Terminologies

The idea of the usage of terminologies to describe a person’s behavior is completely repugnant and should be under consideration by the modern human race. Niggling over terminologies can often lead to misinterpretation; making someone’s behavior unnecessarily predicted…the apparently inextricable situation or a person’s next move can become incorrectly certain, where the assumption about him can be completely contrary or invalid. Recent usages of a person been given some titles like a “nagging boyfriend” or an “insensible husband”, have caught my attention. The aforesaid titles have been given because of some striking similarity of the person’s trait, or responses to certain situations, with those described.  It leads to the improper imposition of some other behavior of a “nagging boyfriend” or an “insensible husband” on that person, which may be completely absent in the list of the person’s attributes. Last week I heard a wife yelling at her husband calling him a “mountain goat”, because of his growing white beard. Imagine a skinny bare-bodied late-middle-aged person climbing up a mountain only to have some ice caped grass or leaves of conifers as his grub, or acclimating to the chilly weather, you’ll find the problem.

Zest----I

The fever was rising high. The increasing heat of the moment was unbearable. The frantic yelling was proving it. The fire was already lit on the stage, and all eyes were on the man in an unbuttoned checkered shirt with dark glasses….the wordsmith, the musician, the Hendrix of the team…the man with the guitar. Eyes shielded by black glasses…velvet shirt shining on his body…He was calm, composed…waiting for his time. The music was rising high, the crowd was going mad. When the vocalist sang his last tune, it was the time for the guitarist Alex to take over, while the drummer was still giving his beats. He pulled off to start with and implemented successive notes, improvised them one by one, setting a string of infinite beads of notes sewn together…each of them were of different colors. The strident struck the hearts of the multitude present there…they were getting muddled…their smiles reflecting the varicolored lights falling on them, their faces radiant with the vivacity, energy….exalted spirits, dancing to every tune…their claps and yells tried to outsmart the guitar…but Alex was too much for them. He was on a spree. His calm, cold and expressionless face was giving no sign of the fire he was conflagrating. The cacophony was reaching its crescendo. The intimates of Alex were cheering him on…proud friends…but their cheers were just outsmarted by the rest of the crowd. The long, nicely shaped fingers were springing from one fret to the other. He was tossing the strings…bending and hammering them like a goldsmith…throwing a bouquet of melodies in the air, while the maniacal crowd was desperate to catch them…they were figuring the man in front of their eyes…trying to catch the image in the air, kissing it hard, adoring it…while he stood away, untouched…the pied piper. He had beguiled the people. But his face was yet firm and cold.

He bent the last tune and traversed the full fret board to finish the job…the crowd roared after it…the thunderous holler marked his effect on the people. His team mates all hugged him together and the lights were put off. The show was over, but the effect was everlasting. For a moment the people were transported to a different place….it took a long time for them to come back to reality.

In the backstage the jovial silence was broken by the fizz from the champagne bottle. And the there was an air of celebration. The original yellowish color of the walls was already covered by motley lights. The hanging dresses of the band members, the bags and together with the attires and their jocund face changed the visage of the room. The dressing room was in complete mess…the incompletely closed boxes and bags were accompanied by the champagne drops.

Zest----II

Alex saved his guitar from the drops. He closed it in his case and sat quietly on his chair…there was a serenity in his face, the pair of black glasses were still on his eyes…his face affirmed…his mind was still there on the stage…the judders of the crowd were still perceivable from inside…ringing in his ears...ears willing to hear them over and over again. It was a promise given to Mr. Joel, that he will prove his worth, who gave the band a chance to prove itself. A musical career was what awaiting for him now. It was his dream which he had seen every night with his eyes closed…and now visualizing the world to see it. Thoughts kept orbiting around his head….the daily practices…his sleepless nights…pondering over words…sewing with strings of music…tuning his guitar…..he unbuttoned his velvet shirt and leaned back…sunk in thoughts of past and dreams of the future.

The band manager came in smiling and clapped hands with all the members, and patted Alex’s shoulder “You did it my boy!!” ignited a smile near the corner of his lips “We all did it!!”

“Did Joel call you up?”

“He was supposed to come here. Isn’t it?

