The Maverick's Mind-Space

2. BOUNCING BACK

I was eating my first lunch with cannibals. And They were eating their first lunch with French fries! Apparently, the pizza delivery boy was a french man.

I was nibbling at my pizza. My hunger disappeared into thin air, just at the sight of them having their lunch! I started getting hiccups.

Kid1: Stop doing that. Have some water.

Me: Oh, I always have very little water.

Kid1: Well, Okay. But just stop making that noise.......WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Taawa: Oh no! What happened?

Kid1: I bit my finger accidentally.

Taawa: Oh dear! But hey, where is the rest of your finger?

Kid1: It tasted good. I thought it was the French meat, and I ate it!

Taawa: Ha ha ha!! Ha ha ha! You remind me of my childhood. He he!


Now I knew how Taawa lost his right arm!



Just then a young girl walked past us into the kitchen.

Taawa (to me): She is my daughter, Maali.

Maali came rushing outside. She was very angry.

Maali: I HATE MEN!!

Me: Oh Dear! You can't hate all men for what one person did. Tell me, Who did what to you?

Maali: !!!!

Taawa: Oh c'mon...Stop it. Maali, You can find yesterday's food in the fridge. Its a woman. Go heat it and eat it.

Me: !!!!

Maali (sees me): Wowww! He is hot! Who is he?

Taawa (with mischief in his eyes): Ha Ha Ha!! He is a desert !! Coz he is Hot, and he has very little water . Ha Ha Ha!!

Me: Ahem!! Taawa, That was a worser PJ than any of the ones this author has cracked so far!!

Kid2 (to Kid1): Did you hear that?

Kid1: Yeassss I did! I told you..... I told you he is not our lunch or dinner. He is our....

Kid1 & Kid2 : DESSERT!!!! YAYYYYYYYYY !!!!!

Kid1: A Hot dessert! Catch him!!

Taawa: Kids!! Stop it! I told you we're friends.

Maali: I am sure Friends are edible. Moreover he looks like The one with an awesome taste!! Slurp!! I Love Men!! I love friends!!

Me: Ouhh! Wait a minute. This is 'breadful' with a 'd' !! I was waiting for something to go off! But not so soon.

Maali: Woww!! I lovvv that! I want him for dessert. Catch him!!
.
.
.

What would have happened after this? I did the last thing I wanted to do.

I woke up.


----

"Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"
--Morpheus in THE MATRIX




Its been a long time since I had a dream...Well,when I am asleep.
And yesterday, I had this weird dream in which a cannibal takes me to his place and introduces me to his people. Thank Goodness, I woke up before they ate me for dinner.

But even after I woke up, pieces of my dream were still clinging on to my mind, which made me re-enter the blog world after months of hibernation.
-Abinand

*The following text is purely fictional.




1. The Luncheon



Tawa took me to his house. Two kids came running outside.

KID 1:YAYYY!! Papa has bought lunch! Yayy!!!...Papa...Is he a buffet lunch?"

ME: "WHAAAAAT!!!"

I shouted at the top of my voice! I was frightened and my heart was about come out through my mouth. But I controlled it so that the kids don't have my heart for lunch!

TAAWA: "No kids, He is not our lunch!"

ME: "Whew!!"

KID 2: "See..I told you!, He is our dinner."

ME: "WHAAAAAT!!!!"

TAAWA: "Oh no....Kids, He is not our food. He is my friend!"

ME: "Whew!"

KiD 1 & 2: "Then..what do we have for lunch??"

TAAWA: "We'll order a small pizza."

ME (innocently): "But..Will a small pizza be enough for four of us?"

TAAWA: "Oh..cmon. The small pizza is for you. We'll eat the delivery boy. What say, Kids?"

KID 1: "YAYY!!! I'll go make the phone call."


KID 1: "Hello..A small pizza..thin crust..but a fat delivery boy. Thanks.."


TBC..

PyareLal and Aamir were in the midst of a heated argument.

" Nothing equals pure love. Love is the best thing that can ever happen to a person. You can't buy love with money."

" I won't accept that. Love is nothing without money. Try telling your loved ones that you're bankrupt. The next minute, you'll be alone."

