A mad Soliloquy

Submitted for the Blogadda "Moments of Madness" contest.


Half a century
and more,
of a life
with
deep troughs
and
mad peaks...

An 8 year old
only sister
terrorized
by water depths,
learning swimming
and
dared by some
boys
to jump
from
the first floor
diving place....
And I jumped,
eyes shut tight,
but on the side,
lacerating my thighs
against the pool walls,
all the way
down
the terrible 15 feet....
and back up again --
a mad moment
of victory
which
shut up
the fellows for good....
but alarmed a mother
who wondered.....

As a grad student
in the US,
appearing
for an evening meeting
of women professionals ***
wishing to award a schol....
there wasn't a place
to sit
and play my sitar
(which I played well)....
and then
in a completely mad moment,
I climbed onto the
dining table,
took my position
and
played the piece;
a few days later
the mad moment didnt look so mad
when I got the schol....:-)

And then
there have been
moments of madness
which have decreed me a fool,
but probably
not in the eyes
of Someone Up There....

Leaning out of
a Mumbai bus
stuck in a jam
just after
a torrential
onslaught
of rain;
Spying
brilliant fresh
methi bunches
on a vendor 's cart,
in an
inspired
moment of madness
I bargained with him
through the bus window
and bought
four wonderful bunches
which were passed to me
via various passengers,
as the vendor
ran
behind the suddenly starting bus
to collect the money I held out....
To the intense
embarrassment
of a daughter
but
intensely envied
by the other women in the bus....
the methi parathas
were extra special that night!

There have been other
Mad moments,
that have remained
in my mind

Like
wanting to stamp
in a rain water puddle
when
the lady who thought
Black was Bad
and White was Fair
walked next to me
in her
white
spotless
capris.

Like wanting
to blow
my famous whistle,
to confuse the cops,
as
corrupt chaps
in tinted cars
passed by
holding up traffic
with their z-plus security...

But some folks think
writing this
has been an
uncontrolled
long
mad
moment...

And it continues .

Wading through the
forest of mad words
and madder artists,
I am at my maddest best
when I blog....

A mad life.

And you thought
that is
a mad moment ?

Are you mad ?


*** Altrusa International