Sad at CP

This was the day of the amazing NSIT Spic Macay Alumni meet.
With 7-8 of us, covering most of the batches from 2004 to 2011, assembling for an evening high on the usual thass, one could hardly wait for the moment to arrive. One reached the venue dot on time, for a change, and thankfully the IST bug bit the others to a degree severe enough for one to fit in a quick trip to Oxford.

Now the time at Oxford, and then onwards with the gang, at SRC, CCD and finally at McD (and even the Metro ride back home) went as awesomely as expected, no doubts there.
However, that which left one with a stoically posed heart at the end of the day; which left one gaping at the times that we're in; which informed one, without a shadow of a doubt, that change had indeed come, and was here to stay for quite some time; that event, though not too grievous by itself, but depressingly symptomatic of a deeper issue, took place on the way to Oxford.

As stated previously, one confirmed one's 30minutes of velapan, and proceeded towards good old Oxford. That long straight road, Modern School on one side, and emerging high rises on the other, was a joy to walk through, especially with music as sublime as that elaborated on here. And how could one's camera, one of the few soulmates one shares with in the land of 7 lakes, and even that of ring roads now, stay behind. Thus, one found oneself blissfully 'la-lla-la-lla-la-la'-ing away, as one lived every stride of rich, unadulterated feel, bolstered by that which played in one's ear, and documented partially by the light-writing device in one's hand.

Then, as one had just clicked this pic, of the reflection in Oxford's brilliant Statesman House building, a cop comes up to me, and escorts me to the other side of the road. In the meantime I take off my earphones, turn off the camera, and start to picture what is to follow in my head.

Across the road, next to the average Police gypsy, stands another cop, with 1-2 more seated inside.
(Another Cop: AC
Me: Me

AC - "Aap kahaan se hain?"
Me - "Dilli.. Dwarka.."
AC - "Aap yeh snaps kheench rahe the?"
Me - "Haan..."
AC - "Kyun?"
Me - "Aise hi.. Sun set achha lag raha tha.."
AC - "Isliye buildings ke...?"
Me - "Haan.. Unke peeche sooraj doob raha hai, aur buildings mein reflection bhi jo pad rahe hain.. Generally, aisa kuch specific nahin kheench raha.. Bas achha lag raha tha.."
AC - "Aap karte kya hain?"
Me - "Student hoon"
AC - "Kahaan?"
Me - "IIM Calcutta"
AC - "I Card hai?"
Me - "Haan..."

With that, I hand him my jokaland i-card, which he inspects for a good 20 seconds.
Then, he looks at me, pauses, and extends his hand for a shake. I smile, and accept. He returns my card, I place it back, and proceed to exit.

Me - "Hmm.. Thank you.. Matlab, aajkal jo sab ho raha hai..."
AC - "Haan.. Ab kya karein.. Hamaari bhi majboori hai.."
Me - "Haan haan.. bilkul.."
AC - "Aap samajhdaar hai, toh aap samajh gaye.."
Me - "Bilkul bilkul.. Itna toh karna padta hi hai.. Ok.. Thank you.."

And with that, I continued my trip to Oxford, music back in place, and more or less back to normal.
Except, that I wasn't. For never before had it hit me, just how real the threat of terrorism, and its natural after-effects were to the life of an average individual. Never before had those trite alertness messages on the metro seemed more pertinent, for this one time, I was a suspect, albeit only for 5 minutes. Never before had my own freewheeling actions seemed closely resembling that of a potential terrorist, even to myself.

Such is the place that this menace has made for itself in our consciousness; such is the omnipresence that it boasts of today; indeed, such is the sickening success of this phenomenon, in the face of a hapless world, that our most intimate freedoms stand compromised on, for the larger good.

That, is what made me sad that beautiful evening, in spite of the brilliant thass that preceeded and succeeded those 5 minutes. A sad truth it is indeed. Till we reach a better day and night, imagine...