Skip to main content

LIFE AND LIES #4 | Grown and Gone

The dimly lit open space is filled with cheering and clapping. Before long, the first chord is struck. It echoes across the open space. A small halo of light appears at the centre, growing bigger. The applause intensifies. 

He's there. He's not. All at the same time. Away from the light, he waits for his compatriot to finish his verse. Then he steps into the light. His overpowering voice fills the open space while continuing his magic with the six strings for the thousandth time. 

The lights change. The words vanish. Left behind is a silhouette of a man. And his guitar, of which every note echoes across the open space that is now flooded with dancing green lines. And there holding his heart in his hand, floating amidst a cloud of effervescence, he strums away.

Excuse me, Sir!

I am scared out of my chair. It's the office boy. He's taken aback too, I notice. I immediately look at my watch. It's 8 PM. The office is empty. Only a few lights remain. Not that I've got a lot of work left to do, but once again, I'm the last one to leave. The office boy is familiar with this. Still, he must have waited a while before approaching me.

On the way to my flat, I make a stop by my favourite Momo place. It serves the best Chilli Momo I've ever eaten. But it takes a lot of time to prepare. To pass the time, I involuntarily take out my mobile. Just then, the song resumes on its own attracting the attention of the people around. This new face-lock thing needs some getting used to. I plug in my earphones. The song continues.

I don't know a lot about rock music. But I understand words. I have perused through the lyrics of many a song and all I have found is childhood nostalgia. Because no matter what we do or achieve, we always look back, to revisit old friendships or to grieve over unfulfilled dreams. 

It's coming up. My favourite part of the song. I have already gotten goosebumps in anticipation.

The child is grown.
The dream is gone.
And I have become comfortably numb.

***



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

LIFE AND LIES #77 | The English Teacher

When we are young, the world is full of possibilities. We can do anything, and become anything. We antagonise anyone who even hints at thinking otherwise about us. It's probably why most of us have a story to tell where the villain was a school teacher. Even I do. I don’t remember exactly how I ended up in the Headmaster’s cabin that day. All I remember is that back then I blamed my House Master for it. It wasn’t just me who had bunked the STD XII Pre-Board exams. There were many. But he made a scapegoat out of me. And the moment, I set foot inside the cabin, I received a big slap from the Headmaster. My ears rang. But that wasn’t the worst thing that happened that day. The Headmaster instructed him to call my father. Tell him to come or his son would be rusticated. I wasn’t a notorious student. I was good in my studies and had no disciplinary complaints against me. Had this incident not occurred, I would have completed my schooling in a few months with a clean record. My fat...

LIFE AND LIES #98 | Talk To Me

*** The woods are gloomy, dark and scary. You were supposed to keep me company. Even when the roads diverged, You promised me we wouldn't split. Talk to me, man! The mountains spit fire. The rivers run acrid. I walk the barren valley All by myself. Talk to me, man! You and I had concluded long back That life is a joke and Death is the punchline. Then why am I not laughing? Talk to me, man! While I grow old and frail, You'll remain forever young. I say that out of envy Or maybe to content myself. Talk to me, man! I hope you have the answers now To all the questions that befuddle mankind: God, soul, afterlife, rebirth, heaven and hell. You can go on a rant about them if you want, But just once come and talk to me, man! ***

LIFE AND LIES #100 | The Blurred Lines

Nitin was utterly shocked when he woke up on Saturday morning with a hangover and without any recollection of what had transpired the previous night. He had been drunk before. He had lost all of his senses before. But everything always came back to him the next morning. However, that day, it didn't; complete blackout. There must have been something bizarre in that drink. Over the course of the week, though, he started remembering flashes of it and began looking for an opportunity to talk to Sandhya, sober and alone. The weather had taken a sharp turn today. A sweltering sunny day gave way to a cloudy evening with thrashing winds. As everyone raced to the office window to watch the scene unfolding outside, Nitin saw Sandhya signalling to him by pressing two fingers to her lips. He couldn’t help but smile. She knew he loved to smoke in this weather. After all, she was his smoking partner in the office. Together, they went downstairs, but as soon as they stepped out of the building, t...