The sky was
painted azure, like a sea light plume of smoke screen. It was not possible to
discern the sun, or the perhaps the moon; two painted discs on the sky
oblivious to my earth. I headed home on the highway, watching airplanes fly
above my window. I noticed the runway was short, and that it needed incredibly
skilled pilots to land the 737s on a stretch of concrete less than a kilometre.
Perhaps I could have called my friends from school instead, and drawn dinosaurs
on the runway with our stolen chalk pencils. Just like old times. The airplanes
could have waited. Our beasts on asphalt were always friendly, and seemed shy; almost
apologetic of themselves being big brutes that were supposed to growl and snort
and howl and scare little boys to death. For all we knew, inside our first
grade fantasies, they probably sipped on candy floss the moment we turned our
backs on them.
I made a
corner, and narrowly missed hitting a herd of goats. “I have no business being
here, sorry I disturbed your nap!” The goats waved back, and went back to
sleep. A kid pulled itself away from the herd and stared on to the highway. I
remember being saddened by its big black eyes, like empty space waiting for
nothing. A group of children playing nearby swooped down upon the kid, and fed
him plantain leaves and asked him to chase their ball. The kid did, and
happiness rained like daffodils that afternoon.
I had dreamt
mountains that dawn, mounds of snow underneath which nine patriots slept
peacefully, heroed to death. The wind inside me howled itself shrill. Today, I
didn’t know where to go, the plantation seemed too close by and I could still
use the afternoon. In the distance, I could only make out the hills faintly,
just about so; even though it was March and the monsoon was still a month away.
I remember thinking perhaps hills were like memories too, they get blurred over
time. Even though you have a clear sky and a clear mind and clear dreams. One
could never tell with memories. They are weird.
I had two smokes
and waited awhile to watch the sun go down over the paddy, slowly like a lost
estuary that doesn’t know which way to flow
.
Long back
when we were kids, our father made us go watch the fields and the cattle after
school. We had to count them, rope them and tug them back home. Those days, one
didn’t have time to watch suns go down. Our feet trudged on mud, cake dried by
the time we returned. I and my brother took turns at the pond. The bank was slippery,
and we had to be careful not to miss a step. The still waters used to reflect
the moon and two stars we had named our names. Full minutes used to pass by us
staring into the water before someone called us back. We hurried with the pond
and went back to our civilization, silent as the night.
Those days one didn’t have time to watch suns go down.
Those days, we had a moon and two stars all to ourselves.
The evening set in. I drove on.
-Palash
Feb'16, Tinsukia
