07/05/2005
About 9.40 pm I guess.
Partially inebriated state.
Yes, I had got my writing pad & a pen in my hands. All set to pen down what I wanted to. But then suddenly it was a flood of thoughts. Each thought presenting itself as the best subject to be penned down. Didn’t have an answer to the off-the-tongue, obvious, rhetoric question put to me by the person lying on his stomach & trying to read ‘Strong Medicine’ by Arthur Hailey, in the dim flickering light from the flame of a candle burning between us. “Kya likh raha hai?” Obvious because he saw a pad & a pen in my hands. Rhetoric because he didn’t wait for my reply & turned to the book. The situation of the pharma sector in USofA during mid 1900s probably fascinated him more than the answer I was contemplating. Good for me though…for I didn’t know it myself. It feels great when you don’t have to answer the questions put to you…sometimes even by your inner-self. Better if there is no one to put such questions. Or is it?
“Dus baj gaye yaar!” Another one from him. My only response is a half-minded “Hmmm…” That from him was more of an astonished look, wondering at the supply being out for almost two hours now. Actually very unlikely at this time of the year. Considering the place we stay in, more so. Another supply has gone out as well. The ‘Contessa’ supply. No, not the once famous luxury car from Hindustan Motors. It could have been that of ‘Old Monk’, but that supply went out a week back from the thekas around us, which made me get a Contessa addha instead. Even that addha had run out now. Supply of such basic amenities has always been an issue here in Delhi. 10 pm being the time when thekas religiously pull down their shutters. Its 11 pm in most other cities. In Haryana there is no such limit recognized by the likes of yours truly.
‘Click…click…click’ & suddenly white light floods the room & the cornea of my eyeballs to the extent of a tinge of pain. The flickering flame of the candle was inconsequential now. The acrid smoke from the blackened thread of the candle was all that was left after I had blown it out by a breath laden with the smell of dark rum & cigarettes. And on the white marble floor, encased under a few drops of still solidifying wax, lay the inconsequential remains of an otherwise half-dead bug which had dared to come too close to the flame. The very hand that was forced to pen this down had poured those hot drops to free the spirit; the very spirit that once free had forced these hands to pen this down.
About 9.40 pm I guess.
Partially inebriated state.
Yes, I had got my writing pad & a pen in my hands. All set to pen down what I wanted to. But then suddenly it was a flood of thoughts. Each thought presenting itself as the best subject to be penned down. Didn’t have an answer to the off-the-tongue, obvious, rhetoric question put to me by the person lying on his stomach & trying to read ‘Strong Medicine’ by Arthur Hailey, in the dim flickering light from the flame of a candle burning between us. “Kya likh raha hai?” Obvious because he saw a pad & a pen in my hands. Rhetoric because he didn’t wait for my reply & turned to the book. The situation of the pharma sector in USofA during mid 1900s probably fascinated him more than the answer I was contemplating. Good for me though…for I didn’t know it myself. It feels great when you don’t have to answer the questions put to you…sometimes even by your inner-self. Better if there is no one to put such questions. Or is it?
“Dus baj gaye yaar!” Another one from him. My only response is a half-minded “Hmmm…” That from him was more of an astonished look, wondering at the supply being out for almost two hours now. Actually very unlikely at this time of the year. Considering the place we stay in, more so. Another supply has gone out as well. The ‘Contessa’ supply. No, not the once famous luxury car from Hindustan Motors. It could have been that of ‘Old Monk’, but that supply went out a week back from the thekas around us, which made me get a Contessa addha instead. Even that addha had run out now. Supply of such basic amenities has always been an issue here in Delhi. 10 pm being the time when thekas religiously pull down their shutters. Its 11 pm in most other cities. In Haryana there is no such limit recognized by the likes of yours truly.
‘Click…click…click’ & suddenly white light floods the room & the cornea of my eyeballs to the extent of a tinge of pain. The flickering flame of the candle was inconsequential now. The acrid smoke from the blackened thread of the candle was all that was left after I had blown it out by a breath laden with the smell of dark rum & cigarettes. And on the white marble floor, encased under a few drops of still solidifying wax, lay the inconsequential remains of an otherwise half-dead bug which had dared to come too close to the flame. The very hand that was forced to pen this down had poured those hot drops to free the spirit; the very spirit that once free had forced these hands to pen this down.
posted by Manna at
11:14 PM
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