Of black pen, Bullet & "Bai"

There are very few things in life that could give a child a feeling of achievement as that of the transition from using a pencil to pen. The mighty, mighty pen -the symbol of maturity. As far as I can remember, I had been using black pens (black inked or refills, not a physically black coloured pen…duh). Why?I cant entirely explain, but I have been giving it some thought lately. Maybe because I wanted to escape the uniformity of using blue pens which is so cliché. I guess you can say I have a fetish for slightly unusual (not so, but just different) things (or this could be the extension of one’s need to be unique). I remember hanging out with frens who were not so popular – like a lanky Bengali lad, one very dirty boy (he never washed his clothes on weekdays) and another who by now had been convicted. I didn’t play or enjoy football as a kid, which was and still is almost religiously followed in Mizoram. And I still don’t. But I still play active basketball when most guys my age are happy to sit back and watch EPL on TV and call themselves “sport-lovers.” (not to mean a certain wedding planner here). I drive a 2^nd hand Bullet in spite of being very conscious about fuel price and mileage (the Indian effect), cos a Bullet is different and it totally rocks !! After years of ridicule, I am finally enjoying pork but I don’t go ga-ga over it or willing to kill for a piece. In fact, I have always opted for vegetarian food during my undergraduate years (very non tribal-like, I know). I don’t eat “bai” …why? don’t ask me cos I don’t know, I just don’t eat it. I don’t drink tea…tho I enjoy iced tea, and there’s a heaven n hell difference between the two. When my frens cram the whole night for a test or exam, I sleep at ten…..not because I know everything, but because I really don’t think much of last minute slogging.

I guess everyone is unique in his own way and when we learn to appreciate each others uniqueness and difference maybe we'll be better off a a species. And I write with a black pen.