A Walk in the Park

I look at my wristwatch automatically checking time as we get off the car. I put my cell phone on silent as I begin my forty minute walk in the park.
Forty minutes of no TV, no cell phone, no doors to open, no conversation…
Forty minutes of uninterrupted thoughts.
Forty minutes of me with myself.
My pace is slow in the first lap. The rhythmic clackety-clack of the rusty lawn mower provides a background for the steady flow of thought. Sweet scent of freshly cut grass stirs recollections of the vast garden of my school in Kolkata (then Calcutta)……..the fragrant shade of the flowering tree……….the hovering kites that were perhaps waiting for us to return to our classes after a noisy lunch hour so that they can swoop down to pick up their lunch?………I recollect with a shade of regret the many prizes I could have won if only I had put in extra effort. I recollect the stern drill teacher who taught us the importance of good health.
A child races by jolting me back to the present. I swiftly overtake a couple and hear a tantalising wisp of conversation, “I am only saying that he could have at least told me…” ……was it the plaintive voice of a hurt ego? Was it the genuine concern for a friend in distress? Was there a disappointment about an emotional assistance that could not be given?
I see a lady sitting on a bench gesticulating and talking tenderly to a young man. She is too young to be his mother and they don’t look like a couple……perhaps she is a sister? She is filling him with courage to face some problem…….perhaps?
A loud chatter gushes into the silence of the park. It’s the cluster of eight ladies who gather here to exercise their legs and lungs. They are a cheerful group who rag and tease each other. Friends who console and rally for each other. It’s a happy group that instantly lifts my spirits.
I dream of writing stories about friends. I dream of success and published books. I dream of having a column for myself in the daily papers. I have decide a name for the column but………I realise I am on the fifth lap round the park.
Aah! It’s time for a short rest, and then we are back in the car. My resolutions lose their urgency as we comb our way through the crowded streets of JP Nagar and I am back ………..busy in the mundane chores of cooking and cleaning.