A lull and a buzz

As I sat in vajrasan, listening to pt. Bheemsen joshi and closed my eyes . The first thought came in my mind was the lull and buzz in aai's place in mumbai. Now why mumbai and why not Jsrpur (not stayed enough) or US (no lull and buzz visible where I live). I have always loved windows. Even now as I type, I can see the streetlight casting a golden glow on otherwise muddy snow. But this place is very private and except some resident's cars, I see nothing, even if I sit here for hours together. But not at aai's current location. Just second building from a busy road, its always buzzing, sometimes like a honeycomb nearby. Ok I am digressing. So here is how it starts. While a tiny bit of activity is on throughout the night (though mumbai is a city that never sleeps and gurgling never ends...sometimes I wonder where the sole person I saw walking is going...or where is the rickshaw filled with a family is going at 2.30 am...yes I was awake then blame it on jetlag). So the place starts getting up say by 4.00 am when a truck comes to deliver milk crates. There is a thriving milk business which receives its daily fare to sell. No shop or rather near a closed shop, under a big tree, the crates are deposited and the truck goes off. Slowly the lady and her spouse (?) comes and then starts the distribution.Meanwhile the BEST buses start with a few people in it, few early hard working people.Meanwhile the business winds up, which is say by 6.30 am, the buzz has started already. fresh breads and wares are carried by bikes (or read cycles) to sell or transport to neaby stores. By 6.45, am the street light switches off and a day starts. Kids rush to schools and school bues, people rush to catch bus to offices or as intermittent transport on way to work. Slowly sun greets and now the shops open, more office and school buzz. Meanwhile that gets over say by 8.30 am, the buzz of shops opening, vegetable vendors preparing their wares, home makers on way to fresh vegetables start. Now the whole lane is buzzing. So much that there are honkings and jams and people meeting and talking on roads, . The buzz becomes slower when sun is the harshest. Say between 1.00 PM to 3.30 or 4.00 pm. The vegetables get their cover from piercing sun. The morning vendors or sellers, done selling and on their way home, the vening chat and snack vendors getting ready with their wares to entice college mates laughing way home, people from office trudging their way home, home makers shopping and deciding either a snack or parcelling for home. evening veggie vendors getting ready with wares. The 'nightmarish buzz' starts from say 5.30 pm and lasts till 9.00 pm. The dings of BEST buses full of people looking like an over packed bag, the honking, the shouting, the pushing the rushing. The sizzles coming from the kitchens as they prepare the evening supper, daily soaps blaring from homes..And just like a seawave slowly melting to foamy water, this rush dies down say by 9.30 pm. The buses still have people in them but not those many. And then the lull further deepening with shops closing, frequency of transit transport lessening, the venors covering their wares and pushing their carts to their destination...and say by 12.00 am the last bus goes to its "aagar" or parking lot and with few p;rivate vehicles, life slowly takes 50 disturbed winks. Roads now breathe and if it has rained, shine the golden pearls of street lights..I maynot miss the rush, but I truly miss the thought process that went on in my mind as I sat at the window...shifting position as my legs got numb....thinking of the old night watchman as he had his self prepared dinner of rotis, bottle gourd sabji at his small single room rest area...wondering of life and waves of life as the sleep decided for one more day to elude me for more time... I really had to kind of purge these thoughts and not loose them to procrastination...Glad I did it, and as I close, tucked in a blanket, the picture that changes little as each time I see it, starts slowly forming in front of my slowly sleepy eyes...