Odaiba Travelogue

Well cant believe its ten years already. It seems just like yesterday that a friend of mine had asked for places to visit in Tokyo. I had written to her on possible things to cover over the weekend.
Reading this after a decade it seems a lot of water has flown, but nice to get a glimpse of the good old days :)

Hi ,

            Heard  that you are planning to visit Tokyo this weekend. That’s really nice to hear. I also heard that you are planning to visit asakusa and akihabara. Its really nice to know.

Asakusa : This is a very nice place. There is the famous senshoji temple. The best part I liked about the place is two things. There is a long street lined with shops before the temple where you get to buy all the different trinkets and small things, which you would want to buy. Even the Japanese dolls are cheaper compared to the laox shop in akihabara.

Bargaining is allowed, so it’s more like any roadside small dukan here in India.

The second thing about the temple is the number of pigeons. There are so many of them, there is a small shop that sells corn for a small fee like 50 yens / 100 yens. You can feed the corn to the pigeons. Believe me its really scary and eerie. As soon as they see the corn seeds in your hand, they come by the dozen. Its like they sit on you, eat from your hand, perch on your shoulder. I had like 40/50 pigeons on me eating out of my hands.

            The temple is pretty huge, you will find a lot of people shaking a container and taking a small folded page out of the container and reading them. This is actually prediction or you can say a form of astrology. It says something about the future. If something bad is written they just tie the sheet of paper to the tree within the temple premises as they don’t want bad things to follow them, just another Japanese custom.

I didn’t have the privilege of having someone who could read Japanese to try that. You still can try just for fun.

            So I feel you should buy the camera before anything else. Because as I go about telling you about the different places you will realize how important it is to have a camera just to keep the memoirs.

            Actually there are few places you can visit in Tokyo

1)      Odaiba

2)      Disney Land

3)      Asakusa

4)      Mt Fuji & Hakone

5)      Ginza

6)      Shinjuku

7)      Akihabara

I don’t think you will have the time to visit Disneyland. I am sure you have read what I had written about our visit to Disneyland right. So you already know how special it is.

Akihabara is an electronic lovers paradise. But you might not be that interested about it except for the fact you want to buy your camera. So I will discount that. Mt Fuji and Hakone are very near from your place. So am sure you can plan that over some weekend.

As you have already planned for asakusa I will concentrate on Odaiba. Something, which I have fond memories of, and something that I feel you would also enjoy.

Odaiba isn’t such a beautiful or great place according to Japanese. Its an area built over marshlands reclaimed by the sea. But the innovation of the Japanese has helped make it one of the places to visit in Tokyo.

      It’s a well-planned marketing move if you ask me. There is the most famous rainbow bridge. And they have started a railway line called Yurikamome only for this area.

      You have to start from the shinbashi station to reach odaiba. Shinbashi station is on the same yamanote line which you will take to reach akihabara.

You have to come out of the shinbashi station and ask for the yurikomame station. People will lead you to the left of the station to the new yurikomame station. Due to the weekend there will be lots of people. Please ask for the full day pass ticket. It costs 800 yen for the full day ticket. Using this you can travel on the yurikomame line limitlessly for one day any number of times.

The first stop after shinbashi home yurikamome station will take you near Tokyo tower. Tokyo tower is like one of the visiting spots of Tokyo. It is one of the tallest towers in the world. They have an observatory at the top and you can view Tokyo from the top. If you have already been to the 65^th floor of the landmark towers in yokohoma, you can discount this. The landmark towers is the tallest building in Tokyo and has the fastest lift in the world. They charge 1000 yen for a trip in the fastest list. If you happen to visit our office in yokohoma don’t miss this thing. The lift like covers 67 floors in 38 odd seconds. It’s an experience, which is nice for fond memories.

      I am sending you the link for the places to visit in odaiba, the link is exhaustive enough on the information. I will just give you small details, which the link doesn’t provide. Rather what I liked and for what.

