'� BLACK AND WHITE


'Help'� O-Karan'� Oye-HELP.'�

And I was wide awake. My nephew snored beside me. I was drenched in sweat. My throat parched, and my heart pounded loud and fast. The incident propelled me to delve deeper into my past. Recollecting them pained me; so did that which pimpled from the mattress below.

Some moments earlier, I had had a dream.

The grey clouds had darkened the horizon. The atmosphere promised to be cyclonic. The trees swayed and whistled, and the crows drifted and zig-zagged the air. The high voltage wires swunged and looped above, and I had a feeling, of something bad happening before my very eyes'�.

The wind blew in waves: strengthening, and waning, and strengthening again. The wires danced, closer and closer, closer and closer, frightening me; moreso, because a boy, who had barely seen five Springs was playing alone, unaware of the dance of death above.

See, how he wings his arms, and feels the breeze, and spins-and-spins, fanning on his toes. Then closes his eyes, smiles and balances. And watch, how, his mother, a vegetable hawker, teases her friend. She shows her bangles, her bindis, her scarf, and her sari.

Please keep an eye on your son, I had wanted to caution, but reasoned, she'd notice the dangers, anyhow'�and, someone else would do'�and, why bother.

But, the boy moved closer and closer to that very pole. He was in his own little world, playing, all by himself. Soon, he clinged to the pole like an ivy. The cool wind tousled his hair and ballooned his shirt. And he yelled, 'YEEAAaaa-Eeeya-Eeeeyaaa.'�

'AYE'�DON'T. Come here.'� Only these words, and she was hypnotized'again--to the gossipy 'Pied Piper'. The boy savoured the embrace, and chinked his eyes as the winds roughened. The devils danced above like drunkards, and, suddenly, the inevitable happened.

BuzzzZZZzzz'�

Look at her face.

BUZZZZZZZZZZ'�

The wires drizzled blue.

BUZZZ'

'�and it snapped.

The boy'�still in mortal embrace.

It looped towards him.

Twenty feet'�

'I'll run 'n' reach before'�. No-no'�.'�

Fifteen feet'�

'Where's-it? Where'�. A Bamboo or'�.'

Ten feet'�

'Whattodo'�. Oh-GOD.'

Five feet'�

'RUUUUUNN.'�

He shooked.

'DO-SOMETHING'

He foamed.

'QUICK.'�

And foamed.

The crowd: 'Poor soul, Ammuinii.'�

He charred and smelled the air.

'Where's Karan'�

HELP'� Please'�

KAARAAANN'


---------------------------------------------

Something hard still poked my back. As the sun rose to orange the concealed peaks of the Himalayas, so did the nightmare; It highlighted my weaknesses, my shortcomings.

I scratched my head for seeking my brother's help.

That brother, who had grinned after coercing me to quit my ambitious project. That brother, who had tormented me mentally and physically. These'these scars and bandaged wounds speak for his temper. And, when angry: He's deafening.

I hate him for his views, for his doings, and for everything.

How COULD I seek his aid?

I was poked again.

A black marble had indented my back. It was as black as a coal and was crowned with a speck of whiteness.

Black and white, white and black: colours so humane'�

White and black, black and white: each complimenting the other, each highlighting the other'�

Black and white, white and black: colours inseperable'�

White in black, black in white: colours with meanings'�

Black and white, white and black: colours of humanity'�

The rising sun glittered the speck, sparkling the marble and my horizon.

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