Monday, November 21, 2005

A momentary lapse of reason

The smell of the crumpled paper came first. Then the sound. But only moments later. By then, my consciousness had been invaded. A mosquito made its way to my bare arm. My unforgiving palm came down on it. It died and was reborn a white hair. The white hair stood out, shining. Its reflection in the mirror was blinding. The entire room lit up and all you could see was the light. A doorway opened to darkness. I ran towards it and slipped in just as it was closing. The darkness melted into a river. I was carried by it as it gushed through the mountains. I landed in a lake in the middle of a volcano. Or what used to be a volcano. All the fishes were red, and hot. They glowed like embers of coal. There was a small fire by the river. The flames told me stories of the previous births of the offerings that roasted on it. As we bit into each of our offerings, we were transported into their future lives. We were friends in that life. All of us. Except for one. The one who had pretended to eat, but did not chew. He was an enemy in this life. He hid behind the ever changing forest. The trees turned to stone while he slept. He lay frozen in one of those stones. That way we could never get to him. There was no other way. We cut down the trees. The whole forest. For every tree we cut, another three grew. We were exhausted. We went back to the village and got drunk. This time the trees did not turn into stone. But the leaves vanished. Into thin air. They never came back. But he was gone. We thought that was the end. But it was not. It was only the beginning. We drifted. Each to his own. As I wandered many lands and created many stories for myself, I came upon a boy. He was blind in one eye. He led me to the wooden house. He called it the house of dreams. I went in through the back door. There was a long corridor with doors on both sides. The light was blue and green. It looked dangerous. At the end of the corridor there was a fat lady. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of her. She pushed me into a room. It opened up to the snow capped mountains. I tried to go back but there was a wall instead of a door. It was very cold. I started freezing. So I started running. As I ran I could feel the snow melting around me. But it was not melting. It was freezing. Into sheets of ice. I jumped onto one that was passing me by. And landed up in your room. Right behind you. Looking at you looking at the computer and reading this story. You wondered if I was really there. You looked back.


48 comments:

chaos said...

gee... this one was real roller coaster .:A:. ... :)

Casablanca said...

Spooky! Gives me goosebumps.
Also reminds me of 'Hotel California'... dont ask me why. I dont know either.

Φ said...

hahah nice one man..thought u gona come back to the room with the reason why the mosquito bit you..

Anonymous said...

When I looked back I found you looking at me from the ice,slightly drunk,standing ten paces away from the fat lady, smelling like crumpled paper,covered in white,carrying a small stain of red on your bare arm,pulling me into the darkness of your eyes towards the lake that used to be a volcano,holding a red fish that burned itself in your hands and fell like the leaves that vanished from trees,turning into the stone,in which the man who did not chew his meat had disappeared.

And I knew you'd come through it all just to show me that you exist.

:)

R said...

dude! you have the power to create pictures.

Prerona said...

isnt it fascinating where we go in our heads :)

diana christine said...

the offering, it’s in the offering. be it bitter or be it sweet, if i, like he, only pretend to eat but do not bite into it, i am left out. i am as frozen as he in the cold stone. come eat of it, you say to me, taste it, chew it up, take it in…

Pincushion said...

Dreams..dreams..! Such surreal landscapes far more powerful than the conscious can even begin to comprehend, for some reason this reminded me of 'Narnia'..wouldn't it wonderful to go there??
:))

G Shrivastava said...

This was something like what Finnegan would write! Different for you...

Btw in line 5 "It’s reflection in the mirror was blinding" - there shouldn't be an apostrophe in "Its" since you're implying possession here, not an abbreviation of "It is"...

Anonymous said...

Curious about the inspiration for this. The middle part reminded me of Native American stories of nature and the origins of things.

Anonymous said...

Was this inspired by a dream..I wonder.

I could feel a lil scary tingle behind my neck the moment I read you were behind. Hahaa. Well written. Unreal yet felt very real! :-)

Shubhodeep said...

Somehow reminded of some of the non-scary yet enjoyable ghost stories I have read. A brilliant post!

Arden Forester said...

I can see why this is a popular blog. Good stories! On the BBC today someone was complaining about the internet taking away book sales! She should log-on here!

Anonymous said...

I actually did !
Freaky :)

Anonymous said...

Intense mouting momentum. Enjoyed the ride!

shyloh's poetry said...

Oh this was very clever. I so enjoyed it. Made me think ha. Now who is that behind me?

{illyria} said...

the last sentence was helluva denouement.

second_wind said...

you should be a professional writer you know.....you are really good and so are your pics @ flickr

... said...

I felt like I landed in the volcano of your mind here. Very imaginative

the Monk said...

a lapse of reason, indeed...but what a flight of imagination....great post...

