Clouds had finally given up!
It was one of those unpredictable November nights when clouds loved to remain confused, changing colours, choosing from the infinite shades of grey, hues ranging from smoky ashen to glistening white.
“Clouds have finally given up,” said a voice which rarely spoke…. and out of turn? Never!
Obviously, after clouds it was now its turn.
It was 11.00 pm.
The drizzle fell like snowflakes gently caressing my cheeks, expecting me to react. I did not! I didn’t have to.
I had just turned 16 - Sweet 16! I am not talking about years. I am talking in terms of days.
Yes, I was just 16 days old in this very new place – as fragrant as fresh leaves of a newly bought old literature classic.
I loved almost everything about it.
Tick Tock. Tick Tock. I could hear the whisper of moments passing by in the sound of my footsteps on the tar coated stretch of road that lay ahead of me as a beautifu
l velvet moor.
I loved to realize we were both alone.
I and my umbrella! My peacock blue umbrella – it craved to unfold just as a peacock loves to spread its elegantly colourful plume to dance.
The peacock loves to dance, when it rains. Ain’t it?
It dances more when it rains more.
But it was just a light drizzle. Courtesy, the caroused confused clouds which stumbled while playing hide and seek with the moon, few pieces of them falling in the process.
Few fluffs fell over me in the form of faint voiced drizzle interspersed with few vigorous drops.
I and my umbrella were walking along the shimmering stretch of tar coal coated road that had borrowed the shine from the huge hearted tiny drops.
I walked slowly, silently wishing the lane suddenly stretched to an infinite length and the end never came. And I could keep walking forever, amid the silent downpours of pure bliss.
I walked peacefully.
At far, I could see a girl who had just run away from me, throwing away the blue umbrella, the blue noose which hung around her neck like an albatross, suffocating her, trying to tell me who I was and how I should behave...acquainting me with the so-called 'identity' of mine.
I saw her dancing in the drizzle… Her eyelashes sprinkled with little diamond-like drops, scintillating gracefully in the faint crystal pure moonlight…
Her fingers spreading apart to catch the drops, close them all in her fist and then playfully sprinkling them away at the stars… With her eyes wide open beholding the charisma that nature brought along, she looked blissfully blind. This was her real self... the natural self, untouched of even an iota of intricate thoughts, oblivious of all boundaries, worries, deadlines, duties... Revolving round and round in the tiny world of her own, she stumbled upon what seemed like a lasso - her feet entangled in the intricate knots. She stooped slowly to free herself but that was not to be… It was the same 'blue noose' she had thrown away carelessly. Her eyes veered towards the girl on the card… She read the name that was hers… She pronounced the designation she was entrusted with. A strange force seemed to overwhelm her as she suddenly stood up, picking her I-card – “her real self” up, almost robotically.
With an android-like sincerity, she wiped the corners of this rectangular 9cm x 6 cm 'token of reality' brushing aside the drops and dusts - the remains of her 'own real world'. Severed from her 'real self', she was now back to 'REAL LIFE' - the Real world.
Thick skinned, stoic, stone faced, and mechanic. Alert and intelligent. Quick and prompt. With ears and eyes wide open, to listen to the faintest noises of NATURE, and to behold the most blurred realities of LIFE...
NATURE & LIFE…
I knew I was back to the 'so called real'. So I listened and watched carefully.
I saw, Life winked at Nature. I heard too. The Nature whispered back into the ears of Life..."what an irony!"
