Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Raman's Geography Class

Listen!". I Listened.So did Harish , Som and the others. Not that I wanted to listen.I had heard that before. Not that the others wanted to listen. They had heard it too, and it din't even concern them. But they had to listen to anything told by the warden , just because they were there. Alive. Blind , but alive. "You have done it again , you spoilt little bilnd bat.Sitting under a tree, missing out on your geography class. ...What!? thinking you say ? You ought to think. Not the nonsense your brain churns out.. but what you ought to think! I keep telling the master.You were better off in that mad house you came from. Coming here and spoiling the other kids. I'll tell you. One more class you miss, I will send you back !!" Please don't do that! I signed. "show me your filthy little hand." ..I showed. There was ice in the dormitory refrigerator.
Yes, I did skip my Georgraphy class. But not because I'm spoilt ! Master is the most patient man i've ever seen. He is also extremely interesting. I do like History , math and all the other subjects. Not that i dont like geograpy. I do think its fascinating. Maybe i'm wrong, but of what use is it for me! Everytime master talks about vast greenlands , I try to imagine. What is green? I have not seen it... I can imagine vast plain lands... huge grounds with nothing to trip on. I can run faster and faster till i get away from the whole world. I can sleep with my arms and legs stretched and feel the breeze in my hair. I can sleep however long i want to. No ding dong of the bell. No warden screaming at us sayin "Its morning, Get up you sloppy little lazy blind bats." No warden! Yes I can imagine the lands. But I also know that i can only go there in my imagination. Master talks about the yellow deserts. Yellow. Another colour. I wonder how it would look. I am still trying to imagine all the sand .I wonder if it feels like the heap of sand we were playing in when Uncle Murthy's construction was going on! Som even hid there , under all the sand , till warden found him. Of course, all the ice was used up that night.
I like geography. It gives me things to think about. Imagine. But i don't want to sit through every geography class, you know. It hurts sometimes. For, how much ever thought i might put into it, i know that the day i can see to verify it will never come.I know i'll never get to see green or yellow. So, i prefer sitting under a tree and thinking. Thinking about all the people i love, all the people i care about. About warden. Trying to imagine how he would look.Would he have a nose or two slits?Thats when i thank god i can't see. Thinking about what i would do if i could tell the whole world what i feel, what i imagine. Would they understand what i see?Would they try to imagine what i see? Can they? For, what i see has no colour.What i see has no substance. Its alive in my imagination. I wish people can , because i know its beautiful.
I like thinking once in a while. I like the tree. But i don't want to go back to the house they rescued me from. So, as many times as i possibly can, I will attend Geography class.

A Blank Title


A blank Page suggests more than any other page. Sometimes I think its unfair to fill it. Is it an identity lost ? Am I doing justice by filling it?
Are my words the reason for existence of this page or the page the reason for the existence of my words ?
There is something unsettling but at the same time calming about a blank page. Pure, Untouched , harmless and open. Free of opinions and judgements. Its like, the blank page and the clear sky are sharing a serene secret. We all like the clear sky and the blank page. A blank page is seldom crumpled and thrown. Yet there is this compulsive habit to fill it.... and then wonder if that was what was to be written , for now, the page has lost its original identity forever.. Its fate decided by the writer, it has become one among the mass. Sometimes its appreciated, rarely ever coveted and preserved.

Pages come and pages go.. but its the blank page that stays forever and ever.