Welcome back guys! to my blog. I hope all of you are doing great. As you have seen todays topic above. So let's start… I hope you all will understand I am trying to say from this blog….
Tending to plants is quite a calming activity, other than writing- to which I subscribe. Re- levelling the soil, pruning the leaves etc. feels like going back to the roots. One fine afternoon, as I was tending to the potted plants dotting the window panel in my home, my phone rang. The TrueCaller started flashing a familiar name from the distant past. At the other end was a senior member with the editorial team of the leading national daily from Nagpur. I could not refuse the invite for a small social do, a felicitation ceremony in the orange city.
Speaking of social connect, my friends, like me, went their ways where ever career took them; chance meets over festivities over the years now became a rare even. So much so that there is hardly any friend from older circle left in the city. So, barring my parents, I had very little social connect, expect as a visitor on festive occasions and as a tourist exploring the city. But when the call came, it felt like homecoming- I was surprised and delighted in equal measure to be transported 21 years back in time.
As an active NCC cadet, I regularly used to write articles related to NCC and adventure activities. Building on word after word, creative avenues opened up as I graduated to writing middles, adding up choicest of words from my diction. I was ecstatic on my new- found identity as a middle writer. Back then, full of hopes, I used to cycle my way to the newspaper office to handover the handwritten articles.
Thanks to this pandemic, some how late though, I picked up writing short pieces again which is therapeutic to the core and admittedly makes one calm. So, it felt great to be part of a memorable evening, to be amongst the most learned gems, with whom I shared the intellectual connect through the written word. If there were a calendar on my writing pursuits, years would be classified as before the event and after the event. It was after all, an opportunity to meet personally and hear anecdotes from the intellectual fraternity in my city which I would cherish for a long time to come.
Talking of fellow writers, earlier I used to read their columns as and when time permitted, with no fixed pattern. They were just names without any faces. Now after the event it almost became my daily responsibility to read their creative pieces, thereby enriching to the core. Now the faces were connected to the names and thereby the dots were connected.
Being a creature of the reading habit, I now spoke with these luminaries on daily basis over telepathy and rounds of coffee. I then also ruminate over the lingering thoughts that fees like ever- pleasant aftertaste of flavoursome filter coffee. Even though in thoughts for now, I sincerely hope to be able to maintain the social connect in near future.
The possibility exits of physical meets- perhaps over reading sessions, for select works, with the new exclusive, elite group- the idea warms me up instantly. With such meets the possibilities are endless when the great minds I witnessed converge.
The evening, in a way, saw a movement of sorts that stirred a lot of intellectual waves. It is still early to imagine a destination, but I am enjoying the journey.
Even though a smaller one, I feel like a star that broke from its galaxy of even bigger, brighter stars to land faraway in Mumbai. Thanks to the event, I could make the connect back again and return my roots, where I belong. As a distinguished fellow writer, who wears many professionals hats, echoed his feelings, he jokingly quipped on meeting me at the event- “Bambai se aaya mera dost ..”, to which I wish to state that the feeling is mutual, Sir!
THANKYOU!!
KEEP SUPPORTING GUYS!!!
