First of December

Today is the first day of the last month of this year. It feels like the first day of the rest of my life. It has been a good year. A very interesting year. It’s tempting to start enumerating – most memorable events, least favorite foods, top fifty buys, etc. etc. In good time, I think.

This year, I feel like I have actually seen things. Seen people. It’s quite marvelous. One night, a friend called me up to share a rather difficult piece of news about his marriage. I asked him what his plans were. He wasn’t sure what ‘their’ plans were. My friend still thought in terms of ‘we’. My friend has made up his mind to stick on with his marriage. Not just in honour of the vows he’d taken taken, but for love.

The next morning, I saw a young boy reach the bus stop a minute after the bus had left. He ran and ran…at the speed of wind, it seemed…and caught it. Everyone at our bus stop broke out into a small cheer.

If one met my friend dropping off his wife at the office, or one saw the boy sitting in the bus…one would never guess just what it took for them to get there. At what risk, at what drama did they get to this little scene of routine.

In today’s times, shrugging the shoulders and letting things go seems to get all the press. But there’s an immenseness too, about going the distance and holding on tight.

It’s not my nature to hold on. I never thought it was a big deal. But this year, I saw things. I saw people. And it was marvelous.

Comments

Jay Shanker said…
Really nice, Mukta. You sure have a way with words.
Purely Narcotic said…
What a beautiful piece of writing!

PS. Got here via random clicking and really like the way you write. :)