On a rainy November evening.........

Far-off trees look shrouded in the mist. Rooftops appear as dots amidst dark green foliage. Look up to find an unending grey blanket, ready to dislodge its contents, just awaiting a tug. Our friend the squirrel, a frequent visitor to the office balcony, has long retired to its nest, so have other mortals, thanks to the gusts of chilling winter wind. Though it's different, yet nothing uncommon, courtesy the November rain in B'lore.

Does anyone know, why emotion at times rule over reason? May be someone knows, but the answers may never be fully convincing. There can be innumerable debates on this, but eventually, none of us know the answer to this 'Why'. Probably that's why we still cry, laugh, smile and at times whimper. Science says, its nothing but simple Biochemistry (read secretions of various hormones to varied stimuli), but what is it that triggers these? For sure the happenings around us, isn't it? A question remains, how have these automatically got associated with a specific form of external manifestation? Simply put, what makes us sad on death and happy on the arrival of a new life? Is it because of those long-standing traditions that humans have been harbouring for ages, those which have in someway made way into our genes or is it the society and our surroundings that have instilled something in us and we are simply pawns to the amino acids? Not sure though. Not at all sure. Being foes, a fierce battle begins deep within and finally one comes out triumphant. At times its reason while at others its the emotion that has the last laugh. A laugh so powerful, that overrules logic and drives one to the point of no return. Barged by the horrifics of life and strangled to the last point of acceptance; one looks forward to an end to life's tribulations as the only solace and ultimate respite from an otherwise painful existence, far far from the vagaries of this world.

The mist dissipates and the blue umbrella reappears, birds chirp away to a distant land, new hopes pave way to new desires, but memories remain and memories haunt. Memories of friendship, of togetherness, of casual conversations, of debates on mundanes, of the afflictions and those of rejuvenation, of the pangs of separation, of those silent tears by dusk, of glances that go unnoticed, unattended and left to find a place for themselves in the corridors of oblivion. For us on this side of life, all these remain to brood upon, while the lone wanderlust has already set out on a long trudge to fulfill the supreme desire, the wish of being all alone in a moonlit night among those distant twinkling stars.