Tactile

Touch is a phenomenal feeling.

I got up in the morning feeling a light weight against my leg. Of course before you jump to prurient conclusions, I opened my eyes to see my (friendly neighbourhood) cat stretched against my side..long, lean grey-brown-black and eyes tightly shut. What a feeling - warm sweet smelling fur against skin, warm from sleep....

Reluctantly I got up (and had to wake the cat up) and headed for my daily ablutions. Hot water, cold tiled floor and steamy fragrance of a bath just had.. all give the most delightful sensations on the skin. I stepped out, got dressed (regular cotton garbed over cream greasened skin) and headed out for the first task of the day - to eat the muesli soaked the previous night. It was the first time I had it and experienced the most unusual sensations - a funny taste crunch of nuts and muesli along with the smoothness of the milk and curds.

Stepped out of the house and straight into my royal coach for the morning - an autorickshaw - a medival mechanism that masquerades on the streets of Mumbai as a mean machine. The first sensation was too much dust. FIghting to keep the sneezes at bay, I got dragged along.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur of conversation. Registered some sensations along the way. Synthetic carpeting, uncomfortable rotating seats and dry air conditioned air. Getting to office was an exercise ridden with temporalities. A seat heated with sunshine, smearing with concrete and tar dust with people constantly jostling and pushing my dupatta and bag over the edge.

Work is as always - unchanged. Cool air conditioned offices, uncomfortable chairs and constant rushes of air because people insist on using the gangway as a 'national highway' Poof! one tuft of hair because one guy goes by. Whoosh! My plait gets askew becasue a bunch of them go by.

Getting home involved the usual feels, touches and sensations. The bus seat trrring under me(brand new faux leather seats make a funny sound), mosquitoes biting away at my ankle, light breeze coming through the windows along with fumes from adjoining vehicles and the book's plastic (the one i am reading) rapidly gathering dust, cool metal poles I clutch onto while getting down, soft semi melted chocolate(the one I dip into for a quick mood elevating (?) bite till I get home through the miasma of traffic.

Dinner consisted of quick hot chatpattis(2), a yoghurt based curry ('kadhi') and brinjal (slightly soft and gleaming with some oil and some jaggery) Its cool, the night has settled in well and am looking forward to stretching onto the snow white soft linens under thin chaddars, waiting for the cat's warm fur to wake me the next moring......

Its amazing .. keeping track of what touches you (literally) through the day can be a revelation.