In America

 Your work can take you from excitement to boredom to frustration. Your personal life can take you from joy to love to <insert> to <insert> to gratitude. Chances are,  the journeys are familiar.  Where you are today, you had been a few weeks back. If it is a bad day today, you know it is going to be a good day soon, because you know the terrain of your life.  Yesterday, I was lost in teenage nostalgia, today I took a journey through an old father's heart as he ventures on a long journey to fulfill his dying son's intent. A few days back, the blood stench of mexican dog fights, the ominous aura of a hitman guerrilla.  Cinema takes you into places, into hearts, into minds, into relationships, into worlds, into inner worlds, into outer worlds, into the space, into the oceans, into the past, into the future, into the possibilities, into helplessness. Cinema is definitely much much more magical than magic!

 I am fine with not having the latest gadgets, not having the latest cars, not having the best furniture at home, not catching up with the Joneses with anything. I am fine with not owning a house for my family to live in, not being able to think about thinking about it.  I had realized that drinking water is not a given when I had relocated to Chennai as you need to buy water there to drink. So, if you have not coordinated your consumption and replenishment right, you can run out of drinking water.  I had learned that you cannot take any one else for granted. You cannot even take yourself for granted. That was fine too.  Corona had shut me in. Gone are the days when you could shop as you please, watch movies as you please, visit places as you please. That was fine too as the corona lull is actually a pretty welcome change. All I had wanted was to sit under the apple tree, enjoy the breeze, and watch the humming birds as they drink nectar from the red beautiful hibisc...