Alone he cuts and binds the grain...
And sings a melancholy strain.
Will no one tell me what he sings?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow..
For old, unhappy, far-off things...
or about the love lost..
and about the infinite emptiness....
................
POOOOOOOOOOMMPP!!
The siren of the factory blew... it was my alarm clock...
it told me.. "Oh old man.. its seven thirty in the morning.. get up!!"
Early in the morning... the radio told me today's headlines..
rape, murders, deaths, accidents,
how the ministers made new promises..
But.. how.. the farmers killed themselves...
How we were finally.. "DEVELOPING".
Well.. I finally got up.. as the radio signaled me that it was time to take my bath.
DINGG DONG!!
I opened the door very excitedly..
The sight of a human being still thrilled me...
Maybe.. some relative.. some friend from my distant past..
"Your Lunch Sir!" The Dabawallah handed me my lunch carriage.
I saw Pinku walk past me...
"Hello Grandpa.. I am going to school.. Bye bye!!"
"Bye Bye Dear son! Read well!!" I smiled for the first time in the day...
"And will you come to play with me in the evening?" I asked him..
"No.. You don't have a TV in your house... " He said sadly..
It was true..
An old man.. couldn't afford a colour TV with his pension.
I saw him ride his cycle till the end of the street..
Suddenly.. my eyes fell on a old photo album which fell down from the shelf..
It was my marriage album!
I looked at the date...
Thirtieth march 1968...
I suddenly realized.. it was today...
"Sulbha... Sulbha... it's our wedding anniversary...
I still remember the night when we got married... I had not even seen you properly...
Do you remember the day.. when I got my first promotion...
You made that day my happiest day of my life.. by telling me the good news of your pregnancy.
We were soo happy..
How we thought.. we would.. name our son 'Vinay' and if its a daughter 'Nimmi' or.. was it 'Simmi'..
Sorry dear... my memory is really at a loss these days...
Thank God I atleast remember you...
And.. ya..How.. we dreamed... how you would take him to the school..
then.. high school.. college...
How we would see him as an engineer!
But....
fate had something else for us..."
.........
Bhiwandi, 1970
the dreadful year...
We were all happy.. until one day..
I don't know what happened....
They screamed all over the Radio and newspapers "RIOTS! RIOTS!"
I had no idea until...
My own house was burned down...
My shop was tore apart..
I fled somehow..
But..
My Seven Month pregnant wife..couldn't escape!
She was burnt alive...
And I was left to die for the rest of my life....
these forty years I spent my life like a dead man...
With no reason to live.... No reason to survive...
This house..
I feel so.....
I scream ... no one hears...
I cry.. no one sees...
I wonder.. If I die..then.. my body would dispose here itself...
...................
I wrote my 'Will' today..
You might think what this old man has to give...
Well..
My dear friends..
there is soo much..
I wrote off my eyes to a blind boy...
I wrote off my kidneys to a needy young man...
I wrote off...
And ya..
This small home of mine...
will be the home for children...
I had no life till now..
But NO MORE!
My eyes will see through some else.. they will enjoy the beauty..
My home will once again be filled with laughter of the kids..
They will be my legacy...
My heir...
........
PS: Thanks to William Wordsworth for allowing to use his poem.
This post is dedicated to the WORLD THEATER DAY, March 27th
44 comments:
u seem to get into the character so easily...
nice one.... keep going
who on earth is pinku then?!?!?!
and i was ROFL @ "i wont come to play here with you as you have no TV".
haha.
@Raul
Thanks...
@Mons
It was his neighbor..
AMazing !!! SO true and so nice!! Had to read it twice so avoid missing somehting!!
Thanks...
hey nice....and the poem sets the background for ur post very beautifully..great post...touhy
thanks....
ohhhh, oops. i apologise profusely for my inability-to-understand properly. :P
hehe.
thank god... spelling mistakes were really less.. good
but there was still something missing in the post... wish i could pin point and yes u have th tendency of leaving the sentence mid-way
'I wrote off my eyes to a blind boy...
I wrote off my kidneys to a needy young man...
I wrote off...'
it doesnt go well. such an expression only goes well when you are writing about emotions. E.g. i feel like screaming, like running away, like...
the same goes for this one
'This house..
I feel so.....
I scream ... no one hears...
I cry.. no one sees...
I wonder.. If I die..then.. my body would dispose here itself...'
u did nt write what u feel even once. And it will be decay not dispose
and transition from one para to another was a bit abrupt. plus the para frm whr you start remembering ur wife need not be in double inverted commas. u r Reminiscing ur past, so i doubt u need to pronounce names there... thats wat i think
and yes... dont feel bad, alright? its just that you have given me too much of authority in analaysing your blog.
one more thing...
isnt the poem in the beginning about a girl? i remember it from school days. it was a girl, right?
