Doll (Guddi)

Circumstances
Brought them together
Made them neighbours

Both lost their partners
In the autumn of their lives

One didn't want children
Children didn't want the other

An unlikely pair indeed
One threw tantrums
Demanded attention
The other sought
Freedom
And just a little love

One thing stood true
Both loved life
In their everyday
Ordinariness

Years together
They found a rhythm
That spouses struggle to find

An unlikely pair
They indeed were

Her children took her away
One dark day
Life was never the same
For either hence

One lost her freedom
The other her crutch
Both lost their friendship

Age was not on their side
Days went to nights
Nights to weeks
Weeks to months
Months to years

Her loneliness gnawed at her
Without her friend
She felt distraught

The decline was quick
Death came soon after
Nothing either could do
To rekindle their unlikely friendship

She watched her friend go
Too soon she thought
A few more years
Together?
Maybe?

Soon her children
Didn't want her again
Back she was
In the same neighbourhood

Nothing was the same
Without her friend
Strange was the lane 
Unfamiliar were her days

A silent tear
A prayer
Now and then

Off she went
Living on
A doll (Guddi)
For that was her name
In her tongue

The Bar

There's something about sitting at the Bar and not the table
It gives a bartender's view of life.
I neither feel like a customer nor a bar-tender.
I feel like an observer of life.

Its fascinating to watch them work behind the counters
Making concoctions simple and complex
filling it up
serving, talking, playing, cleaning
Its all about efficiency and speed
Their eyes catch you even before you talk
almost hearing you think.

They know their drinks
and their customers
They are the keeper of secrets
and many a story.
sometimes, they give you a story
or a piece of profound life advice
people of a few words
unless you catch them
at the end of their day.

They are never tired of serving
or listening
love to have you sit at the bar

Maybe a signboard might help
"Drinks come pricey
The bartender is all yours for free"

~ 25th July 2010
These are posts I wrote on a tissue sitting at a local bar in Prague in January 2010.