Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Nightmare


The man in the clean white suit was waving the five rupee note at him. The man's face had a blank expression and he seemed to be standing in the middle of nowhere. The five rupee note was what he had dreamed of having. All day, every day, every minute, minute after minute. He reached out to the man and took the note. This was so exciting. He was finally getting what he wanted. After all those moments of toil, anticipation, excitement and effort, he had finally reached close to where he thought he could be.
Every minute, the man in the clean white suit would extend a single 5 rupee note to him and he would gladly accept it and they both would wait for the next minute. And so on and on it went. There was a broad smile on his face but the man in the white suit stood stoic and blank. As the clock hit the 59th minute of the 8th hour, there was an almost unnoticeable tinge of sadness. Of the thing being over. But then he knew that tomorrow will come, and he would again be doing what he had always wanted to do.

Even before he realised, the next day had begun. And also began the event-less predictable cycle of five rupee notes being doled out every minute. Today, as he hit the 59th minute of the 8th hour, he felt a very slight sense of relief. A sense of the anticipation that as the next minute arrives, the day would finally be over. 60th minute it was and the same hand reached out towards the pocket and pulled out yet another five rupee note. And he accepted it with the same practiced sense of indifferent obligation. Except that this time he was glad about this being the last note for the day.

The next day again came in a hurry. And the man in the clean white suit again got going. This was slowly becoming unbearable. Everything seemed so mundane and uninspiring. And the five rupee note didn't hold that value anymore. It didn't seem sufficient anymore to add spice and excitement to the painfully boring repetitive process. He felt an extreme sense of emptyness and started thinking of ways to get himself out of this cycle. The five rupee notes didn't make sense anymore. He wanted to scream, and he wanted to look for something else. His eyes wandered from one end of the white milky emptyness to the other end. He was desperate. He knew what would make a difference. He just knew it. Just like he had known the last time when he had ventured out in search of the five rupee note.
Yes.
What he wanted now was a 10 rupee note. All day. Every day. Every minute. Minute after minute.

11 comments:

Beauty and the BEast said...

yeah.. sometimes our nightmares are figments of an inner dissatisfaction...

Sometimes, nightmares give you more direction than dreams

rainboy said...

we all want the notes we receive in our lives to keep on incrementing as we want to rise and keep on setting new goals to achieve to motivate us and keep us going.

this was terrific work man.
Blog rolled you :)

Crimson Feet said...

direction! :) yes beauty... direction.


vicky! thanks for the blogroll! :)

rantravereflect/ jane said...

wowwww :)love the way ya've got that initial excitement trickling don to simple n mundane boredom-
that's how most things in life lose charm, n that's how i guess we grow n climb to bigger purposes in life :) the fiive becomes a 10, then a 15, n sooo on :)

59'th min of the 8th hours--> liked the way it sounded :)

AshenGlow said...

Ok. The first thing this reminded me of, was my job. Then i realised i get paid for only half the things i do here. Heh.
If only that 10 rupee note gave me back my sleep, my appetite, my peace of mind, and umm some time for myself...

Self pity. Bah!

Interesting read, sir. Very.

Ashen

Prapti Banerjee said...

Loved it! you weaved darkness and chill out of simple words. Awesome!!

Benaam Badnaam said...

hmm...the issue was with mozilla...page is loading fine on IE...

neways pehle toh...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...haan ab jab alaap laga leeya hai...here's my two pence on the thing...

nething you do...on the lookout for excitement...has the possibility of growing to be dull...ofcourse if the excitment comes from making money....its grows to be dull very fast...coz its as we know it in behavioral study terms...just a hygiene factor...

but then lets talk abt sex (add some zing to the post...the pervert me :P )...once you've done it in the bedroom, the kitchen, the dining table, the fireplace rug, the car and hundreds of other places and in all possible angles and styles...you'll wonder so watz so new abt sex...and it becomes boring....for the highly unadventorous...missionary style in the bed ppl...they start wondering by the third or fourth time i guess :P

so then conclusion being...excitement becomes boring as soon as there's nothing significantly new to it...including job, sports or sex

and hence our wise old sages have said...hunt for peace...the anti-thema to excitement...and then you'll be still like a lamp in the absence of any wind...and then you shall live life to add value to the world...rather than worry abt running after things...

...see wat being single again has done to me...i'm turning into a monk...bawls...weeps...snorts his nose out :P (didnt make me any less gross though)

nice post...i liked the way u described the corporate rat...stuck in the glass prison..chained by the monologue of notes coming every minute...a good metaphor

Crimson Feet said...

rrr :)... nice to see u back... however, i was tryin to portray the numbers (5,10,15) more as an excercise in futility rather than progress ! :)... but then to each his own and i am glad it made sense to you much more positively than i had imagined!

@ashen... welcome to by blog my friend... glad you found it interesting... :)

prapti.. :)... thanku thanku... tum comedy ki sartaj main intensity ka.. mutual "peeth khujao" abhiyan!

and... SAARE BOLO mystique baba KIII ...
JJAAAIIII!

mystique baba KIII...
JJAAAIIII!

mystique baba KIII...
JJAAAIIII!

:)

Gunjan Aylawadi said...

seedha bol de raise chahiye!!
teri salary 5rs per minute hai???
:P
acha tareeka hai batane ka :D

crasiezt said...

What's wrong in wanting more? If you're happy with what you have then what happens to ambition?

I loved the narration of course:-) Or should I say as always!!

Crimson Feet said...

@ crazy... u are right... there is nothing wrong in wanting more but i think its wrong to want something senselessly without realising whether its actually going to make you happy or not! think abt it! :)

@ push

thanks. fell!

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