Saturday at the Museumplein

Sitting on a wooden bench in the heart of amsterdam - Museumplein, I was savoring the sight of the quiet activity of the city laid out in front of me, served by providence, in the form of men, women, babies and dogs. The usual chaos of the tourist and trippers was missing. It felt more tranquil and earthly, very much unlike the accepted and conventional amsterdam, a much appreciated change for me. Running my life for the 10th straight month in the free-amsterdam, I still have not cultivated my liking for the palpable and vibrant cacophony of this city. The hypnotic attraction of the city has not allured my psyche.

On your left, you will see an exceptional view of the museumplein, flanked by 4 musuems of the city, the rijks, van gogh, diamond and another one. Well, you can see only the Rijks if you look hard and straight. This is how the square looked like on saturday, sedate, unadorned and mortal. I preferred this Amsterdam to the one that gave a psychedelic sense of well-being to all.

It was clothed in a blanket of quiescence and low clouds . I was looking forward to this saturday. The weather department had predicted sun and shine today. As I pulled the hood of my wind-cheater over my head, it reaffirmed my belief that one cannot get fired for being wrong, if you worked in a meterological department. The entire week had passed by under gloom and rain. Saturday was no better.

As my eyes luxuriated in the quotidian activity of the hour, I could not help but spend some minutes longer at the canines and kids around. These 2 sights necessiated me to muse over the similarities between kids and hounds.

The man tossed the frisbees in the air, the tykes running behind the game with thier eyes pointed skywards and retrieving it, but refusing to hand it back to their owners, wanting to relish the feeling of biting into the tattered rubber, a bit longer. The men awarding their animals with a rub on thier back, a hug, or a another throw of a frisbee. This cycle continued even after I forcefully moved my eyes away from the play. Kids clothed in colorful and lively looking jackets running around trying to keep off from rolling on the grass. The kid was accompanied by a man with rather harsh looks, but who softened to tenderness when he glanced at the kid playing around.

Between both the men, if there was one thing that was common other than the gender was the look of harshness in their eyes, a feeling of discomfort came over me when I looked at them individually, keeping the kid and the dog at a safe distance. But in tandem with the accompaniments, my feeling towards them underwent a drastic metamorphoses. They looked human, loved and approachable.

Dogs and Kids are similar. Hope moms and dads wont crush me for this. I though I should write this down this today. Both the entities here brought out the humane chacteristics in us. They loved us unconditionally. When we got back home, either to the dog or the kid, it was pretty immaterial where we came from, or what we are. The fact that we are home was enough. The kid squealing in delight, waiting to be picked up and the dog barking in acknowledgement, waiting for a rub.

How impossible it is for us grown-ups to be this absolute and unadulterated. We may tend to ignore the extra and unwanted fittings that exist in the people we love. Kids and dogs do not ignore, because they cannot understand. They cannot calculate. We analyse each other. Kids and dogs cannot. We can never harbor such unblemised feelings for each other.

Wish I was a kid all my life. I did not say "dog" because an idiom - dog's life means an unhappy life, hard plight! I would not mind being that either as long as we do not attribute figurative meaning to it!