                  The rainbow bridge looks majestic in the night; just stay atleast a little in the evening to have a panoramic view.  One more sure don’t miss thing is the venus fort shopping mall. There is a special thing about the mall. The first and second floor has the ceiling of the floors like as though it’s the sky. So its like the clouds are on top of you, its so well done that its something which stays on in your memories for a long long time. Venus Fort mall is really special, its built on the theme of old Italian/European bylanes. It’s a lovely place please don’t miss that. It’s a place surely I would take someone special and would be reminded of the song, aa chalke tujhe mein leke chalu ek aise gagan ke tale, jahaan gham bhi na ho, aasu bhi na ho bas pyaar hi pyaar pale. The other good thing in this mall is the antique and vintage cars museum. It has a collection of so many olden goldies, its very rare one gets to see so many of them under one roof.

      The next sure thing not to miss is the Toyota city showcase showroom, this is just behind the venus fort. The showroom displays all the latest models of cars. The special thing about this place is you can choose a car for a test ride and drive it in the inhouse test drive lane. Adding to this there is the new environment friendly car which, Toyota has come up with. It’s fun driving the car. The high point about the car is that it lets you control the driving till you don’t commit any mistake; in case you try something crazy the car takes over the controls from you and takes you to the destination.

      Just next to the venus fort is one big giant wheel, it is one of the biggest giant wheels and moves slowly, the view from the top is pretty nice.

                  But again giant wheel is normal right, so the specialty is a few feet away from the giant wheel. Its called hyper shoot and hyper drop. In hypershoot you are allowed to sit in chairs and you are made to wear tight safety belts. Then the fun is that the chair travels high at around 60 kms per hour. It’s a mind blowing experience believe me. There is absolutely nothing below your legs and like you are in the top of the world. In a small split second you travel so high and at such a high speed. It only has to be experienced to be enjoyed.  Hyper drop is exactly the opposite; he first takes you to a certain height and allows a free fall. If you find time try both.

      The other things you shouldn’t miss are the replica of statue of liberty, its on the beach deck. The sony world showroom, its simply amazing and you get to try out the latest home theatre systems in custom designed display zones.

      There is the artificial beach, this is the cheapest beach you get to visit in Tokyo and anything else costs a fortune to go only.

      Actually you can go to asakusa from odaiba by ferry, it’s a nice ride.  I feel you can plan your stay in such a way that you get to visit odaiba, asakusa and ginza so you cover most of the places J

     

Ginza is like the Beverly hills of Tokyo, all the best brands have a shop in one of the malls there. Japanese are the people who took malls a step further. They allow their malls to open to other malls. This way you can enter one mall in the starting of the road and continue till the last mall on the road.

Some of the shops I would advice you to visit are UNIQLO, which is like any of our readymade clothes chains. The clothes here are pretty good, UNIQLO stands for unique clothing and I loved the finishes for the clothes there.

                  Ginza is also the house of the shops for pearls. There are one or two shops where you get the Japanese pearls, they are pretty expensive for synthesized pearls. But you can have a look I feel. But do visit the Dotour in ginza, it’s a coffee shop in one corner of a major crossing. Its in a building which is round it shape, so you get to sit on the top floor and watch at the giant tv screen on the diagonally opposite building, see the mad rush of people at the crossing sitting at ease in the coffee shop.

      I came across these links one which will give you the necessary information and other some pics about the place. Please do go through them.

http://www3.kiy.jp/~tourj/tokyo/d-1.html

http://www.sugihara.com/Odaiba/

                        Look at the related links section in the second link to explore more.

Sorry I am short for time to write everything, there are lots of small things I wanted to tell but am not able to put across in short notice. Hope you get to have fun this weekend.

Look forward to catch up with your exciting experience next week J.

Fuji-San

There is one memory of Japan which stays on in the mind after all these years. The sight of Mt Fuji

I have seen it in all seasons during my many visits to Japan. As a dear friend of mine used to describe, it is of course "The Perfect Cone"

       It was during one of the busiest schedule in my Tokyo visit. We were in the implementation phase of a project. Days were longer in office, we used to leave in time for the last train (12 pm) and reach our apartment well into the next day. We were a team of five people then working in the client’s office. Project work was like a perfect example of Murphy's Law. We were dousing more fires on a daily basis than ever before. The morale in the team was dipping and the shoulders were dropping and people were getting burnt out. 

