It was quite a better evening than he was used to this summer. The weather was pleasing, she had sent a bunch of his favorite white roses, the watchmen had saluted him in the morning, they had repainted his cabin to a fresh yellow and the last meeting of the day got cancelled. He drove out of the parking, received by a hoard of black clouds. The most painful signal of his drive was green and welcomed him to a smooth pass. There was something with the world today, he could sense it, a conspiracy.

He put on the car stereo and called her up. She would be on the local train at this point of hour. This was their way of spending some additional quality time together – listening to music together while traveling separately. Starting with Eagles, moving to Bob Dylan, then to Guns n Roses, then Floyd, then to Mohit Chauhan, the playlist was one of the very few they would enjoy. The choice of playlist would tell her what kind of mood he was in. He could always imagine her reaction to the choice and the expression that would have come out when the first song started. It was like having a wonderful conversation everyday without seeing each other, without even talking; only that there were just a handful of such conversations to choose from, just as many as the playlists. But today he played Deep Purple.

She texted. ‘Is everything ok?? Reply only when the signal is red.’

‘I love you!’

‘Even I love you sweetheart! But tell me, is everything alright?’

‘How much time it would take you to reach?’

Beatles.

‘15 mins. Why don’t you tell me what has happened?’

‘See you at the bench near the coffee wala.’

Black Sabbath and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan did the honours before he took the ticket from the parking boy. As he started walking towards Central Park, it started pouring heavily. People rushed out of the park from all possible exits. As if the stage had been vacated for the big performance to begin. He continued to walk till he reached the bench. Even the coffee wala was nowhere to be seen. His vibrant blue shirt amongst the shining green grass towered by dark clouds sprinkling shining droplets – an amazing romance of colours. He spread his arms wide and looked straight up in the skies. There was a strong thunder, acknowledging his arrival. He closed his eyes, his eyelids also getting a chance to bath themselves in those moments of magic. He was drenched and using those wet eyelids as a big screen, he started remembering the beautiful snapshots of his life. There was a smile on his face that said it all. He put his earphones back. The call had not ended and he knew that.

‘You there Anjali?’

‘Turn around Vikram’

That beautiful face in a bright yellow suit. She completed the jigsaw so gracefully. His arms closed around her. They stood there for a minute and a half – smiling radiantly – until she made his arms spread out once again. She played Robert Miles on her phone and moved behind him, her arms over his arms, her palms over his palms. They could sense the unity of their souls – that were dancing to the same music, the same rhythm. Their eyes were closed and remained so until the song ended. There was a sudden end to the rain, as if it had completed her part. The clouds drifted apart, there was sunshine and a dazzling rainbow. She removed their earphones, came in front of him and sat on one knee.

‘Would you marry me Vikram?’

He smiled. ‘Again?’

It was a long tiring day. I slept through most of it, but then emotions can tire you more than any form of physical exercise can. I made a drink, a real strong one, after a long long time. It was nice and effective. I felt like cooking something. I have always liked it; today was different. It was a feeling that you get when you pursue a hobby long forgotten: stamp collecting, maintaining scrap books, coins collecting, playing stapu, thinking uch neech ka paapda, seeing birds ( i wonder where the delhi sparrows have gone, i haven’t seen them for a decade now, and i used to see them everyday ) , spinning tops, etc, etc etc.
I was in the kitchen, and it felt like meeting an old friend. You talk apprehensively to start with, you try to check his or her facial emotions just to get a feel of where its going, dole out a random joke ( which has never made you laugh, but it has certainly made others laugh), see where he or she is looking, listen to what he or she is saying, laugh on a joke you normally would not have, and then immerse in the conversation. It was amazing. The whole experience was very uncordial to start with, but then I got used to it, and then I was rolling the dice. The result : A hot nice smelling chicken biryani. There is nothing more you can ask of an old forgotten friend.

Friends are nice but then only ten minutes were to go, and if no action were to be taken, the moment would have been lost. Some would say, c’mon, you could ve done it the next day, but then, it would have been tomorrow and not today.

We ran..until we found a rickshaw…what timing god!

It ran..until we were there..the shop.

We all started again: the rickshaw, me, the bottle, him, smiles.

We reached.

“How much?” “Twenty.”