The words were not loud enough to be heard by the man who entered then. Joel was a tall man with a big belly, carrying a mark of a businessman on his face. A man is known for his stolidity, but that night he seemed beguiled too. He seemed like a father of a newborn child, happy and proud, discovering a gem in his house…the gem he had overlooked hitherto. His eyes were on the man sitting in velvet with black glasses. He turned towards the rest of the team and shouted: “You are marvelous!!!” The boys were ready to hear appraisal from his face and broke into cries of infinite intensity. The voices were enough to reach distant corners of the world and inflicted a wide smile on Alex’s face. He was waiting for the next verdict from Joel, the much-awaited one. He had kept his promise, and now it was the turn for the other person. Joel went to Alex and said to the manager “And especially he …he has rocked the stage today”…he brought out the papers and instead of resting them on the hands of the stretched hands of the manager kept on Alex’s lap. “Read it yourself my boy….here’s the pen…sign in and enter the world of stardom”

The last action of Joel was a bit unprecedented, and the celebration stopped suddenly. When something moves in a direction completely opposite to what expected, it leaves an expression of astonishment on the viewers. Joel couldn’t guess the gravity of the situation. He thought he would make them shout even louder as any other normal person would have done. And as for Alex, the dream which he had seen over these days now became a tangible reality, to be touched, to be felt…he wanted to feel the treasures he had visualized with his eyes closed, with his eyes open. But fate had already taken away that capability from him. The obvious words were told by the manager “He can’t read, he can’t see!”

Alex was still numb…still feeling the words written on the paper with his hands, smiling with joy, the eyes beneath those glasses are the barriers between them and his vision. The glasses were only a veil to cover his expressionless eyes…but were not enough to hide the tears slithering past his cheeks…

Love, So Sinister - I......

The land of Sahara was trembling as Stephen rode his stallion through the endless stretch of sand. The strong sound of the footsteps and periodic whickering of the animal marked the gallantry of the rider. the epitome of valor…the name that scared millions of hearts and gave solace to his fellow army…the man that single handedly crushed the enemies two days back…the caliber still crimsoned with the fresh blood that sluiced from their bodies when his mighty sword pierced them…his face was draped with a black scarf masking his audacious façade, exposing his eyes…those eyes speaks of the moments of the storm of infinite rage and furor…they were firm, clear, stubborn, invulnerable to emotions, devotion to only his master and belief in only his work…the exalted image was storming the desert land, raising a cloud of sand fluttering in the air.

His wondering eyes got intercepted by the most beautiful piece of the earth. A damsel in the midst of the desiccated entity, giving an unclear look through those wretched eyes…the pathos of which beckoned the dauntless man…she was lifting her hand in despair, trying to reach something in air which does not exist…she was in distress, a beautiful creature left in lurch perhaps by any heartless fellow..a beautiful flower on the verge of being shredded…Stephen felt sorry for her. She was exquisite, ethereal, dazzling…her soft hands resting on the sands were meant to be hold by some savior…

She made an inaudible utterance, much of which was to be discerned, but could strike the heart of the soldier as she cried “help!!!” It was enough for him to leave his horse impulsively rush to the beauty…she couldn’t barely stare at him, but the intoxicating look of her half closed eyes was enough to mould the impassive and invulnerable heart…she was robbed of her wealth and ride on the way back to her palace, some miles away from the place… ”can you help me get there?” the voice could regain its power after being drizzled with water from Stephen’s can…it was soft, romantic, soothing, candid, like the tunes ever endeared, the bedtime song used to be sung by his late mother, which used to make him feel sleepy, …the valiance, gallantry, the stains on the caliber was just washed away by the voice, the ever invulnerable iron soul, started melting…her charm was too much for him to resist. He could hardly say a yes to approve her request, his brain was out of control and his vulnerability hastened him to take her in his arms and made the pallid damsel sit on the saddle...

The horse neighed loudly before starting, and the endless stretch of sand once again started trembling. Stephen wished the distance to be too much, he was enjoying the beauty clinging to his body…her soft hairs tickling his neck…soft threads seamed by the goddess of love draping his steel neck and touching his heart…her cheek touching his ears…it was warm…warmed by the heat, warmed by romance, insanity…Stephen was getting muddled…there was a gush of infinite desire striking him…snuffed off when his eyes caught the glimpse of the colossal palace as pointed by her. It was inherited from her father, and now she was the lone denizen. Her name was Elena.

