Of winters, society, dreams and movies

I detest the winters in Delhi. They cripple me to unlimited extents.

Every morning it is a fierce battle between the mind, the body and the heart. The body clings to warm quilt as it were glued to it. The mind, inspite of the hard work and fatigue resulting from a good 10-hour dream-show, knows at the back of itself that if I do not make it to the Electrical Workshop by 9.30 am, attendance will be doomed for that day. The heart meanwhile tries to play the good guy, cajoling the body to follow the mind’s commands. It has also to motivate the aching neck and shoulders to arise, the pain resulting from the burden of tonnes of woolly blankets.

Alarms, I must mention here, are out of my good books, at least for the winters. They have disappointed me; useless mechanisms- do not as much as cause a slight disturbance to my slumber.

Gear up I must, for, the Herculean tasks for the day have just about begun.
The tete-a-tete with chilling waters is what I dread most. Toothbrush in hand, I keep contemplating endlessly- to be or not to be. Somehow, with a valiant stroke of sheer impulse, I manage to thrust the brush into the mouth and then finish off the exercise with jet speed. Daily, about 67% of my will power is consumed thus, generating impulse reactions to the bucket of bathing water or the glass of icy drinking water. In short, water becomes a necessary evil- can’t live with it, can’t live without it.

I am thankful however, to our department for their strict attitude towards our attendance. Otherwise I would have to stay in the abandoned hostel, feeling all forlorn and dejected.

You see, loneliness bites - dramatically increasing the effect of the cold. Society meanwhile, soothes- its effect being comparable to the relaxing effects of the balmy winter sun.And I realized this only recently.
True, that I sometimes use societal gatherings to get away or rather forget myself, but the benefits of society, irrespective of other factors, are many. Though I love the sense of solitude, but within the confines of a 10 by 30 hostel room it only leads to hopelessness. Whereas, meeting people every morning and working with them refreshes the soul, gives it new sources of inspiration and reasons to rejoice or lament.

A little more thought in this direction brings us to the importance of an individual’s family in her life. Infact, at the stage where I am right now, home and hostel (or equivalently- family and friends) are two extremes of a situation.
Whilst the family gives one security and affection, it at the same time binds and sometimes curbs her individuality. Campus life on the other hand gives an individual unrestricted freedom, but there is also the constant pressure to perform and impress.

Returning to my chronicle, I cannot take too much of society and its interference. After the day’s work, I long to retire to my solitary confines. The day’s newspaper or a book is the idle way to unwind. After which it is time to do my own stuff.
But as Nature would have it, an automatic mechanism works to make me gradually unfold the blankets to escape the chill. And soon enough I am deep within the warm, albeit suffocating dark covers.

I am a little tired for the day now- will probably do the part about dreams and movies tomorrow.