1. Them.

Why me? What is it that I have done? What about me? ..... she asked herself. *April's* mind in November was taken over by these questions and more as she stormed down Main street, and, the snow kept falling all over her. Before things could really freeze up she walked inside Fuel - a bar on main street in Akron, Ohio.

A tall guy with cowboy boots and a funky hat stared from the corner. A cigar which held itself loosely between his index and middle finger kept burning while the smoke train let itself go in Fuel - the one and only smoking bar in Akron.

Men chugged down beer at pool tables and watched the lakers shoot some hoop. Ladies continued giggling with boys, playing with their hair, leaning against the bar and sipping on cosmopolitans, margaritas and martini's with olives in the triangle shaped glasses.

A glass went flying up, did three-four back flips and landed in her right hand. Put the glass down and reached for a bottle opener from the belt on her low rise dark blue Armani Jeans. She held the bottle in her left hand, bit tilted, grabbed the neck and snaped open the cap. As she poured the beer into the glass she smiled, *Gabi* - the hot bartender of Fuel, entertained - Everyone.

a thought.

Thought/s… how many cross your mind per day? If you were to keep a count of them how would you? Draw lines? Put dots on a paper? Smack yourself? Ahh..

A sun ray poked through our bedroom window to wake me up this morning. I gave in and let ‘it’ splash my face with its warmth. It put a slight frown on my forehead and when I opened my eyes, my eyebrows automatically stretched themselves and a yawn welcomed itself to come out. Not to my surprise the ‘stretch’ was just waiting for its turn, took the opportunity and kicked in. The very next thought in my mind was, “Ahh time to wake up and put all the clothes away properly in the closet. Pick up my new perfume bottles, paint my toe nails, ….. the thoughts were rushing in like passengers rush for a train which only stops for 30 seconds at Dadar station in Bombay.

Once again I looked at the sun ray which had formed a perfect beam, yep! the one which woke me up. You’d think I’d be upset with it and look away, to my astonishment, I looked right into it and found bunch of little particles of dust floating. As they traveled out of the beam they were invisible. It was so nice of the sunbeam to give them an identity. A thought for my thoughts --- “if a face was to be given to them, would they look like these particles? Floating, running in and out, playing hide and seek in my mind?” But again…. That too was just a thought.

Old Friend.

I was part of the school band. We stood in the front facing all the girls who prayed while we played the dhol,drum, and more. I think the purpose of the band was to simply wake the girls up or maybe to hide the ones who were not really singing, but moving their lips.

Why was she not wearing white and blue? The girls without the uniform were to form a seperate line. Shouldn't she be standing in that line? Ah, it was her first day at "my" School. I don't really remember or know where she came from. As everyone stood on the school ground for our morning prayers, along with them she stood towards the back of the ground. Not only she stood, but, she 'stood-out' wearing a purple velvet dress which was long, not long enough to cover her ankels. Perhaps her mother wanted her to show off her anklets. She was short for 5th grade, yet her presence was tall enough to be noticed.

She was fairest of them all with goldnish brown hair, when she laughed really hard her face turned pinkish red, her eyes were light brown with facial features so sharp. Her earlobes were little and attached to the side of her face. Her feet were small with toe nails painted red, like her lips. I wanted to have her earlobes. Really.

I am not sure how we started talking but we became good of friends. Then she left.....Reshma, The new girl at school moved yet again. I wonder where she came from and where she went? Though, her image remains in my mind - Beautiful.

Shivaji Peth

Our house was the biggest one on the street. Three stories with grand balcony. I waited with pony (my dog). She came to pick us up at home. Didi and I ran down the steps and joined the other kids, we walked. It was a 15 minute walk before we reached school. Too close to get there by a rickshaw or bus. We went along with many kids on the street. Good times. Now, when I close my eyes I see white shirts, blue skirts and dresses, red belts and ribbons. Some hair with oil and some with no oil. I was always jelous of the girls with long hair, I too wanted to braid my hair but my mother always kept our hair 'in-style'.

Men standing on the corners, people waiting for the bus to take them to the main part of the city for their jobs, women spritzing water outsdie the main entrance. Girls who no longer went to school put rangoli in the front yard. One grocery store by Dr. Raut's office and maybe 500 yards down the street was Patil Mama's shop. The milk kiosk was so small that only one person could sit inside it, that's where they sold the 'cool' type of milk in those blue bags with air so tight. It said "vaarna" on it. I always wanted to poke a needle and make the milk go "ssssssssss". But I never did it, even once.

Average family ...

looking for random answers....

What is the life of an average family in india... say a mother and a father with a daughter and a son...
how do they send the kids to school?
only pappa works?
what type of school do the kids go to?
what type of things do the parents teach kids?
what kind of tv shows do they watch?
is the girl allowed to have friends who are guys?
what are your thoughts?

Few of my favorites...