contained a huge key that would show her the door to conquer the world. Or would it contain a box of Dark Chocolates that would grant her immortality? A comic book that would automatically transfer the knowledge that the world possessed? A hair dryer that would make her IQ multiply manifold? She was beginning to get restless... Her curiosity to know what she was in possession of, rose like the mercury in the Sun. Now the wild boar had transformed into a wild, mad elephant.

The guests started to take leave in a couple of hours. Her excitement was rising (now, like the mercury in Betelguese). She felt she was getting closer to her conquest or immortality or knowledge or intelligence or whatever divine thing that box contained... It seemed like an Indiana Jones movie. It had become a quest to seek the answers to all her expectations.

Finally, her parents gave her the green signal to open the gifts. She ran towards the red box, grabbed it and tore open the red wrapper and cardboard box... Her heart was pounding wildly (like the elephant) and she thought others could hear it too. Suddenly, it seemed like the world had come to a standstill. The excitement had now taken the form of raw shock. She realised, that she was now, the owner of a pair of gray, oversized bermudas.

The benefactor of those bermudas clearly, had expected the girl to have 'grown up'. Hence the oversizedness

The Firefly Story

The stone was cold. The sky was black and the mood-weird...

My level of endurance to fight sleep was reaching its threshold level. However, it was impossible to fall asleep in a place where people were cracking the worst jokes in the Universe(believe me! I certify them!), where the ground was hard and which was also the residence to a zillion mosquitoes.

It was then that I saw them. A bunch of them hovering in the cold and harsh autumn air-FIREFLIES! Contrary to the weather, they filled me with hope and joy. They did, however, seem a little weird. Since I was at my sleepy best, my power of observation was highly questionable. So, I really did not persist on trying to find out the peculiarity of this observation.

I was extremely fascinated by them; awed by their refulgence, their ability to produce their own light. To me, it felt like independence.

I was forced to draw an analogy with happiness. Happiness is right there...within you. You just need to realise it. And spread it like the firefly's light...

"If only I could be like one of them!", I exclaimed. Suddenly I heard someone ask me,"Why on earth do you want to be like an aeroplane??"

I say it's all a matter of perspective...