21
years and 8 months are not enough for someone to know life inside
out. Teenage is the age of committing incessant errors and after that
comes the age, where one reflects back to their errors and try to
mould their characters, accordingly. Even though when the
introspections and circumspections of past are missing in one's life,
one develops a character, nevertheless, but it will fail, when judged
on the parameters of morality.
On
that day it was raining heavily. Everything was gray and dark,
including a small coffee shop. The age of that coffee shop must be
over 100 years or so it seemed. Even the man sitting behind the
counter looked much older than what he may actually was. There were
about 4-5 tables in total, which, mostly were unoccupied, except one.
The redolent smell of coffee beans, pancakes, which filled the room
in abundance, along with the posters of great philosophers, thinkers,
and writers of the past on the wall, was acting as an aggregation to
the whole anachronism of that place.
On
one of the occupied was sitting a young man, which seemed as an
aberration, in juxtaposition with the ambiance and flavor of the
place. He was wearing a white shirt along with a blazer (on the left
pocket of which was a monogram of a university), tight pants, which
in my opinion were a little short for him as his legs (without socks)
were very much visible. He was wearing a black or may be gray or
possibly brown shoes below his trousers (It was very difficult to
identify the true colors of his shoes as there was a thick layer of
dust and mud on them). From his external appearance or get up he
seemed quite bourgeois. But his face and eyes were betraying his
external projection of himself, in spite of his clandestine
methods(dress-up) to make it obscure, his eyes and face were full of
radiance, and were revealing his childlike curiosity to know
everything about life.
This
young man aged 21 years, was looking out from the glass window of
that coffee shop. The rain drops were falling slantwise on the window
pane, and then after making a snake wise movement on the glass were
falling in a nearby gutter, creating a hallucinating ripple in the
muddled water. After a while he got bored with nature's redundant
performance on the stage of that glass pane, with characters
appearing and then going down the drain creating a ripple in the
muddy water. He looked at his coffee which by now was still warm, so
he took a sip at it before the warmth getting dissipated into
coldness. Taking a deep and heavy breath he sighed. He waived to the
'just about' pretty waitress, and asked for his bill, the waitress
giving him a fake, yet a radiant smile, brought his bill in a brown
leather case. He opened the leather case and looked at the hand
written bill, reached his pocket for his wallet took out crisp notes
and left, leaving behind more than a generous tip for the waitress.
The
heavy downpour by this time turned into a benign shower, with
occasional winds blowing from here and there. Our young man had the
habit of walking with his head bent, as much as his neck allowed it,
making sure that each step taken, can be witnessed by his eyes. He
was very conscientious about small earthen creatures, and avoided
stomping over as many creatures as his conscientiousness allowed him
to avoid.
Rain
brings out the most subtle of human emotion and flavor. That is the
reason it had and has been, one of the most favorite subjects for
writers of past and of present. It (rain) brings out the true and
driving character of a human, which will be evident from the
following example.
The
most supercilious hide themselves in shade, and can never assimilate
the courage of a child to break free and drench themselves in the
shower from above. They consider it trivial and banal, where at the
same time, the most innocent and ingenuous, prefer to play, drench,
and get itself dirty in the same 'rain', and that too with all joy,
merry and enthusiasm.
There
are other aspects and impacts of 'rain' related to childhood,
adolescence, or adulthood. For some, rain brings the reminiscence of
their gory past, and is a matter of great depression, while for some
it brings joy, for some harmony and peace.
I
am not wrong if I relate the effect of rain on a human soul, in
accordance to their reaction towards it. The effect of rain on our
hero was mixed. Though he was not one of those supercilious lots, so
he preferred being drenched. But not with joy and merriment, or for
peace or any hope of tranquility. It was freezing to bone, he wanted
to suffer, suffer to his bones. But there was a sweet joy coming out
of that bone drenching suffering, which was both physical ( Due to
extreme cold) and psychological. This young man was dejected and
rejected by everyone from human society, and was accepted only in the
arcane society of aberrations and anomalies.
He
thought of putting his headphones on, and after skimming through his
playlist on his I-Pod, selected the album Dark Side Of The Moon, Pink
Floyd, and hit the play button on 'Comfortably Numb'. He was
possessed by one and only one thought, and that was of her. She was
in his literature class. Now I have to describe 'her' first, before I
can continue the dire predicament of our hero here.
She
was a typical metropolitan girl, who liked to dwell in her outer
appearance. Face full of make up, lips glossed with thick layers of
lipstick. The type of girls, who don't miss the opportunity of
checking themselves in elevator mirrors, car's windshields, after
adjusting a few things here and there, and after admiring their own
beauty, cannot hide their satisfaction and happiness (Thinking I am
still beautiful and young). She was a plump girl of an average
height, and was an advocate of 19th century Russian villages' charm
and beauty. She had a stoic character behind that makeup that she
wore everyday. Which was quite evident from her temple, which never
twitched or contorted in any situation. But mostly she dwell-ed with
the supercilious lot, and preferred the company of extravagant
people.
Our
hero was an outcast, and was not able to penetrate the periphery of
her circle, with his average look, and bourgeois
mannerism. Moreover he was a sissy, a feminist, and a meek creature
(with no trace of any male chauvinism). He used to observe her behind
his alibi of reading a book. What roused his curiosity in her was her
makeup, her mannerism, and the stoic character she possessed, under
those layers of external-isms. He wanted to penetrate those layers
and wished to see the real human behind that female body. (Contd...)
There was a food joint which was situated just outside the university where our scholar or hero was studying literature, philosophy, and philology. Which was mostly occupied by students or college professors. There was a vibrancy in that place. Attributed to the fact that the place was mostly occupied by young and energetic people. The food joint
was not a very grand one, in terms of space, cost and quality of food and beverage served. Laughter, chatter and chaos were incessant part of that place.
