Their Story (episode 1)

He never knew he would find something this beautiful. It was autumn. Not the “leaves falling everywhere” kind of an autumn , but “just a slight chill in the wind” kind of an autumn. Prashant enjoyed the view from his window. It was the security that he felt in his room behind the books he had to engross his attention into for the forthcoming competitions. He was not lonely. A decent guy with a gist of artistic bent and a notch introvert.

And he saw her somewhere. ‘Where’ is not of importance. He just saw her. You know those things they say about love at first sight. You disbelieve that until you experience some. Karuna was beautiful or so he thought. He never weighed her beauty. He never saw beyond her eyes. They were serene. He always felt they resembled some bollywood actress whose name he could not recall in her vicinity.

********************************

Prashant was getting late for his tuitions. He packed the bag and went out in the lawn running a wild hand and smacking his brother on his forhead. He enjoyed doing this. Not the pain infliction part, but it was the retaliation that he loved the most.
“Whats up jughead?”
Now Prashant’s younger brother was not much of a hit with his academics yet enjoyed the pampering nature of his mother.
“Hey you Blackface, take care of your own studies and stay away from me!”(Ahh!!Spiteful revenge. Got some for the day!)

Prashant cycled fast through the noisy streets of bharatpur to the tuition centre. Pankaj was late as always. He took the seat at the back row before the teacher began spitting some weird content on the beauty of differential equations. See what he hated about maths was not only the equations but also the history behind the under examination equation.

He felt sleepy amidst the constant droning buzz that was filling almost every part of the room.
“And this differential equation was solved under the jurisdiction of Mr.Blah in yeah 1939 when the world war broke out! He was sleeping when he had this dream about the equations arranging themselves in weird set of patterns ………”

“Oh! What the f*** ! Who cares who solved it? And whats so special about this dream. Last night I had a dream about getting laid ! Hope that is symbolic with some f***ing differential equation!”

And he folded his hands on the table and began thinking of Karuna!
“Oh! Karuna……
The love of my life. The fire of my loins….” (Wait a sec! That’s from Lolita!)

Prashant loved dreaming about her. Actually, it was his favorite pastime. See guys, when you are in love or have brought down upon thyself the aforementioned premise you tend to sleep a lot less than you dream. It is one of the rare occasions when you can actually build your own dreams. You see yourself rescuing her from some doomed conspiracy of the universe and find yourself pampering her in some silent corner of the world. She too is returning your favor by rubbing your cheeks and pulling your hair.

“Ohh! I love you so much..!!”
“Hmm.. hmm”
“I wish we could go away to some distant island and live there forever”
Now, you have to understand this. Real love (or in this case alleged love in dreams) is never as clichéd as some bollywood flick.
“Why an island??” she would frown.
“Well….ahh aghh an island is lonely and beautiful and awesome and wonderful ,…..”
See, when you are caught up in a tight situation you tend to use a lot of adjectives….
But she will undo all your effort with one word…
“SO ????”
“Ohh.. Crap…!! This dream is not going the right way.” This is the advantage I was talking about. You can direct your dreams in the way you like.
“Let us start over..”

And once again he would start off with another set of distinct and an equally sucking cliched metaphor for her eyes or lips or….ohh whatever. The point is he would land in the same spot.
Wreckage..!!

Today he was having less drastic dreams about her and he intended to smile in his sleep.
He smiled.
Only to notice a voice echoing through his ears .
“Why are you smiling??... Ohh!! For christ’s sake why are u sleeping??”
Pankaj was amazed at his audacity to sleep in this heat.
“Dude you are sweating like anything!!”
“Ahh its just her love.. Maybe am too full.. You have to know of this dream I was havi….”
And Pankaj cut him short..
“Dude no more of your mellow weird love dreams. I already have enough driving on my tiny ass…”

Prashant smiled. Pankaj did have a tiny ass. Actually he was a tiny guy. He had tiny eyes, tiny fingers, tiny hands and tiny thighs. It was but his accentuated lower lip that was set apart from his whole tiny profile. It stood out like a light-house on a stranded island.
Ahhhh!!! Island!!!!
Prashant smiled intuitively, probably at his own lameness. He was not lame. It was but she who turned him this lame. Meanwhile he got back to the lecture which was sucking sad right from the beginning.
He could not wait to see her again. Probably this time in person!!!
He knew his chances were slim but he was riding his luck. The teacher stopped talking (that was all it was to him!!) soon and they filed and climbed the 17 stairs to reach the surface. Yeah, the room was below the surface but more on that later…..

*********End of episode 1*********

आज रात का अंतिम प्याला

यह विराम की स्थिति नरम हो चली विगत अग्नि ज्वाला,
आज रात बस इतना ही आखिरी मधु अंतिम प्याला,
अपने लालायित अधरों से चूम उठा काली हाला,
मधुवन के सबसे सुरभित कुसुमों से सज्जित ये मधुशाला ||1||

कर रही आज अभिवादन है जाओ अब सूरज निकल रहा,
था झूम रहा कुछ क्षण पहले वो पीने वाला संभल रहा
है जाग रहा है जगा रहा पीनेवालों को यह कहकर
आ गया काल निर्धारित चलें आओ अंतिम प्याला पीकर ||2||

लाल रक्त से दीप्त नेत्र कुछ के ज्यादा पी लेने से,
और लाल कुछ की आँखें है विरह झेलने, रोने से,
फिर भी प्रदीप्त सब नेत्र लिए एक नयी ज्योति कल के हेतु,
एक नयी सुबह एक नयी दिशा में बढ़ें पाँव फल के हेतु ||3||

सारा सुख सब आनंद ह्रदय को बहुत शांति पहुंचाता है ,
और मेघ सम चढ़ता है तब नेत्रों पे छा जाता है,
और बरस पड़ता है फिर वो नर की कोमल आँखों से ,
ज्यों गिरते पंख परम आह्लादित एक मयूर की पांखों से ||4||

कुछ उसी तरह साड़ी रजनी आमोद मनाने पीने से ,
उस पर दिनकर का अकस्मात ले उषा सामने आने से,
मूर्च्छा त्यागी सबने कैसे पीने वाले सब दंग हुए,
क्या हुआ, हुआ कैसे सपने बच गए मध्य में भंग हुए ??5??

यह अंतिम पात्र गरल का है यों इसे नहीं जाने देना,
मत बीच स्वयं के और मधु के तुम कुछ भी आने देना,
पूरा आनंद उठाना रात का अंतिम पहर है बीत चला,
नर की भारी इच्छाओं का विश्वास भुवन को जीत चला ||6||

लो आ गयी सुबह चले सब मतवाले अपनी धुन में,
कुछ यादें लिए रात की, कुछ सपने लेकर कल के मन में,
हैं अरुण नेत्र सबके किन्तु मुख पर श्रान्ति का नाम नहीं,
अधरों पे सबके गीत यही "जय मिले बिना विश्राम नहीं " ||7||



This was composed during the final days of my high school and tries to compare the moods of a school leaving kid with a man who is about to leave the bar where he has spent the entire night being intoxicated.