Long Windy Walks

Long Windy Walks (footnote- Aishwarya; she came up with the idea of making this the subject of my new post)
Walks, like most things in life, come with many hues and shades. There are many kinds of walks, and they serve different purposes. The brisk ones are more often than not, to lose weight, to keep fit even. Slow ones, for fresh air, and are usually resorted to in the twilight of one's life. Medium paced ones to get to places, in the absence of the medium that God intended men use for locomotion (quoting Meg Ryan here, from French Kiss), the lovely car. But walks, again like most things, are context specific.
The context I'm talking about here is a semi-romantic, semi-getting-to-know people one. This is a law school context, and I believe is one that prevails in campuses across the country. For you see, when you walk the talk, it gets (other) people talking. Who you walk with is all-important. Kuch chal raha hai kya, is what flickers in an on-lookers mind when they see you taking a stroll with a member of the opposite sex. Walking at night is like adding an angel to the uninhabited Paradise for the gossip-starved passers-by. The distance in inches between the partners in crime, the expression on their faces, the laughter, the volume of conversation are all painfully observed, with a pretentious air of non-chalance.

But that's about the ones not involved in the rather lovely activity of walking. Having had the privelege of being a member of both parties, that is, the walkers and the lookers, I'll present to the world the other side of the story.

Walking; it's a lovely thing. Especially in a place like Bangalore, at about 12 in the night, it's the one thing you sincerely want to do. Lovely weather, the day's worries done with and temporarily forgotten, you take time out of this life so full of care, and cliched though it might sound, look around and above you to appreciate leaves moving in the wind and constellations formed in a clear sky. This sort of moment would seem wonderful in any company. But if you're lucky enough to have found yourself that special friend who you pour your heart and dreams out to, or that intriguing acquaintaince who never ceases to fascinate you, well, walking helps you attain never-before-visited heights of ecstacy (no pun here).

Truly, it's a most wonderful thing. Walking when the breeze blows against your face. Talking about dreams and aspirations, or even deep and dark secrets that trouble your heart, knowing that you have a sympathetic, empathetic and caring ear to drop your words into. Shouting at the top of your voice, doing a little dance on the path that surrounds the academic blog of this oh-very-mighty-but-so-hollow institution. Drinking in every bit of the night, the air, the company. Listening to (sometimes scary) night noises. Sometimes fighting, occasionally arguing. Often silent. Hmm..it's a day for cliches, but Keep Walking!