  It was like everyone wanted a small win, a small victory so that one could motivate the team for better days at work. 

         It was around this time that Preetam (our engagement manager @ that time) brought up climbing Mt Fuji. He did point out that it would be a costly affair. Not a lot of guys were interested in climbing a dormant volcano. I had always wanted to climb Mt Fuji, it was one of the items on my bucket list. I was always curious on how the crater would be like on top of the volcanic mountain. I had read a lot about dormant volcanoes and a few friends of mine had climbed Mt Kilimanjaro. I was up for the challenge right away. It was already end of August and it was pretty much the last weekend where we could get to try climbing Mt Fuji.

              I had read that meteorological condition of Mt Fuji was similar to that of Himalayas, hence we had to be well prepared and carry the right equipment.  We went shopping in Shinjuku and picked up Gale wind jackets and climbing gear. North face jackets and gloves did burn a big hole in our pocket.

Inoue San and Hemanth from our team agreed to join us.  Preetham convinced our sales guy Shimomura san and hr Sreevishnu to join. So finally Me, Preetham, Preetham's wife, Hemanth, Inoue San, Shimomura san and Vishnu decided to climb Mt Fuji.

             We selected the subhashiri route ( http://www.fujiyama-navi.jp/fujitozan/route/page/subashiri/lang/en/). One thing was that this was one of the most scenic route and this ensured we would get down faster on the sand slope. 

            We started on a bright sunny Saturday morning and reached subashiri 5th station.

Our trail was approximately around 7.8 kms of climb to the summit and would normally take 6.5 hours. We decided to acclimatize for a few hours and rest in 6th or 7 station and climb in the night to reach the summit well in advance for sunrise. 

                         We started the ascent in the evening and after a couple of hours stopped in one of the huts. We got talking while enjoying the meso soup. Preetham's wife and I had a lot in common. She was part of the blue cross and had participated in tiger census in Jim Corbett. We ventured from treks to climbing and started discussing on Himalayas and base camp. In such company last thing we get to do is sleep :). She was very well versed in all these and she was questioning on if I had viewed the glacier, what wild animals we have spotted during the treks etc. 

         Finally we thought we need to sleep till 12 pm and then resume the climb. When we decided to resume Shimomura san told me that Preetham and his wife would return to the base as Preetham's wife was feeling nauseated and it might be altitude sickness. 

                       Climbing needs a lot of stamina and it’s better to not attempt it in case we are not in the best of health. So we started on the trail and reached the seventh station. Only way for us to understand it was the torii gates. From the seventh station as we climbed our speed reduced. We were panting after a few feet and were taking a lot of breaks. We decided to break into groups of two and climb together as it was getting difficult with multiple breaks. After passing the old seventh and 

eighth stations the trail became far more steeper. When I reached the 8.5 station I came across the last hut before the summit. Me and Inoue san had meso soup and it tasted like elixir. 

The hardest part of the trail was in front of us from 9th station to summit. Finally at around 5 am we reached the summit. We both crashed into a corner, tired, flustered and trying to get some air. We noticed that Shimomura san was the first to reach and he waved from afar. I wanted to get some breadth and said let’s wait for the sunrise. Then after the hard part of climbing was over, my mind was relieved, calm and happy to have one item off the bucket list. Curiosity to look at the crater was very much there but wanted to watch the sunrise as a lot of people had told me it’s a sight by itself.

There it was the Sun finally at around 5.35 am in the morning. 

It was the moment a lot of us were waiting for since quite a while.

The sight of the golden sun, slowly rising on the horizon was enough to dispel the longing and quell the tiredness.

Looking at the joy emanating from the people's faces at the onset of the sun. Sun surely does rise in the east. The cries of Sugoi, the clapping of the hands and couples huddled together mesmerized at the beauty of the sun, lost in thought, lost in the moment, lost in one another....

All I could remember is our song. I searched for that song in my iPod and was lost in it for a while.

Such beautiful lyrics... 

