Saturday 12 November 2011

The Lobby

I think I must have mentioned that I love to think, analyze and reminisce...

Took a break from my mundane books, went out for a stroll to gulp in some fresh air. It definitely awakened my dull senses and I felt much better. I retraced my steps back to my building, pressed the elevator button and waited as the elevator made it's way to ground floor, all the way from the eleventh.

As I stood in the lobby, waiting, it struck me that this was one place which had a thousand memories associated with it. The times when my friends and I used played 'Lock and key', 'Corner to corner', 'Grandma's footsteps' and several such games with quirky names! Those good old blissful days, when we were ignorant and naive. Our lives revolved around school, family, jumping and romping about with friends aka playmates.

A change of scene. The lobby knows most of my secrets. Though it has eavesdropped on every heart-to-heart conversation I have had with my best friends, it has never divulged the details to anyone. It knows about all my crushes, the boy-who-must-not-be-named, my deepest woes and worries. I remembered those quiet evenings, when I sat on the stairs, feeling troubled and sad. The lobby comforted me with its stillness.

What about those times when I was in great mood and began humming a random tune or singing a few phrases of the latest Bollywood number? "My name is Sheila, Sheila ki jawaani, I'm too se..." Oops. My voice reverberated off the walls of the lobby, making a thousand faces  peep down at me from various levels.
An old aunty, getting into the elevator would encouraging say, "Gaao beta! Gaao! Dil khol ke gaao! Gaana acchi baat hai!". Well that was more embarrassing than encouraging.

Fast forwarding to the day before my best friend left for Australia. The tearful goodbyes were imminent, but we munched on Kurkure, as we usually would, on any other day. "Dude, whom do I irritate now? I won't be able to send you SMSes from Australia." she sighed. "Right, you won't be there when I celebrate my eighteenth. Loser." I retorted. "Can't you cancel your fucking tickets?" I asked her for the millionth time.
"You never get tired of asking me the same question, over and over again, do you? I WISH I COULD!"
she answered, yelling almost. We burst out laughing. The lobby laughed along with us.

"Hey, what's that thing behind your bum?" she asked me curiously, on finally noticing the flat, cardboard box, which contained one of our best photographs, mounted on a beautiful frame. "Damn, I was waiting for the right moment to present it to you. Nevertheless, go ahead, it's all yours." I smiled. She ripped open the box, stared at the photograph. "Wow." she said slowly. As we hugged each other, trying to hide our tears, which wouldn't stop, the lobby cried too.

The elevator reaches the ground floor. The metallic doors open just as the way  Ali Baba's cave opened on the words 'Open Sesame'. I snap out of my reverie and walk into the elevator.

"Close Sesame."

I love you lobby. :)
   

2 comments:

  1. I loved it Anjoo :*

    This paragraph, "The lobby knows most of my secrets. Though it has eavesdropped on every heart-to-heart conversation I have had with my best friends, it has never divulged the details to anyone. It knows about all my crushes, the boy-who-must-not-be-named, my deepest woes and worries..." and the whole post actually reminded me of a scene from Dhobi Ghat where Yasmi Noor talked about the Samundar.

    "Yahan kuch nahi tikk sakta
    Ye samundar sabkuch leke chup rehta hai
    Main isse kuch bhi keh sakti hoon,
    apne saare raaz bata sakti hoon
    Aur woh saab samundar ki gehrayee mein khojaenge
    Woh kisi ko nahi batayega"

    http://youtu.be/enN8WSKis10?t=12m19s

    :)

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