Early Morning Ode !

Its 0500 Hrs of a Sunday morning (Yawn!) and I am as wide awake as a cricket. What crap ! But don’t expect me to write something utterly sensible at such wee hours. I remember meeting up with a renowned Ornithologist way back in Feb 2004 .He then had specifically pointed out – “Mohit dude, I have been observing the behavior of Birds all my life and know a bit about them too .Trust me, you are not an early morning person for sure. Don’t invest your time and energy in getting up early in the morning to do something, just for the heck of it. Don’t make a fool of yourself. Sleep.”And those were magical words for me. I never ever felt guilty of not been able to wake up early in the morning like other guys who used to do that much to the fantasy cum frustration for many. I had attained Moksha !

But let us try to challenge the corollary. There is another memory linked to morning as well as winters, which is slowly enveloping Delhi in its frigid grip. This memory dates back to year 2000,even before that rendezvous with Sir Ornithologist, when I first got to enter HBTI. That was the period when like many other middle class guys, I had stepped out of my house for the first time, in order to search for the meaning of my life. That was when life was testing and demanding. It so happened that winters had already set in and temperatures had started defying agreeable scales.I was a bit unprepared in terms of arranging for blankets and all for use during night-times, which used to be terribly cold. My LG were supposed to get me money (No ATMs you see!) or a blanket and he somehow got a bit too tied up to visit. So here I was, a helpless soul with loads of attitude (read ego) sleeping in my room without a blanket with mercury steadily falling through the night.

It was around 0400 AM in the morning when I suddenly got up, not with a sensation of feeling cold but with a cuddly warm feeling around me. It was so very comfortable that my instincts prompted me to go back to sleep at once. But then I just forced myself to open my eyes, realizing presence of 2 sheets of thick blankets over me. Those were warm heavy blankets generally used by people who have night duties, like watchmen. I was all confused with this sudden discovery and started analyzing whose blanket could it be. Suddenly, as if I was shaken off with some thought, I jumped out of my bed and ran out of my room in the thick mist-draped verandah. It was damn cold that morning and I still remember the pinch that I could feel in my feet. I jumped down the stairs to reach a place where we had our security guard shelter. It was not even a shelter, just a place beneath the stair-well. And as I had sensed, there was our night guard trying to steal a wink, sitting in front of fire. He was dressed in his usual cotton uniform but of course with no blanket. That picture of him, shivering with folded legs and closed arms, fighting Kanpur winters without a blanket is still vivid in my mind, just for the intensity of instance. I don’t know if u would be able to appreciate how I felt that day for his gesture or what made him walk up to my room to check for my comfort (He had got a hint that I have yet not got my blanket from my LG). But one thing is for sure, I don’t see myself finding another person with such intensity to love an almost stranger. It is one of my fondest memories ever and probably the most lasting one too. Thanks Onkar Singh Kutchwaha ji. Thanks for that one moment of affection and love and thanks for teaching me some very fine lessons of life. We might not be able to come across in life again but my wishes will always be with you.