Nee Amrithadhare Koti Januma Jotegaati

Nee Amrithadhare Ehaku paraku Sangaati

Nee Illavadare Naa Hege Baalali

Nenapideye Modala Kavana

Nenapideye Modala Payana

Nenapideye Modala Dinada 

Bharavaseya Aasare

Nee Illavadare Naa Hege Baalali

All I wanted at that moment of loneliness was for a witness in life. It is not enough that I experience the beauty of nature, the sense of accomplishment, the joy of simple things. I wanted someone to share this happiness with. Memories will stay on, but shared memories have a stronger bonding I feel.

Then I remembered her wish list, 

·        most important thing for me in life she had said is patience

·        second most important thing is confidence

·        third most important thing is trust and comfort

·        fourth most important thing is sense of humor

She liked someone who can lead, decide and take care of her, someone who knows her in and out and is a witness for her life, with whom she does not feel alien, with whom she need not think twice to share, with whom she feels like a person without any mask, the person who makes her feel special and with whom she would give her life to be with.

When she had talked about witness for life, I had never understood the realm of it. Now it made some sense, the profoundness of that hit me there looking at the folks in joy. There the world became so small, I was on top of Mt Fuji, after having realized a long lost dream and after all that hard work, mind still thought of her. All I could do is sigh and answer Inoue san who had a long list of questions

Now with the sunrise done, it was about getting down safely.

 We went around the crater then started our descent. The run down the slope was fun. I never had in my dreams thought that there would be volcanic sand. As I tried put my foot down it would sink into the ground and as I ran down it was messing with my shoes. The morning was beautiful and I loved the feeling of being over the clouds and passing through them. 

         Then at a point during the descent, I was mesmerized with what I saw. A dreamy landscape wherein I was unable to differentiate where the sky ends and ground begins. It was for only a few seconds it felt so. But it was the most beautiful sight in this small life. 

After I reached the train station, I waited for the rest to join on the journey back to Tokyo.

There behind us was the Mt Fuji, something which was unconquered all these years. Now there was a sense of confidence, a feeling of conquering my own mind for a while, fighting against fatigue.

Little did I realize that this wouldn’t be the last visit to Mt Fuji.

A well-known Japanese saying suggests that anybody would be a fool not to climb Mount Fuji once but a fool to do so twice.

And I guess I had to prove I was a fool after all :)

savi nenapugalu

beedu bittide yenna manadali ninna savi nenapu

ninna mungurala sompu, ninna mayya kampu

ninna madhura maatu, ninna aavegada holapu

ninna aalinganada bisipu, ninna  snehada tampu

ninna vayyarada sobagu, ninna nageya honalu

ninna husigopada hata, ninna maarmika nota

ninna kopada kaata, ninna smashana mouna

ninna nitya hosatana ninna aadamya chetana 

ninna nittisura vedane, ninna utsukateya harate

balladdu yeshtu ninnu ariyalu iruvudu mattastu

alivu ulivina tanaka beku nanage ninnaya savi nenapu

yenu iddarenu, yenu bittarenu beku ninna nenapu saaladu ninna nenapu

Remember this place ?!!!

Was going through some old emails and came across an email from an old friend of mine.
I don't know how I had missed replying to it. Guess it was lost in the long list of mails to read and respond.

I chuckled to myself as I remembered I am no different from a close friend who is infamous for always having a huge list of unread emails
in his inbox running easily to a decade at any given point of time.

The subject of the email was just "Remember this Place" and content was a photograph.
Gosh how could someone forget such a beautiful place.

I remembered her nick name as soon as I saw her email, oh mail from Japan.

The email opened the box of memories associated with the place. Once in a while we come across such things which work as a trigger, bring out
sweet memories from the so often closed chapters of our life. A small trigger is all that is needed to go back in time. Re-experience the place,
the sweet memories, recollect folks who were in the same journey with us and end up smiling at ourselves.


Travelling provides this gift which I love, of clinging onto beautiful memories. Had I not traveled, I would have surely missed out on all these beautiful experiences.

As I sat down to reply  I couldn't write much as I was overwhelmed with what to write after all these years.

The mail reminded me of her fetish for potato, love for cheesecake. The long conversations over coffee at Dotour, Our visits all over japan.

The dreams we discussed, the goals we had set for ourselves.


