Showing posts with label heartless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heartless. Show all posts

Monday, February 20, 2012

Perfidious one, Goodbye


Just two days ago, he had left me for another girl.  I had been a mere passing fancy .All around me, my world was crashing. That night, I sat staring at the sky like I so often did, only this time it was not a lovely azure sky or a dreamy gaze … it was an ink black night and a fixed hollow stare. Not a soul stirred in the world outside the bay windows, nor within. Summer heat was suffocating the air and along with it the darkness made a cemetery of my bedroom. A power failure was on and the time must have been well past midnight; I had lost touch altogether, for everything was still as if dead.

Clinging to the iron bars, there I sat at the window sill that looked south upon the face of the sky  marked by coconut tree tops. Drenched in sweat and fists clenched white, I heaved at the night air through the only window pane that was open. Not a muscle in my body moved, the eye lids refused to bat. The shock was enough to put my life on ventilator- I could hardly breathe. I sat with a body that had gone limp . But I could sense the brain work furiously .What was I thinking? Was it the deceit or the heartlessness that so broke me?

All that was yesterday ; today seems slightly better .The moonless dead sky made as if to wink at me through its starry eyes, like those eyes had done once upon a time. I don’t know about the stars but the moon knew…I had told the moon myself of my dreams… dreams inspired by his beautiful deep eyes. What were to become of those? Why does it all seem like such a long time ago though it had been just two days? I should say my mind took it remarkably well, oh it took a lot of courage .For today, he is on ventilator .Right now, in the dead of this summer’s night, he is battling for his life .There would be so much chaos surrounding him when he lies there half-asleep, only he wouldn’t know. I did what I could, the rest I shall leave to fate .He may come back alive, but still...I hope…he goes… tonight...

It was raining hard when I woke up in the morning .I love morning showers and this one had come after testing times of dry heat. The sunlight and rain mixed and danced at my windows, now all open, and gently sprayed on my face waking me up. That morning, soaking in the scene of this world getting cleansed by heavenly rain , the world regained a semblance of what it should be – truthful and righteous. 

The sleep had been rather fitful – throughout the night I kept hearing murmurs, waking with a start every now and then giving me a bad head ache, but now nature was consoling me. The moist air cooled the heat in my mind, the sight of water flowing everywhere soothed my eyes, and I don’t know why but they started flowing too. I rose and took up seat at the window sill again leaning my head against the iron bars, and gazed at the sky with tearful eyes. The rain drenched me and the wind stuck strands of wet hair against my face.

The world was washed and dripping from head to toe like someone preparing to do the last rites of a dead man. The leaves on the tree tops drooped, like his head would have hung, in sorrow. An unexplainable sense of gloom had started rising in me, the seeping in of the first grains of emotion since the breakup .Then, a hand gently touched me, and said, “You have to be brave to hear this …”

PS- A piece of dark fiction I had scribbled on yellowing journal pages eons ago ,which this song reminded me of today ... 

 

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Hey You...

ALERT : Heavy dose of frustration follows!

In our poor lives, we dream rich dreams. From our lowly mud slums, we look up to the high heavens and dream and hope and pray that our life’s journey bring us closer every day to those heavens. We live in our dreams; our lives become our dream.


We struggle for our dream and we struggle against each other, for there isn’t enough to satisfy everyone’s dream in our land. Opportunities are few and far between and the dreamers aplenty. We push in the crowd, trying to elbow our way to our goal, while some fall away kicking and screaming, the sight of their fall searing us even more and we end up fighting an even bloodier fight.


I meet people who have fallen while I was kicking for my space in the crowd. They tell me their tales where-in they ‘compromised’ for the sake of things other than their own self, with a resigned look in their eyes. I feel sad for them, even want to console them but do not for I may hurt their ego. Their tales deepen the shadow of fear in me .I pause amidst the milling crowd for a second and swallow hard the rising lump in my throat and frantically eye the grey skies overhead for some sign of relief.


