Sunday, July 06, 2014

The Last Words!

He had planned to slither down the rainbow, which is his usual ride. However, the Sun, who suddenly realized that he was more tired than ever, decided to put his quilt over his head and entered into his slumber. Lightning is not an easy mode of transportation as it ends up leaving you burnt and bruised. What option did he have now but to hang on tightly to the rain-rods and follow them down. They are not as bad as lightning as they don't leave you burnt and bruised, except that you must not wear clothes that bleed else you will end up looking like a rainbow fish. Also, you never know where the rain-rods decide to land. They might land on a beautifully mowed lawn, inside a volcanic crater, or on a hot tin roof. You have to work a bit on your geography and decide on which rain rod to board. He had worn all white today which was unlike him as he always liked to dress up in green or red. But wearing white would save him from a colourful embarrassment and also would suit the solemnness of the occasion for which this sojourn was being undertaken. 

It was a meeting called to address the concerns raised by the council after the sudden disappearance of the Cheshire Elephant. He had named himself this after the famous cat from his favourite book that he would read every night. That was also the only book he had read, hence was his favourite. It wasn't for nothing that he had given himself this name. He could actually appear and disappear at will. He would mischievously enter houses and send its selected inmates on long philosophical journeys which he himself never really understood. Despite his acts of wilful disappearance, never once was he absent from the meetings of the council. In fact, he was one of the most boisterous and animated participants. First to come and last to leave! He would entertain, annoy, exasperate the members, and also, eat most of the food (the rest of which was eaten by the obese dormouse who would gleefully snore away his lungs spreading his crazy dreams in the air while the rest tried to make sense in that cacophony). Now that he was no longer appearing in the meeting the rest of the members finally got to eat the food (which wasn't that great after all and they were happy that they hadn't missed much during all those years). The council decided that the disappearance of the Cheshire Elephant was a matter of concern and a meeting should be called to formally worry about it and minutes of the meeting be taken as a proof of their concern and be shown to the elephant on the event of his return, if at all.

So, the little leprechaun dressed in his whites landed on top of a tired bird who agreed to take him to the venue of the meeting after the leprechaun agreed to stop humming Wagner's "The Wedding March" in his shrill, out of tune voice. The bird had a discerning taste and was a connoisseur of fine music and in no way could see a leprechaun murder his favourite composer (the bird had German ancestry too and therefore was a bit partial towards the German composer). The meeting was to take place in its usual venue, inside the trunk of General Sherman. Everybody, except the elephant of course, was there. As always, the leprechaun was the last one to arrive. When he entered he saw the members engaged in an animated discussion. Everyone had their own theory about the disappearance of the elephant. Some believed that he had gone on a trip to the moon. Some believed that his vanishing vapors got sucked in by a vacuum cleaner. Nobody was listening to anybody and those entrusted with writing the minutes decided to write only about their own theories. 

As about the leprechaun; he couldn't care less! He never liked the elephant in any case. He found his boisterousness a little too obnoxious. He had come to the meeting only because non-attendance of such meetings was a serious offence for which severe punishments were awarded. Last time when the unicorn failed to attend one of the meetings on account of a tender stomach, he was turned into a living myth i.e.though he existed in reality, people assumed him to be a myth! Just as the leprechaun sat in one corner of the room looking at the motley group in front of him, he felt a tingling sensation on the thumb of his left foot. He looked and it was an ant who was causing this tickle. This ant sure looked different from other ants. The bored leprechaun looked closely in a bid to entertain himself by mocking this weird looking ant when he realized that it wasn't an ant at all! It was the Cheshire Elephant! Cheshire Elephant was now the size of an ant! The leprechaun decided to trample him with his boots but just then the elephant vanished. The sly little thing could still play his vanishing act! So, the elephant was always there just that nobody noticed him as now he was the size of an ant. The thought of letting the council members know of the truth never occurred to the leprechaun. He looked outside the window but nothing interesting seemed to be happening outside either. He leaned against the window and fell asleep. He was soon woken up by a high pitched voice in his left ear. He turned around and there was the elephant again sitting on the window sill. He was trying to say something but with his body, his voice lost its heaviness too. Now all he could manage was a squeal. He was squealing with all his might as the leprechaun with an acute vision could clearly see. The leprechaun knew there was no point trying to hit the elephant as he had quick reflexes. So he decided to lend him an ear as he was already bored and thought that the elephant might have something interesting to tell. The elephant was now sitting on his shoulder. At first, all that the leprechaun could hear was high pitched jibber jabber. But after a while it started making some sense.

The elephant told him about a "Point of Existence", a dot-sized black hole that had all the answers relating to existence inside it. He had found it on a hill that appeared from out of nowhere in the middle of the oceans when he was travelling in a boat. He tried entering the "Point of Existence" to see what was inside it. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not enter the hole. This was bizarre as there was no hole through which he could not enter. Night after night he returned to the same place and tried to enter the "Point of Existence" but failed. Then one night he sent a young woman to a voyage into the sea and his boat (which had a mind of its own) took her to the hill which harbored the "Point of Existence". It was this loud, filthy mouthed girl who made him realize why he wasn't able to enter the "Point of Existence". He should stop trying to enter it! The harder he tried, the more difficult it would be to enter inside it. "You have to wait for the"Point of Existence" to let you inside", the Elephant said. There was no space for heavy Rationality inside. One had to shed away the cloak of logic. It took him a long time to do that and he felt naked and small initially. However, when the process was complete, things around him made much more sense! The elephant spent several days together, looking at the "Point of Existence". He had started to detach from his surroundings and an automatic movement towards the "Point of Existence" had begun. Before he knew, he was sitting right in front of it. After spending a good amount of time there (he could not tell how much as time had lost its meaning), he saw the entrance was now big enough for him to enter. He knew the call had come! He entered inside and felt lighter than ever before. Never before had he been at so much ease with himself. However, he wasn't happy or ecstatic at finally achieving what he had been waiting for so long. A certain calmness devoid of any emotion or thought pervaded him. Thoughts came from a not-thinking state of mind.

The leprechaun listened to all that with a stupor that was unknown to him. The Elephant finally vanished. The leprechaun sat there for a very long after the meeting ended. A few tried to speak to him but to no avail. Why did the Elephant choose him, of all the people, to tell his story? They were never great friends. In fact, he detested the Elephant! Love for hate? A random coincidence? After an indefinable time, he got up and started walking. "Everybody has their own unique 'Point of Existence', and it is for us to look for it" were the last words of the Elephant.

3 comments:

  1. With writings like these, your name should be 'Imagination Fairy'. So new, so creative and good length.
    Trunk of General Sherman, was out of this world, yet fits very well. I know Sherman, as one of my brother in law has that name.


    P.S. Madam, would you like to start your own TV channel for kids.

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  2. What magic you hide in this story. How you seek revenge on rationality and the futility of worrying about existence in a rational framework. The romantic inside you wants to crush the elephant despite downsizing him. Mukarrar mukarrar!

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  3. Anirudh, I only intend to liberate it! :)

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