Those days we were working onsite for a project in Tokyo and she once over lunch made the mistake of talking
about act of destiny in her life, as to how she had a nick name "Japan" because of her hair cut and the shape of her nose as a kid,.
I caught onto that and used to always call her as Japan which would irritate her no end.

Her thoughts or belief of destiny being the reason for everything in life is something I have heard many times from different people.
She was correlating that to her visit to Japan. Funny how some times lot of things fall in place and make us ponder if everything was destined to be that way.


   I was trying to recollect that exact day and could remember almost everything about that day.

It is very difficult to recollect what we feel for a person after a long time. Felt like mailing her that

hmm remember a shy beautiful girl mesmerized by the random change in the waterfall
change of her mood, her facial expressions...  as though they were reflecting the change in pace, extravagance, reach, beauty, rush and the noise of running water
Saw a glimpse of beauty so natural that one felt one with nature...
The camera helped me look at her face from close quarters though standing far
It served as a tool to try to look into those large eyes where any soul can get lost into nowhere...
now I remember,, all the time, all the thoughts....
camera can only capture a still moment isn't it?...
the aura is always fresh in memories...
with that glimpse of the beautiful her
the work, the time, the midnight burning oil
all seemed worthwhile, suddenly life was not just a long list of complaints and  all seemed to happen for an unforeseen reason
just gods way of giving an opportunity for enjoying life being around a person who loves life...
but for whom or her presence lots of things aren't so memorable about Japan....


But its just that her mail id is no longer valid, have no idea what she is up to these days....
Am sure some things are just best left for memories, for they might lose significance in reality

But what her mail has done is rekindle the memories of Japan and am I glad and thankful for that....

In Search of A Perfect Gift

       I still remember the first day I gave her flowers. I had thought for a long time before giving her any flowers. Rose would be so predictable and normal I thought, Rose anyways never had any special fragrance. I wanted to gift her something, which was chaste, pure as her heart. Something that gave a fragrance everyone would wish. So after checking out a lot of flowers I decided on gardenia. It was white, so fragrant, so lovely, and so pure at the same time it was a symbol of unspoken love. As I have always believed, it’s very difficult to quantify what you feel into any form of expression, writing or talking can only express a part of the feeling and not in the whole. So I knew that knowing how smart she was that she would appreciate a token, which was symbolic of unspoken love. I had always thought I could predict her thinking. I was thinking that in her I had found a soul mate, someone who would think along the same lines. It was only after I gave her the flowers did I understand she is too smart and thinks very differently from others. It is one of the reasons why I like her so much. She simply said, “You have still not overcome the fear of rejection have you?”

I was surprised for a while, did not know what she was saying. Its only after I discussed with her for a while did it strike that she felt that by not giving red roses, which signify passion and love, by choosing to give gardenia she felt I was trying to cover up my fear of rejection. I was smiling, was it necessary to follow what the world does, and was it necessary to always buy red roses. Where is the question of rejection, anyways once if someone accepts a rose that does mean you are accepted?  It is funny how sometimes we think something but others read it some other way. All I thought when I chose gardenia was something else and her thought when she received the same was almost exactly the opposite. Given such differences of thought, isn’t it that much difficult to choose a gift.

         Her birthday is around and I have always wanted to buy something for her. Just as a token of love. The best deserve only the best I felt. That is when I realized its very difficult to buy something nice for someone special,

One starts thinking of a perfect gift, but once we start to ponder over what would be nice everything tends to be tad too simple. We hold the loved ones on such a pedestal that nothing normal tends to feel good, you want to buy a gift which is extra ordinary, a gift that will stand out from the rest. Something the person would remember you with, something, which would help her relate you with. A gift forms something more than just another item, something which is above the normal.

So started my thought process as what would be a good buy. It’s very easy to feel to buy something, very difficult to buy something. It is never the question of enough money, it is the taste and the thought behind the gift which is rare. There is nothing like hitting on the right gift for the right moment for the right person at the right price. For me as money was not a criterion one of the small things coming in the way of buying the gift was not an issue. But deciding on what she would love to have was a very difficult one. I thought whilst I bought a gift for her its essential I write down my thoughts and the gifts which I thought were not up to the mark for her. Its always essential to capture the thoughts I felt. It is very easy to feel happy when someone likes a gift. It is at the same time essential for that person to know what all went through one’s mind before selecting a gift for her.