We know what we are capable of, and we know that what we want is just beyond that door. Our dreams are closed in on all sides by thick walls that rise unto the skies and the lone door is tiny. We bang our heads against the walls moaning, and groaning at our slim chances .Around me, I see some people weeping for it’s their last chance to get their dreams. If not this time, they will have to give up and fall back into lowly slum lives. They fear that they will be reduced to telling tales of their lost dreams.


Here, we grow up fast, fast-forward childhood and ignore adolescence. We harden our hearts against teenage love and wave good bye to song and story quite early, for we realize there are grim realities to be tackled before we get a chance to knock at our dream’s door. Bibliophiles read only text books, singers sang only theories and dancers danced to the tunes of their syllabi, for we didn’t want to fall prey to ‘distractions’.


It’s drizzling on us as we crowd outside the walls, kicking the slush. There is no ray of light except when the door opens to let a lucky one in. Then there’s a renewed energy and we push even harder in the direction of the light. Braving the darkness and the rain, each one to his very own selfish self, we push and shove, we claw and we kick…For ,in our land, the dreams are many and the chances few…


PS : Bringing to light an old piece.

Recommended music:Hey You,Pink Floyd.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Nobody deserves to be hated.........,or thrashed;least of all a child for his seeming shortcomings.For all you know,he might be really good at other things.And nobody is worthless........please,nobody is worthless........
THE BITCH

Issued in public interest:Do not read this one.Its heartless.

What is it that comes to your mind when you hear that word ..’bitch’?I can guess that picture that has already flashed in your mind. So you are prepared with an answer to my question ,right?

Well then, read on…

Last week,I saw something and since then, my personal definition of that word has changed..I had been to my college after two weeks of nothing-to-do at home,my exams were all over and I was leaving college..so I had gone to get the papers ready.The cutting off of the umbilical chord between me and my alma-mater,I thought. I was there to apply for my TC.There were old friends standing around under the bamboo cluster,comparing their application forms and chatting up on those two weeks of separation .I was seated among them in the shade underneath ,feigning to fill my friend’s autograph book and blabbering along.Now,there is this family of dogs (no,not a pack!......atleast not for me!) that roams the campus,a bitch and its tiny puppies..all rusty brown colour with a nose that made them look like the cute ‘hutch’ puppy,as I called them.I had wanted all along to click a photo of theirs,I had the exact picture in mind,a close-up of their face with those big honey eyes staring..And they were lounging near-by just then..(ughh...i don’t wanna write this……)

Suddenly, there was a shriek from my right-side.When I turned I saw a puppy turned on its back beating all four of its legs furiously!A car was braked suddenly, just inches from it;the brake-lights glaring!A few seconds passed in stunned silence..and the bitch started barking dazedly at the car,which sped off as the barking grew louder.I covered my eyes with my hands and crouching low,put my head between my knees to deafen my ears to the angry barks..people from the nearby building came out hearing the commotion..they wore a numbed expression,eyes straining at the barking dog..and murmuring ,’mahapaapam!’,’kashtam!’..

All the other pups had run away scared and whimpering.Only the bitch and the run-over puppy remained.The puppy had stopped beating by now,turned on its side,its head now covered in running blood.When I raised my head again to steal a glance,she was licking the puppy all over its head!Covering,I let out a yelp..my stomach felt knotted..I got up and walked away as fast as I could.

It must have been half an hour since it happened,when we had to come by again as it was the road leading to the college gate,and we were ready to leave. The dead pup had been removed .The crowd had also broken,and there was no one left except that mother-dog(I can’t say bitch anymore),now joined by the other pups which had all come back to her and were now pressing against her... It was sniffing the way that the car had gone,but not being able to find the trail,was lurching dazedly hither-tither followed by the other pups jumping at her face and sides.The dog itself looked oblivious and was tottering round and round……too lost to whimper ,even…


Did I say ‘cutting off of the umbilical chord’,somewhere……?


Note:I feel sick after writing this.Unseen hands move my fingers tonight,and I yield unwillingly to that hand,for I feel that but for me,you will always have that same picture flash in your memory whenever you come across that word,’bitch’..