Jab We Separated

We are distanced from our friends either by physical gaps or by time.

Of the two, geographical distances are somehow bridgeable.

Time is the one we struggle with. At least I do. And the longer we are separated, the further we seem to grow.

You don’t have to be in different time zones to grow remote. Even the same latitude-longitude co-ordinates are often not enough to be connected.

There are stories, films aplenty about people who meet after ages and reconnect as though they were never apart.

I’d like to be like them. And if there’s any reason to see Jab We Met once again, it’ll be for just this.

I spent an entire Sunday afternoon enjoying the antics of Kareena Kapoor (if only she could act better) interspersed by long commercial breaks. It’s a silly film but, if strangers can meet on a train by accident – or by a scriptwriter’s design – and lose each other after they grow so fond of one another only to meet again after nine months (why the symbolic nine I wonder?) perhaps it’ll happen to real people too.

There are so many people I'd like to link up with again... people I miss scattered around the world, colleagues - and former colleagues - in various cities all caught up in their own mad lives. People I'd like to share memories with but can't because the cell phone can be intrusive. And changing status updates twenty times a day on a social networking site isn't my cup of chai.

Time for a sanity break, I guess.

As the chubby little girl in Sound of Music sang, "... the sun has gone to bed and so must I".

Timepass

Today, I may have lost two of the brightest, nicest and most committed colleagues I've worked with.

I'm hoping that my charm will make them change their minds about moving on but it does look like the legendary allure I had is wearing off.

One is a gent who's asking me why I'm still here. The other is a young girl who's wondering how many damsels in distress will I bail out.

And then I recall Piet Bels... (whose image I can't seem to set right by turning it in any clockwise direction!). He was sitting outside Wenger's in Connaught Place last Saturday sketching portraits. A Belgian language teacher who's been visiting India since 1998, Piet lives in Pahargunj and paints to pass away his time and also make a slow buck. that's what I'd like to do someday... only, I don't know how to paint!

And then, on another trip to Bombay, I see this homeless man (whose image is also lopsided!) waking up on the porch of a watch repair shop. The irony of it: he's passing time as well - and his life badly needs repairing.

Makes me wonder whether I'm serving my time in this world in the ideal way.

Update (February 15, 2008):
The charm still works... thank God! At least 50% of it (the right 50%!)... as for the other half, am sorry but I failed. Perhaps he'll change his mind at the nth minute (eternal optimist that I am).

Update 2 (February 22, 2008):
Sunday, February 17th... the nth minute happened! The other half agreed to stay back... the charm - and some other stuff - worked. Phew!

Timing

At a Scenario Planning Workshop in Bangalore held over the last four days...

Case study: list down key 'drivers' that will impact the real-estate industry in India.

One 'driver' suggested by a participant: extra-marital affairs!

And then, the next day, from the driver of the hired car taking us into town in a new Toyota Corolla with no number plates but paper stickers on both front and back windscreens, when asked why he had no number plates: "Timing saar!" (i.e. "no time").

Talk about coincidences...