“Are you sure?” “Saahab its night time”

Silence.

“Ok, ask for any amount and you will get it”

Silence.

“I am serious, ask for any amount, and believe me for a second..You will get it”

Silence.

“I am serious. Just ask.”

“100?”

The note came out and moved to who wanted it.

He could have asked for a thousand, and he could have still remained at twenty. He could have earned two times more, and he could have earned a heart.

He chose tomorrow, and he could have chosen life.

We talk of The Higher World and we don’t talk of Wonderfool Tonight, its simply not possible. A post very close to my heart. A post which made me smile while writing it. One of the first posts to be on The Higher World without a drop of alcohol. A post which is a true anecdote, well almost. A post loved by so many. A post which reminds me of the beautiful things in life..O my darling you look Wonderfool Tonight!

Wonderfool Tonight
May 25, 2006

It’s late in the evening; she’s wondering what clothes to wear.
She puts on her make-up and brushes her long blonde hair.

I walked in the gloomy restaurant. I have always liked these kind of places, dark and intriguing. I was alone for the first time to have dinner in my life, so it was supposed to be one interesting experience. Just as I sat down, I had my glass of water, my head moving in the direction of the emptying glass, rising ever so slowly, pausing just when it was absolute perpendicular to my face. I saw her. I was stunned.

We go to a party and everyone turns to see
This beautiful lady that’s walking around with me.

It is amazing what effect can music have to a particular setting. You move out of your room, see the trees, watch the swinging leaves, come back to lay down on your bed. With absolutely everything same, if you have Fable by Robert Miles playing, you will keep enjoying the dancing leaves for ages. The same is with light, the absence of it has such a magical effect at times, and at times even the abundance of it falls short from providing that special aura. Even a small change in the angle the beam is coming from, can be detrimental in the overall impact of any scene.

Eric Clapton was the company I was looking for I realized just as it started. They say three is a crowd so the candle light floating in a glass of water among rose petals made us four, the candle, clapton, me and the so wonderful she. Though we had a couple of chairs and the same number of tables between us, I could clearly see her sparkling face, shining from the light being showered by the candle. The milky face, the watery eyes, the waving smile, the glossy lips. The darkness all around her face was just enough to make her the most magnificient piece of beauty I have ever come across.

I feel wonderful because I see
The love light in your eyes.
And the wonder of it all
Is that you just don’t realize how much I love you.

Waiters can be irritating at times, especially at those moments when you have much more important errands to cater to. A couple of them standing at my head, one with the bar menu and one with the food menu, I asked for a glass of water, much to their surprise, and to reduce the visible tension on my face.
She started looking at the menu, we almost drank water in resonance. She looked at me, the moment of my life, she blushed, I reciprocated, we smiled and then she was again at the menu. I thought of standing and going to her, ‘Can I join you?’ I decided other wise, to wait for her to do the same. She was also feeling the heat I guessed.
She stood, looked around, baby , noone is looking, walked towards me, looked so excited, I was trembling, smiled for an instance, spread her arms, I am not doing that to start with,
…that was the last time I saw her.

There was a kid in her arms and a husband accompanying him.

It’s time to go home now and I’ve got an aching head,
So I give her the car keys and she helps me to bed.
And then I tell her, as I turn out the light,
I say, “My darling, you were wonderful tonight.
Oh my darling, you were wonderful tonight.”

Two quick beer and I was back home.
Oh my darling, you were wonderful tonight.
Edit this entry.
3 comments to “Wonderfool Tonight”

1.

[…] The anecdote of the death of my parents has been a nice thing to tell whenever I am to meet new people which are primarily journalists and TV reporters. I show them lots of things. They are generally fond of my music collection which goes on from nirvana to floyd, from metallica to ghulam ali and from gnr to jagjit singh. They like my writings too, especially the Wonderfool Tonight and Shweet Shweet Memories – I. They are after me to write its second part and I promise them that they won’t have to wait much. Then the initial question is repeated, I knew the moment had arrived […]
by The Higher World » Blog Archive » Coming Back to Life July 23, 2006 at 5:39 am edit comment

Here comes the second one. Ok this post is very very special in terms of the way it was written. Two writers spontaneously writing alternative paragraphs without even looking and talking to each other after buckets of OH radicals down the throats. We had no clue what we were writing and in fact when it was over, it was just over we not even reread it. But a quick glance the next day gave a shock of disbelief after realizing the outcome.
It is one of those special posts which gives a hope of a future with pen as a companion. And it also gives hopes of fiction being written by two people, something which is rare to find. Who was the other writer? I don’t think I need to tell this. And this post is actually a tribute to him.
About the thought process of this post, I might have disclosed it this time if I myself had been clear.

