Seesaw

When I was little I used to see kids playing seesaw by the playgrounds. The ends of the seesaw normally are so worn out. The grass there are trampled upon all the times. Modern seesaw that I saw put enough asphalt around the area to maintain the nice looks.
What I hate most is when I have to oversee my little brothers playing seesaw. Once one is above the other tried very hard to rise as well. Using every means including reducing body weight by exhaling air out, kicking the ground to push him up even though that is out of the rule of the game, etc. Then, the game continued. One went up, the other went down, as both can't be up at the same time. As the overseer I suffered. My head has to be turned left and right and up and down, so that I can see where they are. How I was very happy and relieved when they eventually both got hungry and asked me to take them home.
Nakamora just listened. He knew his friend likes to ramble. He doesn't care whether Nakamora has any idea at all about he said...

Just Ask Why

Everyone is familiar with the five Ws and one H. Well, almost everyone.
His friend starts mumbling again; and all Nakamora has to do is listen and comment when appropriate. That is the basis of their friendship. So, he listens.
When I was small I was asked only one question by my father: why. Why this, why that, why not this, why not that. Yes, it is just one question, the same one, but different materials; and I have to answer or made up the answers. After all he wouldn't know as long as the answer seemed logical. The hard part of course is in knowing what is logical and what is not, and to follow through my previous answer. Sometimes I was trapped by my own answer when his follow-up question is combined with my previous answer, and it did not sound right.
Can you give an example, asked Nakamora.
Why is the sky blue? I can answer it is because of the reflection of the ocean. He would then asked, why is it red in the afternoon or morning when the ocean is not changing color? See what I mean? How would I answer that?
Hmm.. your father must have been using the Socratic method to teach you.
I don't know that. Perhaps your father learned of the method too.
Not likely, he said. My father is not the educated kind.
Then, he must have discovered that independently of Socrates.
Perhaps...

Receding Mist

Mornings used to give refreshing sights around the place. So as after raining. Looking through his window Nakamora can see mist hanging in the air, almost blanketing the top half of that little mountain, adding welcoming contrast to the greens around it. The clear sky looks happy too with the mist around. Nice paintings indeed; a lively one that comforts the eyes.
It did not take long before modern machinery, driven by modern men with capitalist instinct, tore down the painting. The mist is receding. Soon it would be gone altogether. It can no longer be at the place it used to hang around. Men has claimed it to be theirs.
The morning scenery is now something else. There is still contrast, but an irritating one. It is unfortunately a typical picture that can be seen anywhere in the country. The onslaught of development is painting the same picture everywhere. A picture painted not by needs, but by greed. He tried to place the need in men that lead to that destruction in Maslow's pyramid of needs, but failed. There must be some other motivators...

Do Not Give Up...

He must be a Pakistani. Where does he stay, how long has he been selling that, where does he get all the wares he is peddling around?
That guy, with the bags of local version of the potato chips, made of a mixture of flour and fish, must be local. That boy, going from table to table, with a receipt book in one hand and a laminated A4-size document on the other, must also be a local.
Almost every time when Nakamora is at the restaurant the Pakistani and the local potato chip guys are there doing their rounds. The boy, or some other boy doing the same kind of thing, is there only occasionally. Perhaps similar sights can be seen at other eating places too.
This particular night, however, Nakamora bought something from that Pakistani guy. Normally Nakamora only responded with a smile as the guy approaches his table with overtures inviting him to exchange his money with the goods. It has been like so for countless times; but the guy never gives up. It seems that to the guy, every time is the first time. Well, perseverance pays. If you do it often enough, there would be time when it pays off. After many trips, many encounters, the guy succeeded in making Nakamora parts with his money.

Have You Time to Spare?

Everyone has 24 hours daily, and we used it all. So, how is it that some of us have spare time? Nakamora asked himself, since he thought he hasn't got any.
Spare something means setting a portion of that something aside to be used in future, when the one we presently have is exhausted, expired, or rendered useless, like spare tires and spare parts. Can time be such a thing? But then, we can always re-define spare time. Expand the scope of definition of spare or change its context, can't we?
Doing something not because of necessity, but driven by interest or hobby, a digression from normal routine and chores, can be said to be doing something in spare time. Strolling in a garden near a lake, watching movies or dvds, listening to music, tendering potted plants, or watching fishes swimming back and forth in an aquarium are possibilities; and people do that.
One could be sitting on a bench, looking at other people spending their spare or leisure time and play around with a camera...

Night Shift...

The sight is much more clearer in life than in the photo. A lone watchman sits on a plastic chair, reading something, under a street lamp. That is one of the night-time jobs among several; and may be one of the most passive in terms of physical movements.

Nakamora wondered what is it that makes them stay awake? How do they finish the job? What are they thinking, as it appears that they have plenty of time for doing that, don't they miss the daytime activities when they have to make up for lost sleep at night? Nakamora wanted to ask a guard. Perhaps someday there's an opportunity to do, so in a tactful manner.