Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
The strange new things
The clean bathroom,
The neat and clean,
The order as I see,
Is that mine?
The less for me,
The most for her,
The new way of things,
What is it?
The turning of the time,
The change of things,
The new language,
Do I speak?
Free of thoughts,
Full of doings,
Short of me,
Do I long for it?
This is nice,
Simple with rules,
One for me,
And isn’t that simper?
No friends to meet,
A few of hers,
She is the centre,
But where am i?
Catch me soon,
Where I will be,
I’ll be the same,
But without me.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
delhi/gurgaon
so i walked out of allnut gate, talking on my mobile phone/so i walked out of the office, talking on my mobile phone.
before we'd mentioned how we loved each other more than we had loved anyone/before we'd mentioned how we loved each other more than we had loved anyone.
we had talked about moving in together, about how we'd do the house up/we had talked about moving in together, about how we'd do the house up.
i saw no issue with that, she was home to me/i saw no issue with that, she was home to me.
i promised her breakfast in bed, despite an incapacity to cook/i promised her breakfast in bed, despite an incapacity to cook.
i promised her i'd clean up/i promised her i'd clean up.
she hated dogs, so there would be no dog in the house/she loved dogs, but she knew i couldn't take care of one. so there would be no dog in the house.
her parents wouldn't know/her parents wouldn't know.
the conversation was still fresh in my memory/the conversation was still fresh in my memory.
this conversation was different/this conversation was different.
i sensed something different in her voice, something alien/i sensed something different in her voice, something alien.
she said she was worried about moving away. about how we'd be after/she said she was worried about moving away. about how we'd be after.
i felt my heart lurch. it was then that i knew how much i loved her/i felt my heart lurch. it was then that i knew how much i loved her.
things change. people change. she said/things change. people change. she said.
i cried, silently to myself/i laughed, silently to myself.
before we'd mentioned how we loved each other more than we had loved anyone/before we'd mentioned how we loved each other more than we had loved anyone.
we had talked about moving in together, about how we'd do the house up/we had talked about moving in together, about how we'd do the house up.
i saw no issue with that, she was home to me/i saw no issue with that, she was home to me.
i promised her breakfast in bed, despite an incapacity to cook/i promised her breakfast in bed, despite an incapacity to cook.
i promised her i'd clean up/i promised her i'd clean up.
she hated dogs, so there would be no dog in the house/she loved dogs, but she knew i couldn't take care of one. so there would be no dog in the house.
her parents wouldn't know/her parents wouldn't know.
the conversation was still fresh in my memory/the conversation was still fresh in my memory.
this conversation was different/this conversation was different.
i sensed something different in her voice, something alien/i sensed something different in her voice, something alien.
she said she was worried about moving away. about how we'd be after/she said she was worried about moving away. about how we'd be after.
i felt my heart lurch. it was then that i knew how much i loved her/i felt my heart lurch. it was then that i knew how much i loved her.
things change. people change. she said/things change. people change. she said.
i cried, silently to myself/i laughed, silently to myself.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Earth 2523 A.D
You couldn’t have missed him.
Like some vision of an apocalypse that had already come to pass, he sat wrapped in his stained Bedouin apparel, his gas mask a small hole where his face should have been.
Perched on probably the last rock on the planet, he quietly sought his peace with the destruction.
Mr. Knight, I presume.
Funny, he said, as he tore open his mask, no one’s called my by that name in at least a couple of centuries.
I’m guessing that’s as long as it took me to find you.
Immortality’s a bitch, he mentioned, his face scarred, not wrinkled. It’s not what they made it out to be. I mean I could always slit my wrist or jump off a cliff.
But you never had the courage to.
Smart kid.
It’s always the cowards she chooses for immortality.
Who?
Destiny.
Oh her. Yeah.
You know, I have a theory, sort of. Self ingratiating really.
Let me hear it. I sort of like self ingratiating.
Yeah. That it’s like vertigo. You know, how the people most afraid of jumping off are the ones who most want to.
What? Immortality?
No. Cowardice.
At that he laughed a lot. Betraying that he hadn’t heard a joke in at least a century.
You’re funny. He said. I like you. What’s your name?
Max. I said. Max Black. Got a light?
Stick it to the earth. The planet’s almost burned down to the core.
