Dear Readers,
Bikaner is like a fairy tale full of palaces, colors, dust and camels. Like any fairy tale, it does get painfully slow, lazy and frustrating, some times. Well! 'sometimes' would be an under-statement. Actually, most of the times and here lies the challenge for rash dudes and jumping jacks. How to survive and not loose your nerves?
Every morning on my way to work, I face a similar situation. A tough situation if you hate history and think that it is a useless subject. I have to wade my way through camels and camel-carts. They bring your jeep to a grinding halt from a speed of over 60 kms an hour and then you have to wait till they finish their lethargic turns. It is they who decide the traffic rhythms and you are left with no other option but to enjoy the music on air.
Today was a different day, however. While negotiating my way up to the Uni, for a change, I decided to mould myself according to the city-pace without complaining. I attempted to look at the people through the prism of historical observation. To my surprise, I saw so many things that amused me. Behind all the rickety and cumbersome chaos, there lay poetry. Fine sand from across the border displayed mirage images of Bahawalpur, Multan and Kabul; Smiles of slender girls radiated the warmth of winter Sun; soothing farts of lazy afternoons sounded the happiness of Marwari banias relishing home-stay after years of struggle in Calcutta or Guwahati or Chennai..........A thousand lives will be less to live the magic of history and imagination........
"Kim dived into the happy Asiatic disorder which, if you will only allow time, will bring everything to you that a simple man needs", - Kim, Rudyard Kipling.
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