Random Expressions

The sun set with its entire innate splendor into the sea. Two lonely figures sat on the beach viewing the bright red disc disappear into the now dark purple waters. The young child, perhaps not more than five years of age, was closely held by the old lady, his grandmother; she held him tightly as if he might also get lost into the sea if she loosened her grip; they did not speak, they just watched the sea and the sun. The waves swept the sandy beach with its warm foamy waters and retreated with quietness; the tide was low; and a small warm wind playfully teased the ocean s belly. The same wind blew a few loose strands of the old lady s gray hairs in a mock slow motion. Yonder, on the edge of water body, where it met the sky in a dim dark blue line, stood a ship, small by appearance now, and seemingly still; on closer inspection, it could be made out it was moving towards the left of these two lonely figures, perhaps towards the port, that marked the edge of the city. It was quiet, disconcertingly quiet, just the way it usually is once a great storm has finished off its fury. In fact, the low warm wind held in its loose palms unmistakable signs of spent ferocity. There was no noise except for the sea grumbling towards the beach, and the low pants of the wind, like a runner who has run his race and is now resting and catching up his breath.

The grandmother wore a dull off-white saree, and no make up; her hair was tied loosely behind her in a disgruntled braid, and she sat with a prominent slouch, cross-legged. The boy was leaning on her side, resting in the security of the warm bosom, and his arms were placed over the lady s who held him around the shoulders. He could feel the sweat at the place where the fluffy arms of the lady touched his body. He rested his head on her, and felt even more warm and secure.

The two bodies that sat there were the past and the future, with the present just lost and ruined somewhere. The past held a wide secret, about the present s life. But there was enough luminosity on it, and in its cradle also lay the future, the future that still had to come onto its own as a present, enveloped in glistening, crackling, unruffled, wrinkle-free wrapping paper of its virgin entity- a future, that has to learn from the past, using those experiences as weapons and fighting all the callous storms that devoured the present.

Together they sat, for many hours, till the sun disappeared into the ocean and the night took over with its finality.

(The scene described above is inspired from the final shot of a stark but brilliant film Ankush. Released in the mid-eighties, the film was a vanguard to all the cross-over films that have become so fashionable these days. There also, the present, symbolized by four youths and a girl who reforms them, is destroyed by harsh circumstances. Incidentally, apart from some riveting performances by the lead stars, the film had a very endearing and enduring bhajan- itni shakti humein dena data, mann ka vishwas kamzor ho na I pray we all have the strength to stand by our beliefs!)