The Soulful Atom

Long journeys back home.. The bus trudges along every evening through the same smokey highways snaking through lost routes cradled in the lonely cloud-ridden mountains.. The sky full of dark clouds snatching away the sleep which nestled in the eyes and clogged the brain all day through. Haunting and times much craved nostalgia traps the heart in a steely grip and leaves it warmed up in the cold evening wind.. Flights to the past and lands unknown yet familiar.. Some familiar but so untrue, unreal, non-existent.. and some of lost loves and tortured happy memories..

The monsoon, the light drizzle, the soft sunlight when the skies open up after the rain's much awaited war, the intoxicating smell of the dry earth wetted by the wild un-fulfilled romance of the rain.

The city slowly looms into view and brings back the warm senses.. A startlingly welcome sight.
Big stone houses oldest and yet the strongest, carrying with them all the secrets of the long forgotten past, living it everyday and yet experiencing the present..
Standing proudly majestic.
New conceret complexes, menancing and yet spell binding..
Mid-time buildings hanging shabbily in between.. Silently refused recognition..

The noises of the city,
The sight of vehicles,
The presences of people.. all kinds of them..
The lights, some mourning an unpleasant loss or perhaps basking in the glow of love recently made, some dancing around in celebration or in an attempt to forget some painful ancient wound..
The smells.. and the tales..
All so unwanted once upon a time, now gladly welcomed as a part of the self.. all sucked in, in the empty heart..

I love the city at such times, the times of home-coming.. of drinking up the poisonous past and the times of being strong and of carrying on.. The times of losing myself to the city and letting it takes its toll on me..
I love the city at such times.. so discretely and serenly, magnificently and beautifully, cleanly and without much fuss..
Kills the human in me and makes me alive..
Brings me back to life..