Chinese Checkers
May 30, 2006

I was walking down the lake side yesterday, when I came across this strange child sitting right next to the lamp post. He was having a one rupee coin in one hand and a hammer in the other. There was a candle lit too just next to him. The whole scene was so weird that I could not walkby. I just stood there watching. The hammer was not being used to hit anything, he gently swayed it along his cheeks. He kept tossing the one rupee coin and scratching the candle after every fall. He was poor, perhaps not eaten anything for a couple of days. He did not look like a beggar though. He did not look anywhere else the three things he had. The lake provided the perfect background the whole scene had. You should have been there Connor. Do you find something interesting in this till now or shall I tell you something more?

I was there the other day Rohit and unlike you, as soon as i saw all this i called up Sam, Cornell, Natalie and Jacob and we all sat next to him repeating every action he was performing, within a minute he left the scene, now do u find this inetersting or not ?

Was that you Connor? Ok there was a person with a big hat and a black overcoat, that must be you as his was the face I could not have a look at. So it was you and your friends. I was there, I watched you people and that was the part which I was about to tell you next. Since you know all about it, I ll tell you about the part which you are not aware of. When you people left, you had left all your coins, the child came again, picked up the coins and started laughing, he kept doing it for about 10 minutes, then shrieked as if in some pain and then started crying. I initially wanted to go and just check what is wrong, but I just could not move, there was a sudden darkness, with all the candles extingushing in a flash. There was a strange sound of a whistle, and the child started laughing again. Then there was a strange voice, which seemed more like a howl than a human voice. Now is that interesting or you have something better?

Why did you do it? Because it was incomprehensible, erasing the event, destroying the stage and killing the actors is no solution to satiate your curiosity. You have outgrown your normal self, you have found the keys to your subconscience, you are now capable of memorizing Act I as Act II, but how long will you continue like this, how long will you fool yourself, Rohit you know that i know that who made the strange sound, who howled and whose human voice was it in the end. Why did you do it ?

Ok I know who did all this and you know that too. But what you do not know and did not answer was how did the candles go off. Even if you people did all that, just think of the child, he was so innocent. Your joke ended his life Connor. Do you know that too? I never wanted to tell you this but I took his body and buried it in a peaceful place, you would have never noticed as you were too engrossed with your subconscious, satiating each other at the cost of someone’s life. How many such lives you have taken Connor, I remember burying ten of them.?

See i told you , you are now capable of memorizing Act I as Act II, Rohit you are sick, you have to get over this before i have to bury the eleventh kid.

5 comments to “Chinese Checkers”

how i wished u changed the end a little…a broken dream is far more painful than death…or was death related in some way to something else…will have to go thru other posts to fugure out
by tomar June 20, 2006 at 3:33 pm edit comment

As another year ends, I thought this blog needs a recap. Writing this blog has been a roller coaster of emotions, with such a varied variety of fiction. Some people ask me what inspires these posts, where does the thought process come from. But the people close by know, I won’t be revealing that. I am too happy and content being myself, with myself.

Keep Commenting.