Sure enough. The tip of my cigarette lit up as soon as I touched it to the surface.
Smells funny, he said. What’re you smoking?
Menthols. Want one?
I don’t smoke.
I laughed now. Not convulsively like him. My quiet cynical laugh.
Once you get in the business of manufacturing doom, you get off the idea of buying it.
What shit. I said. You’re afraid of the cancer, aren’t you?
Are you mad. Look around you, I breathe cancer day in and day out.
Day in and day out, I said. Explain day out. This galaxy has two suns, there’s no night here.
Day out sounds cooler. It’s funny how all the phrases I knew are slowly losing their meaning.
From one liar to the other. I said. It’s always about sounding cool, isn’t it?
Yeah. So how did you find me?
I don’t know. I didn’t even know I was looking for you.
Huh?
Yeah. I just let serendipity guide me. It sort of sorts things out.
Well. So how does this sort itself out?
The earth is dying. I think you could save it.
I already did. Once.
I know. I think someone wrote about it.
Something good, I hope.
No. they know everything, you know.
The internet man. It sucks. Though I thought it was pretty cool back then. Whooping Andromedan ass and all.
Oh it was. Despite, well, your inconsistencies. And do you know we’re all one now. Humans and Andromedans and Altarians and everyone else. We’re all a Federation now.
That sucks.
Sucks?
Yeah. Now you don’t know who’s the enemy.
Yeah?
Yeah. Always been my issue with multiculturalism.
So, you’re going back with me or what?
No. too much of a cause man. But I do know of a fantastic café around a nearby star system.
Really.
They’ve got only one sun. And you catch the most beautiful sunsets there.
Sounds cool.
Unless you want to go back and try saving the earth on your own or something.
Are you mad?
So let’s go then, he said, with some luck we’ll catch happy hours.
Like some vision of an apocalypse that had already come to pass, he sat wrapped in his stained Bedouin apparel, his gas mask a small hole where his face should have been.
Perched on probably the last rock on the planet, he quietly sought his peace with the destruction.
Mr. Knight, I presume.
Funny, he said, as he tore open his mask, no one’s called my by that name in at least a couple of centuries.
I’m guessing that’s as long as it took me to find you.
Immortality’s a bitch, he mentioned, his face scarred, not wrinkled. It’s not what they made it out to be. I mean I could always slit my wrist or jump off a cliff.
But you never had the courage to.
Smart kid.
It’s always the cowards she chooses for immortality.
Who?
Destiny.
Oh her. Yeah.
You know, I have a theory, sort of. Self ingratiating really.
Let me hear it. I sort of like self ingratiating.
Yeah. That it’s like vertigo. You know, how the people most afraid of jumping off are the ones who most want to.
What? Immortality?
No. Cowardice.
At that he laughed a lot. Betraying that he hadn’t heard a joke in at least a century.
You’re funny. He said. I like you. What’s your name?
Max. I said. Max Black. Got a light?
Stick it to the earth. The planet’s almost burned down to the core.
Sure enough. The tip of my cigarette lit up as soon as I touched it to the surface.
Smells funny, he said. What’re you smoking?
Menthols. Want one?
I don’t smoke.
I laughed now. Not convulsively like him. My quiet cynical laugh.
Once you get in the business of manufacturing doom, you get off the idea of buying it.
What shit. I said. You’re afraid of the cancer, aren’t you?
Are you mad. Look around you, I breathe cancer day in and day out.
Day in and day out, I said. Explain day out. This galaxy has two suns, there’s no night here.
Day out sounds cooler. It’s funny how all the phrases I knew are slowly losing their meaning.
From one liar to the other. I said. It’s always about sounding cool, isn’t it?
Yeah. So how did you find me?
I don’t know. I didn’t even know I was looking for you.
Huh?
Yeah. I just let serendipity guide me. It sort of sorts things out.
Well. So how does this sort itself out?
The earth is dying. I think you could save it.
I already did. Once.
I know. I think someone wrote about it.
Something good, I hope.
No. they know everything, you know.
The internet man. It sucks. Though I thought it was pretty cool back then. Whooping Andromedan ass and all.
Oh it was. Despite, well, your inconsistencies. And do you know we’re all one now. Humans and Andromedans and Altarians and everyone else. We’re all a Federation now.
That sucks.
Sucks?
