The mid-term college break is on and Vikram is on his way back to his hometown. The train is about to reach the station which is at the end of the town. Vikram loves the last few minutes of this journey as he signs out of Facebook, shuts his laptop and stares through his Side Lower seat window.
It's drizzling outside. He observes the hometown run past his eyes. The scenes amuse him -
Poor people in huts near the railway tracks waving at his black window, hoping there is someone inside waving back.
A girl carrying on her head an earthen water pot. Visible behind her is the sex doctor advert at a distant wall.
A chameleon looking up to the rainbow in the sky, wondering if it could adapt by seeing.
A number of factories at the cheap outskirt land. The homeless yet costly outskirt land.
He found one of the scenes very intriguing - a group of children playing cricket. He has seen children play cricket before. From a moving train, although, it looked different and profound, as if the moment carries hidden emotions and beauty, which is not observable otherwise. "Which is a more appropriate phrase - 'Point of View' or 'Position of View'", he thought.
It is the feel of such phenomenon that makes Vikram take a tour inside his brain. Time stops and his stoned eyes are flooded with flashes from memory which could prove relevant in deciphering the phenomenon.
-
The train arrives at station and the crowd rush breaks his thought process. He packs his luggage, gets out of the station, stops a cab, opens the cab door, sits inside, opens the laptop and signs in to Facebook. He then watches a video shared by many of his friends -
"Sir, zindagi mein bahut haar ka saamna kiya hai, toh confidence kam ho gaya hai", says Sushil Kumar (a computer operator and an IAS aspirant from Bihar) while chatting with Amitabh Bacchan. Sushil then went on to become the first person to win 5 crores at KBC.
Vikram liked the video. He scrolled down to check more videos and updates from friends. "Mama, I'm coming home", he updated his own status while logging out.
Vikram has never heard this song. He has just seen his friends put up this status before they go home. So he thought it would be cool to do the same. It helps him feed to the personality he thinks he has among his peers.
Vikram is scared to express what he feels. He does what others do. His thoughts are no good, he is taught by the dominating plastic world. In return, there's a writer the living world left unnoticed.
Sushil Kumar, on the other hand, was courageous and went through the trouble of getting a shot at the KBC Hotseat. He was down on confidence but not on faith.
If only Vikram had liked the video for the message it actually carried.
--
Have faith, Mama's boy. Be yourself!
--
8 Comments:
Yes. One expressed himself in the real world, and the other keeps expressing not-so-himself... and that too in the virtual world.
The writer perspective, I thought, was a little superficial here. I liked the 'expressing' bit more. But that's my take and yours to discard.
I love reading from you... and you know it.. write often, buddy.
Very interesting post!
Would love to see you eleborate the plastic world point in another post!
@Kshitij - I always look forward to your comments :) .. and yes, even i feel something is missing, although being verbose is not my thing. So this is just part and parcel of how i write :)
@Raja - by plastic world i just mean the collective fake and mouldable part of people in the world ..
.. thnx for the comments guys!
Lets c!Vikram wants to be a writer, as mentioned in an earlier comment ,feels little abrupt.
The beauty lies in juxtaposing the chameleon's desire to adapt by seeing the sky with Vikram's need for approval from the fake world..
Personally speaking, the 'chameleon' line is a winner all the way.It conveys and signifies a lot more than what just appears on screen.
Overall, I like your way of writing where less is more!
on second thoughts..we leave a piece of ourselves in whatever we write..so may be vikram's ability to become a 'good' writer may not be that abrupt:)
Thanks for the elaborate comment Aastha. Actually Vikram does not want to be a writer. But he may make a good writer. He does not know that, nor is he trying, nor does the world allows him to try. That's the blog all about. Vikram is not allowed to try what he should be trying.
You noticed the chameleon point more. But there were other observations also, reflecting different aspects of writing.
Although, I do agree that i should have spent more time writing this blog .. now that many feel something is missing :)
@Kshitij - Learnt this recently - "Brevity is good, but simplicity is great". Let's see how this helps :)
Aha! An afterthought :)
Ok. Let's see what you get next.
But one thing I have noticed is that all of your posts are thoughtful... and carry a meaning. Which is nice.
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