And I skipped a beat….

Was talking to Rachit yesterday and got the news that Bhragav has met an accident.. Got worried but came to know that he was fine and nothing to worry about. Came to know it was not on Bike but in car so thought, Bhargav must have brushed a rick or Bus…. Then Rachit mailed me the car pic… I downloaded the pic and i skipped a beat… God the car is a complete wreck and the accident is a severe one… immediately called Bhargav to check if he is fine.. and when he revealed how and when it happened … i skipped a beat again.. he was on his way back from Airport with his Mom and sis…. I took me a while to get to my senses…. he informed that everyone is fine and no one was badly hurt… Was relieved to know that…Well thank god that everyone miraculously escaped unhurt…..

“To all my family and friends - Please drive and ride safe”

Driving through the By Lanes

 

Got my Nigerian driving license couple of weeks back but never tried to drive through the messy traffic of Lagos. Well yesterday night was my first introduction to the road being in the driving seat. Not ventured in to the so called Express way (i.e. highway as it is called in India) but was driving through the more complex network of road in the nearby localities.To be precise the lanes are not road but some sort of compressed layers of soil (Obviously compressed by vehicle movement) full of marsian craters. Driving a manual Toyota Hilux a 2.7Ltr Petrol monster. The biggest problem was driving a left hand drive manual vehicle as it causes a lot of conflict in the brain as anytime we need to shift the left hand moves in search of gear knob. Its more like riding an original Enfield for the first time. Well apart from this the public move around the road so casually that some time you believe that they might be invincible. To add to this are the Okada riders (Bike taxi as we have in Goa) who are Demigods and when on their Bikes they too become invincible. Fellow car drivers seems to be partially blind as they don't seem to notice any of the above and even the oncoming vehicle.

Well more or less the drive was good till i hit Traffic at a round about. No will let you go and nor will they go creating a web of entangled vehicle. Then starts the process of pushing the driving skills to limit. How well you can maneuver and get as close as possible to nearby vehicles without hitting them. Somehow i got out of the mess and managed to bring the Monster back home “scratch less”.

So henceforth if I say “i’ll call you back”, its probably because I am driving…

Untitled

I’ll let you go,

I’ll let you fly,

I’ll convenience my mind that we have to be apart,

But I still don’t know what am I gonna tell my heart.

It’s been months that you have gone,

It’s been months that your were near,

Still your distant voices is can hear,

I have convinced my mind that we are now apart,

But I still don’t know why I feel you in my heart.

It’s been an year that I let you go,

But I still smell your perfume in the breeze that flow,

I have nothing to say to my mind at all,

But i don’t understand why my heart still stalls

It’s been a lifetime that I let you fly,

The wind still blows on the riverside,

I still see the birds come and go,

My mind still enjoys the scenery as it used to be,

But why my heart still feels the warmth you used to be.

Now the days are near and I still seek peace,

I remember the words “Everything is in mind, nothing in the heart”,

My mind now tells me how stupid I was to listen to my heart,

But now I know, the day I let you go my heart too fell apart.

-ABI

PS: Yet to think of a good title for the poem.