Friday, November 26, 2010

Hello

I said "Hello" to the thousand colourful lights that burst into the darkness. I forget if it was the night sky or my mind behind closed eyes. But anyway, the lights, they were there. I had not expected them, even though I had idly prayed for them. Do you know the feeling when you haven't been sleeping well and you haven't been eating and you feel too sad to even call it sadness, to talk about it, to think about it, when you get really tired, from within? And you feel so close to the universe, to the rhythm that makes the world go round, to places you never noticed before, to people you never knew? And the lights are those places and those people, and the colours are the shift of emotions on unknown faces. There is such a comfort in being unknown. All your suffering becomes a story, something unreal and sweet. Nothing is ugly anymore. Light as a feather, you fly on the cold night breeze, over cities and countries, quietly observing your own story unfolding in so many homes and so many faces. And it becomes alright. You don't know what you'll do when tomorrow comes. But you know you'll do what the unknowns are doing and that is sure to work.

I don't know where I'm going, but it's the kind of time when you like to talk, you know. And I know you have nothing else to do. You'll listen to anything to keep yourself from thinking, from being alone. Well, there was a time when I believed in only one half of the world. Light without darkness, love without selfishness, happiness without pain. And I believed in my uniqueness. And I believed life was about adding. Adding to yourself; adding love, esteem, experiences, money, wisdom. But life is a lot about subtraction too. Losing sense, innocence, love, scruples. But I still think it's fair, it evens out, don't you? And we're not unique. I thought it would be an awful feeling, but it's a little comforting. Just look at you, you look just like me. Your face turns from boredom to a slow sardonic smile, just like mine does. And that's how the eyebrows go up, see. The same life-changing events are occurring in my ant-hill too. It's random. It doesn't mean anything. We're one of the bursts of light in a vast universe, momentarily meaningful, but unimportant between the millions of years gone by and the millions of years to come. Take comfort in the fact that whatever you do, it doesn't affect anything. Not even yourself. There is great freedom for the unknowns. If you mess it up, some other unknown will get it right and it will be mathematically stable, it's just a matter of odds, just a matter of probability.

What is it that you said? It doesn't matter, I have your words in my throat and your voice in my brain. And I am possessive of my time when I talk. So well, there's another thing I'd like to talk to you about. It's something I don't like about myself, something that scares me greatly. The thing is, my happiness, my well-being hugely depends on flesh and bones. There are a few well-known unknowns in my hill and I won't survive without them. And you know very well, how fragile these unknowns, these bags of flesh and bones are. Fall off a flight of stairs, break your neck, poof! gone. It's that simple. It makes sense to not care. Where one ant goes, thousands are born. But I can't convince myself to stop caring.  It makes me weak, eats into my freedom. It's one thing to be unknown and free, it's a wise compromise. But to be an unknown prisoner is not my cup of tea. And this caring ties me down when I fly off into the night sky, to look at my story in your home. Was it the night sky or my mind behind eyes shut, I can't recollect.

5 comments:

Sachin. said...

Ah, the red pill questions.

Looks like you've become aware of the absurdity, the tragic-comic randomness and the illusion of control we claim to have over life. We try hard to attach a meaning to everything, a purpose for every action and a reason for every effect. The most complex thing about life is to understand its inherent simplicity - that there is no higher purpose, no reasons, no goals, no paths. Things happen, people live, people die. The cycle keeps on repeating eternally.

Which makes people ask questions about the point of it all. No point. It just is.

Unknown said...

At some point of time everybody goes through the confusion, the self-realization, the frustration, the hitting of reality, the breaking of the illusions, thats been stated in your post. You've beautifully described something which is very hard to put in words. Cheers..

Tapas said...

Is this deja vu or have you done this before, I cant recollect.
Ending the story on the same lines it began with, I mean. Its brilliant and its touching! You do have a gift of keeping the reader occupied. 3 paras and BANG! This is kind of revolutionary to me, coz I haven’t read articles that address such common-felt emotions and still look groundbreaking. I thought no article would ever make me feel like that.

Although, this one seems like its for a much more qualified reader. There were lines that went beyond me like a flying iphone in front of a dog. “And I am possessive of my time when I talk”. I couldn’t understand this one. But I do feel that you can make a serious columnist, whats amazing is how little effort you require to write a piece like this.. and it looks fresh everytime no matter how many times you read it, see it .. just like that packet of milk in my kitchen does everyday. Till you breathe-in, ofcourse.

vid said...

Very well expressed, and when I read it, its my story unfolding through your words. But the question i keep asking is, how do you react to this realization that everything is meaningless? Do you seek comfort in anonymity, or does it help you get up and fight once more? If your existence is as meaningless as non-existence, what do you choose? And why?

It confuses me to be the system and its component at the same time. An ant dies, and thousand others are born. But i care only about you. It gives me immense strength to know that i am a nobody, and my most violent efforts are pathetically futile. I would rather do that and be laughed at, at least i would entertain those who care to watch

Anonymous said...

its a beautiful mix of casual redundance and refreshing clarity.

*Take comfort in the fact that whatever you do, it doesn't affect anything. Not even yourself.*

Sometimes, simplicity does prove to be the most difficult thing to come by. Or is it our pseudo-intellectualism that makes us do what we do? We suffer from this, as a race.