Morning Commute

The Kilpauk area, where I live now is a lush street, populated by a number of upper middle-class house. There's a sitting toilet, hot showers, AC in the bedroom, cable television and warm homecooked meals every night. So, when I return there every evening, it is as if I've commuted from the colorful chaos of Chennai back into the vanilla suburbia of the States. Here, I let my guard down again, so much so that once, I returned to my old forgetful habits and left my keys outside the door. And, little by little, though I barely noticed it, I lost the acuteness of senses that I had when I first arrived. There's something about convenient living that seems to take away from the act of living itself. As if, the waves from the TV and AirCon cancel out the waves in my head. The minute I step out of the room, with the first honk of traffic and the first flapping sari flying by me on a scooter, my senses return immediately. Perhaps the key is to spend more time in the randomness and unpredictability of the morning commute.