Not so long ago....
Spilt wine, sunglasses and the leather jacket
It is 11:35 PM, there is wine on the floor of the study and AC/DC just finished playing for a non stop 60 minutes. Travis gets up from his couch and slowly walks towards the mirror inside the bath room. Everything is gloomy and warm as he realizes he is wearing sun glasses and a leather jacket.He does not remember why, but pockets the glasses, takes off the jacket and looks at his own eyes in the mirror. It is very quiet, so he can hear the sound of his breath. After a few moments of eye to eye contact, his dry lips separate from each other and he just smiles!
The same old pasta
Edna opens the door and welcomes Travis with a big wide smile. He returns a half hearted smile and slumps into his rocker. Edna walks into the kitchen.
“Glad you decided to come back home for dinner” she says while arranging the table. “It is so cold outside and its better you come home early and stay warm.”
Travis looks at the wall clock as it ticks 7:15 PM.
“Did you get the fruit cake?” Edna seeming very curious.
“Uhhhh” Travis sounding irritated.
“Thats fine, forget the cake. I made pasta today!!” excited, looking at him from the dining table.
“Uffffffffff the same old ” he mumbles and throws his wallet and a pack of Marlboros from his pocket onto a table in front of him.
A few minutes of silence.
“Hey, just come and sit here with me and forget the food for a while.” She does not respond and continues to set the table. “Edna...........darling ?”
“What do you want to talk about ? Your work or the ‘same old’ pasta?” she commands. “And you promised you would quit smoking” She topples a chair onto the floor, walks into the bedroom and slams the door.
Travis gets up from his seat for a minute and sits down staring at the clock!
The first drink
It is 8:30 PM and he takes off his coat, walks to his bar and picks up a Pinot Blanc and a glass along with it. Marches to his study and locks the door gently behind him. Relaxes on the couch and gulps a big portion of the wine straight from the bottle.
Goddamn you
“Hey Peter, how is it going man ?” Travis talks on the phone trying to be cheerful.
“Bingo, you called at the right time buddy.” Peter whispers loudly.
“Is it ? Listen, about tonight...” before Travis says another word,
“Yes it is still on but the time is now 7:00 PM. The place is still the same. You, me, Sandy and her friend. All you need to do is eat and keep her friend company and I do my talking.”
“Hmm,hmm....” Travis sounding doubtful
“What ?” Peter asks
“Well, did not have a great day , why don’t just you and me go together and have a few peaceful drinks ?” Travis says sensing trouble
“Come on, you promised me a week ago” Peter disappointed
“I promise, I’ll do it next week. But for today, I need my friend” Travis trying to patch up.
“Goddamn you! And what about me? I don’t understand what goes on in that mind of yours. You had a bad day, I get it. I had many such but tell me if I ever spoiled your plans ?” Peter not at all happy.
A few seconds of quietude
“I’m very sorry” Travis shaking his head
“Very well then.....” “beep, beep” Peter hangs up
Travis rubs his forehead with his left hand and holds it there for a while.
He checks his wrist watch , it is 4:40PM, makes another phone call “Edna, I’ll be back home for dinner. Uhh, but I’ll be late”
“Yeah, all right, I’ll get it on my way back” says that before hanging up.
AC DC
He wakes up suddenly as if someone jolted him. The time is 10:05 PM. Walks to the trendy CD tower rack and points to the row labelled ‘Bow to the 70s’. “Zeppelin, Stones, Floyd, Aerosmith, Beach Boys, Deep Purple, AC......” he reads within himself. Stares at the AC /DC album and looks up at the music player and then around the room.
He starts moving the things in the room and Edna wakes up due to the noise. She smells craziness in the air and goes back to sleep.
It is 15 minutes of heavy work, and panting, he takes another big gulp, and closes his eyes. Pours the rest of it in the glass and sits down. The time is 10:30 PM.
It is 8:15 AM
He lifts his head sleepily from between his hands resting over a pile of paperwork . Next to him is his laptop which has been powered on all night. He looks at his wrist watch and it is 8:15 AM.
“Oh crap!” and then rushes out of the study. “Why the hell didn’t you wake me up ?” he shouts out at Edna who is sipping coffee in the drawing room.
“Wow, did you doze off in the study ? I thought you had left early today as you told me you had to be at work soon.” Edna confused. “I’m sorry.”
“Well, only a miracle can take me to office by 8:30 AM and you do remember my dinner is outside today” Travis says dressing himself up.
Still in 20th century
The time is 9:30 AM and Travis barges into a conference room with at least 10 colleagues already sitting there.”Sorry, I’m late folks” raising both his hands.
“Can you give me just 10 minutes. I’m ready with my presentation” he whispers to his boss while sitting next to him.”
His boss raises his eyes and talks in a voice audible to everyone in the room.
“There is no need for that. When we saw you didn’t make it on time, the new kid Barry stood up to the occasion. We like his idea and are ready to go with it”
Barry stands up and addresses the meeting. “I thank you all for listening to me. I’m new here and will work hard to live up to the expectations of this company." He says with extra confidence and sits down while giving a sly smile to Travis.
Everyone in the room starts to leave. Travis stands outside waiting for his boss and when he comes out.
“Sir, this project was so important to me and I haven’t literally slept for a week. You have to give me a chance.”
“I don’t like your attitude Travis and only partially liked your ideas in the past. This is an advertising agency and you have to keep pace with what is going on RIGHT NOW around the world.” says the boss very firmly. “To put it in simple words, you are still living in the 20th century..and this is not! If you need another chance, you got to keep up!”
