These Are The Days

'These are the days baby...' I whistled, kicked a small pebble, kept a wary eye on a 12 year old struggling to ride a bike, dug my hands into my Levis' front pockets and smiled to myself. A light breeze blew the through the gul mohar trees, couples coochy cooed in the park and someone was cooking poha. I continued to amble my way to the Wise One's house. Half way down the lane I paused....

As often happens with me, when I start to think about the future, I often end up thinking about the past. In this case, while I was wondering how to spend a glorious saturday, I began to think about the last 10 years. Around this time in 1998, I had just joined engineering college. I can still remember standing in line for everything, dressed like a waiter, hoping that the seniors would pick on the guy in front (or behind) me and cursing myself for not having done B.A. from Xaviers. You could say that during the first 3 months of my engineering 'career', the red button on my white shirt was my best friend. Well at least we spent a lot of time gazing at each other. I later went on to make better and more conventional friends, but for a while my red button was my 'bosom buddy'.

Life has changed a wee bit in these 10 years. I guess I have changed too. Some changes have been for the better and some for the not-so-better. But all this while, I still like who I am. Now don't me wrong. I don't mean to sound like a narcissist, though I am one. I just enjoy getting up in the morning and saying woo too to myself. And I think it's a great feeling to be comfortable with who you are. To be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say, 'rockstar, long night huh?' and then grin is something to be thankful for.

(Grind grind... I can hear the knives being sharpened)

The point I am trying to make is that all the f ups, the gaffes, the tumbling off the cliffs and of course, the genuine mistakes that I have committed in the last 10 years have made me a better human being. Or so I would like to think. As long as my mind is willing to understand what I did wrong and my heart is willing to accept that I was at fault, I don't mind making mistakes. For I have learnt more about myself when am down on the mat than when I am stepping up to the podium.

Bruce Springsteen said, 'it's a sad man my friend who's livin in his own skin, And cant stand the company. Now that is one scary thought. Brrrr.... I hope I never do something that makes me dislike myself. It would be like losing your best friend and yet always having to hear him/her bitching about you.

Could I have ever dreamt that life would turn out the way it has? No way Jose. But apart from a few things, I wouldn't change the last 10 years. I hope the next 10 years are just as rewarding. For if in 2018 I can look back and tell myself, 'Now that was some ride', have my friends and family around and be healthy & happy, I think it will be 10 years well spent.


Now that I was done gazing at the past, I turned towards the Wise One's house, kicked the same pebble and continued whistling...


'These are better days it's true'...