kismet and kinara

I was walking out of the Barcelona Al Prat Airport and there was Joan standing with his characteristic smile to receive me. The evening went by pleasantly as it always is the case with him, he had everything planned. You want some pot? Yes, and then some 'good old timers'. While sleeping on the couch (the spare bedroom had bed bugs) I reflected on what had happened, I was received by my friend on the airport in a foreign country, I marveled on the fact yet again that I indeed have been blessed with very good friends.

The next day I went to watch the match between FC Barcelona and Valencia. I asked Joan the way to Cam Nou and he simply said, just come to the nearest metro station and you will know your way. The sight at the Metro station was one to see, it was like zombies at the time of holocaust, hoards of people wearing the Barca colors. All you could hear was "Xavi, Iniesta, Pique, Messi, Valdes", somebody asked me what do you say, 1-0 and I was given a look that did force me add "in the first 15 minutes" after my score prediction.

In the stadium it was a sea of masses, never have I seen a spectacle as that with the emotions running wild and crazy but in sync through out the stadium. Barca lead with a 1-0 indeed and teh whole stadium erupted, I can only imagine what those players in the center feel when they glance along the stands.

Barca played bad and lost the game, a miss by the Barca players and the shouts of 'puta' can be heard through out the stadium. The spectacle that followed after the loss was nothing shorter than those seen at the cremation Ghats of Benares. As I later said Catalans do bleed FC Barca.

There is something about friendship which we all must understand, it takes probably a small talk to become friends but it does take a long time of nurturing and knowing each others habits before we conjure that time less bond called as true friendship.

I met my old friends again. 'Old' here might be misleading, the first time I met them was merely 9 months back, I was skeptical and to a certain limit slightly apprehensive of how people in a foreign land be like. It was apprehension then and an honor now to have all of them assembling in the city center just because I was there. It was one of the best evenings I have had for a long time. Good beer, excellent food and more than excellent friends, what more can you want from an evening. The best investments are not the ones that you do in the Wall Street but the ones you do inside the walls and out on the streets, in your friends.

When I see trees from a train, they appear to move but in reality they are constant and it is us who move.

I was in Castelldefels back to the little town where my international tryst started. How much seems to have changed since I was there last. Things are still the same- the small train station, the RISA, the beach, the little town but i have moved on. So it still puzzles me at times who moves- is it us or the time? Or may be both, it is just a matter of personal choice in the end. 

Some call it the wheel of fortune, some call it the wheel of time and some call it fate, but all mean the same- Time and Tide wait for none. I however am happy to look at the blue sky and hear the sound of the waves rather than worry about either.