Saturday, October 02, 2010

26th August 1967

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 15; the fifteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.
26th August 1967
Alston locality, Cumbria, UK

I'm not sure if I should consider myself lucky for having an opportunity to learn from the oral arguments in court. Oh boy, it was stressful. After such a day, I'm glad I took a day off from my Professor and colleagues and made it to this place from Durham. Alston, at it's location above sea level is a busy market place I must say. It is a small and scenic town, and is lovey this time of the year. As I wait for my train back, I sit on this bench and cogitate what a beautiful day it was. "Every moment is an experience!"

How I wish I had a chance to speak to that young lady I saw this morning. A beautiful young lady she's. She has got those big expressive eyes, the kind that sweeps you off your feet and make you feel like you are getting lost as you look into them. If only I had enough courage to barge in and initiate a conversation instead of silently sipping my coffee at the stone built Angel Inn. No wonder they say, "Good judgments come from experience and often experience comes from bad judgment."

Magnificence of seven centuries stood around me as I walked inside the St Augustine church, although majority of the church came down a couple of centuries ago. It has colourful stained glass paintings, but the one handed clock left an impression on me. It reminded me of the lines written by Henry Van Dyke for Katrina's Sundial - "Time is too slow for those who wait, too Swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice; but for those who love, time is eternity". And we try to overcome our mind and it's perception of time, with our clocks ticking one second at a time. But, this one handed clock ticks only once in 15 minutes.

An old local businessman joined me during lunch. It was him who suggested me to try the famous Alston Cheese. Having learned that I'm a student from India studying law, we discussed various popular cases in the past few years. He studied Philosophy about 30 years ago and he fervently discussed how he wanted to do remarkable things in his life but could not. Is it really hard to break out of the cocoons we build around ourselves and to come outside our comfort zones to do what we really want to? After all, I'm not my job. "A musician must make his music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to ultimately be at peace with himself."

Enjoying every bit of the natural beauty and Pennine landscapes, I walked to the Alston Train station. I could not resist using my expensive Polaroid pack camera to make a pictorial memory of this beautiful station. Quite old but an elegant brick structure designed artistically only to enhance the beauty of the nature that surrounds it.


As I finished reading the last word of the yellow wrinkled page from my dad's diary, I looked at the photo deeply. With every page I read, I get a little more close to him and it makes me much more happy that he wanted me to know him. Know him, and the world through his eyes, his ideas and his ideals. I still remember the day he told me how Alston and his experiences here were so important to him. And how he didn't let my mother go after he saw her for the first time in Bangalore in 1973. It still brings a smile on my face when I think of my dad's adventures in getting his lady love. He was my hero, and he still is. Here I'm in Alston on a cloudy and cold beautiful October evening, to experience live what my father has experienced more than 40 years ago.


The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective postshere. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. can be checked


21 comments:

  1. This is a beautiful story decorated with many beautiful quotes we can live with! I would like to believe this is a work of fiction Vee... :)

    Going back to the beautiful past our parents had once is surely one good deed we can do in their memory!

    All the best VEE...:) hugs! :)

    Amity

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  2. Wow Vee...amazing piece and very well written..All the best for BAT!!

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  3. woo..... Liked the description and quotes, especially the last paragh

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  4. Nice stories and some power packed quotes.
    Very good story.
    Keep writing and keep blogging :)
    Good luck with the contest

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  5. this is a lovely piece Vee.. I loved it.. With lots of luv i wish you all the best for BAT..

    --Someone Is Special--

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  6. forgot to say that your blog looks so cool now..

    --Someone Is Special--

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  7. A unique approach and significant quotes, makes it an enjoyable read. Coincidentally, I have also written on similar lines, a similar setting, but a different story. Lucid flow of words makes it so vivid. All the best.

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  8. Amity -
    It is indeed a piece of fiction. It would definitely be wonderful to personally know what our parents have gone through when they were of our age. Very happy you liked it :) Thank you.