Acting the Act
October 25, 2006

I was here in the evening too. The big curtains are still there, the stage hidden behind them must be waiting, for the foot taps to vibrate it, for the artistes to come and start their chores, creating magic, those moves, those thumping dialogues, that hysteric dance on trance, and for the audience to stand, to stand and to clap in unison, a few tears rolling over, some babies silent out of shock and some like me waiting to be there, there on that very stage waiting for the people to go and be the god, myself.
Shhhhhhhh….There is not much time in hand. Lights off. Oh, I ‘ll have to do it myself. Wait…K, now it seems nice. Pitch dark. The audience waiting for the curtains to open, there are butterflies flying around in my small stomach. I should not feel nervous. Open the curtains, slowly. Do it fast, the audience might lose its patience. There is noone to do that too. I ‘ ll run myself again. Here they go, moving apart, just like when a wave ends it offense on the beach, they part away, unknowingly, swift and silent. There should be a follower moving as I move to the centre of the stage, but there is noone to control it. There should be that rear panel lights when I move back in the second scene and the babies helping all the time with different colours of rainbow, which is visible only when u show your back towards the sun and see the rain. But there is noone. But I am here. I can be on the lights. Who will act then? Do we really need someone? Yes we do. Isn’t that why we started all of this? Hmm…Lets drop the idea of lights then. Yes, that can be done, anyway noone is watching.
Lets start the show. Lets start the music. It can’t be. Can we have a round of applause from the audience? This audience is absent when it is supposed to witness the greatest of actors performing in the rarest of rare performances. I’ ll clap myself to begin with. But I ‘ ll need them as I go by, for those sighs and those smiles, those laughters, those whistles, those tears, those shocks, those fears and for that final applause. So I must act as the audience first, that is most important. But isn’t that what I have been doing all my life?

Posted by Harry

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6 Responses to “Acting the Act”

mind blowing…amazingly ended

This is the first non fictional post of The Higher World.

And I would like to thank..A for the Aloo, B for the Bhuna Aloo, C for the Chat Aloo, D for Dum Aloo, E for Egg Aloo, F for Foota hua Aloo, G for Gajar Aloo, H for Hatke Aloo, I for Interesting Aloo, J for Jhootha Aloo, K for Killer Aloo, L for Lamba Aloo, M for Mota Aloo, N for Nanha Aloo, O for Oobla Aloo, P for Paka Aloo, Q for Queen’s Aloo, R for Rajma Aloo, S for Samosa Aloo, T for Tamatar Aloo, U for Ulta Aloo, V for VAT on Aloo, W for What an Aloo, X for Xerox of Aloo, Y for Yakk Aloo, Z for Zamindar Aloo!!

That was some award winning speech!!

The following musical conversation between a boy and Mona is completely fictional and every resemblance to a Hindi song, Hey Shona from a stud movie Tara Rum Pum, is purely coincidental.

Boy: Hey Hey Hey..Hey Hey
Mona: Hey Hey Hey..Hey Hey

Boy: You must have come to know,
You are the one I’ve fallen for.
From the day this love started,
I keep flying in the air.
You are in my every second,
You are in my today n tomorrow.
Hey Mona, Hey Mona.
Hey Mona, Hey Mona.

Mona: You must have come to know,
What all is there in my heart.
Ok, I am ready to say,
The thing which I have never said.

Boy: You are in my every second,
You are in my today n tomorrow.
Hey Mona, Hey Mona.
Hey Mona, Hey Mona.

Boy: Your yelling on me sounds like love also, I don’t know why.

Mona : Whatever I say sounds acceptance to you, I don’t know why.

Boy: Leave this tantrum, come a little closer, say what your heart wanna…
Hey Mona, Hey Mona.
Hey Mona, Hey Mona.

Mona: Having left the world, I have only loved you, just you.

Boy: The only thing I have ever asked for is you, just you.

Mona: Now on this wish, Now on this road, are you with me, forever?

Boy: Hey Mona, Hey Mona.
Hey Mona, Hey Mona.

Mona: You must have come to know,
You are the one I’ve fallen for.
From the day this love started,
I keep flying in the air.
You are in my every second,
You are in my today n tomorrow.
Boy: Hey Mona, Hey Mona.
Hey Mona, Hey Mona.

Boy: Hey Mona, Hey Mona.
Hey Mona, Hey Mona.

