Friday, December 15, 2006

The Vagabond

The Vagabond


Give to me the life I love,
Let the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above
And the byway nigh me.
Bed in the bush with stars to see,
Bread I dip in the river -
There's the life for a man like me,
There's the life for ever.

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around
And the road before me.
Wealth I seek not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I seek, the heaven above
And the road below me.

Or let autumn fall on me
Where afield I linger,
Silencing the bird on tree,
Biting the blue finger.
White as meal the frosty field -
Warm the fireside haven -
Not to autumn will I yield,
Not to winter even!

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around,
And the road before me.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.

-----------Robert Louis Stevenson

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi...............


Its a winter morning .The winter vacations are on and I sit in a chair outside my room in my balcony and "doing nothing".......

People ask why I stay back in the hostel during vacations rather than go home and enjoy with family and friends. I reply--"to do nothing”. Leaning back on my chair, with just a banian and shorts, I wonder. I don't know what .

My room is on the third floor and I look down on the garden.....and I find two cute puppies fighting over a piece of plastic. They run here and there, jump over each other, kick each other and roll over on the grass with fun and frolic. I envy them. I wish..............I were one of them, could roll over in the mud without feeling guilty, could fight with them ,could run where I could without caring about anything else on this world. I wish I could forget --assignments, exams, submissions, grades, CGPA, internship, job and a hell lot of things that bug me.

A bird in the nearby tree starts singing. I wish I were a bird. I wish I could fly. Far away on the road I can see a pretty girl… I wish she were mine. Suddenly the phone rings and I pick it up to find that the grades of ‘CAOS’ had been declared and that the Prof. had given me a ‘D’ and that would further bring down my CGPA. A fighter plane shoots over the sky from the Kalaikunda Air Force Runway. I wish it would drop a bomb over this place.

The morning’s mood has been spoilt. I pick up my ‘Hero Champion’—my old, faithful, powerful bicycle that has been my partner for more than 8 years. We two were partners even in a dangerous road accident during the ‘Super Cyclone’ that hit Orissa 7-8 years ago. I will write more about that accident in another post. I consider my bicycle no less than Rana Pratap’s Chetak. My ‘Hero Champion’ has been to everywhere around KGP within a diameter of 80 kms.The traveling spirit in me is always awake and every other opportunity sets me get going ---sometimes alone and sometimes with someone who has a similar temperament. So where should I go today ?? A few kms ride on the National Highway would be good-I think enough to lighten up my mind. Many a times whenever I feel frustrated or lonely ,I find a new friend –the road .The roads speak—if you can hear.

A few minutes of travel takes you to a crossroad from where you get four directions---the first leads to Bombay ,the second to Calcutta, the third to Midnapore and the fourth back to KGP .Unable to decide where to go, I park my bicycle and myself on the crossroad. Trucks, buses, jeeps and cars speed by. Truck drivers slow down their vehicles and ask if I needed a lift. A van carrying a military office and his bodyguards stops to enquire if I belonged to Lashkar –e-toeba gang or some other gang. I show them my I-card and they leave-convinced that I am no terrorist. Vehicles come and speed by ,but I sit on the crossroad ,thinking…………….if I were a truck-driver, if I were a military officer, if I were a terrorist…..... Far away I can see a farmer ploughing his field while his wife waits with food that she has brought from home. And I wish I were a farmer…………….

I wish…………I wish…………..I wish…………. I wishhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………


"Hazaaron khwaishein aisi
ki har khwaish pe dum nikle
Bahut nikle mere armaan
lekin phir bhi kam nikle"

- Mirza Ghalib


Hey guys(no gals I guess!!),hope you all liked this post of mine. This was my first blog post . More posts later.I am not that much imaginative or abstract as you might have guessed after reading this post. But just a bit. If you have any similar feelings do let me know. If you are in KGP and you would like to go on a cycle ride with me ……..do buzz me. We wont be sitting on crossroads, I promise. I have been to many interesting places here in KGP. So you will have full fun. Do leave your comments.