Its simple!
“I want that chocolate” , cried the little boy in a adamant tone to his mother.
“No. Enough chocolates for you already” , she said and started pulling him by his arm , trying to drag him out of the store.
Then it happened.
“Excuse me! ” , a voice echoed from behind.
She turned behind to stare into the smiling face of an elderly gentleman holding a large chocolate in his hand.
“Here you go” , said the elderly man offering the chocolate to the little boy, who immediately took it with a big happy smile on his face.
Her first impulse was to politely refuse the offering made by the elderly man and walk away. Their was a brief pause in the moment wherein out of the corner of her eye, she caught the smiling face of her little boy happy on getting the chocolate and admiring it with a dreamy innocence like quality.
“Thank you!” , she said to the elderly gentleman and walked away dragging her little boy.
Eyes!
His mind wandered,
with rising thoughts,
fortunes and curses of the unknown,
don’t seem to stop.
———————————————
Their eyes met,
for a long while,
absorbing each other,
dissolving every other one in sight.
———————————————
Serene eyes ,
or so they looked,
absorbing pain with such a calm.
Such magnitude of infiniteness,
he had never seen,
lost in the gaze,
he soaked the charm.
———————————————
And he could stand like that for years , he felt
staring where everything was lost ,
without any sound to be made or a word to be spoken,
keeping his emotions just at bay.
The eyes stared back at him,
easy, relaxed, silent and potent,
taking years of miseries without a flinch,
radiating love and warmth and kindness and affection.
———————————————
A trigger of emotions,
a bubble of happiness ,
a pure smile,
a desire to learn,
unravel the mystery,
churned inside.
He felt happy,
he loved them,
those eyes had nothing to hide.
———————————————
A Short Story …
The crumpled piece of paper lay desolate by the side of the road. What was written on it was meaningless, an inference one could make out from its neglected state. It appeared as if the paper had resigned itself to its fate, waiting while standing frozen in time.
A gentle gust of wind lifted the paper in the air. Forced not by the will of its own, the paper rolled on in the air , in a smooth motion, imitating the movement of a free bird. It flew on for a few blocks when the wind turned its direction towards the road where few people were walking to their early morning shift. And it was then that it struck on her face and fell dead on the road.
She frowned. She was already half an hour late to work. Her first impulse was to ignore it and keep walking. But something within her made her resist. On an impulse, she picked up the crumpled piece of paper and slowly unfolded it, not sure what to expect inside. The paper had a big smiley and a short message written in it:
“Keep smiling. Take care.”
She smiled. She wondered why someone would throw away such a beautiful message. But that didn’t matter now to her. Folding the paper neatly , she kept it inside her wallet and happily strolled towards her workplace singing her favourite song.
***This story is dedicated to the elephant.
3000
*This story is a work of fiction as well as a part of some writing experimentation.
It was chilly outside with a cold breeze blowing. Rubbing his hands together to get some warmth, he entered the building stealthily making an effort to avoid the people around him. He sprinted up the flight of stairs to floor two, hoping that she had not already left her apartment. A quick glance at his watch showed the time as eight-thirty giving him a pang of hope as it was not usually before nine that people left for work in that city.
He rang the doorbell twice. Its sharp sound echoed through the gallery disturbing him for a while. A moment later, the door opened and she stood before him with an amused expression on her face.
They both stood silent for a while looking at each other.
“I came to see you” , he said.
“Why?”
“I am leaving this place today. I am returning to my city to continue my business.”
She gave him a quick glance without uttering a word. He looked at her face and couldn’t trace any feeling of emotion. They were left wrapped in an uncomfortable silence.
“I thought we could go together”, he finally uttered.
[Part I - Dreams]
“Come inside” , she said.
He had always been surprised by her unpredictability, her way of dealing things in situations. As he entered inside, she handed him a pair of die.
“Roll it and if you get the total five, I’ll join you”, she said.
Any other person would have been bemused at such a ridiculous suggestion but not him. He knew her. And he knew that it was now his luck casted upon some unknown number on the die that would determine her decision. Something didn’t feel right to him as he felt a sudden jab of uneasiness.
The dies rolled on the floor for quite a long time, giving the impression that they would never cease to move. Then one of the die struck the wall and almost immediately came to a stop showing the number two on its upward face. His heart skipped a beat. He watched her and found that she was calmly looking at the other die which was spinning slowly now almost to a stop. The spinning die rolled on to reveal the face two .. then stumbled on to three .. and in a painfully slow agonising motion, stood there slightly vibrating as if teasing them .. as if it was an ominous power which could twist their fate as per its will.
Time seemed to stop for him at that very moment. Strangely, at that very moment, he came to terms with the reality. And as he came to terms with his own feelings, to his very surprise he found that he didn’t care any more .. whether the die showed up two or three or five or any damn number, it didn’t matter to him any longer.
The die had finally come to a stop, rolling once again just before its motion ceased to reveal the face five. He had failed to pass her test.
They looked at each other in silence. Both understood what the other felt at that very moment. She knew that he had realized the reality of his situation. From a corner of her eye, she had watched him undergoing the transformation as he was watching the spinning die.
He left without saying another word. The door closed behind him with a thud. And in the ensuing silence, a drop of tear rolled down her cheek onto the floor.