          I had always thought that its very easy to buy a gift for a girl. There are so many options. Its as easy as going and picking up something off the shelf.  First in the list were cosmetics. She was not much an admirer of cosmetics, though picking up cosmetics was not as easy as I had thought, it was very difficult to pick up the right shade of lipsticks, lip gloss, eye liner, foundation, mascara from the enormous amount of choice available.

I thought I will buy earrings for her, but she likes the best diamonds ;), and earrings were more like an accessory and it was too difficult to think of which can go with any dress.

I thought I will buy something in pearls, but no pearl can match her pearly smile, and again pearls would mean buying multiple things in pearls, which was a tad too confusing.

I thought I will buy something in solitaire diamonds for her but she is worth more than just a solitaire diamond, though diamonds are the woman’s best friend, it will also come across as something too expensive. Every guy thinks he is making a statement by buying something very expensive, but I knew my friend well enough to say that expensive things didn’t imply importance, she was more of a heart over mind person, someone who likes a lot of simple things over one expensive thing.

I thought I would buy some kinky stuff; one thought of losing her friendship put a full stop to it,

I thought I will buy cool zany stuff for her, but she always wears something simple but elegant

I thought I will buy a watch for her, but she already has a lot of watches and this wouldn’t be something she would treasure that much

I thought I will buy clothes, but I was sure I would be a mess at it

I thought I will buy a vanity bag or a wallet, but I didn’t know if she liked them

I thought I will buy some electronic stuff, but again they have such a small lifetime

I thought I will buy some soft toys, but again soft toys are for people who live in dreams, not for someone like her who is a dream girl for people like me.

I thought I will buy her a doll, something whose dress sense and beauty will touch the little girl in her, I thought at least that would appease the child in her. But again knowing her I thought a doll would just bring the child out in her, but not bring her happiness for a long time.

I thought I will buy a shawl for her that was something that she could use as an accessory with any dress of her choice, but again winter was still a long way away. I wanted to buy something that could be used across seasons.

I wanted to buy something that she would use at home, say like a lamp shade but there wouldn’t be a guarantee she would feel anything about the gift, as it would be just another thing which would be placed somewhere in the house

I thought I will buy her anything she aspires for, but she never uttered a word

I thought I would buy a perfume; as it would ensure that she felt special about herself, what best than giving someone a feeling of a high thanks to the aroma around herself.

All I wanted finally was her to be happy with whatever I give, finally it was happiness that counted, not the money, not the grandeur, not the feel, not the effect, but the sense of pure joy.

By now I had ended up getting into confusion or a dilemma as to what to buy.

It was as though I hardly knew anything she liked, I just wanted to talk to her and tell her that whenever she is around a guy who is dumb like me, who never reads inferences who thinks he knows everything about her, but when it comes to the crux understands how much less he knows of her, so I wanted to ask her to please do give the humble soul (the poor me) a bit of her time, so that I do not jumble up the next time and hopefully gets things right.

I may not exactly be a great person, I am no saint either, still there is something about her which keeps one engrossed, she is someone anyone is normally attracted to, but more than the attraction its her friendship which is valuable, As friendship is the basis for any continuity in relationship, as they say any relationship not built on the fundamentals of friendship cant see the day.

          They say only those who have lost something in life can appreciate the importance of having anything special in life. I just remember the ghazal

 “Jag ne cheena mujse mujhe jo bhi laga pyaara…”

"always life took away from me whatever I happened to like"

          So all I want is to give her a gift that brings out the joy in her. I wish to see that innocent smile, that blush in the face which signifies the happiness of knowing that someone has only accepted her for what she is. Though I know once the feeling of gratitude and happiness sinks in she will be back with a strong question as to why this gratitude and acceptance took so long in coming?

        I love to be different from the normal as I am a great fan of fido dido who says “normal is boring”

Romancing the rain.....

          Why does rain always bring with it a range of emotions which exist in the subconscious? How does rain help us scuttle ourselves out of our inhibitions? Why does nature have such a forbearing on us? Why do we feel relaxed and allow our basic instincts to exalt from their dormancy at the onset of the monsoon?

