Kangleimaichou

Looked for you in the back of the cottage, for I had heard so much about you.The shepherd in the valley told me where you would be found. I trekked the long winding leaf-covered path. The snow-capped Himalayas appeared in the distance. But the day-long quest appeared futile, I had wandered long enough that spontaneity ceased to excite me. Another shepherd's direction helped me find the main road. There, the sounds of the birds were remote, the sight of machines became frequent. I trudged without the quest in mind. Then, it was by a turn, in an unlikely tree, you and others were found hiding behind the thick leaves. I meant to take you home. I should not have done. I would have offered a thousand apologies to make up, but it wouldn't mend. Don't we live, at time, with great remorse and grief?  The only consolation was to make your beauty eternal this way. I do hope someday nature will forgive the excited admirer, and hope that it will lessen the remorse one carries.

I and my kind around here have witnessed the place transform from a virgin forest to one through which this asphalt road cut through. If you tread further, my Kanglei friend, you will see the people of the place who are still clinging to farming. But they will soon become mere caretakers, as rich folks from the metros are here to build the cottages they have seen in some Alpine country.

Entering such an alley after having spent a few hours walking through the crowds was quite a relief. Suddenly, the buzz dwindled, the sight of humans completely absent, making it possible to breathe. The pasted fliers on the walls gave the impression of the place being the museum of information, and when the silent walk ended, one was welcomed by florists.

Does it really matter that one should be affected by how others perceive about others or let's say about us? How we live could be filthy, scabby and noxious, bu t that's your perception influenced by your surrounding and the set of rules which you have conditioned your mind. Likewise, how you live and how you conduct yourself could be, if I allow myself, is idiotic. So this marijuana we smoke every day, this mud on the body, and the dreadlocks we keep, all these are the manifestation of a defiance which you so much dread; we are outnumbered, the larger world is not ours, but we live here thinking that we are living the life we like.