There's a gentle breeze rustling the leaves of the trees. The onslaught of the armies of clouds slowy drive away the defiant orange-red flames into the sea. There is silence all round( or as much of it you can get in a place holding about 3000 people). Far away a sleepy little town twinkles amidst shrouds of mist with the occasional eye of the lighthouse turning this way. The darkness beckons the lights and soon the hostels are lit up. Little islands of light in a sea of darkness(thanks to the transformer going kaput!).
It has been raining since about one in the afternoon and has just let up though not quite. Lightning still flashes across the skies proclaiming their presence even as the insects come out to sing their songs. A vehicle or two passes the gates and students return from their excursions of the day. The outside belies a calm which is completely reversed within the hostels. Most are busy at their computers playing, on the internet or studying, others are busy reading, listening to music, cleaning or just sleeping.
And I, I walk alone on the pathways, my ipod my only companion, eagerly drinking in the sights and smells of this gorgeous setting- an educational institution that could be easily mistaken for a holiday resort in the tourist haven, Goa. I stopped and took a moment to survey all I could see. Just beyond the buildings of the campus a river, majestic yet calm, flowed towards the sea seemingly unaffected by all that happened around it.
Right in front of my vision stood the imposing B-wing with its arms spread out wide daring to defy the authority of the clouds bearing down on the campus. In the fading light it looked like Kubla Khan's pleasure dome in Xanadu.The grass, green and inviting, refreshed after the showers seemed to have life within deterring me from trampling and killing it.
Soon voices and laughter wafted through the sweet smelling air and there came into view students in the most amazing hues(courtesy playing Holi that morning) as though they were trying to emulate the skies many hues on land. Night brought with it a starless moonless sky and one felt you could very well have plucked it out and kept some part of it if only one could have jumped a little higher. The uniform cloud cover looked to be trying to stifle the life out of us but was still far enough to look hauntingly beautiful.
The one thing that has been constant throughout the evening was a serene peace coming from deep within. Everyday cares, chores, relationships and routines belonged to another universe. It was as i was looking at a world that was mine yet wasn't so, an illusion of peace and beauty crossing the boundaries of time. A connection made by the soul to all that has been lost forever in the clutches of time, to greed, civilization and destruction.