Boy & Mona: Hey Hey Hey..Hey Hey
Hey Hey Hey..Hey Hey

Rohit woke up after a marathon sleep of sixteen hours. He needed to smoke. He got up from the bed, pulled out a sweat shirt, put it on, had a quick splash of water on his rugged face and moved out of his apartment, into the street.
The panwala shop, which was the destination, was about two hundred metres and one red light away. He started walking. He had nothing to think about, or that was what he preferred to do while walking. Only the things that formed the present, provided by his eyes and ears, were allowed to have a place in his brain RAM. So what was there now? The clumsy yellow coloured house on his left, a blue van on the road to his right, a black coloured motorcycle on the same road, a couple of kids in school uniform and with heavy school bags walking in his front and a distant traffic policemen on the red light. That was quite a long list of characters. Although the road had loads of other vehicles honking and moving but there is so much that two eyes can see and shortlist, and about the honking vehicles, in the fight of eyes and ears, the usual winner is the pair of eyes only.
He started thinking as he was walking with these characters to play with. ‘What if these kids turn around, face me and start dancing on Beedi Jalaai Le in perfect Bipasha Basu style? And the traffic policeman comes running from the red light, watches the dance, pulls out a ten rupee note, waves it over the kids’ heads and gives it to them. And the car pulls on the reverse gear and crashes into the bike, the biker is jumped out of his seat and falls on the roof of the car and starts clapping for the kids’ performance.’
The scene looked brilliant but there was not the usual smile on Rohit’s face which used to come after the complete picture in mind. Something was missing. Was he able to find out the missing link? ‘Villain! There is no villain in the story at the moment.’ But he could not think of one. He kept walking. He almost reached the redlight to cross the road behind the school kids. They were still dancing in his head.
The kids turned around. The car stopped, so did the bike. The carwala came out, the biker put the bike on a side stand. All of them pulled out something from their bags or their pockets.
They had pistols in their hands. They all frowned simultaneously and shot 2 bullets each.
Someone from the clumsy house put a bucket of water on Rohit’s body.
The End.

Aasmaan ke paar shayad, aur koi aasmaan hoga,
Parvaton ke paar shayad aur koi ek jahan hoga.

When a kite starts flying, it does not know that its flight can be short lived. It looks at the sun ..And it crashes down.

He was on the seashore again. The familiar noise of the people behind him, the familiar silence of the waves in front of him. Everything was so familiar to him that the contrast itself became so monotonous. He had been seeing and feeling this for so long now. Every other day , he would come here running from the madness of the land, to see the sea.

Bawra mann dekhne chala ek sapna,
Bawra mann dekhne chala ek sapna…

But his feet would still remain on the land rather than moving into the silent waters. It was not that the thought did not occur to him, his only doubt was what if moving to the other side the same feeling would knock on his head again and he would come running from the water to see the land. He will be alone then, noone will be there to even talk to. But he did not do that now also, talking about all of this with anyone.
He kept seeing all in front of him, listening to everything behind him and thinking about both. Light started fading. This was the time, he normally used to start looking back as the vendors will all have sparkling lanterns instead of using the sun.

Bawre se mann ki dekho bawri hain baatein

But today, he did not look back,

Bawri si dharkanein hain, bawri hain saasein,
Bawri si karwaton se nindiya door bhage,
Bawre se nain chahe bawre jharokhon se,
Bawre nazaaron ko takna..

He was preoccupied with all that was going through his mind. As the darkness become heavier, he could see a light on the corner of the sea, where he had never given a look before. Something was flashing far away. It was a lighthouse. There was a smile on his face.

Bawre se iss jahan mein bawara ek saath ho,
iss sayani bheed mein bas haathon mein tera haath ho..

He started moving towards the tower. It was very distant. He would not be able to make it before the sun rises again. He started walking briskly. He would have to be faster. He started running, until the sea came face to face. He had to move through the water. The destination was in his sight. The waters will not be able to stop him, and why were they confronting him, it was for them that he so wanted to be there. But he had his eyes on a brighter thing. He swam across, fighting hard against the forceful waves. He had to reach there. He did. It was made of white marble, which could not be seen from the distance. It looked so magnificient. There were stairs in front of him, when he opened the door in front of him. He was all wet, of sweat and of water. The last step seemed so difficult, but he started climbing, climbing fast, almost running. He reached there. He was on top. He actually was. Now, on one hand was the sea, and on the other hand was the land. Both the sides looked spectacular. He was there, watching all of that, alone. Was it feeling better? he could not answer. Was it feeling special? A lot.

Bawri si dhun ho koi, bawra ek raag ho,
Bawre se pair chahe, bawre taranon pein,
Bawre se bol pe thirakna..

The moon sprang up with full light and there white birds dancing around the light house. A new world, a new neighbourhood, a new hustle, a new life..

Bawra mann dekhne chala ek sapna,
Bawra mann dekhne chala ek sapna…