Ready-Set-ROCk!

I was out this morning. The weather was cool, the previous night’s downpour reduced to a light shower but with a promise of more rains through the course of the day. Some may find such a day gloomy, but for me it just works wonders. The slight drop in temperature adds to the stretch of my smile.

I was waiting for an acquaintance outside a shopping centre in one of the many housing complexes that have cropped up in not more than a span of merely five to six years (that’s how long I’ve been in Thane). To guide your imagination better, just imagine a line of shops extending to a distance of about 30 metres. At 9.00 am, only one or two of these were open for the day’s business. The rest were shuttered fast, awaiting the appearance of their respective owners.

One such utterly inconspicuous store stood just in my line of sight. Its billboard introduced me to “Dolly Furnitures”. And, sheltering below the tin roof outside were seven jet-setting youngsters. They were adorned in the hues of adolescence – tees, jeans and attitude.

With nothing more interesting to occupy myself, I prayed that the minutes moved faster. You would agree, waiting is not a very pleasurable activity, neither intellectually stimulating nor fun by any means. (There may be some who may wish to dissuade me from this line of thought, with their poetic notions of a lover prancing about Coffee Day’s, wishing his/her counterpart arrives. There is a sense of beauty in that, one might argue. But Messrs and Madams, that is besides my point.)

Initially, this swish set of collegians interested me none too much. I simply presumed they were thronging the place after or before some “classes” just as ants would, around a picnic hamper. I let my eyes wander so as to take in some more sights and sounds. Just then, my eyeballs did a double-take. Well, what I saw was a party-of-sorts in progress amidst this huddled-bunch. Closer inspection revealed a birthday cake and a few other knickknacks to munch and glug!!!

Pictures were being clicked. Fingers dug into the creamy layers of the cake and smiles played on all the youthful faces. Who would have thought of something like this in a place like that? But the enthusiasm of the scene seemed to belittle this matter of concern.

It hardly matters. Whether the footpath, Mumbai’s suburban rather-packed station or one of the Taj Hotels… the perfect ingredients for a perfect time (yea yea, I mean rocking time) are simply a bunch of loving friends. What more can one ask for?

Most of us would agree to that.
(As for the birthday girl and her pals... Long live the spirit and god bless them all.)