Evenings

Evenings have a very distinct characteristic of their own. I tend to remember my evenings more distinctly from many other times of the day. May be this time of the day seeps very well in our brains. And may be because it definitely influences mood, whether one is outdoors or indoors. I remember so many evenings of school life, college life, recent days... even some of childhood.......

Afternoons too. Its a sensitive time... or may be human minds are sensitive to this time of the day... there is always a melancholy woven with evenings, twilights, in the most optimistic and pessimistic situation... 

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Chaotic chirping of  birds in Tiss Campus, Azan at the nearby Mosque... from campus to Flat 303.. Eden gardens heights ... Kites in the distant sky out of the windows of Flat 303... people in their evening outing, back from work, in an evening 'adda'... excited voices.. laughter.... serious discussion... slowly blurrrrrrr.....  ..........

Evening sky in Calcutta hang with floating grey clouds over the entire metropolis... from Swinhoe Street to Triangular Park... crowds, traffic, sweat, hunger... 

 

A : "I hope Raktima Aunty finishes early today... there is such huge traffic on the way to Garia everyday.. and with this rain..."

B : "Hmm... Dont worry, it won't rain.. even if it does, u will make it... the sky isnt that alarming...." 

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The solitary bat came everyday and hung itself in the fig tree... almost every evening since we have been living here... C said they are fox bats... they are large, very large... it dines on figs each night... i have never seen a bat so closely... it looks quite hideous.... "Do you think the FC exams will be scheduled early? The classes are taking off at a good speed...."

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12 Angry Men

The film 12 Angry Men last night left me with a serene state of mind. It highlighted so many aspects of human behavior. There are ample times when we just grab a brand name, grapple with terms without understanding whether their usage is required, judge a person with his/her ideologies, as if they are orthodox and conservatives ideologists who are blindly following their dictum... 11 men in a jury blindly voted that a convict (an 18 yr old boy charged with the murder of his father) was guilty, while one dwelt on the possibility of  not being guilty. The possibilities of the convict not being guilty were of the same weight as the facts in the court that  found the boy guilty, but yet each of the 11 men at first were swayed to vote that the boy was guilty. each had their own reason. Some was troubled by a personal emotion, some was a meticulous follower of the facts, some was prejudiced against the background of the boy, some were indifferent, some afraid, some didn't want to contest, some did not understand and others were blindly ignorant. only one man started with a 'reasonable doubt' that slowly got spread in the jury and with time, one by one started having their 'reasonable doubts'.

Sidney Lumet's film made in the 1950s takes a dig in reasons, emotions, humanity and comments upon human callousness. An introspection makes everyone realise the strength of a judgement or a verdict, but how many will to do so under the strong play of egoism, selfish interests, prejudice, indifference, ignorance... People are so given towards judging that it ultimately harms or become meaningless. They take for granted certain behavior, issues, certain debates... they take shelter under terms, concepts, theories, ideologies.... they don't realise that everything at operation in the world are processes connected with each other, it doesnt have two poles, good or bad, rich or poor, capitalism and marxism, men and women, guilty vs not guilty....

The film falling mainly in the genre of social psychology (so it seemed) is an all time favourite of people, because no matter how much the world changes with time... how much developed it is.... these are human traits, they can be bettered, but cannot be wiped off. 

Finally with a quill or a pen or a keyboard...
The muse never struck me, never came to me,
But I always wanted to write,
Write to share, write for myself...
Write to store my thoughts.
To visit memories, to churn ideas,
To calm down mood swings,
To dig the unconscious...

And to think more..
And anchor my fleeting thoughts.