ice cream

So shes walking down the road
V/o explaining her state of mind
where shes at right now in her life
where she comes from and
where she plans to go and
if she plans on going

visuals of people crossing her path
old fat punjabi lady with
shopping bags at crossroads
auto guy waiting near his ride
girl with ipod with bag walking home
couple arguing
traffic passing by
parking lights on
the smell of freshly rosted peanuts

music of the latest hindi flick
from a house
as she crosses the house she
notices white and blue balloons on the gate
There’s a party
She notices a father and child walking to this house
the kid is all dressed up, bow in her hair
she carries a big present,nearly1/2 her size
the father, looks flushed, he’s probably
thinking of all the pending chores back
at work

visuals of the party
balloons, kids, party hats, maybe even
one of those Mexican hanging donkeys
Oh no! kids today aren’t into those
It’s more about exercise for just the fingers
click mouses, playstations, x box
The party is good, that’s coz its an expensive one
The parents had to get an event co
to organize it. Has to be good.
“I’ve never partied like that.
I’m glad.”

So, the roads look festive
Everything is lit up for the
festival of lights
Trees have lights on them
Did they ever imagine they would spread the light
Did they ever imagine

The shops look like cherubic money eaters
sucking in all the aunties in the city
sucking out all the money from
fathers with flushed faces, like the one we
saw earlier

so she entered the atm
withdrew the money left in her account
stares at the guard with the big
moustache outside the atm
And continues walking

There are people all around her
with their stories
The beggar in his tattered clothes
dirty hair, bare feet with his unclean
toe nails, mutterng something about the world
Well, he could just be a detective
all in disguise
she read about this in an article
in one of those cosmopolitan
newspaper supplements
It was published with photographes
of the reporters in disguise
The photographs boost the mystery
The spies are hired by some
wealthy flushed face father
who pays him to spy on his wife
coz the father does nt have the time
for her
The guilt raises suspicion
An affair is what he fears
“I’m glad I’m ignorant to insecurity”

She stops to buy a smoke
she craves paan, oh the flavors
The paan walla looks at her and
asks if she wants a Calcutta
special paan
She nods and smiles
He tells his friend nearby ‘ I knew she was Bengali’
She gets that a lot
She isn’t Bengali

She stubs the cigarette
Enters the store to pay her bill
Leaves

They are having a conversation
They as n she and her friend
something about the moon being
closest to the earth in a 1000yrs
that day being today
She takes the katti roll, pays the guy
Sits by the road, deep in converse
When her friend points out to a dog
There he was, all puppy face
With a surprise down below
It had to be a dog

As she walked on by
She realized why she loved this city
This city wasn’t her home
but it gave her moments
The smell of the orange flowers on sale
The traffic jam on only one side of the road
The side that is homeward bound
The arguments, on two cars colliding
The old man listening to the score
over the radio
Everyones living a story

She buys an ice cream, flavored
tender coconut
That’s the highpoint of her day
Visuals of her eating the ice cream
talking, smiling, laughing
People cross her. “so how was your day?”
She asks her flush faced
boyfriend when he gets back
home that night.