“Thank you for saving me!!” Stephen was not quite willing to hear that, it perhaps marked the time for him to leave. He was a soldier, bestowed with greater responsibilities and love was not the correct job for him. Sooner he had to take charge of his army, prepare for another fight…serve his master, and save his pride...all through his life he has earned the kudos of being a valiant…people looked up to him as the ideal man, the mere thanking injected sum fresh violent memories…moments which were reluctantly injected into him all of a sudden, of which he was completely oblivious for the past hours…all of them suddenly gushed back to him…a soft part inside him still wept… never a woman had touched him , he had tasted blood, but not beauty, applauds but no kisses, kudos but no love…people had forgotten that “Stephen” is a man made of flesh and blood, can emote, can love… “Its not the right time for all these” he consoled his mind…he forced a smile and said “it was my duty” and was about to turn back…

Love, So Sinister - II......

“Can’t you stay back for a while?”……was that a sound made in his imagination? That was the least expected word that Stephen heard, but indeed that was the most desired. His heart was pounding countless times and he could sense it. Perhaps Elena also sensed it. She rose from her bed, a smile on her face…with her utmost desire inscribed on that smile. She came near his ears and whispered “can’t you stay back for a little time. I’m too alone”, the hard soul craving for intense love was getting an indication from that voice…it kept ringing in his ears for quite some time. He became oblivious of his existence, his name, his valor and stood there unmoved, stagnated by the voice…it was soft, romantic, beguiling….he was ready to give in to the mantrap.

She took his arm and pulled him to the cozy bed, shoving his body to lie on it. Stephen was speechless…he lay unresponsive...his heart muddled by Elena’s action, the feeling of the battlefield was evaded by the soft part of his, which was craving for love hitherto…a speck of emotion, care, sensation was what he was asking for…swords, horses, war and battlefield has kept him devoid of this pleasure. And soon he found himself unbuttoned and his bare chest being kissed by her juicy lips…a flicker of light was lit up in his entrails. It rocketed inside and reached the farthest veins of his body. He tried to held her and shove her away. Her back was bare and he was touching it, seamed with a film of moisture…the heat of the body was setting him ablaze…and only he could do is to caress her bare back, try to fetter her too…but he was lacking strength…love had already weakened him. Elena was tossing with his emotions… she was reaching his face slowly and softly…Stephen’s mind was already out of control, his eyes half closed, the heart was pounding like the fleeting sound of his horse, there was no valiance in it, just marking him surrender….

He felt a sharp piercing effect on his neck, an effect of something getting injected…vaguely he could discern the reason before he opened his eyes and got shocked to see Elena’s face. It was her canines; the effect was that of her bite, while blood sluiced from the edge of her lips. Again he tried his best to move her away, but the venom in that teeth was spreading too fast…the shackle of invulnerability was already broken by the romance, and now the venom almost paralyzed him…the sinister utterances made by the uncanny façade was not interpretable…not especially at this moment…the venom had strewn over the entire body, setting a hurricane of pain inside him, immobilizing him. He tried his level best to make his hands move, but they refused to move even by an inch. A deluge of imageries flashed in his mind in a jiff , imageries of two days back, his gallantry, moment of anguish, war, blood, pitiless ventures, an ever dauntless man darting with crimson stained sword, piercing people with exuberance of rage and fury…there were imageries of enthronizations, applauses, celebrations…his stallion, his army, the king. Every one was waiting for his arrival….tears sluiced from the edge of his eyes, as more blood was getting drained of his neck by those canines. He was left depraved; his thirst for love brought him down to this pitiable and wretched condition, which left him with nothing but contrite, a burden of despair…the flash of memory was getting snuffed out…he could feel his imageries getting blurred…he was loosing his power to judge sense and belief. Only a dark sinister laughter was what he could hear before his eyes got closed forever………………..

Blaze

A usual evening it was. I climbed up to the roof but found certain strange things happening all around. Each and every element around were reflecting precursory notes to me. It seemed to me like an illusion, but the innumerable candles placed on the roofs of the houses didn’t seem like giving an impression of a power-cut. When the last candle was finally lit it looked to me the golden necklace being worn to the most beautiful damsel on her wedding eve. Her scintillating neck, with the beads of gold, studded on her body, together with giving an impression of a sanctum, where I was standing in the middle, astounded, with my eyes locked at the fulgurant, eye-popping incident happening in front of me.
It was a new moon day, and a perfect plan was made to defy the laws of nature. The moon didn’t turn up to shower her radiance and it was left to the mortals to design their way to greet their Holy mother to descend on the earth…. Glinting drops of gold sluicing down the side of the buildings, avoiding their wall friction, one by one….setting the trace for the successive one to follow the course. The earth-like variegated ball… frenziedly blinking as they were rotating about their axis….the stage was set for the next part of the plan…and it was strident, loud, and was enough for the distant eardrums to get trembled by it. I lifted up my hands to the gods above….dear Lord, hear us as we speak. Our speech was no verbal, just a constellation of sounds.

