I sit in the car and close my eyes as Mano drives and talks, “Bob!” he
says after awhile, “You aren’t listening to me!” “I am!” I say. “You
are?” “Yes I am!” “You are listening to what I’m saying?” “No,” I tell
him, “I just am!” “You’re talking strange,” says Mano, “What do you mean
‘I just am!” I open my eyes and look at him, he hasn’t changed from the
Manohar, my classmate in college many, many moons ago, not an extra
ounce of flesh, nor a hair missing, I wonder what the secret of his
eternal youth is, then close my eyes.
“You’re doing it again!” “Doing what?” I ask. “Not listening!” “Did you
say anything?” “No!” “Then it’s beautiful being in this ‘I am state’” I
tell him, “You know what it means?” “That you are right here, not any
where else and enjoying the feeling!” says Mano brightening up. “That’s
your ‘I am’ feeling!” I nod and feel the car go forward. We are driving
towards a book launch, Shree had brought out another book, “Harper
Collins this time,” he’d said, “Mano will be there too!”
“Wow!” I’d said and taken the next flight to be with them. Three college
friends, writers all of us, one with a doctorate in English, the other
an acclaimed author with half a dozen books to his credit and me a self
proclaimed columnist.
“I was saying,” says Mano, “Whether we’d made the right choice!”
“Becoming writers?” I ask as Mano nods. I sit in the car and close my
eyes and think. “Suppose you’d made a million bucks? Maybe a billion
what would you do?”
“Like Bill Gates?”“Yep!” “I’d buy myself an island, have a room
overlooking the sea and…” “And what?” “And write!” “So who wants an
island..” “And who wants a room overlooking the sea…” “As long as we can
write!” Mano drives, I close my eyes and smile as we reach the bookshop
where Shree launches his latest book.
