The days did move, but moved bit slow. Klarke kept looking forward to eventful adventures, but none could excite him to the core. That day too, not so differently, was ordinarily interesting. As he entered the Ceremony Hall for Inauguration with his colleagues, everything around him seemed amusing, yet too moderately so. The sanguine walls striving hard to live up to the young enthusiasm of Program participants. The sound bleakly escaping through fissures amidst the Auditorium door flooding a barren Hall with tentative promise of activity. The floor which bore harsh marks of age stamped by feet of men with a vision who walked looking at the sky. A stall with colorful exhibits decorated with posters to proclaim a struggle for transformation of but many lives, and a young lady by the stall with a delicate unemotionally touching smile. Curious faces standing close examined colorfully crafted artifacts being sold - a setup that did not exist at equilibrium with the gnawing sadness of those walls.
It was then when Klarke moved an inch closer to this strange feminine face, glimpsing through the angles of her lens to find a definitive purpose to this setup - A story. She smiled modestly, her words bridging the logical gap between how these items were manufactured, and how Klarke himself could be a source of motivation for the women behind the activity. Livelihood, as he understood, culminated itself from a vertical to be studied as part of this program, to such beautifully crafted wallets, bags, bookmarks - small items which spoke of an untold story. A story of this a new beginning of a few women who woke up with a vision to create a change. Of little children with unborn dreams in their eyes, watching aliens from cities transported to their lands to talk about migration, sustainability, education, prototyping, marketing, and everything else that made them fly higher into fantasies of unknown terrains - a world beyond the borders of wet mud, mooing cows and the essence of fresh village air.
All this would come back to Klarke as days progressed, and certain people would become so special that years later when he'd recall moments which defined his life, a blurry image of this young lady with a delicate unemotionally touching smile would flash for an instant a bit too long. But that moment it was the distraction of a child-like curiosity that made him smile back thanking her for enlightening him with this piece of knowledge. Soon after he would turn back to the Hall where but a few faces rose with this strangely familiar streak of passion and curiosity. Sans the seat belt, this session was an official roller-coaster introduction to an experience that Klarke would later define as life-changing. For the first time, he took a vow which penetrated deep in his consciousness and promised itself to transform the person he'd be to not just exist for himself, but live for happiness.
Dinner soon after arrived, and he found his food packet on his lap, comfortably sandwiched on the stairs between a lady and a gentleman - both with forgiving, yet sparkling faces. They talked a lot, and as words escaped and were absorbed, there was an unabridged flow of resonating emotions which were to convert in life-long bonds to be. What was to follow was a bus ride to an intermediate stoppage on their journey - a small school by the village. Years after the extinction of his physical childhood, he slept under the stars. He dreamt with eyes open, and breathed existential freedom under open skies. His new dinnertime buddy joined him for this quest, and the last words they shared before dreams consumed both of them was 'Unbelivable'. It was a few hours into the darkness of a rotating night sky when he felt drops of water on his eyes. The first monsoon rains. They came and blessed both of them with a love that was unknown to this kind of city dwelling species. A few raindrops slid past Klarke's lips and he knew what elixir of immortality would taste like. He could have jumped all night like a little child who's found his most prized toy, but the logic in his left hemisphere reminded of a pending schedule, and so he followed his friend to sleep on the classroom floor inside, stealing a space close to a window from where the melody of tiny droplets eloping with the Earth below was the most beautiful lullaby.
It was then when Klarke moved an inch closer to this strange feminine face, glimpsing through the angles of her lens to find a definitive purpose to this setup - A story. She smiled modestly, her words bridging the logical gap between how these items were manufactured, and how Klarke himself could be a source of motivation for the women behind the activity. Livelihood, as he understood, culminated itself from a vertical to be studied as part of this program, to such beautifully crafted wallets, bags, bookmarks - small items which spoke of an untold story. A story of this a new beginning of a few women who woke up with a vision to create a change. Of little children with unborn dreams in their eyes, watching aliens from cities transported to their lands to talk about migration, sustainability, education, prototyping, marketing, and everything else that made them fly higher into fantasies of unknown terrains - a world beyond the borders of wet mud, mooing cows and the essence of fresh village air.
All this would come back to Klarke as days progressed, and certain people would become so special that years later when he'd recall moments which defined his life, a blurry image of this young lady with a delicate unemotionally touching smile would flash for an instant a bit too long. But that moment it was the distraction of a child-like curiosity that made him smile back thanking her for enlightening him with this piece of knowledge. Soon after he would turn back to the Hall where but a few faces rose with this strangely familiar streak of passion and curiosity. Sans the seat belt, this session was an official roller-coaster introduction to an experience that Klarke would later define as life-changing. For the first time, he took a vow which penetrated deep in his consciousness and promised itself to transform the person he'd be to not just exist for himself, but live for happiness.
Dinner soon after arrived, and he found his food packet on his lap, comfortably sandwiched on the stairs between a lady and a gentleman - both with forgiving, yet sparkling faces. They talked a lot, and as words escaped and were absorbed, there was an unabridged flow of resonating emotions which were to convert in life-long bonds to be. What was to follow was a bus ride to an intermediate stoppage on their journey - a small school by the village. Years after the extinction of his physical childhood, he slept under the stars. He dreamt with eyes open, and breathed existential freedom under open skies. His new dinnertime buddy joined him for this quest, and the last words they shared before dreams consumed both of them was 'Unbelivable'. It was a few hours into the darkness of a rotating night sky when he felt drops of water on his eyes. The first monsoon rains. They came and blessed both of them with a love that was unknown to this kind of city dwelling species. A few raindrops slid past Klarke's lips and he knew what elixir of immortality would taste like. He could have jumped all night like a little child who's found his most prized toy, but the logic in his left hemisphere reminded of a pending schedule, and so he followed his friend to sleep on the classroom floor inside, stealing a space close to a window from where the melody of tiny droplets eloping with the Earth below was the most beautiful lullaby.