Yeah. Now you don’t know who’s the enemy.
Yeah?
Yeah. Always been my issue with multiculturalism.
So, you’re going back with me or what?
No. too much of a cause man. But I do know of a fantastic café around a nearby star system.
Really.
They’ve got only one sun. And you catch the most beautiful sunsets there.
Sounds cool.
Unless you want to go back and try saving the earth on your own or something.
Are you mad?
So let’s go then, he said, with some luck we’ll catch happy hours.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Sleeping with the Fishes
Early in the night, he woke up in a cold sweat.
He knew what was wrong.
There were silver fish in the water supply. He had avoided drinking from the taps, purchasing cartons of bottled water instead. His fridge was just bottles of mineral water now.
It was close to the end of the month. His bottles were almost done.
He had, of late, employed a new maid.
The maid had found an empty bottle. In a fit of empathy, she had taken an empty bottle and filled it with water, placing it in the refrigerator for a pay hike.
He had come home stoned. His throat parched, he had opened the fridge door and gone for one of the three remaining bottles inside. Serendipity had ensured that his hand reached for the relevant one.
Silver fish, exclusive to Gurgaon’s water supply, are microscopic piranha equivalents. Once in the blood supply, they start biting. They don’t stop.
A clinic reported discovering a silver fish in a post mortem. The creature had fed itself to the size of an eel (a growth of over a 1000 times). The doctor said its eyes reminded him of a greedy and fat Chinese minister from the 70’s, also of his wife when she woke up in the middle of the night.
Now it’s interesting to note how these silver fish feed.
While an ordinary predator will try and ravage his prey, the silver fish tries to preserve it. For instance, while a piranha, once through your skin, will cut through your veins, a silver fish will consume the vein and instantaneously substitute it, rearranging its biology to form a surrogate vein that keeps the blood flowing. This keeps the blood flowing until there’s none left, giving the silver fish a fresh supply of meat for the longest possible duration. This necessitates the silver fish to secrete an anesthetic to camouflage the substitution against the nervous system. Otherwise the host would choose suicide over the pain and hence compromise the quality of the silver fish’s feed.
That means that it’s a painless sort of death. Once infected, doctors recommend that you just sleep it through.
He knew that.
I’m not doing that, he thought. Getting up, he started stripping for a shower. Then he’d go to the Saket 24/7 and pick a chilled beer and a pack of smokes. He’d play his favourite playlist on his ipod.
He knew what was wrong.
There were silver fish in the water supply. He had avoided drinking from the taps, purchasing cartons of bottled water instead. His fridge was just bottles of mineral water now.
It was close to the end of the month. His bottles were almost done.
He had, of late, employed a new maid.
The maid had found an empty bottle. In a fit of empathy, she had taken an empty bottle and filled it with water, placing it in the refrigerator for a pay hike.
He had come home stoned. His throat parched, he had opened the fridge door and gone for one of the three remaining bottles inside. Serendipity had ensured that his hand reached for the relevant one.
Silver fish, exclusive to Gurgaon’s water supply, are microscopic piranha equivalents. Once in the blood supply, they start biting. They don’t stop.
A clinic reported discovering a silver fish in a post mortem. The creature had fed itself to the size of an eel (a growth of over a 1000 times). The doctor said its eyes reminded him of a greedy and fat Chinese minister from the 70’s, also of his wife when she woke up in the middle of the night.
Now it’s interesting to note how these silver fish feed.
While an ordinary predator will try and ravage his prey, the silver fish tries to preserve it. For instance, while a piranha, once through your skin, will cut through your veins, a silver fish will consume the vein and instantaneously substitute it, rearranging its biology to form a surrogate vein that keeps the blood flowing. This keeps the blood flowing until there’s none left, giving the silver fish a fresh supply of meat for the longest possible duration. This necessitates the silver fish to secrete an anesthetic to camouflage the substitution against the nervous system. Otherwise the host would choose suicide over the pain and hence compromise the quality of the silver fish’s feed.
That means that it’s a painless sort of death. Once infected, doctors recommend that you just sleep it through.
He knew that.
I’m not doing that, he thought. Getting up, he started stripping for a shower. Then he’d go to the Saket 24/7 and pick a chilled beer and a pack of smokes. He’d play his favourite playlist on his ipod.
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