Friday, January 1, 2010

Sand at my feet...

He did not like to disappoint his subconscious. But it was a perfect paradise in disguise. He was fast asleep. The other night, it was at its best. One which every man would yearn for. A dream never seen before.

He would always sit in his bungalow and watch his plantations grow without any watering. Even if they did need some moisture, the clouds used to shiver and shower on his commands, whenever he wanted them to, wherever he wanted them to. The scarecrow would be continuously in motion through the farm to keep the crows at bay. The bullocks would plough the earth on their own. They had to sign the cheques too.

Then there were birds which used to seed the ploughed land, through the extremes of their food pipe. The sheepdog also gathered the wool. The harvest went straight to the kitchen and was not allowed to come out uncooked. Evenings were just great. Canines and felines were made to sing and horses had to do the percussion. Working out was effortless too. He just had to complete 2 push-ups and his muscles seemed all ready for an international competition. His lamp was running out of oil. But it dint bother him much. It would glow even without the oil.

For reading, he just had to flip through the pages of any book. He felt really knowledgeable after doing that. He had completed reading over 50000 books now and he could answer anything he was asked. He was almost a sage. But he never understood why people having different faiths have similar morphology. Why many carry hatred and deceit in them even though they are physically fit. Why people choose not to walk on sand. And why the grass always looks greener on the other side.

He dint have to run behind the chickens. They surrendered and stopped evading whenever he wanted some flesh. They also delivered him boiled and peppered eggs regularly. The grass always looked greener on the other side. He was green with envy when he saw that his neighbour’s farm looked greener. How could his plants grow faster, when he was the one who had worked harder? He ordered the red cow for some mango milk shake. He craved for some drink. He crushed some sugarcane and drew a few glasses of beer from them. The weed rolled itself into a paper. The maid unclogged the chimney.

He asked his mother’s subconscious to surrender to her, and ordered 50 kilograms of sleep for her. He ordered the undertaker to bury all the alarms.

Morning brought the sunshine. His door was being knocked melodiously. It was the cows. They had brought some milk for him. He was really tired of all this now, as he had worked really hard. But he just sat on his chair, watching his friend’s farm grow faster than his. He wanted to put in more effort. The city was calling him. He called up his teacher in college.

“Your journals and assignments are completed by me. I have also written a leave application for you and submitted it to the office. So what if it slipped out of your mind? The college is also offering you a scholarship for your constructive holidaying. It will set a great example for our students. Please accept it for the good.”

“Madam, you are saying this because the grass always looks greener on the other side. Ask me about it. Isn’t it looking greener to you on my side? I want to come back. Moreover, it is very difficult to walk on sand.”

Next day, huge flamingos fled him to his city.

The sound of the alarm was deafening. It always challenged his subconscious.

“Good morning beta!”

“Good morning Mom! Mom, why does the grass always look greener on the other side?”

She took a pause and answered with a grin on her face, as if she had seen everything what he had. “Because somebody wants you to take up the challenge and make yours look greener. Look at your alarm. Doesn’t it always take up the challenge against your subconscious?”

“Mom, where are my crutches?”

The time was sprinting, but he took up the challenge.

14 comments:

Dr. Suraj A. Dhirwani said...

It was truly a "dreamland" as is revealed at then end of it all, but a wonderful dream nevertheless, with all the imagination that it had.

But the icing was the finish... the alarm bells waking up the subconscious & the simplest of all simple answers from a MOTHER:

Loved it dude, good one. Definitely 1 of ur best.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic some would say.i say it was Mysterious..through out the first three quarters it keeps you wondering whats the twist?..wheres the twist?
and the way the alarm breaks your illusions about it is nice and simple.
all in all a great start to a would-be novel i had say.
i think you should work on this one bigtime and make sumthing voluminous out of it.keep up the good work.fantastic imagination.
BRAVO !

Unknown said...

this is the gods truth.we r all into this rat race,no time for the good things in life. great literary work.think of changing profession?

SHRIDHAR R BODDUL said...

Well time for Shri to comment.....according to me the story brings out the connection between our fantasies and the harsh realities.....and the belief that fantasies should come true could be experienced by none other than a person who is undergoing an irreparable loss in his life....the protagonist in this case could be anyone......it could be a blind person who could see a wonderful world which we can't even imagine....it could be a widower who still talks with his wife who died years ago....it could be a prisoner of war who believes that someday surely he can walk freely on his motherland with his entire family around.....or it can be just a child who walks on crutches but believes he can overcome insurmountable odds with ease....all said and done...good piece of work by my friend......it really requires a creative bent of mind to cook up something meaningful like this.....way to go man!!.....keep writing....maybe someday fantasies turn into realities!!

Dr. Priteesh Chotai said...

I am really speechless! These are the most valuable words from my friends.

Most important of all is my English teacher's view about it. What more can a Blogger ask for?!! Its an honour ma'am!

@Rachita: Good suggestion. Point noted. I would love to do it. Just waiting for the day when I am ready to sacrifice other things in life...

Thank you all!

Unknown said...

awsum..really..its penned so flawlessly..that grips the reader till the end..
amazing imaginaton..keep it up

Unknown said...

well the article was nicely written. learned the reality of life 4m it.
the awareness it created that there are challenges in life and a person can overcome, was amazing.
the story line had catching imaginations with subtle truth slowly evolving at the end.
keep it up.

Unknown said...

beautiful write-up.. great imagination.. the topic that u chose to delve into, inspite of it being sensitive, was dealt with very well.. still somewhere i thought u left the story incomplete.. once i read it, i was left wanting more.. u could really consider what Dr.Rachita said.. :-)

salima said...

I dunno what to say man!! ...kinda speechless.......a fantastic blend of an all prevalent dream and the undeniable reality.........but u knw I firmly believe that the powers of the subconscious u spoke of are very very real.......we are just unaware as to how they can be evoked.......

I also seriously feel that you should consider taking up writing as a profession....send ur stuff to the newspapers and so on .......ur really good!!

Anonymous said...

This is one Fabulous Masterpiece. A unique blend of Satire, Parody and Creative Imagination.

It took me into a unique mindset, initially my ming boggled through the serene and kaleidoscopic pictures you've shown, later it envied me into wanting such environs myself and finally the Sojourn ended as I realized that I've been looking at the someone else's greener side myself.

This as Brinda Ma'am is the Truth of Life. Good if one Takes it in the right spirit calamitous if one takes it otherwise.

Fantastic work Priteesh.

Unknown said...

i agree with salima..y don't u send ur articles 2 post them in d newspapers?i m totally impressed by the way u have written it..it reminded me of d international author's story books that i used 2 read in my childhood.it keeps u glued till the suspense gets over..really nice work

pooja said...

Awesome...

Unknown said...

osam nd nice wrk
god bless u nd warm regards to u

Unknown said...

osam nd nice wrk
god bless u nd warm regards to u