More Peach than Blue

It was a nice, windy evening. The sky looked more a shade of peach than blue. I was sitting in the balcony of my small apartment. I could see vehicles, their dim lights looking like small shining dots on the grey road. The sun had set although it wasn’t that dark. Men and women returned from work, carrying expressions of relief of finally being able to go home after a long day. Noises of cars honking, engines roaring, hawkers shouting filled the surroundings. The little snack-shops were beginning to crowd, as hungry travelers rushed in to bite a vada pao or two. Bells were ringing somewhere. Orange street lights had started to glow. Everything and everyone was moving. I could see a couple or two walking hand in hand. Mothers were taking their children to the market, the children walking briskly behind their mothers to catch up. Some were taking their children to tuitions, pulling them by their hands taking care they do not fall or run. It reminded me of my childhood, of how I loved going to the nearby market with her and how I almost had to run to catch up with her, holding her saree for support from time to time. Every action around me had significance. It was an emotion in itself. As though god was serenely doing its work of making lives move ahead. Everything was abuzz with movement and sound and yet I could find a strange peace in the atmosphere. The vibrations of the roaring vehicles seemed comforting. Everything was moving and yet it was still, as though time could be stopped and the moment could be felt, as though motion was stillness. Like you could feel life inside you and outside you. I could close my eyes and feel each and every sound. All these sounds were synchronising with the wind that was brushing past my face. I could sit forever in my balcony looking down and feel the breeze on my face. As though time could be stopped and the moment could be felt. The evening had wrapped me in its arms. I could feel life inside me and outside me.