soul gatherings - senses of her soul

(part 2 of soul gatherings... matheran)

this time i don't move out... this time i am within her... just concentrating on her... her senses... her perceptions... but i realize thats not possible... i feel the vibes of people around her... i feel the aura of things around her... she isn't bothered... she is too busy riding... too busy loving the feeling of it to think about others... busy to such an extent that she doesn't realize the pain she is going through... (the swollen fingers and a deep wound on her ankle where the saddle kept hurting her)... that is the time i take over... i feel things for her that she doesn't comprehend... i take over her consciousness...




sound... i dont like loud sounds... i like soft music... i like the swishing of the flowers more than the howl of the wind... but today it is different... shes galloping... there is no sound in the woods other than that of the two horses cantering to nowhere... or maybe somewhere... i don't bother where... and then i hear the sound... a loud sound... which i generally don't like... but as i said... today is different... it is the sound of the wind in her ears... so loud... so deafening... so blatantly ear-splitting... but still musical... so very symphonic... in harmony with the galloping of her horse and her body... it feels like an orchestra playing... is it the philharmonic playing???

sight... all she sees is the riding track... the horse... the saddle... and nothing else... she doesn't see the animals scurrying away from the galloping beasts... i see them... she doesn't notice the look of awe on the face of other riders... i notice it... she doesn't survey the woods and the valleys around her... i survey them... she doesn't visualize herself on her horse... speeding to nowhere... i do it... i see her clearly... like the way you watch a ballet dancer performing... is she swaying to the music?? the philharmonic??

taste... what do i taste here?... the wind in her mouth... she has this inane habit of parting her lips when she is riding... ofcourse she doesnt realize it... its not made up... but i notice it... as i feel the taste of wind in her mouth... cool... refreshing... tempting... and then there is this other taste... mud... the red earth blowing freely... clean earth... delectable earth... tasty earth... the taste remains in her mouth forever...




smell... i smell the balmy wind... i smell the pure clean air... i smell the naturally aromatic mud... i smell the acidic odor of the horses... the sour whiff of her perspiration... i breathe in the aroma of freshly fallen leaves... she doesn't heed them... i take them with me to bring them back to her when she is not there anymore... it will stay with her forever...

touch... i feel her touching the wind... or rather the other way round... the wind blowing on her face... the enticing touch... the feel of the saddle where her thighs touch it... the feel of the stirrups under her feet... as she rides ahead unheeded... the caress of her hair blowing wildly... and the contractions and expansions of her horses muscles... the feeling that was long forgotten... the feeling that had come back... the feeling that will never be lost again... the touch to be savoured all her life... by me.. her substance... her essence... her soul...

i am happy today

how do i feel when i have loved someone for years and he says he hates me?... i feel happy

how do i feel when i have loved someone for years and he doesn't trust me?... i feel happy

how do i feel when i have loved someone for years and he doesn't believe a word i say?... i feel happy

how do i feel when i have loved someone for years and he says i have hurt him?... i feel happy

how do i feel when i have loved someone for years and he says i am a liar?... i feel happy

i am so happy today that i want to die... die happily...

matheran revisited

matheran is a place I know since I was a kid… my dad loved it and in turn I came to love it… every year during my school vacations we would take a trip to this beautiful hill station… we would enjoy the toy train ride from the base (neral) to the top of the hill station… the 2.5 hrs ride would be intermingled with games of cards and chess, listening to music and playing antakshari with other kids we didn’t know… our favourite place to stay was the Regal Hotel… one of the finest at that time… not really the 5 star category (thankfully till date there are no 5 star hotels there), but it was a nice place to have a relaxing weekend… we generally took the trip in the first week of june… the onset of monsoons in maharashtra… the red mud, the monsoon rains, no vehicles, the hordes of monkeys, the horse rides and the chikki… these are some of the things I can never forget…

