Because I Love Mornings - I

0600 hours, 7 Bungalows, Bombay, India.

Honk. Chirp. Caw-Caw. I wade out of a restless slumber in a house that's not mine, yet so comfortingly familiar. Peeling open eyes that aren't ready to face the sunlight yet, I squint through the heavy curtains hanging at windows left open to let the night breeze enter the room and cool the room through the course of the night. I can't see much apart from hazy shapes in the distance - I fumble for my spectacles and put them on. My vision clears considerably and I can make out the figure of a watchman clambering atop the water-tank in the building across the street. It's early - I can afford to lounge around for some more time. I fling my spectacles onto the bed-side console, and lazily stretch under the duvet. Yawn. Idly reaching out for my cell phone to check if there are any messages, I let the sounds of the morning wash over my senses. There is something comforting about hearing the city start to wind up it's machinery and get its act together for the day. Buses screech to a halt somewhere nearby - if I look out I'd probably see a bunch of Convent School students clambering into the bus, their backs bent under the weight of their heavy school-bags. That's the first batch - they will be followed an hour later by students of Maneckji Cooper, Jamnabai Narsee and AVM among others...

Beep beep. 0645 hours. Time to put on the water-heater. I scramble out of bed, pulling my camisole down over my waist and go do the needful, before coming to stand at the window. Below me the street is already buzzing with activity. The muncipality sweepers are trying in vain to sweep the street clean - they succeed in gathering most of the leaves that have drifted down the previous day and some other stuff that isn't as harmless. There's a van parked outside the local supermarket - some men are carrying huge cartons into the supermarket via its back entrance. A cycle parked round the corner has stacks of newspapers tied to the back. The flower seller runs across the street - he's probably running late in delivering the pooja-flowers to his clients. The vegetable vendor is busy arranging fresh veggies on his cart and the paan-wallah at the nukkad is greeting his first customers of the day - they are there for bread, eggs, cutting-chai (yes he even serves that) or cigarettes to round up that early morning walk! ;-) Voluptuous ladies in pastel salwar-kurtas and white Reeboks or Nikes bustle past, sweating profusely after their walk in Nana-Nani park - no doubt they are discussing their latest diet, or perhaps it's the latest 'designer suit' or 'kundan set' they picked up for the upcoming festival and wedding season.

I smile and push my hair out of my eyes...

Oh yes, mornings are the best part of the day :-)