The morning after.....
Circa. 2013
Date: 17th Nov. Time: 7:50 A.M.
The doorbell rings
on a routinely lazy but an unprecedentedly heavy Sunday morning. It is any other day in
office for him, the milkman. I give him a mild stare while collecting the milk
pouch. At this moment I am not at all motivated to grab the news paper from the
door latch which is quite unlike me. It is possibly the most uneasy day for me
in my recent collectible memory. I had to literally force myself on to the sack
as late as early this morning at 4 AM after struggling with my already
nocturnal turned / sleep challenged bio-system.
What to do? Am I
alone to be feeling this nausea? Certainly not. The entire nation is going to
wake up with a sombre contemplation of all of last 24 years' fond memories that
seemed to have evaporated in a flash! It's a profound feeling and I dare not
make any attempt to stake a claim that I am sufficiently endowed with such
literary sensitivity to be representing even an iota of how much emotional
wrecks myself and my fellow country people have collectively become in a matter
of just one day!
And the common
denominator among us is GOD (If it was for any other mortal human nature's
forces wouldn't have colluded to get it coincided with the very day when it all
started in 1989)! Com'on dude you must be kidding me. How could GOD inflict so
much of universal pain on HIS disciples?
HE only could do
that when people realize that unlike other 330 million deities worshipped all
over since time immemorial HE descended on Earth only four decades ago & by
the time HE hit sweet sixteen aficionados in us wasted no time in identifying
that HE indeed was KALKI of the modern times. Alas! HE has decided to deprive
all of us of his miracles from today. How & when would this feeling ever
sink in? NEVER.
"
The ascetic prince Lord Kalki, the Lord of the universe, will mount His swift white horse Devadatta and, sword in hand, travel over the earth exhibiting His eight mystic opulences and eight special qualities of Godhead. Displaying His unequalled effulgence and riding with great speed, He will kill by the millions those thieves who have dared dress as kings.
The ascetic prince Lord Kalki, the Lord of the universe, will mount His swift white horse Devadatta and, sword in hand, travel over the earth exhibiting His eight mystic opulences and eight special qualities of Godhead. Displaying His unequalled effulgence and riding with great speed, He will kill by the millions those thieves who have dared dress as kings.
—Bhagavata Purana,
12.2.19-20
"
"
The Puranas
describe the date of Kalki's birth as twenty-one fortnights from the birth of
Krishna, which itself falls on Janmashtami in August. This would put HIS
descent at Vaishakha, between April and May (source: Wikipedia).
Do I need say any
more as to why then have we all so collectively & convincingly believed all
these years that Kalki was indeed born on 24th April 1973? A wooden willow
bearing unusually more weight for lesser mortals to hold is HIS metaphor for the
modern times' sword. Does HE need to swing one when HE could artistically win
(and not kill) millions & millions of hearts the world over by HIS timber
tool's swaying alone?
HE for sure has
travelled the world over & over again and has relentlessly left a mark of
HIS own each time. HE has not just eight but perhaps eighty (or more) special
qualities of Godhead (depending on what all one is able to identify). There
hasn't been a single flaw in HIS demeanour all this while though HIS worldly
performances have suffered from an occasional dip (which also is perhaps HIS
way of evidencing another virtue viz. humility). Also, just to make HIS
opponents a little comfortable HE has suffered from physical pain &
injuries like Tennis Elbow. S'A'CH has been HIS Lila all these years!
When HE would fight
HIS motherland's aggressors the whole of it would just shut itself from any
other worldly chores. And the beauty is that never did any powers try to even
curb this impulsive streak in all of us. Bosses (including the toughest task
masters) would ignore having noticed their team's detachment from their
assigned tasks simply because they themselves would be salivating on the
prospects of a building century. Deep in their hearts would they also
acknowledge that nothing but another three digit produce from HIS willow would
satiate the thirst of millions whose own productivity & enthusiasm would
shoot manifold on any S'A'CH eventuality.
Hearts would sink
with subdued sounds of 'Ooh' & 'Ah' every single time HE would smilingly
showcase HIS worldly incompetencies (which existed only theoretically for HIM).
The whole stadiums, coffee & pizza parlours, tea joints, paan shops, office
conference rooms & wedding halls, barbers' salons and what not would simply
reverberate with thumping chants of HIS name every time HE would showcase HIS
signature class while executing that picture perfect straight drive or that
disdainful pull or that on-the-up cover drive or that truly truly improvised
paddle sweep. Complete strangers would get into a bear hug on each of HIS
fours! Sworn enemies would plant a kiss on the other's cheek when HE would
reach a milestone by that 'Upper cut' six! Would you & I ever be able to
associate anyone else with these soul pleasing sights which became the very purpose
of life?
