The chirp of a bird and the incessant cooing of the pigeons are bound to be a wake-up call you’d love to have. Trudging with sleepy eyes and a mind still not fully awake, from the night’s dream and looking for that little ray of the morning sunlight, that will fully awaken to the realization of the new dawn.
Don’t know if this is the same with the million others who dwell in this city that literally never sleep, oft called the New York of India, but then that is the way it starts for me. Donning on track pants and stepping out into the slight morning breeze actually rejuvenates the sleepy grey matter and the customary morning greeting to probably all the building watchmen actually kick starts your day in a weird little way. These greeting mean a lot to these people who their whole lives keep waiting on others and yet we more often than not tend to ignore them.
The mandatory Rs. 2 entrance fee at the gate of the joggers park gains entrance to a kilometer of short conversations. The conversations although short are interesting in a very sneaky kind of way. The conversations actually border on a variety of topics and then more often tend to lean a little towards the personal side as the weekend nears and gets very official on weekdays. Guess you must be wondering what is it that he’s talking about?
Every time you are about to cross a group of people you tend to be part of their conversations. Be it a couple of women in their thirties discussing the next salon they have appointments for or a couple of me in their fifties discussing on the latest merger or acquisition… The collage of these myriad conversations are usually too varied and different that each pair that you pass, it’s more like entering into a part of their lives for a minute or two.
Every day you get to hear a lot of the local gossip, the financial meetings scheduled and the personal problems of people. Coming to think of it the whole scene actually gives you an understanding into the kinds of things that people think. There was an interesting episode of a conversation between two middle aged women. One a career woman and her companion in her late forties. The career woman’s problem was that her son was complaining that she was never in the house when he is back from school and also that he wants her to be at home when he arrives. But the mother also has to think of her career tells him that it would be difficult for her to make it every day but she’ll try. The boy finally says that he will also stay back at friends’ place ad will return only after she has arrived back. This comment took the icing of the cake and the mother stopped staying back at work late and started bringing work back home as it would not only help her to spend time with her son but also that it would enable the son to understand that the mother actually cares about him…
Another interesting conversation to listen to is the decision making ones. The candid suggestion of the person you are walking with is analyzed more and more rigidly and by the end of the walk is over they have each found a solution to the problem. Then there is the usual saas-bahu conversations that are like all other saas-bahu conversations. The uniqueness of this banter is that each one is trying to better the image of her daughter-in-law in the eyes of the other. It’s not the usual complaints but interestingly the merit that are brought to light.
During a walk that takes an hour you come across several such topics and each one is unique in its style, content and context. In a city where you hardly have an interaction with your neighbor or further more have no idea who your neighbor is, such glimpses in to the lives of others actually tend to paint a very small but vivid picture. Portraits that is actually entertaining although they remain in the area of prying. But then I think they are the little pleasures that an insomniac is entitled to, just some candid conversations of fellow insomniacs.
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