Bottled Water

The ambience was splintered with withering cigratte butts, cajoling menus, and warm sunshine; as dusk lingered in our subconscious. And to touch the glimpse of that new dawn all we had to do was pass through the night and dream a little, maybe also just live and let live a little.

"Dream a little dream with me", said one, as another took out a pen and connected with the scrap of paper as she added form and color and diction to an abstraction; a story that wanted to be told in 35mm. He had been learning the tricks of the trade; the flow, the angles, the lighting, the graphics that speak a thousand words and the words that speak a thousand pictures. He apprised us with the thoughts that had emanated from his mind and how he was trying to figure out about adding structure to it. 'Thoughts', an intermingled quagmire that had a silver lining and all we had to do was place our finger on it.

But instead of placing my finger on it, I was playing the silent listener that I am so adept at. And in the moment I decided to create a common portfolio for each one of us sitting at that round table. And as an after-thought I captured a picture of 'Bottled Water'. The water level was not high; infact it was almost empty, filled to the brink with air. But there was some water, as little as it was. We had to uncap the bottle and if we used it properly maybe one day we could spring up new life with it.

As Natalie Goldberg says, "Form alone will not create art. Form is important, we should learn form, but we should also remember to fill form with life. This takes practice."