My Profound Thoughts

I woke up this morning, having seen a weird dream. With the weirdest part where in the flight landed in the water body beside the road I was walking by. I could not focus whether it was a river or lake, because my eyes were on the plane. Though I was awake from my actual sleep, I was still lost. I did my daily chores so habitually as I do every day. I needed some cold water on my head to completely wake me up. So, I straight stepped into the shower.

After a lovely shower, I prepared my “Indian cuppa tea” and sat in front of my laptop thinking of my first assignment on “public watching”. To enlighten my soul, I had YouTube on with an Ilaiyaraaja soundtrack on the background. Funny thing is I do not understand Tamil, but I love this song for some reason. Suddenly I felt I cannot write anymore.  I think I need a little bit of motivation today. I cannot give up so easily.

It is a bright morning out there. I just stood up from my current position and kneeled on the couch facing to the window. The best position to watch everything around me, the one I recently adopted since the lock-down started. Like every day, the grey taxi car is parked off road opposite to my house. Looks like the driver, who I refer to as ‘the old man’, has not been to work since the lock down started.

We always talked about the way he parked his car, not an inch forward or backward. I always come out of my driveway reversing and this licensed hackney carriage is my daily reference point on where to stop before I change gear to drive forward. No matter how much space is left in front of it or behind, it stays in its place.

Few times I have noticed the pair of eyes that stare at me from the first-floor flat window, opposite my house when I drive out of my driveway. Though far away for me to really see it, I could sense the doubt in those eyes in my driving skills. Probably because of the new driver sign, which is still sticking on my little car, but whenever I see those eyes watching me, my lips curl up, with a naughty thought in heart, “Oh dear, am under constant surveillance.”

A few dog walkers passed by and a few cars. Not many people I saw. So naturally my gaze shifted to other things around. I suddenly remembered what my friend told me the other day, which truly made me laugh. She said, “when you look outside, you see dandelions, I see how bad my lawn looks like and worry about sorting it out.” I realized my lawn needs sorting badly too. But what to do, sadly I do not have the tools or the will myself to do it. Sooner rather than later I need to find a skilled person to help me with this.

My bushy rose plant has slowly started to have new leaves and buds. I cannot really wait to see it flowering. The Red Valerian, which was in the right-hand side, bloomed in its glory. And the Ivy plant of course need a real cutting and shaping so it will not invade our space in the home. With the thought of my garden needing a desperate sorting out, I realigned my sight again to the road in front of me.

I could see the significant decrease in the number of cars parked out in the road as compared to the beginning of the lockdown. Now that the restrictions have eased off a bit, to me it seems like people are not scared anymore or most probably fed up staying home so long that they started to enjoy the little freedom they attained for now. But I do not know why it feels like the silence before the storm.

I think I should not think any further, I should not leave my thoughts unrestrained and wild like this. It is nearly time for lunch. Usually, I cannot sleep if I am hungry, now it seems I cannot think straight because of the same. For me to complete my assignment I think I should first satisfy my hunger and then restart again.

~Chinchu Gibu