(matheran is famous for its no vehicle law… vehicles are banned on this hill station… they are allowed only as far as dasturi which is 45 mins walking distance from main matheran… the only automobile allowed is the toy train… internally people just walk, ride or hire the hand drawn rickshaws to go to places… not even locals are allowed to use vehicles in there… and this is the charm of this place… the only hill station in India or maybe the world to have such a law)

when I was in college, I was part of the hiking club… and invariably, every year we all would end up hiking to matheran… end of june and about a hundred teenagers trudging up the road to matheran (it was more like a picnic… we would just walk up the road to dasturi in the name of hiking :p)… rain drenching us to the core… joking… laughing… dancing in the rains… fooling around… eyeing the hunks… looking longingly at the couples walking hand in hand, wondering if we will ever do the same thing with someone we loved!… our legs groaning for mercy… bags dripping with the rain water along with all its contents (sometimes it would rain so much!)… and in about 3 hours we would reach the main market… it was always a 1 day trip, so we never checked into a hotel… all of us would gather in the market place and play games (during july - august it rains heavily, the hotels are shut down and the place is practically empty)… as the day would pass the rowdier we would get… I bet matheran has not seen a more rowdy crowd till date! … in the evening we would hike back to dasturi (the train does not work during the monsoons) and hire a cab to take us back to the station… a day in matheran, well spent…

my best friend Tasneem loved matheran too… I know her since my school days when we were partners in the IV Grade… we got admitted in the same college to be together… we were always together for our hiking trips from college… her uncle owned a bungalow in matheran… one summer we decided to go there… her cousins were joining in too… I remember the weekend well… 2 of her cousins were expert riders… everyday we would go for long horse rides around matheran… to places not many visitors know… riding in the woods… wind in the hair… enjoying every second of the ride! … they taught me to ride that summer (I am not an expert rider… but I can ride relatively well)… I remember this weekend as my ‘riding weekend’… Saturday night we decided to start a bon fire… at noon we tried gathering some wood… but the only kind of wood we could get hold of was the thin bamboo kind which never caught fire… all night instead of enjoying ourselves we were busy trying to get the wood to burn… and it never did… Tasneem and myself got talking till late night… we talked of matheran, our life, our dreams, our past, our crushes and also about wine… I distinctly remember telling her that one day I wanted to taste red wine… and she laughed at me saying I never would, as we didn’t drink… one of her cousin’s friend had some wine and he offered us some of it… I told him to get lost and not to listen to our private talks… he ran away and we burst out laughing as he had a major crush on Tasneem…

tomorrow I am going to matheran after 8-9 years… I am going to relive all my remembrances as I take long walks there… or as I go riding there… I don’t think it must have changed much… at least I hope not… will get back with pictures and my experiences this time round… till then hugsss… and I will miss all of you there…

bye n laterzzz…

ps : the invitation posts will be put up in a few days time... after my next post.. till then keep writing... hugsss

invitation

ps : i will post everyones replies one after another... u can send me the link or mail it to me on mystic_muse_2000@yahoo.co.in ... will start posting in a few days so as to give everyone the time to read this post.




i have been missing from the blog scene since sometime now... dont get enough time these days... and i have been missing all of u since long now... then one day this idea struck me... so i thought 'why not?'

therefore i have made a list of my most favourite bloggers and would like to invite them to write something for my blog... anything they would like to say to me or my friends who visit this blog... not necessarily about me... it could be anything they want to say... and i promise i will post it without editing it... so here goes my list (and what i like about them)...





z000nie - coz hes the funniest blogger i have ever met


keshi - coz i love everything she writes.. n i specially love the way her mind operates.. (just dont try that drinking stunt again!)


uttara and mala - coz they r the ones who i laugh with and giggle with whenever we are painting mumbai red


wordy - coz i love his poems... the best being the one he wrote for me long back


vinci - coz i miss him being here... n he's stopped blogging :((


sebia - coz shes the one who inspired me to blog.. n shes lost now :(((


so start going guys... im waiting for it... hugss n laterzzzzzzz