Keep Wishing!

It was the other day that I spoke out or rather blurted out an item off my wish list. Let us face it people…All of us have wish lists whether it has been put down in black and white or just lies quietly in the deepest attic of the mind. There is a reluctance to divulge the list sometimes for the simple reason that it may not be fulfilled! It was just the other day that I blurted out one to a family friend. It came off my lips.  I say this to bring in the fact that an item on a real wish list stays…JUST STAYS! No matter what! ‘I want to see the Big Ben and the Drawbridges of London’! Watched these Drawbridges recently on one of Harsha Bhogle’s video blogs too where he too seemed very excited to talk about them ! Atleast I'm not alone with this one I thought!

Another closer look at the drawbridge.

My fourth class English teacher was British. She was Miss. Gale Dyke. A very tall woman, who wore flowing, long skirts with baggy blouses. She also had a pair of spectacles that hung around her neck and yes her table was always messy! Never mind!  She taught us amazing English. By amazing I mean, interesting stuff. All of us stared in utter awe and respect of her knowledge and diction. A large part of what she taught was about London and its drawbridges.

A picture of an ancient castle.

The castle itself. The Soave Castle

‘The Castle drawbridge was a moveable, heavy, wooden bridge which spanned the width of a castle moat . The drawbridge consisted of a wooden platform with one hinged side fixed to the castle wall and the other side raised by chains. It would be raised vertically and dropped down again when danger had passed.  The purpose of a drawbridge was to allow, hinder or prevent easy entry into a Medieval castle’…That was definitely not what or how she would tell us. There were models made, pictures shown (real pictures in which she and her family stood in front of a bridge and smiledJ)! Wow we thought and sighed. It was like a scene where a traveler stood at the middle of a village and told the people of that village the stories of the far off places that he had seen. At the end of it all her drawbridge stories slowly moved on to the process of ‘knighthood’ and what significant roles it played in a royal life led by people out there. She showed us the different swords, named them, drew them, even held one paper made one and showed in action how the soldiers fought with itJ and then finally we were asked to do a project of the life and times of the knights, about Trunnions and Windlass et al. Another world that took us through the streets of London in dreams!

The trunnions are the protrusions from the side of the barrel that rest on the carriage.

A knight's shining armour!

     

Many a time, life’s stories and experiences change the wish list by order or just have new ones to fill it up.  I heard that they do not open the drawbridges anymore but the item stands on my wish list nevertheless for other reasons as well. Its hard to say why and how for many items on a wish list. At some point it was Bungy jumping and a roller coaster ride that gives me goose bumps. Oh they were easy to tick off. There is one more weirdo one- to stay in a tent overnight in a jungle and then to trek during the day and I want to do this for 2 full days. Can’t quite figure out how this one came but has remained in my list for over a decade now. Here’s an easy one off my list- to drive all night(rather to be driven…I don’t want to be burdened with watching the roads with all the alertness it demands at that hour) on a good road with good soulful music on a car music system and yet has not happened! A more nobel one is to see the Perumal in Tirupathi in very close proximity!! Been on my list for a few years now! Many many more such wishes that will be written over and over again!

What about yours? Do find the courage to speak a few from yours.