#MetroDiary 45: Creating a World of One's Own

Metro compartments are often too full! Too many people are there. People  talking about too many things and too loudly at times. However you can almost always see people who create a world of their own. You will catch hold of the woman lost in her thoughts as she looks out of the door-glass. She was lost even when she got up. Almost said out loud, "Leave me alone with my thoughts. I Like their company more than yours!" I loved her tight bun and her gait. She stood like a warrior. "May you always win!", I wanted to say. 

Early in the morning a newly wed girl creates a world of her own with her mother on the other side of the phone. The girl was beaming with pride. "I was ready to cook but he said, let it be! So I just kneaded some flour, smoked the brinjal, and made some chutney!", she smiled wide and I guessed her mother approved this. However, at this point, I almost asked what else is considered cooking, but she paid no attention to my inquisitive face and continued. "No mom! I can not cook bottle gourd. He does not like it. I have to then make kofta, every time. He does not like okra too. Only if I can make kurkure bhindi!" I thought to myself as the summer is  fast approaching, this new marriage is going to hit the hurdle of the kitchen! Kitchen will soon run out of viable ideas as long stay in the kitchen is going to be unviable. Poor girl! May her world with her mom sustains her through the hot and long days!

Two boys on the other hand got two seats side by side in a overcrowded compartment and their joy knew no bound! It was their lucky day! They were engrossed in one mobile as the world passed by! The metro moved through Okhla, Jasola, Kalindi Kunj. I wanted to call them to look out of the window when the metro crossed the bridge over Yamuna but, I believe no one should be disturbed when they are in their own world. Their smiles said it all. It was their exclusive world. You, and I do not matter! I stood there with a big bag as the evening sun fell on them from the window but time did not matter. There was no sundown in their world. 

One of the best ways of surviving the long metro ride is to create a world of your own. And couples do it the best. The Delhiwalla, Mayank Austen Soofi often captures that world! I am never as good. I get entangled in the transactions between them. The fingers. The gaze. The smiles. The conversations. The other day, when I saw a couple constantly giggling at their own jokes and saw the man getting up and making hilarious poses for the woman, I tried guessing what must had been the subject! I could not hear them. Were they a couple from the world of theatre? Were they practicing some scene? What happened was an imaginative play for sure. However, two adults played it, instead of two kids. As the man stood using the door as his back-rest and lifted one of his legs so that the foot touches the door, and lifted his head towards the ceiling, the woman went on to mock-clap! Although child psychologists make us count the benefit of imaginative role-play among 4 year olds, looking at their happy faces, I wanted to recommend imaginative play to all adults! Keep playing! Keep building a new world folks! This world is anyway not headed in the right direction.