Does rain actually instill/repose in us the confidence to break out from the shambles and fortifications we build in our mind? How can something hold sway of our innate feelings to such an extent?

    We had planned to meet in the evening that day. It was raining so profusely by evening that it was almost sure we would be shelving the plan. On the way home the rain subsided. Though I was too tired and just wanted to go home and hit the bed, I felt it might be good to meet up after all. Life is so short and life does not give many chances. We always keep dodging things we like for lack of time and reasons such as weather etc. Fun I felt is with taking the chances.  

       As always, with her around time has a habit of passing by without offering a chance for me to realize how time was spent. It started to rain as we were walking towards the coffee shop. As she held the umbrella and we walked close to each other, both of us were trying to evade the drops of rain. In our effort to avoid the droplets we brought ourselves much closer to each other. Both the faces were just next to each other, eyes looking out for obstructions on the way as well as the sudden proximity of two warm bodies. Every touch here and a brush there, bringing out sensations in each previously not experienced.

The rain just being another reason for the hungry mind to delve and experience the sensual happiness on a mental plane which the bodies then take forward Internally happy externally putting on a facade of shyness. Each one’s eye checking the other out, both wanting to take the new found comfort to the next level yet not knowing how to communicate the same to the significant other.

     A mental state of happiness which the mind wants to linger for a while more, each cursing the rain, blaming the rain yet not wanting it to stop

Smile of happiness, blush on the face, panting of breadths, thanks to the anxiety about what will come next, we walked fast towards the destination, as to maybe understand the intent that is difficult to comprehend when one is walking next to each other.

    The rain only got heavier so as to reflect the weight of the deliberations of our mind. We suddenly realized we were in the middle of an unknown street which was completely desolate and found shelter under a garage. Though we folded the umbrella we realized that the parapet wall which was shielding the rain from us was not able to completely cover us from the rain.

                    

As we were trying to come to terms with the surroundings, she untied her hair pushed all the errant strands of hair in place and tried to dry her hair. The temporary shelter from the rain let us draw some breadth and look at each other. Rain has a way of adding novelty to beauty. Tiny drops of rain were settled in her hair as though beads of pearl were set in her braid. Tiny drops on the forehead were as though they were drops of sweat lining her forehead to signify that she just experienced the epitome of pleasure. With a few drops settled on her cheek her face already pink had a glow and felt like a soft rose in the morning with a few dew drops on it. Her lips were quivering, courtesy the cold breeze and the fast paced walk or due to the sudden moment of privacy. We were only on a cross road parallel to one of the busiest roads in Bangalore and here in the rain was a picturesque setting of a long winding road with hardly any soul, we were at ease and relishing the moment of anonymity in the midst of hustle n bustle.

                That moment is something which is made for memories, the setting was there, the rain had mellowed down and the moment was forbearing on us. Eyes were busy running all over the other and hands just wanted the firm grip of the other just to signify the bonding, the amazing trust we repose in each other and the inherent craving we have for each other. It was as if we were destined to be with each other. We both who can talk all the time were so silent as if there was no need to speak to communicate what we felt. At one level we came to realize even silence communicates in its own sweet way.

The dim street light accentuated her beauty to a large extent, she looked far more beautiful, charming and lovely in that dim setting. It was as if nature had taken on its part the effort to create a lovely setting. One would be moved to just kiss her lovely lips and it looked as inviting as ever. At the thought of the impending pleasure as one approached her, one could almost listen to her heart beat as close as one can hear his/her own heart beating faster than normal.

That is when it dawned that even in that wet and rainy setting, the lips went dry anxious of what is about

to occur. The lips were so stuck to one another that they wouldn't budge. 

When one tried to look at her, it was clear that she had already closed her eyes and appeared like an angel who had come down from heaven. In the moonlit night, there was no need to search for the moon as her face was as resplendent as any expression of joy can ever be. In the contours and expressions on her face was a slight smile signifying that it was the only place where any joy could be found.

            Seeing such happiness is an experience by itself.  It was at this moment that the rain got heavier in the background so as to signify that it is the rain that is enhancing the romance.