LIGHT!!! SOUND!!! AND ACTION!!! A flicker of light fleeted past me, without giving a moment to guess its movement. It reached the monumental height and then burst out into a scintillating garland. It is meant to welcome Her….and another went past, there was even faster. Vaguely one could discern the parachute wandering in the midst of the sky, finding a safe place to land. The other flickers started rocketing in the air. Some burst into aglitter orbs. They were many in numbers…inconceivable, unanticipated….slithering behind the successor, making a great noise in the sky, loud enough to reach the stars….loud enough to muddle the crowd, to appall the kids and to mesmerize me. I stood there bedazzled, as the plan was slowly getting unfolded. The mystery yet disentangled, but yet magnetic in the way its accoutered…I stood there, not ready to miss this chance….the game of light, the jugglery of fire, juddering the hearts. The frivolous young people were the ones to get crazy. Even the most vegetarian had turned abstemious. They were dead drunk, yet vibrating with excitement and dancing to the tunes set by the multiple eruptions of bombs. Because they knew that they were not meant to harm people.

The trumpeting sound set by the multiple explosions beckoned Her arrival. The maniacal eruptions could not be screened from each other and altogether giving a pure impression. The sound reached its crescendo and the intoxication had gripped the head of the young people…they were unaware of their surroundings. How their tomorrow would be or how had been the past day, all these questions were just shoved to the pit of oblivion, and what was more important for them was to make the sound reach the ears above the sky….judder them by the eruptions….lights, sounds can only be used to celebrate and not to create any holocaust.

And she arrived….amidst all the sounds, lights, dance, unrestrained rabidity, fireworks….her colossal effigy, ebony appearance, striking even the most blasphemous, a tinge of awe and respect in him….

And as for me…. I was in the land of light, escaping from the world of concrete and steel, jostled into the enlightened world…where there is no darkness, no gloom…standing there with my eyes stuck at the ebony behemoth….elated, uplifted, sanctified…

Placid Twister

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Ayush wasn’t paying heed to Srishti’s utterances. A question had just been asked to her and he was more interested to get an answer to it, without even knowing how hard it is for her to fathom the whole situation, later give an answer. It came to her all of a sudden…unprecedented thunder out of the blues, and she was not at all ready for action against it. Srishti thought it was another joke from Ayush…he was good at it, making her puzzled, bewildered and at the end compel her into uncontrollable giggles... It’s untrue that Srishti had nix of feelings for Ayush, but any answer could have led to more problems. And they fell into a weird situation. They were walking lonely streets… two molecular souls left to saunter in the limitless boundaries, meandering through the lonely road with minds laden with lots of thoughts, while placidity held a blanket over their head. Was it a soothing serenity or a premonition of impending problems? Srishti was getting baffled with those thoughts. Perhaps this may be the last time they are meeting because sooner she had to give an answer, she knew that the answer won’t be a pleasing one for both of them, and the abnegation would be triggered by that.

Billows of nonplused thoughts struck against her tender heart and were shattering her into pieces. She pondered over some improbable ideas of avoiding or trying to elude from the incident. An impossible answer hard to be fathomed is what unsaid. Yet she forced a smile and said: “where are we going by the way??” Ayush was not ready for that question…he was perhaps quieted by some other thoughts and the question conked him all of a sudden…”umm...we will soon take a bus...What say??”
Srishti wanted more of his presence. She was oblivious of the abrupt ending of their venture and was regretting making the question, perhaps Ayush had also forgotten about going back home and her question made his attention drawn to its end…”I guess u won't find any bus over where…we need to go to the stand” that can extend the time span, Srishti made the desperate attempt.
Ayush replied “Ok”, and Srishti was relieved…Temporarily though.
They were heading towards the bus stop and a sudden thunder beckoned the arrival of rain, and Ayush decided to take the bus immediately. He hated the rain, and getting drenched in it, while Srishti was detesting it, the rain curtained their walk. The rain had always been a thing of joy for her, but that day she showed a disdainful look at the Gods above and followed Ayush inside the bus reluctantly.
On the bus, Ayush never took up the matter, while Srishti feared he would, but much to her astonishment he started shaking his serious mood and getting back to his jocund disposal, it was bliss to Srishti……………..