Preface ... as an afterthought

"You should start a blog" said S, standing out on the porch with vodka in one hand and the smoke in other. I dragged on mine and exhaled smiling. "No, really", he said. "I know a few people who are doing it, and it's fun." This was many moons ago and I wouldn't have given it a thought except that this was from a guy who had introduced me to Walden (Henry David Thoreau). But a thought is where the idea remained.... bidding its time. Partly because the whole Web2.0 and the super-public lifestyle was a bit unsettling to me, really.

Recently on a visit to California from NYC, A, in the throes of unrequited love, read out a couple of his recent poems from his blog. The poems were good and the blog looked kinda neat. Then I stumbled upon Shikha's blog and there was something about her post 'I am # (Sharp), don't u C?' that got stuck in my head. It had a clever title and the post was simple yet heartfelt. How many times do we get small little breakthroughs in our day-to-day lives, doing the things that we love and find that sharing them often seem mundane, even with the best of our friends? Yet, they give us immense pride, albeit momentarily, and help us continue in our endeavours. It also made me realized that the kid with whom I had spent many a hours chatting on a hot, dry Pune afternoon, had grown up alright :) (way to go, kiddo!)

Driving to work next day, a few confused thoughts evolved into the title for a post, in my head and 'Still Waters.....' was born. Feels liberating... and cathartic. It allows me to go back to my first love, reading, and to my habit of keeping journals... a welcome break from my daily routine. In recent months, the pursuit of being good at what I do, has been taking its toll. The impending challenges seemed smaller and repetitive and my role hasn't been expanding at a pace to sustain my learning curve's steep angle, prompting me to look towards music, golf, etc.

Reading and writing (mostly letters and journals) have always been my refuge and muse... but lately, I haven't been doing that as much as I would like too. I guess life caught up and swept me off. (Being married to an awesome poetess, hasn't helped the insecure pen, either.) But reading about Extempore's sojourns to library/bookstores every now and then (and the resulting 'upper') made me envious and reminded me how much I miss that feeling.

More to come....