[Part II - Fiction]
(… “I thought we could go together”, he finally uttered.)
A pause followed. He sensed her expression changing. Her eyes were as dreamy as they used to be but now they conveyed her feelings. He felt happy. He knew he had done the right thing and would never live to regret it.
In a tearful voice, she replied “I thought you would never ask.”. Two drops of tear rolled down from her eyes.
The train to his town left at seven in the evening. And this time, he was not returning alone.
[Part III - Reality]
(… “I thought we could go together”, he finally uttered.)
“No” , she said.
“Why?”
“You know the answer to this” , she replied staring at him firmly.
He felt confused at that very moment. He thought he didn’t know how she felt and stood there not knowing what to say.
Their was silence again. He turned back and walked down the flight of stairs deciding to call her in the afternoon.
[Conclusion - The Finale]
(3050 AD , fifty years later.)
He stood on the terrace feeling the cool breeze flowing around. It was chilly and dark at this time in the afternoon.
The day reminded him of his haunting memories fifty years ago. At that very moment, he wished .. if only he had realized back then that she didn’t love him anymore .. if only he hadn’t given into false hopes.
And it was at this instance that his heart craved for living his life over once again.
Pink Floyd
A tribute to Pink Floyd is long due.
My favourite band which I regard as one of the greatest band ever. Followers of ‘Led Zeppelin’ , ‘The Doors’ , ‘The Who’ , ‘Beatles’ might not agree with this though. Well , what can I say to that! … “To each, its own”
And now to the question , ‘what makes them that special?’. To be candid , there is no specific answer for that. There are so many aspects to music which one can identify to. It would be unfair to put down one or two of those aspects here based on my personal biases. Although I am certain about one thing , you would be able to relate yourself at some level no matter what aspect of music you are attached to.
And that relation Pink Floyd brings to/in/around you is what makes them God of all bands.
Of Mirrors and Hopes …
Looking in the mirror, an alien stared back at him.
He Smiled.
He had seen it happening in the movies, in the countless horror and sci-fi films seen over the years. Yet this was not supernatural. Nor did he consider it to be.
His look went to the tree visible from the window in his room, where a tiny golden bird chirped as it spread its wings, perhaps ready to fly in search for food. The bright sunshine reflecting off the bird made it appear as a almost divine creature .. as a phoenix that had just risen up from its ashes. And then in a swift motion, the bird flapped its wings and flew away.
He smiled again. And this time, it was for a different reason.
An Act Without Any Act …
It is at times like these that the heart could speak itself out, if only it could. And after the show is performed, the moment freezes and you are taken aback, probably immersed,wondering in a reflection of your own selfishness. It is as though time stops for a split second and endows upon you a moment to cherish though a bit blemished by pangs of an unknown dread. Anyways, a priceless gift it is and made more worthy if you are able to recognize it.
Look around you. One of the noblest virtue considered starting from terms of endearment is not an act without an act in itself in majority of the themes. And yet it is placed highly above such an act which I mention.
And it makes me wonder …
*Thanks for making my day!
Wish You Were Here!
No matter how many times I abandon this song, yet somehow it keeps coming back. Only recently I came across a picture of a lady singing this song with so much intensity(yeah, you could see it in the still pic) that I was totally dumbstruck. She was singing(as told to me) for her son who had passed away and they had even played this song at his funeral. I couldn’t help asking for the pic and I express my thanks here to the person who gave it to me.
(On second thoughts though, I decided not to put the pic here!)
Anyways, for those of you who have no clue to what I am talking about, this is a Pink Floyd song, one of their very best masterpieces. And here’s a link for it with the lyrics embedded. Hope you like it (lyrics, music and vocals – all three) …
Stronger Lessons
“Have you learned lessons only of those who admired you, and were
tender with you, and stood aside for you?
Have you not learned great lessons from those who reject you, and brace themselves against you? or who treat you with contempt,or dispute the passage with you?” — By Walt Whitman
***A nice little poem. Came across it while going through his collection randomly.
Solution!
Atlast, chessbase gave the solution for the puzzle I posted under “Chocolate,Coffee and Chess” post. Here it is:
“There are two surprising things about the solution to this puzzle. Firstly, although the position is symmetrical, the play leading up to it is anything but. Secondly, the ‘obvious’ sequence of moves leads to Black lacking a tempo move at the end of the sequence. Therefore Black has to make his tempo move earlier (see Black’s 6th move in the solution). Anyhow, by now you probably want to see the solution, so here it is: 1 a4 c6 2 a5 Qb6 3 axb6 axb6 4 Ra3 Rxa3 5 h4 Rb3 6 cxb3 h6 7 Qc2 h5 8 Qxc6 Nxc6 9 Nc3.”
I can’t believe that the h4-h5 moves were achieved in two steps and their main purpose was to initially pass the tempo from white to black and then from black to white. A very clever deception and counter-intuitive ofcourse, but yet possible to work out.
* Tempo – Normally referred to a single move. Suppose there are 3 places A,B and C , all inter-connected. You have to move from A to C and you do it in the following way: Move from A to B and then from B to C. Another person moves directly from A to C. Now this other person has gained one tempo over you.
(The definition is not strictly correct but yet the basic idea is the same.)