The boss walks away but Travis is still standing.
Blown Away
The study looks totally rearranged now. The big desk and the chair are pushed to the corner. The couch is moved to the center and on one side the wine glass sits on a table. On the other side is a lamp. The old fashioned speaker is kept a few feet in front of the couch and the lamp is now glowing.
He hits play and the first song to play is ‘Thunderstruck’ (ofcourse)
The volume is at Level 10 and he closes his eyes.
(wahahahahahahahahahahahaaa....)
“What do you want to talk about ? Your work or the ‘same old’ pasta?”
He increases the volume to 30
(Thunder , Thunder, Thunder..........)
“Goddamn you! And what about me? I don’t understand what goes on in that mind of yours”
Volume goes up to 50
(The base guitar)
“To put it in simple words, you are still living in the 20th century..and this is not!”
Volume goes to max now
(THUNDER!!)
That's it! No more voices in the mind, No more compulsions, No more rules, No more senses.
Its just pure magic in the air and glare in the room!
Oh yes!
PS : The above poster has been hanging on our drawing room wall for more than an year now. It says in bold letters, “Steve Steigman The Weaver Gallery”. Me and my roommate were always proud of it, as it somehow made the room along with us look very cool!
The above story is a tribute to the photographer who clicked this shot, the hypothetical person Travis who posed for it, and of course my room mate Dev Satija who shares the same passion towards the picture as I do!
What about you ? The comments section below is all yours :-)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete…it’s just pure magic in the air and glare in the room…… as the glare of flash light reconciled, and magic of music faded away, thanks to Edna who captured this moment in her eyes, memory, and , Of course Lens.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Edna that she shot a 20th Century immortal art in the amorphous era of 21st century adverts.
Yes ! now, Travis is confident of being a 'century old' guy and conceit that he is better than new born baby.. ooops...Barry!
After seeing this shot does Travis’ Boss still thinks that ‘keeping-pace’ is real advertising???
Thanks to Edna to surface as true companion of Travis when he needed the most support. Thanks to Bhaskar for a ‘renaissance’ tribute to Edna!
(just adding my ‘vague’ interpretation. May be I like happy endings, may be I am a Kjo Fan, surely not for the latter ;) )
I am too `blown away` by the pic and the way it is described. There is a Travis in all of us...
ReplyDeleteCheers...!
Bhaskar - Your writing is cool as the poster and your room mate (so do we need to say Hi to Travis on Right side as soon as we enter Rock Island). BTW... are you dedicating this to yourself, because I am sure that person posing in the photograph is Dev, and who else can be photographer :D
ReplyDeletehmmmm....an escape from reality or finally finding a place to be with self..I wonder what Travis finally found on being 'Blown Away'?
ReplyDeleteYes, there is a Travis in all of us, who loves to withdraw in an inner shell from time to time just so to keep his sanity and a little peace of mind.
And yes, we all have an Edna too, though we may not realize it in time to appreciate her, who is in background and helps us shine through a haze of uncertainity, by capturing the best of us and makeing us see our real worth.
Bhaskar..I love the story as told by you..reading it made me remember my days as a kid when all my toys had names, when every little article had a little story of its own! I'll looking forward to read another post from you :)
Refreshing story Bhaskar!
ReplyDeleteI remember and realise the truth in Sri Aurobindo's quotation ' Music organises emotions'.
Awesome work dude !!!
ReplyDeleteLoved the way you have blogged down your thoughts into words.... You always had it in you... way to go man....
Cheers to You & Travis....
Particle - What beautiful imagination. my post just stopped at the photograph and reading your words after that gives a feel good factor. Very nice and thank you for sharing your thoughts :-)
ReplyDeleteDev - Thank you. Sure there is and you and me probably know the best how he is !
Prateek - Yes sure, Infact, Travis always says hi but you never said hello back :-) And yes, Dev is definitely apt to pose for such an emotion. His name says it all. And the photographer -- I think he is within all of us :D
Thank you!
Neha - Nice extension of the story. May be he just went back and lived just the same always saying to himself how cool he is :-) Edna, hmm...haven't thought of this character much while writing, but may be as Particle said, she was the one who ultimately clicked that shot and may be showed it to Travis one fine day!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for reading and commenting on the post. Really touched by the fact that you could connect to childhood memories by reading it!
Amma (Vijaya M) - Sure, I definitely agree. It surely helped Travis here. He probably always knew whats best for him to ultimately just smile!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot and glad you liked it :-)
Mohit - Dude, sure I just loved imagining this story whenever I had time. Thanks a lot for the encouragement :-)
ReplyDeleteDude, reading your story makes me remember a favourite song - 'Time' by
ReplyDeletePink Floyd.
Reason 1 - The story unfolds in a maze of time. Absolute nice work on that.
Keeps reader engaged and looking for more.
Reason 2 (my version) - Next Travis listens to 'Time', pensively gives ear
to these lines -
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time, Plans that
either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines.
And yes, Travis do not need Edna.
Keep writing.
Vishwas
Vishwas -
ReplyDelete- 'The story unfolds in a maze of time' -Thanks a bunch for appreciating the one thing that took a lot of time for me on this post.
- The song 'Time' , great addition and I have been thinking where it would fit in this story. I would probably add that in a future post but may be in a totally different story.
- 'Travis does not need Edna' - I had exactly the same opinion while writing this story.