Tuesday, December 20, 2005

2nd Innings

Oh....kay I am back... with an update ..its been a long time since I have converted the abstract chaos unfolding in my mind into words. So this post in a sense heralds a point in time wherein this space will be updated regulary... Umm.. basically i'll try and not be lazy.
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Completely off-track..

The million tonne metallic giant thundered along its parallel guides and gazing through the semi transparent window I could see lights blur past as if forming yellow lines. A proof that man had conquered that peice of land and blessed it with his most amazing creation - Electricity.

Now since man's desire to conquer land is selective, it wasnt too long till I noticed darkness outside..The darkness outside had something primitive and pristine about it. The muffled sound of wheel hitting the track joints filled the compartment overpowering the silence within. I checked my cell phone, it was 8:00.(Its amazing.. the advent of cellular technology has made the wrist watch completely redundant and unnecessary, atleast for me). Dinner would be served any minute.

Sitting right across me, were an aged couple, the man seemed to be retired, in his early sixties and the woman in her late fifties. It was almost two hours since they had spoken to one another, and the strange thing was that both of 'em were wide awake.

The woman staring into the darkness outside as if admiring the nothingness it had to offer and the man reading the paper intently. Each, completely at peace with their self imposed anonymity. In the last two hours their eyes met just once as if to acknowledge the others presence.

Now will all of us end up like this... bored of the other person, stop rediscovering ourself as a couple and as an individual ?? ..... Fortunately a hot coup of soup diverted my attention from worrying about things which may happen thirty years from now. Its amazing how food... tends to bring your thought process to a moratorium. ..it seems our nervous system is hard wired to give food (our basic necessity) the ultimate priority.

So after dinner the couple hit the sack, and fortunately the thought of ending up like them desserted me and I continued reading.. the story of "The Zahir" unfolding in front of me word by word, propped up certain questions in my mind (Okay now you're wondering how could Suhas possibly end up reading "The Zahir" by . Infact itPaulo Cohelo.. Well i just tried to experiment. And no... I havent lost it or become too senti/philosophical, its a nice book, its the kinda book you would completely relate too when you have been married for 15 years or more... but hey ..its good anyways..) The protagonist(a successful author) refers to the relationship that any couple share as tracks which are parallel, much like our retired couple sitting across, each one programmed to carry along maintaining a constant distance of 143.5 cm......

(Its amazing its 143.5 cm and not 150... 70% of the world railway lines have been constructed keeping this distance in mind.. will deviate here and give you guys some gyan - The first train carriages were built using the same tools used to build horse carriages. Now the distance between the wheels of the horse carriages was decided by the width of the roads at that time, which in turn was decided by the Romans eons ago...when they built the first roads, and intriguingly this width was chosen to suit thier war chariots which were pulled by horses......)

Now that simply means, some smart ass at some point of time ..(obv ages ago) madeup rules to control the behaviour and minds of the barbaric nomads that walked the world... Rules about GOD, Religion, Concept of heaven and hell, concept of good and evil, marriage and SEX..etc etc....And so even now in the 21st century when we are more equipped as compared to the barbaric nomad then ...we still blindly follow these golden rules ... and the one who tries to question them is termed as a Social Outcast!!!... I think its time for a social revolution ... What say..!!!