Thursday, June 21, 2007

The Odyssey :: Embarking it

It was the usual day, the weather pleasant as always and the luminous ambience ever ready to invigorate you. Let me begin by giving you guys a succint view of the place where i lived. It was a beautiful place, a place we dream to go a place we have always dreamt to build....a place where the beauty of tranquility prevailed. The most characterizing feature of this place was the harmony in which people lived together...but yes everybody had there special group and i was lucky to find one to fit in(i will talk abt them later). The system in which the residential areas were alloted were untoward to what we have here.The phyllums were not according to any caste, creed, colour, culture, race, financial status, or any such stuff that is prevalent here. In short it was an utopia. However there still was a system of distinction. To put it simply, it was according to your performance on your last journey. There were many halls and i was given the 'level 3' hall.....there were 5 such halls level 1 being the best. Anyways i had not seen the other halls(moreover here i m just concerned with my hall)....but hopefully 1 day i will be exalted to hall 1. So coming back to this place again......there were many exotic places which we visited. But it was the iridescent hues of the sky which was the most enigmatic view from the summit of the hummock and for me it was the most sought out destination spots.( it was located some yards from the hall where I lived) . Often I went there to get entranced by the transcendent view and that day was one of those 'often' days. My enthralling epoch would have continued for long, if my friend wouldn’t have interrupted me. My friend .....well now the focus of my talk shifts to the..i surmise...the most frenzied group of hall 3. We were a boisterous group of ten but reduced to 9 later. But again in those 10 I had 5 special infact very special friends…. Chiang, John, Binay, Anne and Srishtii. Aah sorry amidst everything I just forgot to introduce myself- well I am Raghav Singh…a simple man…and currently unemployed that’s all …too short? ..but that’s all about my identity right now. Chiang and Anne are like my siblings. I love them they are truly the best. John and Binay are also my great friends. I simply loved my group and was proud of it . I wish I never had to leave them ….but everybody has to, that’s a rule…just as srishti had to.Well... Srishti, I don't know how to categorize our friendship….she was surely very special to me ….but, was this just a friendship or ….well, answer to this was always obscure. Anyways so where was I … yah so my friend interrupted me…that was binay…who had called me to say bye to one of the residents there. Reluctantly I got up, gave a final look at the view...without having the slightest idea that it was for the last time that I was seeing it. With no clue of what awaited me inside the hall we went inside the palatial dome like hall. The scene and the environ here was so quotidian. The same old goodbyes….the trains….the names being called out – names of those who were ready to take the journey again. “God! how much I hate this” frowned Binay. I was just too lazy to even respond. “Can we just get out of here” was all I could make myself say. Binay and I had just turned around when I heard my name being announced in one of those idiotic speakers. “NO..WAY….” we almost screamed in unison. “It couldn’t be my turn…I am not ready yet..” I said with almost tears in my eyes. “There must have been some misunderstanding , I am sure. Of course its not your turn” Binay said trying to fight the truth... the truth…. that I had to leave them. Lets freeze here and give me an overview of the system here. When your name is called out it indicates that your stay in this utopia has finished and you had to board a new train..and face the new journey, a new challenge. Though this journey is always very eventful in some or the other way (and life here is quite idyllic) yet for most of us it is unpalatable because in the first place when you don't want to come here, still you have to, and then when you are ensconced you have to leave this place, this is what makes this whole thing so unsavoury. But fortunately this is the system formulated by the Boss, who is a, infact more precisely speaking, the only paragon...soyou have to trust the system without giving a second thought....as it is , i guess, perfect And as a wont of this place it went on, on a daily basis. But again though you have faced it so many times before, yet everytime you face it, it proves to be a harrowing experience. Well, so i was facing this again, after a hiatus , of i don't know how long. Aah! it was time to meet the Boss. This was one thing which I liked about the whole process. To meet the designer, director(the Boss) of the whole system was in itself a thrilling experience. "Great here comes the agent", said Anne (by now our whole group had gathered there). The agent.....well he is not the one like in matrix, this one is a good fella. The agent ..the only noticeable parameter about him is that he is always too phlegmatic I don't know how(maybe because he is just bored of his morone, monotonous task) his task is simple...escort the people who are reday to take the journey, to the boss.....uuuhh!! such an uninteresting job, and he has been doing this job for an eon. Anyways I walked down the narrow passage (ornated with chandelairs -1 after every 2 yards) with the agent...just as i had comprehended not a single word during the whole walk. But the whole time my thoughts were in a continuous retrospection. The remeniscence of Srishti’s farewell floated in front of my eyes. “I will miss you Raghav. I am sure that you are someone from my past journey and I hope to meet you someday in this journey again”, she had said embracing me.After a jaunt we reached, and my thoughts were interpreted by the agent “ you are here mr. raghav all the best to you”....thats all he said everytime to everybody. “So this is it ..the process begins here ”, I thought. I took a deep breath and as i knocked the gold plated door I had a continuous eddy of feelings serving as a vortex in my mind and heart, afterall it was going to decide such a magnimous issue. “Come in”, came a voice from inside. Following the orders I pushed the door and went in with faltering steps. So finally I was meeting the boss...hmm...Boss...well if you ask me about boss's looks. or gender.....I am actually not quite sure of it. The only thing about Boss was the unparalleled luminisence about him… no her…no ….i don’t know. The light was so bright that I actually couldn’t look at boss directly. Standing there in Boss's room...aah!! the room....the room was embellished exquisitely. I am an aesthetic by nature and if you ask me what was my preference in that room, it would be the dainty looking figurine which stood prettyly on top of the podium in the right side. "hello!!!!", i said to myself "wake up and for heaven's sake stop being so artistic and think about your future", so I started enumerating my deeds one by one and concluded that I had a 95% probability of getting a good train and even if there had been some mere pecadillo I m sure Boss would consider it a venial act. "so i ve checked all your past records and ...well here is your ticket", said Boss in a very composed tone. The ticket.....it was fearful .....as it was the one that would decide my odyssey... I took the ticket with trembling hands and then quickly unfolded it to check the details “TRAIN NO.-23761 NAME- to be named, Age- 0, GENDER- F , Route- to be decided by you" wait a minute what did i read…. GENDER-F ....What female!!!!!!” I couldn't repress the ejaculation “No not a female, pls! I am better off a male pls!!” I said with a suppliant tone to boss. “It’s irrevocable my dear. Now go else you will miss your train” said boss in his/her ever pacific tone. I had no choice. I managed to squeeze in a smile . Anyways I took blessings of Boss and as I opened the door to leave boss said “trust me I have kept the best in store for you. Just that you have to rummage for it”. I smiled feebly and walked out. …walked out of the passage and reached the hall. I found my train and my buddies waiting for me. It was the patent farewell . the same cries and the similar stuff …..so i won’t go deep into it. So I got up into the train with a trepedition about the passengers of my train. I kept praying. It was time. The train left a puff of smoke …the wheels turned…my palpitation tripled…..there was a moment of lull and in a flash the whole environ around me changed. I saw this beautiful lady, with angelic eyes, her serenity calmed me down and her soothing hands mollified my soul…and I knew her in a moment …she was my maa. And soon I met my baba with the same calmness about him as my mom….he took me in his hands and I knew that boss was right I am hallowed to have them as my parents. All my fathoms were effaced and I felt relieved. Within a few days I was named Baishali Chaudhury…….and …hence i embarked my odyssey

1 comment:

Prabhu Dutta Das said...

Its a paradox that there has been no good in a GOOD BYE. Still it lingers with the echo. The journey embarked will always be remembered to have happened not for the tears shed in the fare well... The odyssey continues!!!