That said don't we all Romance the Rain?

Pangs of Seperation

Hmm I sit here so far and away from you, thousands of miles and four hrs ahead of you w.r.t GMT like someone said

"Solitude impregnates creativity, and creativity gives birth to solitude."

When I said I was thinking of you a learned friend here said "Love never makes a man perfect, only the creative man who is always roaming behind perfection, accepts feminine love as the final guarantee of his own perfection." so dont tell me that you are in love as love is not real but just an illusion

But I begged to differ, how can he understand the wails of a lover in separation and then I quoted from what I had read  "unless reality numbs your heart and mind, romanticism cannot arise; such a romanticism is my destination"  and due to this distance my love is only getting stronger.

As it used to happen in bangalore it happens here, that thoughts inevitably start somewhere and come to an end with you my love.

I hear your voice, see your smile, smell the perfume, feel your hair on my cheek, feel your tears still dampening my shoulders. The passion of your words rushes down on me like the jog falls, makes me gape for words, I feel the touch of your hand resting assuredly in mine. Then thinking of you suddenly my world becomes very small, very passionate, very romantic. I forget all other sorrows as this happiness engulfs me, removing any loneliness from this solitary existence! I always imagine you with me -- now here sitting at my desk, babbling and giggling about some nonsensical thing, always you are in the front. You would be looking down at me and me looking up at your face. I just want to rush to bangalore for only one reason, to see your eyes for one last time and to feel your smile for one last time. How I wish I could do that.

In these cold blazing winds out here, I miss you whenever a cold blaze just passes and sends a shiver up my spine.

                I am so lost in thinking of you that I stand on the wrong side i.e, to the right on the escalators, someone suddenly interrupts with sumimasen and then I realise oh and move to the left to make way for those who wish to go ahead. Every girl who sees me here nods her head in unision saying boy!! this guy seems so lost in love.

                Yesterday I saw some small japanese girls dressed in kimono the traditional japanese dress, I remembered how you had struggled when you wore a saree and a smile came on my face.Wearing a sari is an art and I smiled as I remembered you never mastered it.

Last mail you said, you observe so much of me, write to me about a lot of things which I never feel you knew about me, they say "Travel lends the observing soul, a passage into one's own feelings and thoughts." And at such a time, if there is some thing, as deeply rooted in each nerve and cell of one's body and mind as you are to me; then it is just not difficult to 'feel' and 'sense' what could be happening. What is it that you say between lines, that you just 'write arbitrarily'? 

Hmm I miss having mochachinos with you at coffeeday. I am sure once while reading this mail as of now your hands would be moving on your hair, you will remove the hair from the plait and then try to put the hair in order using your hands and then tie the plait around it. You look so beautiful when you do that. I am also sure you have a dash of bright color on your lips, eyeliner to accentuate your big eyes, an off white salwar kameez neatly tailored and shoes to match. Once you finish this letter you will call on a few close girl friends, meet up at the coffee day.

                You will start a wayward conversation to start of with and then talk about how hopelessly and madly I am in love with you. All your friends will nod. As always you can never sit still, your legs will be dancing to some music and you will say like an enlightened soul. Som is erratic right, I mean not erratic as in erratic but so loony in love with me. Every friend of yours will nod in affirmation.

                                You will come back happy than ever and try to write a reply to this mail. Suddenly it strikes you that yes all the while I wasnt around and a gush of tears offload from your beautiful eyes. I feel like kicking myself as I am not around to shoulder you then.

Dont worry now here we are living on hope that human beings can walk this journey of life together, and that the power of Love, as Erich Segal put it, is testimony to the fact that dreams need not die -- that faith, hope, and promise still live in this age of anxiety 

I want to sign off with a song from beatles, one of our favourites 

John lennon was a great writer you will agree with me now ;)

As he said

"We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it..." John Lennon

Love is real, real is love

Love is feeling, feeling love

Love is wanting to be loved

Love is touch,touch is love

Love is reaching,reaching love

Love is asking to be loved

Love is you,You and me

Love is knowing,We can be

Love is free,free is love

Love is living, living love

Love is needing to be loved

Now love is knowing we can be isnt it ??