Brood Mode said...

the story has such a dreamy quality... it felt like reading Sophie's World.

Loved the previous two posts, specially the reunion with the city...

Innocent Bullet said...

:A: in wonderland! :-)

Mrudula said...

Long piece of writing. But I like your poetry better.

tussand said...

I got the feeling that I was in the Matrix, opening one door after another that leads to different dimensions.
Like a neverending nightmare...

Subramaniam Avinash said...

what happened to all your paragraphS! bad bad, boy. good good writing.

Anonymous said...

bah! I dont have anti-glare on my PC, thats so that I know if someones sneaking up behind me. Yes I did look, but I didnt turn around :p
Great post and awesome pics.

AquaM said...

Naah, I thougt about " The Butterfly Effect", I guess not...I'm inlcined to think that is The Matrix!

:)
AquaM

J said...

but why is it a momentary lapse of reason?

K said...

Dude, you've been smoking waaaaaaay too much pot. Either that, or someone spiked you with a high micron dosage of LSD..
Thanks for the read!

The ramblings of a shoe fiend said...

wow! very very interesting stuff. loved it

Unknown said...

I like it, and you did get me to look over my shoulder. It kind of reminds me of Lovecraft, the strange setting and quest. Almost like a dream. Your prose is so clipped that it sticks with me. There is something to be said about not saying much, but speaking volumes.

Aditya Bidikar said...

Reminded me very strongly of Terry Gilliam animations. The rollercoaster feel is very him. Great job.

Pecos Blue said...

you made me look. glad there was no one here to see.

Diane said...

Very creative, A. Nicely done!

musafir said...

Brilliant - thanks for letting us peek into the valley of your imagination.

And no, I didn't, but it took quite a lot to refrain myself from turning back and checking :)

And the photograph in the previous post was awesome -- so much pain in that image. Take a bow!

Dreamy Eyed Gal said...

spooky!!!;-)

Dreamy Eyed Gal said...

hey btw changed my URL..its "sentiment" not "sentiments"

Extempore said...

Quite unlike your usual style - I quite like the staccato rhythms of this.

I know it does not really matter, Augustus, I will admit to great and terrible curiousity about where this came from. :-)

p.s. I really liked
My unforgiving palm came down on it. It died and was reborn a white hair

Phoenix said...

Quite unusual I must say, but it's so obscenely stupefying that I'm now wondering if this is Vikram Seth's blog, written with an alias!!


Phew...

Sue hardy-Dawson said...

Wow I'm breathless, love the strange ending

balai said...

That was one heluuva ride. A real lapse in reason. Floyd could use this for a song ;)

Ram said...

very well written.. as people were mentioning, had to stop myself from looking back..!

. : A : . said...

chaos, Rohit Talwar, Shubhodeep, silvermOOn, shyloh, transience, Ô¿Ô, Brood Mode, Dan Husain, aquamarine, Diva Drip, musafir, Sue hardy-Dawson, Ram, Gangadhar - Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

Casablanca - Nor do I!

Φ - Everything does not always come back to where it started.

eza - Thanks for sharing your take on it. Do leave a link if you come by again.

Prerona - For sure it is!

feminine expressions, Aristocrat - Thanks for sharing your perspective.

Pincushion - Yes it would. I am so looking forward to the movie.

Geetanjali - Thanks for spotting it. Have fixed it. Guess that is what comes from trying to write 500 words in 5 minutes. :-)

jason evans - It all started with the smell of the crumpled paper. Honest.

Harshi - Thanks. Do leave a link if you come by again.

Arden Forester, second_wind, the Monk, K, Supremus, The ramblings of a shoe fiend, ED, Aditya Bidikar, Balai - Thanks for your wonderful words and for coming by. Look forward to seeing you around.

Ash - And what did you expect? ;-)

Mrudula - To each her own. :-)

THE DAILY UNUSUAL - Haha. Thanks for dropping by.

nikhil - Thanks. Tried following the link but landed up at a Beatles blog. Is that yours?

J - Because I don't do it often.

Pecos Blue - :-)

mysterygal - Have changed it on my blogroll.

Extempore - As I said. From the smell of the crumpled paper.

Phoenix - It definitely isn't his blog! :-)

Sushmit - Yes I have and I have.

K said...

But you didn't answer my query... So then I assume it to be true?
;-)

. : A : . said...

K - Not true at all. No intoxication, just a lapse of reason. :-)

DTclarinet said...

This must be fun to write. Linking to a dream through your words. Fun. Then sneaking back behind us. I knew you were there!

. : A : . said...

Garnet - Yes, I really enjoyed writing this piece. Something new I was trying and it worked well. :-)

Anonymous said...

A surreal escape. Well done.