Caramelized Evening

Walking is meditative for me. I do not subscribe to briskness. I choose my own pace – slow and steady – mostly because it helps me to observe and be with my own thoughts.

Naturally, I lag behind the group – their laughter and chatter float at a distance. They look back, time and again, to confirm I am there. Yes, I am there.

Frame by frame I spectate – children playing, squealing with joy , parents monitoring them, the older generation walking with or without support, young boys and girls exercising, youngsters skating , some planning to take a dip in the pool – a plethora of exciting activities around.

Outside gently the dusk falls. The neon signs wake up. House helps going back home after their days’ work. The guards bow deeply and wish me – I feel awkward and move away.

Pets on a stroll – their masters and mistresses are on the alert. Toddlers on pram – their eyes take in everything agog with curiosity. The parents egg them on to view the world around they are growing up in  to become  robust citizens in days to come. Vehicles pass by sedately.

I fill in, breathing deeply – the sounds and the sights. Now I am inside. A young daddy is encouraging his baby to crawl on the marbled floor close to the sit-out. Passing by the gym it’s silent machines and empty yoga mats stare back at me. Next to it is where a young girl is teaching Bharatnatyam to kids – the disciplined notes of their ghungroos (bunch of anklets) adding an enchanting musical interlude to the sportive shouts of the kids getting trained in Karate outside in the open.

The glass door to the Mini Mart shuts open and closes alternating the rhythm. There’s a unisexual beauty salon on the opposite side. The parlour hands are free at this hour sitting on the skirting chatting , smiling , enjoying the scene.

I follow my family walking ahead. They move out of the arcade in the open. Time to go back home. It’s almost evening. The sky has caramelized into a deeper shade of not exactly brown and not exactly grey either. Sometimes it’s so difficult to distinguish the colours poured by an invisible wizard on the palette of the sky. There are streaks of gold strewn in abundance here and there but of course subdued in its blaze. The exit gifts of a now mellowed sun sneaking quietly towards the other side of the globe. 

The greenery around has, accordingly, deepened and darkened too. Silence lurks. Noises quieten. The colours fade away into a deeper blue. Time to go. Time to recede. Time to nest. Sunset has a pathos to it – a gradual subsiding of a grand finale. Life takes another turn – restful…ruminative.

I turn in. The lift whirs into action carrying our load without a complaint. Sometimes we have to be grateful to human inventions too – how effortlessly they bear our weight – body as well as mind. Soon the chrome and steel lift door will slide apart … the heavy wooden  door of the apartment will lead us to the dim hallway… the lights will be switched on and the quiet of an unoccupied household will once again softly chirp with homely talks, clink and clatter in the kitchen, setting of the dinner table and making of the bed.

We will retire for the nocturnal stage play of unanticipated dreams. A few hours no more…a brighter day is awaiting on the other end of the night…a fresher start…newer thoughts…more colours differentiating today from yesterday and then again from tomorrow…

Till then…

Cheerio!!