Rahul stepped into the pouring rain wondering what would happen if he just kept walking on home instead of stopping to take a taxi or an auto. The rain came on harder, each drop falling stung his face like a million needles at once, but not once did he let it bother him. Instead, he kept on walking home.
He couldn’t make out much in front of him through the constant downpour. He didn’t exactly have a sense of direction, it had been long since he had visited his home town and he had long since forgotten the byroads and shortcuts and walks his friends and him used to take to get home faster.
Of course there was the matter that he had no friends remaining in the city, all of them had left for other places, seeking jobs and better opportunities abroad and in other places. He silently cursed his decision to go down south to learn Medicine, he realized half of his friends were making money while he still had a few years to go before he did that.
Of course he used the age-old argument of the fact that Doctors were more respected and earned more and the rest of the brouhaha. But He was never convinced and decided not to dampen his spirit this day as he trudged through the muck on the footpath. So much for it being the cleanest city in the country, he wryly observed to himself.
He decided to stop and look around and make out what other people were doing. There was no one else out walking, but many people were just staring at him bunched under the shops’ over covers, wondering what he was doing getting drenched.
Suddenly he realized he needed to break free out of this shackled, straitjacket kind of life. He needed to do something that could liberate him from the endless labyrinthine circles life was leading him into and move ahead. The traffic was minimal, the roads were empty.
He took one foot off the pavement and stepped onto the road.
Inspired, he walked to the middle of the road and looked around. People were trying really hard not to notice the short, cute guy on the road in the pouring rain, but they couldn’t, being huddled together with strangers taking refuge from the deluge, and having nothing else to do otherwise.
The stage was set. Rahul felt a moment’s indecision, he really didn’t want to do it, but in the end, his misgivings were smothered by the adrenaline rush.
He started moving to the groove in his mind. Indecisive at first, he kept at it, and gained confidence, and got moving in the flow. He jumped, he head banged, he flailed his arms and legs around, and he danced as if his life depended on it. He felt great and nothing else really mattered. He knew people were intrigued, he could sense their curious and piercing eyes.
A pretty girl with a sad face walked up to him, and stood close, observing him. Rahul paid no attention to her inquisitive eyes, but smiled, and silently and quietly pulled her by the arm closer to him. The girl smiled, and it was the most beautiful smile he had seen. To have two strangers meet and smile is the Universe’s way of keeping the cycle of life alive, and Mother Earth smiled at the two feet becoming four feet dancing together lost in the beat.
He didn’t know the girl, and she didn’t know him, but there they were dancing like nothing else mattered, and soon another person joined them, then another and another.
People joined in one by one, embarrassed, wondering why they were doing this, but they were all caught in the moment, they each knew what he was doing and they realized they needed to do it too to feel alive.
They relived their pasts, of walking in the rain shyly holding hands with their loved ones, of jumping into puddles as a child, of smelling the beautiful ethereal essence of the earth after the rain. People tasted their tears of joy and sadness, of memories past and new, mingled with the rain on their faces. They felt free. They didn’t know the person jumping next to them, but they knew they had a bond. Hugs went around, and laughter and shrieks of joy as people splashed into puddles and splattered water on others.
Rahul kept dancing, taking in everything happening around him, he had also lost sight of the sad faced beauty who had joined him, but somehow, it didn’t matter. He knew he had made a difference however small, and that’s all that mattered. The popcorn, the coke, the movie, the electricity, nothing mattered. It was about a smile from someone, anyone that mattered.
He slipped and fell right on his ample bottom, and there were 20 hands stretched out ready to lift him up. His eyes welled up with joy and he staggered back on to the pavement, and took a few deep breaths leaning against a wall. People were smiling at him and someone gave him a glass of hot chai. Politely refusing, he started walking home.
At the lobby of his building, he spied a familiar face waiting at the elevator, and he ran as fast as he could to it, and stuck his hand into the closing elevator doors. The doors reluctantly opened. And he came face to face with the girl.
The rest they say is history. Luckily, she also had a cold the next day, and thus exchanging numbers, and house “visits” wasn’t a problem. She also had a broadband connection and a Gmail ID; so keeping in contact wasn’t that difficult. Marriage, children and a successful career soon followed.
They still talk about the day they met, and wonder if he hadn’t had the epiphany to just let go that day, would they have gotten to know each other.
He wondered. He also wondered about all those people who might have gotten sick, dancing in the rain, and their smiles and tears. He also knew this dream had to stop. So he stepped back.
He put back his foot onto the pavement, and almost tripped.
Shrugging off the embarrassment, he walked into a group of people huddled under a shop’s entrance and joined them in watching the rain falling mercilessly on the street.
