Chocolate and the Bitter Pill

This isn't your normal post. There are two sides of me, both wanting to make a point... very different points. So I guess I better make it clear right now. "Chocolate" is the main post, dealing with something simple that I noticed. Or almost missed. Those who enjoy it, please please, for heaven's sake stop there. "A bitter pill" is petty and bullish. It's also payback. But then, sometimes the sweet has to be taken with the bitter, doesn't it ?



CHOCOLATE
So there I was. I'd finished my exam for the day. The initial jubiliation of having had a great exam was quickly dampened as once I left the hall, it became evident that it was a common sentiment all around. That makes getting a seat all the more tougher. Great. What a time to not be 'OBC enough' to darken the OBC box in these exams. The newspaper greeted me with news of how the Noida nut jobs had also been hiding plastic bags with torsos in that house. There's a story of how a rich girl-poor boy love story ended with the boy taking a final ride inside a suitcase where the body was eventually found. A long lost family friend regaled me with a story of a tragedy that ( ridiculously ) mirrored my own. Not what I really wanted to hear after such a long journey. Pune as such was a joy,no doubt,and a great change of pace from what I'm used to, but to enjoy it needs the right frame of mind too. And I guess, all that was going through my mind was " What next,Mr God ? The world's in chaos, death and blood doing the tango right out in the open.. What is your plan ?"
He didn't answer, of course. He never does.

So there I was. Time to spare at the Bangalore airport as I waited for my connecting flight. Just myself and the world around , each moving at their own pace, as oblivious to me as I was to them. Perhaps that's the best part of boredom - it teaches you to look around for new possibilities. As I sat staring at all the commotion, slowly, patterns started to develop. A rhythm to the chaos. I started to see the various tunes being played out in front of me. The sweet,cherubic wife running to the security check while her hubby burst out laughing at her 'duck waddle' even as she grinned and threatened him with dire consequences when she got to him. The parents who cried as they hugged their son good bye. Being caught ogling a hottie by her dude, who responded with a Cheshire cat grin that was such a Kodak moment, before hugging her fiercely. The old Chinese monk who brought back memories of the old master from "THE DRUNKEN MASTER" kung- fu movies, giving me a smile that I thought was reserved for favourite students as he walked by, making me feel like I should be getting him buckets of water on either side of my back - thankfully, the feeling passed just as swiftly as it appeared. An old man apologising when he accidentally just brushed against me with his bag as he passed by. Worldspace playing Chiquitita by ABBA, a song which flooded my senses with memories of a more innocent age when I along with 4 other talented musicians were disqualified for our awful rendition of the song in the group song contest.. sigh. ( who knows how high this eagle would have flown had my true place beside Himesh been spotted earlier ? ) A group of oh-so-obviously Indian girls in transit sat chatting and I picked up the gorgeously funny Americanized Indian accent that has been injected into them. "And I was like -Oh My Gaaaw ! I have no seat and she was like Oh mah Gawww you have no seat and the staff were like Oh mah Gaww they had no seat and I was like so bummed I could weep and I was thinking like...what was I saying ? ( I'm guessing , at this point, you computer folks would insert the html code for "GENERAL FAILURE READING DISK..ABORT, RETRY, CANCEL ? In medical terms, we stick to "What was I saying ?" )

And then there was the chocolate girl. A cute little girl, maybe 5 years at best, watched her dad get her a chocolate. She opened the wrapper with due diligence, making sure no chocolate was stolen by the evil wrapper. She had almost put the choc in her mouth when she spotted her mom watching her a few feet away. And then, this little angel did something I haven't seen in all the years I've watched families and children aplenty in wards. She walked up to the mom and put the chocolate in her mom's mouth, no questions asked. The delighted mom obviously responded with a big hug, but there was just something in that moment. I mean, When was the last time you've seen a child give up a chocolate without being asked to ? When was the last time you gave your mom a chocolate without being asked to, for that matter ? Slowly, it all began to make perfect sense. This was what it was all about, wasn't it, Big G ? We keep looking for the next big event to focus on. Meanwhile, we're missing the whole picture he painted for us. It's not the canvas. It's the small things in life that are painted into the canvas. They all add up. To Love. Because sometimes when we don't see love around us, maybe all that's really needed is for us to stop. Just stand still and look around you. And surely enough, I think, you will find, that like the song says, Love is all around you. It's just a matter of focussing on it. When I was focussing on the hate around me, seeking the big answers, nothing seemed right in the world. I had walked into the airport disillusioned. I entered the plane healed and confident that there was hope and care aplenty around. I knew that no matter what, love would, indeed, save the day. Right, Mr God ?
He didn't answer, of course. He never does.
He knows we'll find our own answers eventually.




THE BITTER PILL
This is personal. So, if it makes no sense, never mind. Returning via KingFisher was definitely an extravagance, but it was something I had on my agenda from the day I knew my exam dates. Why ? Well, certain 'loved ones' had , while painting my portrait, claimed I had not accompanied them on a flight because I was so sick I'd die if I boarded a plane..petty though it was, it stuck in my mind because I would not get another chance to prove it wrong along with other love laced allegations that crept up. Well, I have two tickets here with my name on it which, I believe, can be divided equally to be stuffed up 3 pairs of holes 'where the sun don't shine '. Incidentally, not that I'm counting, but that's 8/8 allegations proven wrong in just 6 months. The last 2 allegations will of course be proven at my own convenience rather than to prove a point..But Jeepers creepers, what's going on ?
Just as the rock will always beat the scissor everytime in the old game, so too truth will beat lies. Everytime. Each and every F***ing time. At 25, I shouldn't have to teach this to someone twice my age. And unlike paper to rock, no white cloth can cover the truth . Advice ? Recommended viewing next time - Mel Gibson's RANSOM . On how blackmail is combated.
To end : once before, I quoted the old "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me" line and was rewarded with an unheard of betrayal and deception, where my family joined me to wear dunce caps by being so easily taken in. Now, having finally proven the last of the provable crap wrong, I will refrain from quoting playwrights, historians or freedom fighters.

Instead, I will turn to the old drunk pilot with the nuclear bomb in his fighter plane as he flew into the mother alien ship in that glorious movie "INDEPENDENCE DAY". I hope I don't trip over the words or get them wrong, but I do believe it went something like this -
UP YOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!

Some people don't deserve respect. That's all there is to it.