HE has unwittingly
given births to so many careers be it those incompetent commentators / writers
who sheepishly knew that they just have to shower eulogies on HIM to be able to
heard / read or visiting team players who would get smart with time to know
that there is just one simple way to not only avoid hooting while being in
India but in fact earn a support base i.e., by heaping praise on HIM. I wonder
what will they now do to make their existence noticed? Not that HE needed any
of it but the fact remains that countless brands made a killing just by anyhow
associating themselves with HIM.
S'A'CH was our
unadulterated adulation & belief in HIM that in a country infected with
corruption in all walks of life no eyebrows would be raised in jealousy on
hearing news of HIM signing a hitherto unheard of commercial deal. As a matter
of fact many of us would raise a toast on HIM achieving any S'A'CH milestones,
both on & off the field. Controversies would curse themselves on having the
temerity to even think of attaching to HIM. HIS nemesis (including the Pindi
Express) would eventually have to swallow their own ill intended verbal excreta.
As I said earlier
HE indeed is the modern day Kalki Avatar and if anything it's we who are
fortunate to have born in an era when HE for all of 24 years uninhibitedly
showcased HIS Prabhu-Lila. When some idiosyncratic person sitting in a high
office thinks that s/he has done something special by conferring a title on HIM
& thus wants to politically capitalize on this timely Executive Decision I
just can't help laughing his/her IQ off. For heavens' sake HE always was a
"Bharat Ratna" whether or not HIM being called one after the formal
Presidential stamping.
So, what do we do
now? How to get used to the new world order after HIM leaving the scene?
Hello!! HE can't ever leave the scene! HE will always be there as a guiding
father figure, nurturing budding talent & instilling in them those very
values which were so dear to HIM. For now & in near future I foresee HIM
essaying the role of an administrator with sheer aplomb. What would HE want
from us as a return gift. Just a small question to ourselves with a candid
answer to it. "Kya mujhme hai Sachin?"
Following is
another musings titled "Rehabilitation" which was originally
published by yours truly on 15th Oct. 2013, couldn't help redoing myself for
the occasion.
Never before have I
become as conscious as I am right now even as I am struggling to put words to
the myriad thoughts which have been doing an indulging juggernaut for close to
a week now since THE NEWS broke. I confess that I have longed to valiantly do
justice to my sense of restlessness all this while before I could eventually
manage control over some outrageous thoughts to put here.
At the outset, I
run the risk of being stoned to pieces by all of my readers for daring to do
what I finally believe remotely justifies my randomness (my apologies for this
verbal diarrhoea already).
Many of us have
faced at least some form of addiction to one or more of some (in)famous drugs,
even if it was for a short time, active or passive. Marijuana, Cocaine & Heroin
fervently fight among themselves to claim the tiara befitting the queen bee of
the world's illicit drugs not many know that it is the (comparatively) humble
and perfectly legal Nicotine which is hardest to let go once it clutches its
addict in its vice like tentacles.
Drawing parallel in
real life one could name a battery of icons (which are adored the world over)
in one breath but if an Indian were to be asked to name a personality that has
become a part of their nervous system it has to be unequivocally The Great
"T". You give them a choice to name few more and they would have a
hard time recalling who should come even remotely close in this one man
"league" of extraordinary gentlemen. Sorry Mr. Big B, for all the
adulation you might have received since the time you broke the popularity
Zanjeer it is the dainty maestro (who was just born then) who has transcended
beyond individual frustrations to have not only emerged as the SOLE &
UNANIMOUS Superhero in the last quarter of a century but has also ensured that
his legacy is not transferable to anyone who dares to wear this smiling
assassin’s shoes. Do I add any incremental value to the debate by stating the
cliché that "He has reigned over the collective conscience of the entire
nation all these years".
Am I ready for the
D-day when HE would do his famous little squat one last time in full public
glare? How could you even ask an addict who probably got a high on HIS bespoke
straight drive before she learnt her alphabets two & half decades ago to
suddenly be pushed into rehabilitation centre? So what if the centre warden
promises her to provide for no less intoxicating (& ostensibly addictive)
cannabis cultivated in the farmhouses of Nazafgarh, Ranchi & Delhi? Could a
heady concoction of all of them be even one tenth as hallucinating as THE
ORIGINAL? I don't even feel like laughing over this puerile curiosity.
HE gave us the
sense of belief in being able to do a Superhero all the time while still being
a shy, coy boy next door. Who among us have not bunked countless lectures
and/or shut our lives of everything else just to be able to focus on HIS
exhibits? Go, find me a soul who has not shadow practiced the famous
"Upper Cut" in the Pindi express all these years! I won't be
surprised if you even end up sharing the romantic euphoria like feeling your
granny had while expectantly sitting cross legged on that corner couch of your
living room. Who is now going to bring that captivating, childlike exuberance
back to our ecosystem that had the charisma to cast a spell on generations?
Where is the father of "Dolly - The Sheep"? Can't he clone HIM in the
next five weeks? I don't have the time left for me to LIVE the way I so very
fondly cherish.
"Main to
loonga wohi khilona, machal utha Dina ka Lal!"
scorpiofury.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment