...as seen by...

"Open the bonnet..." "Err, huh?" "The bonnet! Open the bonnet" Wait a minute, I thought I told you to do the 'vahanapooja' for my new car, not the Engine inspection. And I thought you were a priest, and not a mechanic. And what with all the costume and the pot-belly and stuff? Mechanics dont have pot bellies, for God's sake. They need to get pretty deep under vehicicles, and pot-bellies don't help. In fact pot bellies wont help if you want to get deep anywhere, for that matter, if you know what I mean. Thats why they say get settled and get over with everything before you start getting those dreaded roundies, or else, be smart enough and make enough money to hire secretaries. I'm digressing! I opened the bonnet. He took a coconut and cracked it open on the floor, lighted agarbatthis and smeared 'kalabham' over pretty much everywhere. The 'Rocam' engine, air-filter, fuel injectors, batteries, radiator... god, he knows whe...

I started this post as a comparison between now and then. Then being the time immemorial when I was leading the lazy spoiled bachelor life in a town far away from my home. And now being, ugh, no, don't get me wrong. I am still single for Pete's sake. Now I stay at home. Just. Which means there is the bed coffee, folded sheets, pressed clothes, good healthy food, mother's love and a multitude of other comforts which just escapes me at the moment. But it also means, there are no cigarettes, no rumbled and soiled sheets, no stuff thrown around untidily in the room, no magazines to rummage through before I could find one to go to the toilet with, no bad food, no noisy bowels, no headaches due to hangover... I woke up in the morning today and saw mom buying fish from a vendor, in a boat, in the river. Took my camera and took a picture, immediately, and settled down to read the newspaper with coffee in one hand, in the balcony, facing the river. How peaceful is that? A little too...