Maybe it was a bad day or a series of bad days, I’m not sure, but it did help to put down the mess of thoughts in my head into words and try to make sense of it. I’m trying to do that now too, but it just seems a bit more messy and trying to order them into a series of coherent sentences is a lot harder. So I’m just going to describe things around me for now, and hope it helps iron out the wrinkles on my brain.
I’m sitting at a coffee shop in Jubilee Hills. It has these cool little nooks on its balcony with shelf-like tables that overlook a pretty noisy, traffic-filled road below but still has a nice vibe if you focus on the little things — the view of a lake in the distance and the high-rises behind it beginning to light up as the sun sets further beyond; the soft, acoustic covers playing over the speakers that’s loud enough to enjoy but soft enough to overhear tables nearby talking about their plans for the weekend; the comforting smell of someone wearing oud a few tables away.
There's one thing I just spotted that’s bothering me, though. A building that’s under construction on the other side of the road. It looks like it’s a few weeks away from being done: windows and doors are done as is its first coat of primer. It looks like another villa-turned-coffee shop, and perched on its terrace sit out area are two flags: the Indian national flag and another one that’s saffron in colour; a double pennon flag with an image on it.
I’ve seen the latter quite a lot in the past few weeks, as has the rest of the country, with their numbers increasing in the days leading up to January 22, 2024. On top of buildings, rows of them over temples and across streets; giant ones on autos, cars and motorbikes.
What’s bothering me, though, is the fact that the saffron one on the building across is perched ever so slightly higher — just high enough for it to be “an accident”, but visibly higher, nonetheless — than the Indian flag.
Song recommendation of the season:
No comments:
Post a Comment