Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Affair

Affair

“Tink Tink, Heads!!”, I opened my eyes to see Raj tossing the coin which he took from my closet. “Tatha tatha give me this coin, please ra tatha”, he asked me, with the coin in his hand. I took him in my lap and the coin into my hands. It was long since I had any use with this coin, now my 10 year old great great grandson has dug it out of no where, bringing back a lot of pleasant and not so pleasant past. I tossed it……………………..


“Heads!!”, I was excited, I tossed the coin that I found in my great grand pa’s belongings. The reason for my excitement was not that I found the coin; it’s that I was faced with a tough decision on going to the market fair by walk or a bi-cycle. It sounds silly but for a 10 year old who just learnt to ride a bi-cycle this was a tough decision. Though, I liked to take the cycle I was not confident enough and I needed to make a decision then and there. I tossed the coin to decide on the course, with a fair chance to each of my choices. It was the start of an “affair” which would last me and may be after me.

Life is full of tough choices; I for one had always found myself at the cross roads, where I had to choose from the two paths. Never was I decisive about the option I have to make. These situations made me more and more dependent on my mistress “the coin”.

I had this situation, where to pass an exam the next day, I needed a book. Only one guy in the class had it. Again, I had a choice, to steal it or fail the next day. No prizes for guessing! I tossed the coin, and topped the class. There was one more situation where I could give in a friend of mine before the principal for the mischief he made or keep numb. My mistress ordered me to give in.

I never looked back, there were numerous situations where I had to choose one out of two and I followed blindly what my mistress said. Its tough many a times, but better choosing one than none.

“You are giving it to me or not?”, it was Raj waiting for the coin; I came back to the present, opened my fist. I smiled and gave the coin to him. He was quick to notice the smile and smart enough to understand that something lay behind the smile. “Why that smiles da tatha?” he asked. I knew that he will ask me this, “I was smiling because if not for the coin you would never have seen me”

It was my felicitation function, I just celebrated my 80th birthday, I had seen everything a man can see in his life. From a middle class family to the world Barron, from a shy guy to a Casanova, from a small village in India to the realm of colonizing planets, from the depths of abyss to heights of glory, it was a long way in those 80 odd years. I was faced with an option to die or to live. My hand slipped into the pocket and the coin went for a toss. That was 70 years back, and never did I get a chance to repent my decision.

I realized it was time for another of those choices when Raj asked for the coin. I had to decide if my mistress needed another master. While I was thinking of this I heard Raj,
“Should I go to Lexus or NICO (two planets for racing!), Tink Tink, Cool!!”. I slipped into sleep forever, smiling at the new “affair”.

Disclaimer: The above piece is a work of Fiction, any resemblance to real persons or places is purely a Coincidental. The author doesn’t take any responsibility for such occurances.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

well... good picturization thru words.... and the ending is nice......