So I Work At Night

 “So you work at night?” Exclaimed the old lady I met today. People in Kerala are not still familiar with the jobs after sunset. There are a percentage of folks who think work time is always 10am to 5pm. Sleeping after 12 am and waking up late in the morning are many times considered as bad habits especially for females. As a lady, I had to hear comments like you must try for a job at daytime and so on. Interesting thing is that these are said by woman mainly.

If you ask me, I love my job starting from dusk till midnight. I could roam around at daytime and attend functions nearby without wasting leave. I have started reading again as I am free once sun rise.

When I get into buses in the evening, I’d find tired and exhausted travelers way back to their houses. I’ll be fresh with all make-up. Once I reach the newspaper office, time flies. There is no time to admire the color combination that sun create while disappearing or how bright the moon is! Only breaks are ‘canteen hours’ where all will be busy eating and also discussing personal topics.

Once the flow of news stop and the page is done, we’d again have a tea to relax. While we reach back, first edition will be out. After a peep through the paper, we’d get down. Cars would be ready to pick the lady journalists as night is supposed to be a scary time for us to travel.

We would be dropped at our door steps. Those busy streets of the city in the evening will be empty and silent at night except a few beggars curling up in the footpath, huge lorries with heavy goods or some freaky guys dashing off at high speeds in bikes. Many have said they have found prostitutes waiting for ‘customers’ although luckily I haven’t seen. Life would be fun inside pubs and luxury houses but certainly not in streets.

As the car stops at my gate, I would get down and look around closely because it is the only time where I’d see night all alone. Sometimes rain accompanies me till the house. Now it’s a transition time from winter to summer. I could see cats and dogs roaming around. Above all that, the enchanting fragrance of jasmine! Although I am not a great fan of that flower, its aroma makes me crazy now. Before I close my door, I’d stare at the sky to see moon looking lovingly at pole star. Thoughts at night would go wild and emotional. Let me go and have a nap before I start today’s work. 

Valentine’s Day Thoughts

February 14… A day for lovers and advertisers! Yes, I mean it. More than lovers, it is a date for businessmen to introduce new products and sell in the name of love day. I have seen true love in many people’s words. They just admire their lovers blindly. There were success and failures. Still love is a mystery.

There is a college located next to my home. It seems there are some cultural programs today. I could hear claps and sounds of students. I had a life in my college. Sometimes flashbacks won’t leave you ever!

Valentine’s Day was not much popular in my schooldays. However there were a few couples in my class, when I reached 12^th standard. A few of them have ended up in marriage while others broke up.

I still remember two of my classmates running behind two girls with rose flowers on 14th. Four of them belong to my class. There was a guy and girl in our class who fell in love. Both were the heartthrobs of our school. Guy had more fans as he had studied in that school and then only heroine came. Now they are happily married and blessed with a baby girl recently.

Coming to graduation days, there was a guy in our class who tried to propose all girls he saw. It was in those college days, I could see true relationships and pain of break-ups. A couple from my class, who had started their love affair from school days, had to split apart as the girl was forced by her parents to marry another man. This guy couldn’t survive that shock. He became a drunkard and also a part of many political clashes. Once he realized his faults, he had to give up his career and studies. He found another love and married her. But the trials for those political clashes are still going on in courts.

When I watch the video of my college tour, I used to wonder how life has changed. There were many couples in it. Today all I’d hear is ‘the girl is married’! Life and imagination has its limits at times.

Again to Post Graduation days! It was a hi-fi college. Love was a thing to boast. People like me who never found ‘that guy’ was treated like inferiors. Most of the students had more than one lover. Break-ups, new relationships and a few living-together stories were common. I found it terrible and so expect no more descriptions about that college days.

I believe in true love. A relationship that is more than physical or psychological. It must be beyond worldly life. Such ones hardly ever happen!