All Mixed Up...

Today morning was the most brilliant example of ironies. After an entire week of dark cloud cover over the city, suddenly there was dazzling sunshine everywhere. Pale blue skies, patches of white clouds with no hint of rain and miracle of miracles, pleasant breezes and no humidity! That in itself is an aberration in Mumbai. I'm told it didn't last all that long and eventually it did rain but the early morning impression stays with me, fresh and clean, like what I imagine spring would be, if we had one. The trees and grass, glistening with last night's rain and their colour shining because the showers have washed away all the dust from their surfaces; the swings in the children's playground looking like toys with their bright colours and of course the bright yellow sunshine everywhere. It was too lovely a morning to leave curtains shut and as I went around the house drawing them back and throwing open windows, I could hear the music and the singing in my heart. It was a beautiful feeling and all the useless worries just drained out of my head leaving me feeling peaceful and content. In a minute I would have begun to sing out loud and then the rest would have been history but having recognized the signs, I made an effort to come back to reality and hurried over the mundane tasks of everyday as I was by now running late. On the long journey to work, I finally gave in to impulse and began humming along with the music on my phone. Another thing that pleases me today is that I have finished reading the novel 'Gone With The Wind' for the seventh time. It has become a tradition really to read this book every summer since I was in the class 9 and I am yet to get tired of it. Every time I read it again, I see something with new eyes, which I hadn't seen before and thus the exciting mystery goes on. The vivid descriptions of the scenery, the way of life, the war and the characters that come alive over the course of the book all contribute to the pleasure of reading it yet again. Moreover, wound into the beautiful and intricate embroidery of the story are the home grown common sense observations that hold true even after a hundred and fifty years since those days. Society will always be averse to something that is different from the normalcy that they have defined for themselves; wars will continue to be fought because orators fill people's heads with foolish notions; there will always be people on the lookout for a quick buck by twisting circumstances in their favour; money at the end of the day will not buy you happiness and human beings will continue to be baffled to see changes around them that they never thought possible except for a handful who learn to see which way the wind is blowing. An interesting thing to note here is the place of women in society in those days, they were held in high esteem no doubt but it was inconceivable that they should think for themselves. Apparently sheltered from the harsh realities of life, these women were far more intelligent than they let on to their men folks but their greatest wisdom lay in the fact that they allowed their men to continue believing them the helpless creatures who needed protection from the world. It was this wisdom that ensured that the society was peaceful and life went on smoothly, never changing even in the face of utter destruction of their world. It just make me curious to think what it would be like if it had remained that way. The world today has seen women striving towards the same things that traditionally been strictly the domain of men and nobody would dare suggest that anything was beyond their reach but if we step back and think about it, things are not as pleasant as they seem, there has been a large price to pay for realizing our potential. Women now are faced with the prospect of managing the home (a full time job in itself!) and proving themselves at the workplace; which they do admirably but I can't help wondering if its worth. At the end of the day, wouldn't it be easier to just let men think we're fools and do all the work for us? :P

On that very twisted note, I think I'll end this post which has traveled light years from where it began and await the wrath of womankind. Cheers!