Fifteen minutes to sit and stare..

I have been staring at this blank white writing space for a while now. The blinking of the cursor seems to have gradually grown more frequent as it runs out of patience waiting for me to type something. So without trying it too much, I guess I'll just type down the first thing that comes to my mind. Well, the last time I remember I sat down peacefully and observed something was in Matheran a couple of days ago. It might not have been full twenty minutes of observation of course, since twenty minutes is too long a time to stay within your mind when you've got good company. But well, it was a good enough length of time. I was sitting at this tourist point in Matheran which gave a great view of all the peaks and valleys around. i was there basically because it was the nearest point and I came upon it while i was on my way to the railway station.

Anyways, i was sitting on the park bench and now looking around at the people who were coming and going, since there's only this much amount of time for which i can stare at static valleys and mountains. It’s really interesting to see people who have come on a trip. There are different kinds in that actually. The first kind which is the most prominent is the Family kind. I saw an ideal example of this category come to this point i was sitting at. This Family comprised of mom, dad and two sons. The dad was in his late forties, the mom in her early forties, the younger son was say 10, and the older, 15. Clearly, the dad was the decision making entity in the group. His role was to decide where to go, what to expect, what to do, even what to see, what to enjoy and how to enjoy. The older son was feeling proud since he was the one holding the Family's handycam. The younger son was feeling equally proud since he was carrying the important-looking handycam case. The Dad had a satisfied air since evidently, he was the one who made this distribution of goods to achieve happiness for both his sons. The Mom didnt give a damn since she was tired and the only job she was doing was to take care of packets of food, water bottles, and every other thing that might be needed on a trip but was not required at that moment. The older son's sole purpose in life had become to shoot and capture every passing moment, every single leaf, stone, branch, fruit, flower, butterfly and mosquito that they saw in Matheran. So all the while they were at the point that looked over this breath - taking view, the son was busy furiously shooting everything in sight, and never actually looking at what he shot. But, he was happy since he was pleasing his father. The younger son on the other hand, did have the time to see since he only had the carry case with which you cannot do much except carry it. He did want to try and emulate his idol, the older brother, but since he did not have the necessary resources, he only pranced around the open space at the point. The mother did not partake in much of the viewing and seeing since the first and the last thing she located in the place was a tree under which there was a platform on which she could sit down. As soon as they came there, she planted herself under the tree, gave a sigh of relief and committed herself to watching out for her younger son. The father had come there strictly to enjoy and that was what he would do. He went right up to the edge of the cliff, folded his hands across his chest and swept an authoritative glance, with the frown of a government official looking at a piece of paper he is asked to sign, across the vegetation sprawled beneath him to let it know he had come, he had seen and so he had conquered it. The older son of course, did not miss the chance to capture every single inch that his father's eye covered. When Dad had finished conquering the view, he turned his attention to the things around him at the point. There was a shed that sold drinks and tea. That was unimportant since it was a waste of money. Then, there was an old man with a telescope planted on a tripod next to a sign that said you could see five points through this telescope for ten rupees. Now that is something that was special about this place and needed to be conquered, since one could talk about this among a circle of friends. So the father marched up to the man and peered through the lens. The older and hence the younger son followed suite, of course. The mother was reluctant but since the father beckoned to her, she had no choice. She inched up to the pipe, peered and got it over with as fast as possible. This family looked like a single sphere to me, in some sense. That is, there sure were four people but there was just one decision making authority, and so, just one entity. The father was the deciding body while the remaining three were just dummy followers.

The next kind was a group of friends that came there a few minutes after the Family did. This looks like a cluster of spheres since everyone is a decision making authority. Their behaviour and response to a beautiful place like this is drastically different from the family perspective which is there as a rule to compulsorily enjoy. The group of friends are there generally to hang out and there is nothing special about the point that has made them visit it. They’d visit any other place just as well. The first thing that they checked as soon as they entered was not the awesome expanse of nature spread right in front of their eyes, but the number of pretty girls sitting there. The girl would of course be prettier if she’s there without a guy. Once that analysis and census was done, they decided upon their centre of gravity for that place, which was the prettiest girl that’s sitting alone or with her other girlfriends. Once they found such a station, they then proceeded to see the view. The view was honoured with a cursory glance, and then the guys spread out to take poses around the place which made it seem as if they were philosophically analyzing and admiring the nature, but actually they thought would impress the centre of gravity the most. Some felt they were successful at it, others didn’t, and when this exercise was over, they regrouped and talked about the centre of gravity. This went on till they lost interest( or as in some cases, the centre of gravity gets up and leaves), and then the talks shifted over to sports, cricket, politics in cricket, cricket in politics, politics, and then any damn thing that anybody is well – versed with. After about ten or fifteen minutes of this, they decided to shift base and left.

There were three more types that I saw over there. There was the type where a group of middle aged and/or old aged men (read ‘uncles’) had come together on the trip. Then there was the variation of Family type wherein the Dad only believes he is the decision making authority but in reality, even his four year old spoilt son has independent views about what must be done. Lastly, there was the type where two or three families together visit the place. In the first of these three, the ‘uncles’ are all busy shooting and capturing the view in different ways. Then they get together to diplomatically prove who got the best capture, who knows the most about the place and of course, get a sip of tea at the nearby shed. There’s more about these remaining three but since i’ve already typed two pages on something I only saw by sitting at one place for 10 15 minutes, I want to stop since I want to be able to read this post of mine myself without taking more time than i took to observe what i wrote.