" That only means it isn't true love. And I am talking about true love. The one who really loves you will not leave you at any cost."

" Really? Try living with your wife in a dirty shack for a week. You'll know."

" See..All i can say is...Money is nothing; absolutely nothing. If you have love, you don't need anything else."

" Humbug!! If you have money, you can get everything else."


FLASH!!!!

There was a streak of lightning, and both of them were blinded for a second. When they opened their eyes, they saw a lady, as graceful as a flawless moon.

She came towards Pyarelal and asked, "I give you a choice between Love and Money. What do you want?"

Instantly came the reply, " Love, of course. I'll prove that Love is the only thing one ever needs."

"So be it!", she granted. Then she turned towards Aamir and asked, "What do you choose? Love or money?"

"Money! Lots and lots of it. I don't need anything else."

"So be it".

And in an instant, she was gone.


A month later..

Pyarelal and Aamir happened to meet each other. Each of them could see pain and remorse in the other's eyes.

Pyarelal asked," What happened? You look so pathetic. Didn't she give you lots of money?"

Aamir replied," Yes, she did. I got loads and loads of money. But I realised that without love, nothing is complete. My daughter estranged me. No one cared for me. As if these were not enough, I stopped loving food; I stopped loving everything. And the worst part is, I've stopped loving money itself. Now, whats the use of having so much money when you don't love it?"

Aamir continued, "Anyways, didn't you choose love? I thought you must be living a wonderful life."

Pyarelal nodded. "I did choose love. And now, I am in as pathetic a condition as you are. Since I chose love over money, I lost all my money. It didn't end with that. Do you know what happened? I started loving Money. But I cannot get any."


--Abinand

SHADES OF GREEN

It is supposedly true that one questions the existence of God when misery strikes. This was the reason why Aslam was an atheist right from his childhood. Born in a very poor family, he was the eighth child to his parents. With little food and no education, he spent 20 years in the world as a tramp, doing all kinds of minor work for people in return for a piece of bread or a meager amount of money.

One day, as Aslam was staring at the clouds, his father called him. He informed him that Nawab, the writer had called for Aslam. Aslam knew what Nawab wanted. Once in a while, the writer would ask Aslam to get dinner for him from a restaurant in the city, which he believed was the only one that made clean food.

As Aslam bought the dinner and went inside Nawab's house, he saw the writer kneeling down and praying. “Why wouldn't he? He is happy in his life. So he believes in God", thought Aslam. “If only my parents had sent me to school, I would have been a writer today (a perfectionist like him), and as happy as he is."

Nawab finished his prayer and opened his eyes to see Aslam at his side. "Were you praying along with me, son?” he asked.

"I don't believe in God. In fact, I never have. If we are the children of God, it is his duty to keep us happy. And if he doesn't, I can very well conclude that Man is not God's creation. Rather, God is man's creation--in order to explain the unexplained.", replied Aslam. "I don't mean to offend you, sir. You are happy in your life. So, you are not ready to wake up to the truth that there is no God. Goodbye, sir.” Saying this, he walked out of the house without even waiting for his money.

Nawab was stunned by Aslam's words. "Eternal sorrow surely makes a thinker out of every man", he said to himself. "But that boy easily went off saying that I am a happy man. But am I?"

As he looked around his house, which was very clean, with all his things arranged in an unbelievably symmetrical fashion, he was once again taken in by the thoughts of his misery. This was one of the many reasons why his wife left him. She was intensely irritated by the manner in which Nawab would walk with her, avoiding the cracks in the sidewalk. There were numerous occasions on which there were incessant quarrels between them-- about his inability to discard useless items; his unusually long hours in the bathroom waiting for the soap to dry before he came out; his hesitance to respond to her touch, saying she was not clean; and much more. Then one morning, she packed up her things and left the house. Nawab could not even open the front door to go after her since he feared that the door handle would be contaminated (his wife had touched it only a few moments ago). Such was the severity of his Obsessive compulsive disorder. As he went outside deep in thought, he saw his neighbor’s son, Kunal, walking on the street, singing happily. "If only I were born to someone else, I wouldn't have had this horrible disorder and I would have been as happy as that boy”, Nawab muttered.