Sighing, he wished he was in Vellore.
He couldn’t make out much in front of him through the constant downpour. He didn’t exactly have a sense of direction, it had been long since he had visited his home town and he had long since forgotten the byroads and shortcuts and walks his friends and him used to take to get home faster.
Of course there was the matter that he had no friends remaining in the city, all of them had left for other places, seeking jobs and better opportunities abroad and in other places. He silently cursed his decision to go down south to learn Medicine, he realized half of his friends were making money while he still had a few years to go before he did that.
Of course he used the age-old argument of the fact that Doctors were more respected and earned more and the rest of the brouhaha. But He was never convinced and decided not to dampen his spirit this day as he trudged through the muck on the footpath. So much for it being the cleanest city in the country, he wryly observed to himself.
He decided to stop and look around and make out what other people were doing. There was no one else out walking, but many people were just staring at him bunched under the shops’ over covers, wondering what he was doing getting drenched.
Suddenly he realized he needed to break free out of this shackled, straitjacket kind of life. He needed to do something that could liberate him from the endless labyrinthine circles life was leading him into and move ahead. The traffic was minimal, the roads were empty.
He took one foot off the pavement and stepped onto the road.
Inspired, he walked to the middle of the road and looked around. People were trying really hard not to notice the short, cute guy on the road in the pouring rain, but they couldn’t, being huddled together with strangers taking refuge from the deluge, and having nothing else to do otherwise.
The stage was set. Rahul felt a moment’s indecision, he really didn’t want to do it, but in the end, his misgivings were smothered by the adrenaline rush.
He started moving to the groove in his mind. Indecisive at first, he kept at it, and gained confidence, and got moving in the flow. He jumped, he head banged, he flailed his arms and legs around, and he danced as if his life depended on it. He felt great and nothing else really mattered. He knew people were intrigued, he could sense their curious and piercing eyes.
A pretty girl with a sad face walked up to him, and stood close, observing him. Rahul paid no attention to her inquisitive eyes, but smiled, and silently and quietly pulled her by the arm closer to him. The girl smiled, and it was the most beautiful smile he had seen. To have two strangers meet and smile is the Universe’s way of keeping the cycle of life alive, and Mother Earth smiled at the two feet becoming four feet dancing together lost in the beat.
He didn’t know the girl, and she didn’t know him, but there they were dancing like nothing else mattered, and soon another person joined them, then another and another.
People joined in one by one, embarrassed, wondering why they were doing this, but they were all caught in the moment, they each knew what he was doing and they realized they needed to do it too to feel alive.
They relived their pasts, of walking in the rain shyly holding hands with their loved ones, of jumping into puddles as a child, of smelling the beautiful ethereal essence of the earth after the rain. People tasted their tears of joy and sadness, of memories past and new, mingled with the rain on their faces. They felt free. They didn’t know the person jumping next to them, but they knew they had a bond. Hugs went around, and laughter and shrieks of joy as people splashed into puddles and splattered water on others.
Rahul kept dancing, taking in everything happening around him, he had also lost sight of the sad faced beauty who had joined him, but somehow, it didn’t matter. He knew he had made a difference however small, and that’s all that mattered. The popcorn, the coke, the movie, the electricity, nothing mattered. It was about a smile from someone, anyone that mattered.
He slipped and fell right on his ample bottom, and there were 20 hands stretched out ready to lift him up. His eyes welled up with joy and he staggered back on to the pavement, and took a few deep breaths leaning against a wall. People were smiling at him and someone gave him a glass of hot chai. Politely refusing, he started walking home.
At the lobby of his building, he spied a familiar face waiting at the elevator, and he ran as fast as he could to it, and stuck his hand into the closing elevator doors. The doors reluctantly opened. And he came face to face with the girl.
The rest they say is history. Luckily, she also had a cold the next day, and thus exchanging numbers, and house “visits” wasn’t a problem. She also had a broadband connection and a Gmail ID; so keeping in contact wasn’t that difficult. Marriage, children and a successful career soon followed.
They still talk about the day they met, and wonder if he hadn’t had the epiphany to just let go that day, would they have gotten to know each other.
He wondered. He also wondered about all those people who might have gotten sick, dancing in the rain, and their smiles and tears. He also knew this dream had to stop. So he stepped back.
He put back his foot onto the pavement, and almost tripped.
Shrugging off the embarrassment, he walked into a group of people huddled under a shop’s entrance and joined them in watching the rain falling mercilessly on the street.
Sighing, he wished he was in Vellore.
Labels: Carnival, Short Story
nice one baby... pretty nice...