@Mons
Lol...
nevermind..
@Deeps
Phewww
I guess I got hell lot of work to do..
nevermind yaar..
i need ur comments..
U r my biggest critic..
Thanks for those things..
I would try to do better the enxt time..
And ya it was about a girl..
But i changed it according to the text..
good... i too think this is about a girl..
thanks..
ya it was..
but i changed it according to my context
you always FALL in love never rise.
thats why u got destroyed in Love. buck up!!!
Hey, it was so emotinally capturing....
I was sunk into the story...
Well, good post....
Cheers..!!
Arjun
@friendly guy next door..
thanks..
@arjun
thanks arjun..
aree thanks for reading till 30..:-)
anyway..
very well written!
keep posting
blog is worth following!
Thanks dude..
sorry.
but i had to be frank...
dude...mr. wordsworth might be turning up in his grave now :P
hey dude...i just changed my url...check it out!!
It was nice ! But i think u still have time to write such grandpa stories........
@shayan
thanks dude..
sure i will chk out..
@kc
well..
thanks for dropping by..
well...good post. As rahul said..u do sink into ur characters well...
Ur emotions come out beautifully....like..
i scream...no one hears
i cry..no one sees..
they add much essence..much feel.. to the story..
gud job.
thanks yaar..
well frankly..
i am dat gud also..
got to evolve a lot..
i feel..
i have not done 100% justice to the emotions..
though few came out gud
but few remianed silent...
Matty !!! hi
came here after a long time and you have uploaded lots of...Will read gradually....And you place yourself in others shoes so well matty while playin those characters !!!
Hi zahid.
Good to see u here ater a long time.
Thanks..
Hey Matty,
I really like your blog man. we are a group of 3 girls who want to share some of our life stories and have just started blogging.
Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the Flores Online, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://flores-on-line.blogspot.com. A hug.
@sherlyn
thanks yaar..
good to see u blogging..
all d best..
do send me d link
@flores online
thanks for dropping by..
ya i will chk out ut blog
hiya...nice temp...
you are tagged!
:)
helloo???? where art thou??
hey! you are tagged...
check my blog:
http://sachi-mahajan.blogspot.com/2008/06/i.html
and do complete the tag soon :)
hmmm....
hmmm....
hmmm...
Deep and interesting.
That was so beautiful and so touching!
I love that poem :)
To get this posting sent to an elite group of 1250 registered members each day, consider competing (by submitting) for the top voted spot at www.newzly.com - good luck !
Hi ,
I was reading ur blog posts and found some of them to be wow.. u write well.. Why don't you popularize it more.. ur posts on ur blog ‘destroyed in love’ took my particular attention as some of them are interesting topics of mine too;
BTW I help out some ex-IIMA guys who with another batch mate run www.rambhai.com where you can post links to your most loved blog-posts. Rambhai was the chaiwala at IIMA and it is a site where users can themselves share links to blog posts etc and other can find and vote on them. The best make it to the homepage!
This way you can reach out to rambhai readers some of whom could become your ardent fans.. who knows.. :)
Cheers,
oye matty !!!
Kya hua !!!
Joined any b school ??
What are the updates yaar !!!
well dear fellow blogger,
matty or whatever ur name is...
i must say that it was damn too moving...
when i was reading it for the first time i did not get any mistakes in that and when i read it for the 2nd time i didnt get any mistakes and the same goes for the 3rd time,...
but yes everytime i read it my eyes DID get teared up...
it was very intense... close to reality...
one word for some guys who have commented here...
plz b more lenient and open hearted in writing anything here cux we r NOT munto or roy or some writer like the BIG NAMES... the blogger was just expressing few of the thoughts... so chill out...
www.muddleheaded.wordpress.com
38 comments already! hope i'm not too late :) I must admit this is absolutely a beautiful post
hey! cant seem to find any sharing engine on ur blog. y dnt u use something like Tell-a-Friend so that visitor like me can easily share ur posts with frens thru mails,IMs,blogs,socialnetworking sites etc...u cn simply register on www.socialtwist.com Careful with the site type u choose..al d best : )
hi matty
all ur posts r really insightful!
@harini
thanks
@sach
sorry sorry sorry couldnt complete ur tag!!
@zoram
thanks for ur sugegstions
@aparna
thanks yaar
@rest of u all
thanks btw i am abck!!
dont worry bro....
Very poignant and moving. Particularly the last bit. Wordsworth's classic too has been well used...keep it up!
@diwa
thanks
@nishank
thanks man
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