The Walk…..
In beauty, may I walk.
All day long, may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
Beautifully I will possess again.
Beautifully birds…
Beautifully joyful birds…
On the trail marked with pollen, may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet, may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
-excerpts from a Navajo prayer
After years of operating out of a tiny campus, the move to the new campus has been a welcome change. The intimate space of the older campus which made knowing and being known to everybody almost inevitable is much missed, and so is the easy access to facilities we all had got habituated to effortlessly. But, after the long anxious and somewhat hopeful wait of the “move”, we finally have a campus to ourselves. Isolated, dusty, full of rubbles and bereft of essential facilities, which have been the hallmark of modern capitalism; nevertheless a home away from home. With all the ups and downs of a new beginning, we have all been a part of this topsy- turvy world and have seen it shape up and come alive gradually. As life has slowly begun to fall in place in our new home, many rituals, habits bloom out to become ‘culture’. One such blooming culture we have all started to settle in is ‘the walk’.
Unspoken and unnoticed, this silent ritual that bonds hearts bolsters smiles, creates gangs, clears bad blood, spread gossips, starts a fight, and ends a fight, all under one black roof.
Yes, the walks… yes, the strides under the stars… yes, the moon bath… yes, the march under LEDs… yes, the path to nowhere… and yes, our little infinity…
Imagine how colourful the canvas would be, if we paint it with all the emotions that are part of the walk. The long lonely ones on a moonless night with only an inky black blanket speckled with millions of sparkly dots above, with headset and your favourite songs. The fun filled goofy ones with your friends and gangstas. That walks with special one, when you can just hold hands and feel the soft breeze on your face and live the dreamy romance. That cracker bursting arguments from left, right and center folks. That hissing noise of gossip mongers. That lonely feeling, when air becomes ice and pricks you with the thoughts of our long-distant loved ones, our families… That cute child who rides bicycles, knowing that father is always behind there to catch before falling… The memories that are created in our head, when we see and feel all of family love, when the whole Prof’s family walks after dinner from mess…
Yes, the canvas would be blistering and colourful that all Palaj peacocks will shut-up meowing, if they see our emotions painted. And all that happens under the dark sky, stroked by our walks, splashed by our voices in the air and most importantly blended by our silence under the stars…
Walk with me! Darling! Walk with me!
There is secret under the stars,
Walk with me! Darling! Walk with me!
To know how hearts blend,
Walk with me! Darling! Walk with me!
When we have spoken until early dawn,
Walk with me! Darling! Walk with me!
Rising sun will melt us into one.
– dinesh
