Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Lost Cause??

It had started a long back- just the train journey back home caught the raw straw. The train of thoughts (pun intended) left him wondering all over it again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He was jubilant for he was home bound again. This time promised for more riches, for he had a cousin’s marriage to attend. Marriages! They do a thing to you, don’t they? He was rapt in the dream. He bade an early farewell for the station to check up his waitlisted ticket. All was in place. A perfect beginning to a perfect memory?
He went up to locate his seat and settle down. To his amusement, the row was empty (at least for the time being). He stretched his leg and cornered his bag and waited for the journey to start and finish off in a whoosh. Then they came. The brigade of fellow passengers with an army of see-off relatives! The words brigade and army are not misplaced for the amount of baggage they carried gave me a sense of moving caravan. It was good that I had seated myself up in the corner. I wonder if otherwise I could have muscled my way in. Reactions, The collective reactions of such a huge see off can be very promising. It was filled with action, from frame to frame. All of them had been grouped to two or three and the words followed the animated actions. Alas! It was time now. The engine stirred and he wondered would the mass get off the train safe in such quick alert? They sure did! He mused at the sight and smiled around. But it seems that the fate isn’t with a sense of irony. The wheels screeched and the train came to a halt almost as soon as it started. For a moment everything blanked out. Utter silence! Then all of them burst out. It was as if some great pressure had been applied to heart and tears were the temporary respite. The tears flowed! They have a way? Don’t they? Tears-the heart ways? Maybe tears are the words which our dictionary refuses to give a reckoning. It has a grammar, a punctuation and its pronunciation is profound, to say the least! He was left wondering.. ..The emotional quotient of an eye drop?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The colours, the hue and the cry! Marriage Home! It was special in ways more than one for him. One He had too few cousin sisters. Two The present sister was the closest to him. She was away visiting her friends when he arrived. But as soon as she came back, she came to him! She had something to say he thought. But her words were lost in the accompanying company. She gulped it. It was later that day he could finally see her. She was with her cousin sum best friend. He thought words would surround him, questions and more questions? But She held him in a hug and cried. He felt helpless. Seeing her in cry her cousin joined her. He tried to console both of them recollecting the good times the laughter. But then he realized looking back at the laughter made them cry all the more. The good times, the silly times all conjured up hazy environ. Alas! He recounted the times when she was gruffly and angry on him and that seemed to work. Tears for good times and Smile for tears? Law of irreversibility? Can this be more confusing?


Racing through to the final act of leaving! The tears seemed to be a reflection of celebration. A celebration of her whiney smile that echoed in the house, her graceful walk lighting up the candles! Each drop glinted with her love for everyone and everyone’s love for her. It was wrapped in the warmth of her smell, her pure self.
Maybe tears are just words heart can’t express. For its diction and punctuation is vast to generalize in a casual manner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Death Funeral. The inconsolable tears!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He sat down equating the tears. The tears for togetherness, The tears for celebration, The tears of loss! He realized he lacked the understanding of the basic structure. Perhaps just perhaps, the tears are a way of cleansing our eyes as we adjust them to focus on life again? Are they just a premature despair of lost cause? They say a thousand words and hide a thousand others. But do we still realize the grammar of tears, the heart ways?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quite an apt title for the post.. :)
The conclusion a perfect ending to a perfect memory..

Cheers,
The Phoenix

Sashu... said...

Lovely post...! extremely well written..takes one along like a tide :) good one prabhu!

Random Guy said...

aah nice post.. i guess this was the happy homecoming u had referred to?
liked the ending particularly... :)

but, and tak it as +ve criticism, some of ur sentences don't make sense.. the grammar and structure r all skewed..
otherwise nice post!

Prabhu Dutta Das said...

@Rozz

Homecoming are always happy? Aren't they? I wrote this at a pace which surprised me and didn't gave a read back :) I guess I know what you refer at Mr. Critic :P

@Sashu nd Phoenix

Thanks :)

Piper said...

"The tears are a way of cleansing our eyes as we adjust them to focus on life again".....this was one good line, among many others in this post.

The ending is what made the piece special for me. And yes, please take care of punctuation and sentence construction. That doesn't take too much time or effort and it's kind-er towards the reader.

Prabhu Dutta Das said...

@Piper
Glad that you could come in here :) Shall take care of punctuations and grammar from hence forth :)

Consider this as a quick impulsive post :|

Anonymous said...

You have a thing for Alas!?
Also, having two sisters, I have seen my share of such farewells already.

Baishali said...

just one sentence brought tears to my eyes i dnt knw why ....but as u said wen u think abt the gud times it brings tears and reading this brought bak memories from the past family--mom dad my sisters specially and hostel...

Usha Pisharody said...

Finally, got here :)

I like the way things linked up in the ending... and each one each part of the narrative finding a whole in itself. The little observations and the articulation of it all is so beautifully done :)

Keep going, Prabhu, am enjoying your writing :)

Anonymous said...

its made me fall in love with tears all the more now...!!!!!!!