Thursday, January 27, 2005

On the street

A beautiful evening falls, right after a small shower. The smell of rain on sun scorched earth. The trees and potted plants have had cool new hair do's from the Gardener and shiny tiny new leaves sprout. The promise of new life and happinesses and laughter and sunny days and flowers.
It makes you feel all smug and blink up occasionally at how the world suddenly seems just right.
You hear something on the street. Sounds like a baby wailing. It gets louder and kind of tugs at your heart. Maybe it is just a cat making noises.
You open the gate to take a peek. There is a little child on the road. About a year old. Blue coloured little tee shirt and orange coloured shorts. You see the child's small slipper-less feet, and he continues to wail loudly.
There also is a girl. Maybe seven years old. She is carrying a plastic bottle of water on her head. Must be atleast five kilos, you figure. And you can see the look in this girls eyes as she is holding up that huge bottle and looking at the child.
He continues to cry. She turns and walks on. This little child walks behind her, in its baby wobbly gait. The distance between them gets larger like the wails and it is almost tearing your heart. You want to pick up that small being and just comfort him.
The little girl is almost at the end of the street now, and finally, a saree clad woman comes running and picks him up.
They are too far away for you to hear. But you see. Baby in mommy's arms, three people without footwear walk away. Big bottle on little girl's head.
And you shut the gate. And go back to your book neatly laid on a coffee table, with a bookmark. A piece of china with your evening tea awaits you.

11 Comments:

At Thursday, 27 January, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

this clearly captures the world within worlds and the different lives lived while each lives his/her own ...

as existence/life births, grows,flourishes, degenerates,dies, decays and the cycle repeated as time continues to flow unto eternity till there is emptiness once more, only to fill again ...

and so repeats the cycle of time itself ...

 
At Thursday, 27 January, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Again, very well written. And what a parting shot!

-TII

P.S: Thanks for allowing the anon comments

 
At Thursday, 27 January, 2005, Blogger Dreamcatcher said...

slice of life
astoundingly poetic abt a very prosaic thing.

 
At Friday, 28 January, 2005, Blogger Akruti said...

a small feeling of hallowness by the time i finished reading it,life means so diff for diff people,i was so happy that i was raining on 27th and now i justam thinking of the little girl and the kid.
wonderful way of expressing the thoughts:) keep posting

 
At Friday, 28 January, 2005, Blogger Neets said...

Brillian writing skills - emotions well handled, great usage of words!

 
At Friday, 28 January, 2005, Blogger {illyria} said...

"And you shut the gate. And go back to your book neatly laid on a coffee table, with a bookmark. A piece of china with your evening tea awaits you."

this just moved me. when i read it, the words sounded in my head one by one. and i swear, words transformed to images which transformed to puppets. and the puppets did this little dance and suddenly, you knew what life was all about. such picturesque writing.

 
At Friday, 28 January, 2005, Blogger Ubermensch said...

hey prat...
loved the rhythm in the first para....
and seems u too have moved into point blank second person narration....
godspeed

 
At Saturday, 29 January, 2005, Blogger Prat said...

Kishore, those words you said " and so repeats the cycle of time itself", moved me. Overwhelmingly true.
TII, thank you for visiting. You made the anon comments happen. Thankyou.
Dreamcather, very kind of you.
Neels, yes, the rain was unprecedented. Like today again.
Nita, thank you.
Transience, those words for you is nothing less than an honour.
Uber, yes it kind of just happened I guess. And thanks.

 
At Saturday, 29 January, 2005, Blogger {illyria} said...

you deserve every one of the compliments you've received. i like reading you and i have linked to your site. have a beautiful weekend, prat.

 
At Sunday, 30 January, 2005, Blogger small squirrel said...

Once again a wonderful piece of writing, Prat.

I am especially fond of these little glimpses, there is something so perfect about them and I cannot put my finger on it. The image of the little girl with the too big jug on her head has stayed with me. Strong imagery is the hallmark of powerful writing.

 
At Tuesday, 01 February, 2005, Blogger Prat said...

Thanks for the kind words, transience and squirrel.

 

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