A man with his Daughter

Today is Easter. It is great festive season over here in Italy. People go to churches and then celebrate the rebirth of Christ in various ways. The day is unusually beautiful. The spring in its full bloom, blossoming the atmosphere with the charm of greenery. I woke up although a bit tensed due to the some pangs, but the atmosphere with its blue sky and green trees soon overcome the state of mind with it great lush of spring. I was not sure whether to go for work to office (as I had decided sometime back to finish some stuff this week), or to go out for a trip to mountains. The previous day was a bit tiring as I went for shopping, and had to do other household stuff, which broke me so much that I preferred to lie on bed. I also bought new trousers the previous day, and wanted to try them. Thus I decided to go out to office, work a bit and later in evening would see what can be done, to enjoy the festive.

I went out take the bus at 12:00, the weather was damn beautiful. Had I been not standing on the roadside, I sure would have removed my clothes and jumped in the sea. I strolled a bit as I waited for the bus. Apart from me, there was only one student who was going to ICTP for work (yes he was also Indian but form Nepal ). The bus came, a little late than the scheduled time, as if she also wanted to enjoy and didn’t want to work.

When I entered the bus, I stood right at the entrance, as there were not enough space inside that I could go in. Near me were standing a man with his daughter. They have sprinkled some water on the floor, and the little girl (3 or 4 years I guess) was talking something to his dad, as how to clean it up. They were talking Italian so I could not understand exactly, but gestures conveyed most of the meaning. After a while they started spreading the sprinkled water, so that it dries soon. The daughter was notorious and sweet. So was also the dad. The two look very sweet to me. The dad was now and then looking at me , to get assured that I am not unhappy with the mischievous acts of his daughter. Well I was not, I just loved them, both of them looked sweet and cute. The dad was also playing with daughter, and was trying to show that he is very happy today. I was thinking that the wife must be standing a little distance away in the bus, but I was wrong. When the bus stopped at the church, the two get down, but now woman accompanied them. I felt deep pity for them. I do not know why there was not any woman with them. I thought that may be they have divorced, but then in that case the daughter stays with the mother. Still it could be that the dad is allowed to meet the daughter only on some occasion, and today was one, when the two went out away form the wife (mother) to enjoy the company of each other.

It could also be that the wife has died leaving the daughter, under the care of husband. This could explain also the unusual childish behavior of the father. May be he was trying to hide the sorrow that he misses his wife very much and wants to absorb himself in the present, which is his daughter.

It could also be that the man is not married and has adopted the child from an orphanage, but this is bit unusual I guess. There could be many other reasons, why the two were without a woman.

The dad’s love and his activities were such that they did not make the daughter realize the necessity of a mother. May be she does need her, or may she doesn’t as the dad was extremely good and caring.

Whatever the reasons were for them to be without a woman, I felt sad for them.

Forgot Keys

It has been long time since I last put any post. Well in PhD life hardly anything new occurs. The days keeps going one after another in the same way. Even most of the weekends are also same, like any other week days. Well you must be wondering why I am making post today then. Yes u guessed it right, something interesting happed today.

The day started as usual, me doing the usual activities of morning. Felt a bit pissed by the annoying behavior of my flatmate, who feels natural to bang and slam doors. Don’t care if you are sleeping or meditating, but is very careful to complain if somebody becomes a nuisance to him. Weird man !!! So after encountering his irritating activities I get a bit stressed and started thinking how to and what to say to him, so that he don’t do all this in future. I was thinking when he produced a lot further noises by slamming doors and left in hurry. I did not get the chance to express by irritation. After few minutes I took bath, and then breakfast. I also had to go for purchasing food, asa i hadn’t had anything for the lunch. I put mu jacket on and kept a bag in my pocket, moved towards the door, when a thought occurred to me that I am forgetting something. My mind was so much occupied by the nasty activities that I witnessed of my flatmate that I could not think what is it that I am forgetting.

I cam outside the house and closed the door. A thought came to me like a flash that I forgo the keys. “Oh God, shit “. I mind was already a bit stressed before this, and with this my head was bursting. I stayed at the door for some 20 minutes. In that time, I tried to call my flatmate, but couldn’t as my cell has no credit. I even thought of knocking at my neighbor, as that too have the same landlord and might suggest something useful, but I did not do it. I thought about Feynman, how clever he was in opening locks, about which I read in “Surely you are joking, Mr Feynman”. I examined the lock to see if it can be opened by some screw. I even pushed the door, to see if by force I can break the lock . The irony was that I had nothing with myself. My college bag, containing my food, study material, water bottle etc was locked inside, and I did not had any screw. I cursed my luck and felt angry at the great presence of mind that I had.

I finally decided to go out and do following things. 1) Recharge the mobile. 2) Call Ernazar (my flatmate) to know his whereabouts, and inform him about the problem to seek solution. I was going to one Tabacci shop (where they sell rechange coupons) when on my way I met a man with his big dog (I guess great dane). The man was returning form supermarket with food and his dog, to keep the stuff in hi car. The great dog stood in my way and blocked my path. The man at first did not notice it but on turning back realized that his dog is not smart enough to move away from the path. He pulled the chain on his neck, but the dog instead of making way for me, just rotated a bit and stood in transverse way. Then the patted his dog ass to set him aside form my path. Both me and the man were greatly amused. I felt lovely to see the dog innocence, and kept smiling until I reached the Tabacci shop to ask for recharge coupon, where my smile was lost, when I was told that they do not have the coupons. I then went to next shop, again they did not had. I tried the next one, luckily they had, and I charged my mobile. Then I moved towards the bus stop, and on the way made a call to Ernazar. The call was cut, and I received the message that the phone is busy. I felt angry at him. But after 2 minutes he called me. “Yes Gaurav, what happened”. As if he was expecting to hear some news. I told him about my strange situation, which he was not ready to believe and wanted an explanation, as he knew that I am not a preson who does such careless mistakes.

The mistake was cost me a lot. I had to go to SISSA to collect the keys from Ernazar, took the next bus came back home after purchasing food from supermarket PAM, and waited till 2:10 pm for the flatmate to arrive. All this already made me tired and I wanted to take rest. Resting did recharged my battery and I felt a little rejuvenated. I also took some food and milk to feel better. I even did some exercise using dumbbells present in Ernazar’s room. This made me feel better, and I liked the feeling. When the bell rang at 2:10, I proceeded to the door to answer the call at the receiver. It was Ernazar, whom I was anyway expecting at that time, but I was pressing the wrong button on the intercom thus the door was not opening. However the door was opened by someone who wanted to get in/out the door. Ernazar felt pissed and on reaching upstairs, the first thing he told me was the position of the button on the intercom. The expressions on his face were justified by his tone.

I decided to come back to SISSA again, though initially I had decided to stay at home and take rest. I took the bus at 2:20 pm. But this time my mood was not bad as it was before and even though I was tired, I still felt a bit jolly.