    UB -
    Thanks girl! I was hoping that you would participate this time. Busy with your classes?

    Srikanth -
    Thanks man! Did a bit of research on the station in the photograph. it has quite some history, although there is not much written in detail about it anywhere. so did some fiction with facts about Alston this time.

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  9. Muddassir -
    Thank you very much for the nice words.

    SiS -
    Thanks Saravanan! tried various things with my blog template, and now i'm happy with the way it looks. Glad you liked it too :)

    Cherry -
    Thank you. Always wanted to do something based on an old diary. And, with Alston station's picture as the theme this post took its form.

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  10. Hi Vee;

    I was expecting you would read my BAT entry, but am afraid you've got the wrong post... :-)

    My BAT entry is here:

    http://intelclub.blogspot.com/2010/10/train-of-thoughts.html

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  11. "Good judgments come from experience and often experience comes from bad judgment."
    TRUE! I often say that I'm obsessed with making mistakes and it is true! Kudos for the inspiring words!

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  12. Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
    LOVED your post ! Such a simple yet striking montage of one of the many facets of the human life and its emotions.
    If this is inspired from reality, then there is something very similar that i can relate to,but i guess we'll leave it for another time,another place.
    Thanks for the words !

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  13. OMG! am floored! Amazing... beautiful and so complete. Vee, glad u wrote this and not the Haiku!

    You know what's so nice about it, no fuss, no unnecessary detailing, no difficult plot, simple story which unfolds to be an incident of the past for the son reading the diary of father.

    Strong messages, quotes and thoughts all along make it so thought provoking and so lovable for me, as i look of meaning and value in words,and mere words don't appeal to me.

    And then this picture u added, the old verstion, it's icing on the cake dude!!!! great effort!! You are a winner Vee!!

    ALL THE VERY BEST FOR BAT ( Mera Vote Pakka!)

    RESTLESS

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  14. Good post with great quotes! Reminds me of a movie/plot with 5 different stories going parallel and they all are connected somehow!

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  15. nicely designed power pack words that formed a nice story! Liked it...

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  16. Amity -
    Your post is one of the few I look forward to whenever a BAT happens. I've read yours multiple times you know. And my goodness you've done everything in one single post! keep rocking :)

    Sidra -
    We all learn from mistakes, don't we? We call our experiences mistakes only because we look at them from a different perspective at the time we commit them.

    Brijesh -
    "Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it." Really didn't understand in which context you were referring to this quote. But I hope it's only in positive light. :P It is purely fictional, but definitely there are some streaks of reality painted here and there, as always. I would love to hear the experiences you relate to. Do share them on your blog!

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  17. Restless -
    Thank you! :D Looks like you are not completely okay with haikus. :P I'm doing them so that I need not put in lot of time in writing. And that also helps me in not ignoring my blog whenever I'm on time crunch and at the same time can make my blog colorful with relevant pictures. For this post, I had to do lot of research on Alston town and had to dig up photos and all. But I think it's worth it when I hear words of appreciation from you and other bloggers. Very happy you liked what I wrote. It's in my usual style, straightforward.
    "i look of meaning and value in words,and mere words don't appeal to me" - point noted lady.

    Bhavya -
    Thank you. I actually did a post on 5 different characters, although they won't overlap. but they share a common theme.

    Jayanta Deka -
    Thank you for the words of appreciation.

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  18. Really well researched and written with care. It seems as if it is a real story

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  19. wow I like the story and the way you describe the picture,you created the complete scene .I like the end especially and idea to present it as page from father's diary.very well written post and wish you luck for the contest.

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  20. nice read it was :)

    Best of luck for BAT

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  21. The Fool-
    Yeah, spent some time on researching things. I'm glad you felt it's a real story.

    Pratibha -
    i was thinking of naming the post as "a page from my dad's diary". but i wanted the readers to know only in the end that a son is reading his father's diary and trying to feel his father much closer with every page.

    Sweta -
    Thank you! :)

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