Unknown

In pitch darkness he found the stones, struck them and made fire. There was light. There was harmony. There was a solution. He fancied this light, this harmony, this solution, not realizing it was actually the darkness that gave him the solution not the light; He took the message and rejected who inspired it! When he got light he worked on assumptions that the aura would alleviate the darkness, the buffoon! He missed the abundant and shook hands with boundaries. Dark got ostracized and light got publicized. Light got worshiped and dark got demonized. There lies a key difference between absolute darkness and absolute light. Brightest of lights tend to close the eyes; Darkest of dark tends to open them. What worth is an answer if there is no question? However, the question stands alone. It is this resoluteness of the dark; it’s this unwavering nature that probably scared the lot and they eventually held the light. Light is for the faint hearted, It is for those who ponder over the solved, It exists on the expense of energy, where as dark is what’s omnipresent it exists on its own, is the realm of the unknown. If there was a god it probably lies in dark and not the light. He can’t live in light. It is not worth his hype.

I now see the fire. Fire with boundaries. It does not ruin the darkness around. I now acknowledge the dark and leave away the weak with boundaries. Oh! Lord of darkness, Lord of noise, Lord of the unknown! you might have been written away as a devil but I see you now. In you lies the secret of secrets, the question of questions. I promise to you I will diligently create fire but will not get subdued by its boundaries. I will walk in to your realms for the new. I realize that I am mere mortal and you the endless ocean. Oh! Hero of the dark, The Quiz master of the world! I have come to worship you. I realize your message, your inspiration to the mankind.

If this is what is meant by “trading with the devil”, so be it.

Ghost King

There is a puff of dust following me. World around is dismal. Distant crows are audible. Occasional water splashes. I am drenched with sweat and I am running. I am running far. I am running fast. I am running from people. I am running from my life. I hated it. It was one with cheerful people. All happy, all filled with energy and between all of them was I, miserable! Yuck! Even the thought makes me sick. Wherever I go, mingle and interact. People gather around me. They always seem to be giving me things. Not normal things. Damn! It’s so hard to explain! Nobody ever believes me though. They say I am making things up! They say I am a crazy kid! Once a guy approached me, offering me a knife. The guy looked so weird that I obviously passed out. When I woke up I was surrounded by my folks. I immediately told them what happened.  They told its just too much TV! Can you believe that!

Let me tell you it was not just a one off incident. In fact since this knife incident people regularly come to me and try giving me weird stuff. Like for example, once when I was playing in the park, this guy walks upto me and tells me to take his car! I told him what a kid will do with a car?! He just knelt down, started sobbing and pleaded me to take the car. I obviously threw my ball & bat and ran back to the orphanage. I even fetched my friends to the park, pointed the man to them but all they could see was grass! Half an hour later I found my self in front of a doctor! My folks obviously thought I need medical attention. To hell with telling them I thought.

It just went on routinely. I encountered people like twice a week. There was this lady with the rope, and this guy with a bag full of money, Oh! and ya how can I forget this girl who tried giving me a rose. First I thought, “Awesome day!” but, as soon as I took the rose she smiled, said thank you and vanished away! The rose withered away too! It went on with this crazy stuff until, when I visited the hospital today and I was approached by a guy who tried to give me a piece of flesh! He told me it was the fetus of his wife that he had forced her to abort. Horrorified, I had just turned around when this guy comes and offers me his eyes! That was it. I have had it enough. I just ran. Ran far. Ran fast.

Damn! I just can’t run anymore. I am almost away from civilization. Resting on this rock under the tree would probably give solace to the troubled and weeping me! Oh dying Sun! Give me the strength to be at peace…. The strength to be at peace…peace…peace. The cool breeze sent a chill down my spine. The moons up? I dozed off! Geez who are these people again! How the hell did they ever find me?? And not one, not two, hundreds of them. Surrounding me. Staring at me. All having something in their hands.

“Who the hell are you people?!”

“What do you want??!!”

“Leave me alone!!!”

One of them came forward. He had medicines in his hands. He started “Apologies sire”.

“I am no sire!! You have me confused with some one else!”

“Of course not. There is no confusion. You are the ghost king. Sent upon to free us lingering ghosts”

“Ghosts?!”

“Yes ghosts. Don’t be afraid. We know you are human. We are not here to harm you. I’ll answer all the questions you have. Be satisfied.”

“Finally!”  “Why me?”

“Nobody knows sire. Destiny may be.”

“Okay! Why do you guys keep coming offering me these weird things?”

“Sire, these are our guilts. Guilts form the deeds we did in human life. The guy with the knife was a murderer. Lady with the rope had hung her self. Person with the car ran over a guy. Girl with the rose could never give it to a boy. You already know about the man with a fetus and the guy over there standing with his eyes, stood mute and saw injustice” “As for me I could not reach my wife with medicines in time” “You see we are not here to hurt you, in fact it is just that we have carried  it far too long. Every one among these hundreds has guilts, take it and let us go. Let us go sire. Let us go”

I am actually feeling sorry for these guys. If I could I would let them go. “What do I have to do?”

“Just take what we offer, the same as you did for that girl with the rose”

“And that’s it? You’ll be free?”

“Well… yes we will be free… but as you keep taking our offerings you’ll feel worse and worse”

I guess, ability to wash away sins comes with a price. Moreover mum always used to teach “live for other people”. Funny, she forgot to mention about ghosts! 

“Well, if I don’t do it probably my hands won’t be enough for my guilt.” “Bring it on then, be free.”