This post was supposed to be published two days ago but was delayed due to unforeseeable and unpreventable circumstances(AKA my inherent laziness,inbred procrastinator's soul and rain of course which triggers em all and prevents me from lifting a finger)
Opened one eye in the middle of the night at the heart of a pouring rain and imagined myself to be in Venice(or some other hapless, inundated city).The light from the street created the loveliest images on the bedroom floor and one sleepy smile,a toss to the other side of the bed,a hand swipe across the eyes,a shock and a gasp later I realized that my room was ankle deep in water....Again.
Let me explain.My room is on the 2nd floor of the house and my house has never been a victim of the floods even when the whole of Sri Lanka had been wading in knee high water,cursing the rain Gods and everything else that dares cross their paths.But my room(on he 2nd floor of the house) manages to drench itself in rain water everytime.The reason? Clogged up drains*nod nod*
Let me explain again.An ingenious idea of my father to direct all the rain water from the roof to a single gully as a result of which when it overflows,finds its way in to my room through my bathroom gully and succeeds in convincing me at my half asleep state that I have been washed away to the sea in my sleep and now I'm stranded,floating about the surface on my bed.And here I am,mopping up my bedroom floor at 1 O'clock in the morning.
Took a bus ride to the old Alliance library today after a considerably long time(thanks to Ranjan who unexpectedly exploded when I returned my books after one month's delay.One month!I mean come on! What's the big deal??Sheesh!)Anyways,the point is,I couldn't have chosen a better day to get out of the house.Roads had been closed for some sort of rehearsal for this "very important" ceremony while the citizens of the country sweat away their breakfast of a slice of obscenely expensive bread on their way to their livelihood in over cramped buses taking a longer route than usual.I mean,its a small country for goodness's sake.Any pea brain would understand that closing of roads would create a significant amount of hassle in a country where transportation has always been cumbersome to a certain extent.
The streets were looking quite colorful though.Expensive looking banners flapped away in the dusty winds of Colombo while enormous cutouts stood tall and proud and smiled intimidatingly at the agonized,rather irritated travelers stuck in over loaded buses.Fancy lights twinkled and winked along the roads and it was all very delightful but I couldn't help but wonder how many not-so-privileged families with multiple kids with their own swarm of uncles,aunties,grand children,cats and dogs and the like could the whole cost of all this psychedelic beauty could have fed.Yes,I am quite the party-pooper,I admit but you know......Just saying........... :)
Sitting right next to me in the crowded bus was a man,probably my father's age,starring out of the window,clearly fascinated by the spectacle of all this colorful manifestations on his way home from work.On his lap were several packets of rice.A thousand thoughts crossed my mind and I wondered how much longer his family would have to starve while this man,tired after an abominably long day of work,stuck in heavy traffic finally gets home(it was late enough as it was) and how much longer this man will have to suffer inside knowing that his little ones are fighting the stomach worms at home.A sigh escaped his tired lips as I watched.I felt sad.He reminded me of my father.
And me,cramped between two very grouchy people in an over loaded bus with an obvious pervert of a man standing right next to me trying to peer down my shirt,overtly exhausting himself in order to gather what he could out of my non-existent cleavage(it was a high necked t-shirt for God's sake),jeering in quite an obscene manner and I actually found myself smiling.I live in a kingdom of almighty kings and princes where the food is plenty and the riches are so abundantly overflowing that gambling is made legal and "porn stars" are being publically humiliated and lovers holding hands are assaulted for "public impropriety".All that is missing are ginger bread men that talk,friendly ogres,talking donkeys,cats in boots(dubbed by Antonio Banderas *swoon*) and fairy God mothers with narcissistic prince Charmings hogging the lime light.And here is this man,who is standing right next to me,waiting for his chance to rub against me and possibly try something else at which I was more than ready to pounce on him and take out a tooth or two,and there is this other mentally disturbed specimen of a man,positively feeling the backside(for lumps and other irregularities maybe?) of a very disgruntled Saree-clad female who was very clearly helpless with both her hands occupied by very heavy bags and hanging on the overhead bar of the bus in an attempt to keep her balance.
A semi charmed life indeed! Woohoo! \m/
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