"Blues"- Part 2

The bubbling and whishwosh stopped. Everything calmed down. A bright white light appeared from outside the water surface. The water became crystal clear. He looked up. It seemed to him that he is floating in a deep well. He felt like someone is watching him over the brick fencing of the well. He could hear sounds- of people, of things, from different places, moving around him, surreptitiously. He was surprisingly calm.

The boy heard his friends making fun of him when his kite denied flying. He could hear them shouting his name as he raced far ahead of them, standing on the paddles of his bicycle with triumphant cry and feeling the warm evening air on his face. He touched his shoulder and looked up; someone had just patted him on his back. She had gentle and caring smile. He then felt a burning sensation on left side of his face. The powerful slap came from a determined lady. She was draped in white saree with peacock blue-green border. It made him somersault. He hid behind a wall. From there he saw the tears of the most beautiful lady. The giggling of a small girl made his head turn back, a hundred and eighty degrees. Together they saw a good old man waiting for them since eternity. “He’ll have to wait till eternity”, he realized. The terrified boy started sinking deep. The beautiful tearful lady , who was pushed up by the divine power, emerged from deep waters, holding the scepter of Zeus and Apollo. She held him by his collar and swung him to another water world, within the same deep blue sea. It took him a while to reach there. He was gasping and out of breathes.

It was the same there. He was alone. Same bright light over his head. Penetrating calmness of water and own self, and surreptitious sounds around him. He knew he was at different place just because the sounds were different. There he saw few people walking together- four wonderful men and two exuberant women. Smiling, they walked together. The familiar sound of their laughter made him breathe steadily. A pair of deep purple eyes and pink lips beyond those six people caught much of his attention. Fingers of his right hand tried to reach for those eyes. There was no face. He again pushed the blue water with great thrust in order to touch them.

Thud! Something punched his stomach. It was excruciatingly painful. His fists clenched. His sclera was bloodshot. His body had curled around his stomach. Something was carrying him towards the opening of the well. Fast, very, very fast. The pain was unbearable, he not only lost control over his limbs, but his mind froze in shock. The vacuum over his ears was replaced by splash of water and then violent vibration of his hair and earlobe due to passing wind. He was out of water and in no time. Up, up and up he went. The speed decreased and there was a point of zero velocity. He looked down. The dolphin had tossed him high up in the air. Just before she turned her head upside down to dive back, she said good bye to him. Now, he too, began to fall back. He closed his eyes. Pain was inevitable. He fell far away, on some nice people’s nicely maintained lawn decorated with flowers.

His mind lost to consciousness.

Sun was standing above the Gateway of India. Wind was standing still on the trees. The boy was standing in the window. It was bright sunny day with few clouds dappled on the blue sky. He saw his frustrated neighbors collecting the wet laundry. Potholes on the lane below his window were getting bigger and deeper with each rain. The lane was bustling with traffic. He glanced at his table. All the stationery kept on it was non-living. All the thick books and loose pages were neatly arranged on his desk. The blue Addgel was resting on the pages with its cap secured to it. Someone had been to his room while he was sleeping. “Chai is ready”, his mom shouted from the kitchen so loudly that it made his neighbors look at his window. “It’ll be noon in half an hour… Don’t I have any life? Do I always work like a bai, according to your convenience?” she kept jabbering. He looked at the magazine. The glamour doll was smiling softly on the magazine cover. Her smile wasn’t vicious or something. She was actually a charming lady. It was just him.

The boy went to kitchen to have his breakfast-cum-lunch. He needed some fuel for his body and mind. After all, he had to make himself ready for yet another catfight between his senses tonight.