Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Left Right Left ... Right Right Right


‘How is he?’
‘Very bad state…’
‘Rascals… all of them should be hanged.’
‘Thought you’re against the death penalty…’
‘Well, I’m ready to hang them myself!’
‘If there are such among us, how civilized can we be?’
‘Are those his folks?’
‘Don’t think so.’
‘Who are they then?’
‘Don’t know… people like us?’
‘Why aren’t they here… his folks?’
‘Guess…’
‘You can’t be serious.’
‘What do you expect? They can’t be expected to be martyrs for his cause.’
‘Have you seen it?’
‘Parts of it…’
‘What’s it about?’
Silence
‘Come on… it’s just me.’
Whispers
‘Bloody hell…’
‘But…’
‘What but…?’
‘Did they have to do this for that?’
‘Makes sense though.’
Silence
‘What would you do?’
‘Nothing of this sort…’
‘Right… what if it was…’ whispers
‘Stop it! That is not the same as this!’
‘But, what if it was that?’
Silence
‘You would do the same.’
‘I would not… it’s just not right…’
‘Even if it’s right to feel the way you do…’
Silence
‘Why did that idiot have to do that here?’
‘Name the right place to do that.’
‘Anywhere but here, surely…’
‘Everywhere, there is a ‘that’ that will not be right.’
Silence
‘It’s scary, actually… so much that is wrong, not sure what is right.’
‘Makes one wonder if it’s actually too much right and too little wrong…’
‘I guess the trick is to do the wrong thing in the right place.’ Laughs
‘Hush, don’t laugh here.’
‘Ok… or, should it be the right thing in the wrong place?’ Muffled laughter
‘Oye, you will end up like him… wrong thing in the wrong place.’ Laughs


2 comments :

  1. Hello Arjun,

    Long time.... How are you?

    I just read this short fiction today again.. And its interesting.. As of how little you say and how much of generalization one can infer out of it..

    The 'what' the 'who' and the 'what happened aftet' nothing is told.. Yet we understand as much as needed to guess its something against something.. Or could be just speaking ones mind... Its not often that such a short conversation makes one think this much.. And make one curious..
    Keep them coming cruel writer..

    Thanks...

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    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot for reading this, KP.

      Ah yes... what can we write today that won't offend anyone... I felt like writing something "unoffendable" after the Charlie Hebdo and Perumal Murugan cases. And it ended up incomprehensible. :-)))

      Thanks once again... great to get your feedback!

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