If I could become someone else for a day
When we speak of an ever present danger, it is like a Damocles Sword. This is the tale of the sword. There was a king who was very powerful and everybody praised him. There was a man who envied the King. Somehow this news reached the ears of the King. So he called the, man to him and agreed to allow the man to play King for a day. The servants were duly informed. The man was served as a king. He enjoyed the joke of dressing like a king having recourse to all kingly activities. He was taken into the banqueting hall for breakfast where he sat at the head of the table. The real King was also there at the table. When the man looked up he saw a sword hanging from a thin thread above his head. He could riot eat his breakfast nor could he take a morsel of the delicacies spread before hint. When the real King asked him the reason he pointed at the sword which was self explanatory.
I too wanted to be someone else for a day like the man in the tale. I wanted to be a lazy, doing nothing and simply whiling away the time on a bridge or a park. I wanted to be a citizen of the world viewing things from a position of detachment.
I started the day with a relaxed and unhurried breakfast. Then I went to the newly built fly-over. I took a comfortable seat on the ledge. There were others too like me on this flyover which has become a haunt of lazy fellows. As time progressed the flow of traffic increased. I could see vehicles carrying all sorts of people and luggage, commuters hurrying to office, school children carrying heavy satchels and going unwillingly to school, petty shopkeepers began to put their shops on wheels exhibiting many kinds of wares and handful of shoe shine boys plying their trade. How they tackled their customers is a lesson in persuasion.
As the morning wore away the crowd subsided. During the lunch hour again there was some stir. I had a happy afternoon siesta on the ledge.
With the coming of the evening the crowd increased again. I could see men and women with their shopping bags, newlyweds trotting along hand in hand enjoying their newly found companionship, a large crowd emanating from a neighboring theater and another queue forming to get their tickets for the next show.
Then from my perch on the bridge I moved into a park. A few lazy people there were looking at the sky. I decided to join them. Groups of children were running about the ponds and playing hide and seek, lovers sitting in lonely places waiting for stolen kisses, the ubiquitous ice seller was there too selling his candies and iced fruits and of course the peanut man was also there.
By dusk I got tired. The mad, meaningless rush of the world had no fascination for me. Man with all the facilities appears to have become an automation. Nature’s beauty was lost to many. I couldn’t but agree but more with the poet that life is not worth the while if one cannot stop and stare. I would rather be one to enjoy nature than one who makes every minute pay in terms of money.