"Kunal! Where have you been? Your father was anxious", shouted a servant.

"Oh, no!!” sighed Kunal. As he entered his house, Kunal heard his father talking to someone on the phone. He did not know who he was talking to, but he heard these words- “I am sorry; Kunal has gone to his aunt's place. I don’t think he'd be able to join you on the tour."

As he saw Kunal coming, his father ended the call and asked him, "Where have you been, son?”

"Whom were you talking to, Dad?", snapped Kunal.

“Answer my question, you mannerless rascal! Have you been partying again?"

“You still haven't answered MY question, Dad. Have you been sabotaging my outing again?”

Saying this, Kunal rushed in to his room and bolted. A few minutes later, his servant knocked at the door. When Kunal opened the door looking at him questioningly, the servant said," Kunal, here's the bottle. Your dad wants you to fill it."

Kunal was expecting this. "Okay, Ramu, Come back after an hour and collect it", he told the servant.

It was before an year, when Kunal had just begun partying at nights. Though his father couldn't stop him from doing so, he hated the idea of his son partying late at nights. He was afraid that his son would get exposed to drugs and alcohol. When he was of Kunal’s age, he had got used to drugs and drinks at late-night parties. This was why he believed that his son would get exposed to them, too. Hence, every night when Kunal returned after a party, his father asked him to fill up a bottle with Kunal’s urine, which he'd check with his family doctor for the presence of drugs and alcohol.

As days went by, Kunal was really irritated by this strange action of his dad, that one day he decided to do drugs and liquor. Though he was aware he would spoil his own life by doing that, he felt that this was the only way he could punish his father. And now, there he was-- an alcoholic and a drug addict.

Kunal's thoughts were disturbed by the sound of someone shouting. He knew who it was. He went out to the window. It was Aslam, standing with a bottle in his hand.

“I hope no one noticed you. But what took you so long?” Kunal asked.

“I had just emptied when you sent for me. So, I had to wait.” replied Aslam.

“Oh! Stop it. Thanks for the help, anyway. Get your money later."

"Okay Sahib", Aslam said, and went back.

After a transfer of the fluid to the other bottle, Kunal called out for his servant and gave the bottle to him. "Give it to dad. And tell him that I am as clean as ever.” he said and bolted the door again. He was hoping his dad didn't watch the movie from which Kunal lifted the idea.

Now, a thought came to his mind.” How strange! When I was clean, my parents thought I was bad. And now when they have made me bad, they'll think I am clean. I hate this kind of life. If only my parents had more faith in me. If only I was as free as Aslam, I would have been a good man-- a very happy man."

Antonio Gonzalez

“I love my house. I have been staying in this house of mine for many years. I was happy when I was alone in this house. But now, I am not.

This man, Henry, with whom I have been living for around 3 years, is an extremely boring individual. He never cares for me. I don't have any respect in this house now. Even the dog barks at me. I feel like killing myself but I can't.

Now, what am I doing at this time, instead of sleeping? Why am I pondering over my plight?

Hey! What was that noise? It came from the other room. It’s very unusual in my house. No one moves in the house after 11 PM, except me. And I don't think I am moving either. So what was that sound? Let me go and check it out. No... No... What if it’s the dog? He would start barking at me and wake up my neighbors. Hmm... Let me guess. Would it have been Henry? No… That’s not possible. He sleeps like a log till morning. What if its a burglar? Shall I go and see? No. No...

Hey! Why am I not ready to go and check it out? Am I scared? Never! How can I get scared? No... I am not afraid. I will go and see for myself.

Hey! Did I hear the sound again? Yes, I did. But this time, I guess I saw a flash of light too. Let me move slowly towards the light.5 steps and that's it..

1..

2…

3.…

4..…

5.

AAAAAAH!!

Oh! It’s you, Henry! I was so scared. Anyways you can't hear me talk. What's the point in talking to you?

Everyone knows that humans are afraid of ghosts. But does anyone know that the feeling is mutual?"

-Antonio Gonzalez
1948-2001