An aimless walk in a city so far

It’s a mildly chilly night. Most of the people are already in the bed, warm and comfortable. They are not all necessarily happy, but they are home. Then why am I here, I thought? When I couldn’t find any answer, I decided to walk a little longer.

It’s a beautiful city, more or less. There are towering skylines, the newly constructed over-bridge looks like a necklace, it’s beads beautiful tiny purple lights. The roads are beautiful, the streets clean. People are not all so friendly, but they seldom are if you are far away from home. There is a river flowing nearby, it’s flow smooth, it’s water calm and inky black. For the lack of better option I decide to sit by it for a while.

The stillness around me is reassuring, broken only by rhythmic splash of water on a rock close to bank. I decide to sit on it, let my feet dangle in cold water. A chill runs through my body. It soothes me, flowing water have always had that effect on me.

I look up at the heavens, stars are in abundance today, or are they fireflies, I’m not too sure. What I do know is they are beautiful. The milky way is a river, my teacher taught me in middle school, it stretches from one end of sky to another, he said. It’s surprising how well I remember that. I don’t remember his face, just his words.

So a river that stretches from infinity to infinity, of course Mr. Gaiman calls it the ocean, but I think it’s a river, it goes from one place to another to meet some imaginary sea.

It’s getting late and I become conscious about time. Time.. Oh yeah.. Time. Since time immemorial people are trying to find the nature of time, they want to stop the time, go back in time, even see the future. But time is a river, it flows in only one direction. Can you ever touch the same water in the river, just time that once time passes it’s gone. You can never be in the same time, no matter how much you want to.

But I’m cold now, and I must head back home. I don’t wanna leave here though, it’s quiet. And for a brief moment, just a tiny moment, I was not worried about anything. How I wish it could just stay like this forever. More water flows below my feet. I sigh, such wishful thinking.

I start heading back, still lost in my thoughts. Someone’s shouting at me to stop. I ignore it and keep walking. They overtake me. It’s two policemen on patrol duty. They ask me what I’m doing out so late, I don’t have an answer, so they ask me if I’m drunk. I say no. Some days you can get high on universe juice Mr. Cop- I think . They still ask me breath in the weird looking pipe. It’s clean so they let me go and tell me it’s not safe to wander alone at night. From whom- I wonder.

The last few minutes are incomprehensible, so many thoughts in my head that it’s difficult to focus on just one. I let it be. You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. Nietzsche, I remember. That guy writes some pretty intense stuff. I’m not sure I understand most of it.

My journey ends on my society gates. Three guards are sitting there around fire. They look happy. They greet me when they see me. Why so late in the night today sir, were you working today also. I nod in disagreement. They invite me to sit by the fire. I thank them, it’s been a cold night, not that I’m complaining. I sit on a wooden stool, it’s a bit shaky. It’s many years old and might break any day. They tell me that pretty soon the stool will also go in fire. It served them well their whole life. Now its turn was to serve them in its death. Wooden stools are a lot like people- i conclude.

As warmth starts seeping into my body, I feel a little drowsy. It’s been a long day and I have to return to the same life. A part of me is tempted to stay, a part wants to back to the river. But another part who’s passionate about me not dying from starvation tells me to head home and I follow.

It’s time to end the day, I crawl into the blanket. I spare a thought for people sleeping outside in the cold, memories of a night in Chandigarh flashes before my eyes. You can’t help them all with everything, but you can help some with somethings- my heart tried to reassure me. It doesn’t work.

I close my eyes. I must prepare for another journey now. I can wish all I want for a dreamless slumber, yet my subconscious always takes me places. I close my eyes. Everything turns black. The matrix has me.