Alice in London Land

I was in an open courtyard. I could see the open space getting covered. In no time it was roofed over and i was in a reading room. It was amazing to see such a gigantic space, neat and orderly. But where was i? What was this place? I saw a movement not very far and i walked towards it. There was a man, dressed very differently, but i needed to know were i was, so i started with a polite hello uncle. No response. Seems he was busy in his book. So i tried the Excuse me. He answered, ‘Pete Marsh myself, What???’ in heavy British accent. Man, that was scary and i retreated. Soon i realized i was in a museum and i had started from the Reading Room. There was this more unusual item, it said a popular exhibit preserved 2000 year old, body of Lindow Man nicknamed Pete Marsh, found water logged peat log in Cheshire. Did i talk to a corpse, i better flee. I reached outside the building, i was in the British Museum, i was in London, i was in North London.

Corpses were bad and scary and i wanted an angel to guide me. Can i get an angel to speak to, i needed some rest as well. Did i see ‘The Angel’?

The Angel, Islington, the hostelry being a popular overnight stay since 1638, for travelers arriving late from North who prefer not to risk the highwaymen and foot pads on the dark roads in to the city itself. Hey i remember this place, i have read about this in Oliver Twist and Thomas Paine wrote his ‘The Rights of Man’ here, i was excited.

I might have spend the night there as i was at Hampstead Street by morning and the sun felt warm. I was starring at a porcelain Harlequin, forever grinning statue at Fenton house. I had never felt walking alone so disturbing. The place was beautiful but i was at Hampstead Heath, once the haunt of highway men, now it was prized and fiercely protected tract of amenity land, and it had the extensive view over London. London is seriously cool, no doubt and i like this place but i missed my country, my culture. Was i enjoying this stroll around the British Land? What was all this?? The moment i started questioning god, i was at Shri Swaminarayan mandir, in London. Man, is this possible? yeah, i was not wrong. The magnificent Hindu architecture, it was far from the exotic area of Neasden and i felt at home. It was amazing. I closed my eyes to pray. After some Eternal solitude i opened my eyes. It was dark, i was somewhere else. Did i forget, a moment of peace meant a moment of chill down your spine. 

It said ‘London Dungeon’ – Enter at your peril. I was in South London. Nope, not because i was a scared freezing cold chicken, i was in no mood to go into such a place. But did i go in, yes i did. Gruesome and scary but i liked seeing how full advantage of latest interactive technology was made. The seamy sadistic side of life was there, torture martyrdom, hanging, flogging, burning at stake, i felt my stomach grumble. It was getting more and more dark as the yellow light became suffocation pale. I better leave and planned to  figure out the exit door, instead two big dark men came and pushed me to walk. I tried talking to them, no i tried struggling for the escape from their strong grip, no i was actually being carried by them and gradually immersed in a pot of water. A hot water bath, that would be cute, ah, my brain was just over estimating, i was being boiled in water. I looked up and could see anxious faces around, did i take a second to realize that i was being boiled alive. I screamed at the top of my voice, no use. I heard a sound, something like an alarm, may be someone would come for my aid. The sound kept on coming. I was fuming in the heat, i was struggling to free myself, i was chocking, i tried to open my eyes as there was smoke all around, i could see the Great Fire of London.

I was almost dead. But then why was the sound still aloud and still clear and to be precise, very disturbing. I opened my eyes,this time for real and i was in my room, on my bed and i sat up. It was my alarm blaring. I was still sweating and dead scared. I took the alarm in my hand and silenced it, now i could correlate. My alarm  had died yesterday and it was anyway an old one. I had excitedly brought a new one with London pictures in it. It made me Alice in London Land for the night, it had tortured me very badly but i smiled. I think i liked it. It had China pictures too. May be i would be Alice in China Land tomorrow, i put it down still smiling, still confused and hurried to do my day.

 

The Other side of this table

I slowed down my car at the gate and rolled down my window screen. Somehow I felt a little strange being there at that moment, feeling the air felt different, even the tiny dancing plants near the gate felt different. The security smiled at me and as the gate opened I took my car in and parked it at the special place meant for me.

 

“Kid, you are late, you cant punch today”

“C’mon ramukkaka, don’t be so mean, I had to do lot of running around since morning”

“Didn’t you say the same excuse yesterday?”

“Well, yeah but then today I was more exhausted I woke up late, but I swear this will not happen again”

“Sorry kid, don’t waste my time, you want to get in, get this signed from the supervisor”

Ah, the supervisor was more of a monster, he tore his victims to pieces and I always ended up in his hands.

