Do you know him?

staring into the world outside, I wonder, originally uploaded by ConfusedSam.

The safe confines no longer exist, nor do the safe passage that infused a sense of security in him. Looking back perhaps they never did, just a faint glimmer of them as if a mirage. Yet these castles in air, if one may call them so, allowed him to dream, to hope, to live perhaps. A journey through various landscapes, with different people, through punishment n redemption, through love n hate has brought him far. The boundaries of his world n the real world are fading into oblivion. Standing amongst people rushing to their business, a strange calm envelopes through closed eyes carrying him to a different world... a familiar one. Noise, dust, honks, street hawkers, street urchins, oppressive heat - its all so familiar. As he drifts through this world, he sees a mother seeing off her child at school, a father buying his kid's favourite toy, gets a whiff of the spices and trails of music floating down the corridor. He hears the soft lashes of the river against the boat as the boatman pulls at the oars with the sun setting over the horizon and the cantilever giant being coloured in the hues of the sunset sky. A vibration breaks the reverie. Its quiet again around him. The cars move silently, people talk softly, the air is 'cleaner', the life is 'good'. He sighs at the state of affairs, Looks upwards, higher still till he sees the sky and then walks through those glass doors. He sold everything... everything to be trapped in the cage of steel, concrete and glass.

Meet the man who sold his world.

Do you know him?

London Eye

London Eye, originally uploaded by ConfusedSam.

In the chequered landscape of London, with the happening of the past weighing down heavily on everyone, with the UK economy having started to recover, the future seems unpredictable. All well laid plans have gone astray, chances once seemingly correct seemed to have been wronged, the wisest have erred, the mavericks have calmed, the teacher has become a student, the student no longer carefree, a dull calm envelopes the mind, the devil runs free in the thoughts... it seems everyone is still staring... into the eye.. the eye of a storm.

Transport in London

The Tube, originally uploaded by ConfusedSam.

There are times I really wonder how life would have been for London without the ever present London Underground or the Tube. The strike a month paralysed the city for 2 days, with people commuting by bus and national rail. A journey of 45 minutes took 2 hours. Now, if one was smart one could cut down on the time by taking a seemingly longer route. It called for very smart and efficient planning. It was on the second day that I had to see my father off at Victoria on board the Gatwick bound train for his flight to India. The journey promised to be arduous and yet it was smooth in the end, with least/no hassles and us making it to Victoria in 75 min, nearly 30 minutes before our estimated time of arrival. And that made me appreciate the traffic system in London. something was always working. Always!!!