Measuring Distances

My gramndma remarked today, "How far is that?" 
My uncle repeated, "6o km".
She said, "Haan sattar to hai, nai time kitna lagta jaane?"

And that is how we (my grandmother and I) measure distances! No kilometer/mile crunching for us, no sirree! It has to be in simple chew-able bite sizes of information that don't take too much effort to process! Like saying, "XYZ is a 2-hr driving distance away". Never mind if logistics like volume of traffic on the roads, consequent speed of vehicles etc affect the time taken to reach a place! We just process all of the external factors (subconsciously in my case at least because I don't think I'm ever aware that I'm thinking it out so much!) and bam! - we know! We get a fairly accurate (or wait - now I'm starting to doubt if it's accurate!) idea in our head of how far a place is and we can even nicely compare distances between places by referring to one fixed barometer we have.
It's the same with the more farther off places - is it a day's journey by train? Is it a 4-hr flight? 
Believe it!
The same exceptions apply - no taking into account stopovers, changing trains/planes and certainly no going by the route taken to get there (circuitous or as the crow flies). The time taken to get from place A to place B is good enough for us!
Sigh, women!...ok -  girls!...or females, perhaps! (Alright, feminists and equal-ists - no offence meant!)

Onwards and Upwards

And then there's picking yourself up...piecing back the dream bit by shattered bit. An uphill road again, the familiar potholes on the way, and learning to be prepared for the unexpected ones.


'There's still hope' - and there always will be because you keep it alive in your heart, your being. A sliver of light guiding your way; the silken, radiant rope you hold onto on your climb up the mountain.


'Climb every mountain, search high and low,
 follow every by-way, every path you know,
 Climb every mountain, ford every stream,
 follow every rainbow, till you find your dream...'


I'm not resting till I find mine.

That's Life

It starts with a thought, doesn't it? Or rather - thoughts - which snowball into plans, determination and finally action. There's effort and sincerity... genuineness and integrity...diligence and dedication... and optimism. A single-minded trudge through the long, twisting, winding way to where you want to be or where you've planned to be. The plan - yes.  Little triumphs and unexpected disappointments, sometimes a clear way and sometimes a haze like looking out at a blurry world through a window smattered with raindrops where the clean beam of a streetlight is smothered to an obscure smog as it makes it's way through the fumes of vehicles busily passing by. A window...a memory...a tempo...a spring in your step...elusive 45s. But through it all, an endless, tireless journey and a just-there-rose-tinted destination.


There's also - 'That's life'. The not-factored element. That one element that sneaks its way through your carefully worked on plans and hits at their very root, making your dreams come crashing down in front of a helpless you or just swooshes down and knocks over all your hard work like it were as weightless or valueless as a castle built with a pack of cards that come fluttering down with a gust of wind unfairly targeted at it.  That's life. And the meaning hitting home after nearly two decades of hearing the much-bandied about phrase. Coming of age happens so late?


And also reflections and looking back...was that the way it should have been done? Giving in to room for superstitions and a lot of whys. 


'Mist and shadow, cloud and shade...'


A ramble, a faltering like these rambling disconnected words...and starting with a thought...all over again...


That's Life, Indeed.