Pune

"Trust in Him when Thy have dark doubts;
Trust in Him when Thy faith is small;
Trust in Him when simply to trust in Him...
Is the hardest thing of all."

Three-four years ago, I'd lived in Pune. In Koregaon Park. I used to walk home from office and stop at German Bakery to have tea and cake. I used to run at Osho garden. I used to hang out at Blue Diamond sometimes. And walk through lush, dark lanes at midnight.

I never liked Pune much then. I was too shortsighted to realize that I was, in fact, having the time of my life those days. The other day, when Mumbai got a little tufty and cloudy, I remembered all the good, beautiful, rainy days in Pune. I made some fantastic friends and saw some gorgeous sights there. Pune converted me into an unabashed poet.

I left the city without a proper goodbye. I was planning to go there for my birthday this year and stay a couple of days near the Osho ashram.

And then this horrible thing happened today. This thing that makes me want to hate in plurals. And makes me want to puke in the face of everyone who thinks people can change or nations can mend their ways. It's hard to still believe in goodness and peace. But it's really important to do it.

I hope I can go to Pune this April and leave the earlier verse under a rock in my favorite part of the Osho teerth park. The verse is from one of Edna O'Brien's novels. It has given me a lot of succour through college and thereafter.

The novel is, fittingly called, 'Returning'.