A little drop of sunshine
September 6, 2010
I’m really bogged down. I have actually crossed all bypasses of the Mumbai’s heartline. From Central to Harbour then finally to Western. And yes, all the work in between. Half Dead!
I enter the office/home on 12th floor. The little room is abuzz! A group of boys is seated near the PC- chatting or doing something on youtube. Prem asks me for tea. I say no, not feeling like. He feels I’m angry about something. Now how to make some thins understood?
I enquire about the progress (about organizing ‘Celebrating Democracy’) and come to know that this group of boys are from nearby colleges and are helping Prem and Waqar in reaching out to colleges. They narrate their adventures. ‘In one college the principal said that they don’t allow private organisations into their domain’, ‘We covered five colleges today’…
A few more enter… Mutual introductions take place- between me and them. Chatting continues.
Waqar enters, dead tired, more than me. I ensue a focused discussion with him. We decide upon our next steps of action. Our buddies in the room also join in.. Slowly the conversation drifts… Response of students and staff to a talk conducted by ANHAD (speaker-Rajat Kapoor), Burqa, Gender, Tirupati (Waqar informs me that the Tirupati laddoo has been patented, 
the laughter shakes my insides), Tommorow’s excursion (Waqar informs his intention ‘I am joining you just to eat all yours tiffins!’), Caste Discrimination and so on… Waqar speaks, and so do I- with the flow of the experienced (don’t read ‘experience’ as age here). But my eyes watch the other youth in the room (includes another woman except me). They have their rawness, but also their passion… I see that the touch of feelings in the opinions they express (which are liberal and progressive)…
Its time to leave. Waqar tells me to stop in for more helpings of conversation.. But work again. And yes, I had also done what I had come for. And I had laughed. Shared and heard. I look out of the French windows. It’s a beautiful scene- a rain dipped sky.
The last time I had come here, it was only me, Waqar and Prem, a PC and a laptop in this room.. Today the room was almost full.. Its growing… I cant help smiling as I leave. And why should I? 
