As the diwali crackers keep firing and bursting in front of my hostel room’s window, I am reminded that even in within such chaos and noise, one can feel lonely. To help me understand how the human dynamics work, I decided to watch the movie “I Am Legend” (quite a coincidence that I happened to have it on my laptop). That movie just made me feel lonelier than before. Not the kind of help I wanted but I guess it reinforced the notion of silence in chaos that we always hear about.
Usually the hostel is bustling with life. Different people, different languages, and different body odors would linger in the corridors. But it is a different picture nowadays. Everyone has gone home for the holidays. The hostel is deserted. On my floor, only 4 of us have been crazy enough to not go anywhere. The electricity keeps going off every few hours. Had it been summer time, I would have died in the sweltering heat right now. It is smack in the middle of winter here in Hyderabad and I have heat rashes all over my right arm and chest. This does not bode well for me. I am going to get roasted come summer.
I am typing in the darkness. The mosquitoes are my only friends right now. Their buzzing around seems to drown out the eerie silence of my room so I don’t mind them except when they acquaint themselves too well for my personal liking. I do applaud them sometimes. They seem to dislike when I clap in the air. They must have gone through some traumatic experience with claps but that is for another day
I can still hear and see the fireworks from across the street. An affluent residential colony, right in front of my college, seems to have emptied their wallets on the fireworks because it has been going on since the evening and it is close to 10 pm right now.
The lights returned. There comes a time in every man’s life when he has to make a tough decision. It is time to cook some noodles because I made the decision to stop eating in the hostel mess. The yellowish grub along with the unidentifiable vegetables no longer appeals to me. I can only compromise so much. Maggi, here I come.
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