 

“Good morning Sir, It is a pleasant morning”

“Good morning Mr. Shetty” He smiled and walked away. I remembered his young face, rude as always but with no wrinkles and no grey hairs. I heard some people talk on Mr.Shetty, the supervisor’s,  make over. He is not mean anymore but then I guess, he has grown up with the company and he can relax a bit now, or maybe he has realized, with a pleasant attitude you live more and Mr. Shetty would want to live more. I smiled at myself.

 

“Did you do the Xerox Mohan?”

“Yes Sir”

“Did you ask the taxi man to pick GM on time”

“Yes Sir”

“Would you go to the ROC tomorrow, I need some work done there”

“Sure, Sire, you seem like in a hurry”

“Hmm, I have to pile up some work before the AGM and the notices have already been sent”

“Do you need a helping hand with anything sir?”

That brought a glow to his expressionless face, he thought for a second and told me,

“Go through this FA Schedule, compare it with last year and ensure everything in order”

The phone rang and he hurriedly spoke through it, “yes sir, am on my way”

Before leaving he said, “Mohan, my boy, just finish it before evening”

I stared at those sheets for a long time and recollected, ‘The FA Schedule’.

 

The Secretary Mr. Kapoor, was evergreen, he felt polite and warm like before.

“Good morning sire”

“Good morning Mr. Kapoor, How are you?”

He was thoughtful for a second, choosing the right words, of course he was always a diplomat.

“When our company is at its best, what more happiness could it bring us”

I nodded back, this is the best I like about this place, at times I feel, employees can never be as committed as they are here.

 

I walked through the small hallway, opened my well-furnished cabin door, kept my suit case on the side table and sat on the big chair. My table was set neat, I liked it that way. There were two chairs across my big table. The paper weight, the pen stand, the desk calendar and a small board in golden frame said ‘Mr. Mohan Patel, GM Finance’.

During my hard times, I had joined this company as a management trainee. The company showed me the path through which I walked. I topped in academics and it helped me climb up. Now, after 10 long years, I am the GM Finance and it felt beyond words to sit on the other side of this table.

The Suspicious lover boy

Let me give you a summary of what i have been trying to understand recently. When it happens for no reason, that is ‘love’ but when there are clear cut reasons, it is not ‘love’…to be more precise, ‘love with the special feelings’ as people who experience it describe. The whole concept is still difficult for me to understand, which is why i wanted to dig into it more.

Now, what does the lover boy has in special, which makes all girls fall for him??? In his school days, all that i remember was that he was more normal or ordinary to any one else. So it must his college which made the difference. It was then, far more easier to correlate. It should have been the same feeling that he went through, followed by a miserable shatter of his whole dream world, to discover, the person he aspired to be with find some one else  far more interesting. However, i would definitely appreciate his capability to rise from the dungeon but there, he found a mask and he wore the mask. The mask was the manipulative personality which the girls loved. Even the strongest of them would be shaken for once, impressed by our masked man. It is not that they dont try to find his heart, but they never get a chance to. It happens so fast that they fail to go on a step by step basis.

A character of this dimension is rare and you don’t get a chance to figure out more of him. It might be that, i, scribble down this, think little clearly on all the issues and try to observe how it works, the reason why i identify there is something more to our lover boy which is still in dark. It is anticipated that his character molds him to stand apart, to stay ‘ultra casual’ to anything and everything and not to get shaken with anything that a normal person might worry upon. Agree that this is a positive quality but not always. Knowing the lover boy too well for more than a year (though acquaintance is spread for a period of 7 years or more), i still cant figure many missing leads.Seemingly the ‘lover boy’ to the whole gang of girls reminds me of the ‘axe deo ad’!!! I can see all this cover up very clearly but were is the sincerity hiding itself… cmon, now so many things have been shed above but am more interested to see the sincerity, which will come for use in future too, u agree right….hey, now don’t misunderstand. All this has nothing to do with me, am being a mere spectator here. Any ways i will try to figure out more regarding this….meanwhile, all good wishes to our ‘lover boy’.

The path I travel to hold my dream

Its all about the way you look at it. Everything is gonna be just fine… Two standard ways of consoling sensible minds, however, there are times when you really feel things are not going to be alright and neither its the way you look at it. How you have to travel in life has been pre-decided. Yes, you can definitely influence it but cannot change it much. Chasing your dreams make your life colorful but how much of your dreams unfold depend on the many factors that you cannot work on much. And your heart just don’t stop yearning for it. Meanwhile, all you would do is wait and hope your plans to work out. 

Yes, i too wait to unleash my dreams within. When i go to catch them, it moves a little more further and i have to find my way through those thorny fields and marshy land, to hold it yet again, and when i halt in despair, wondering whether to stop this pursuit, some power instigates me to try once again. Hence, my journey continue and i hope hopen, to hold my dreams sooner and to feel at the top of the world.  

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