A play cum story cum silly account of a really surreal night( i hope you have an idea of "Christmas carol" by Charles Dickens, in which the niggardly scrooge is visited by three ghosts)
(as you will see the tense used is present, because i think that it does justice to the story)
So here goes, the story of the night of 21st January 2010:
It's 8 in the night and i am doing what i usually do at 8 on a day when there is college: cursing the college, cursing my luck, cursing my neighbourhood dog(what for, don't ask me, its just random: i need to curse and blame someone and too bad the dog gets the rap!!) and cursing...well lets leave it at that, i am also fanatasising (no no my friends, you won't get to know about what!!) and also am thinking about what sort of excuse to make for all the things i should have done but have not done till now. Well i could go on and on about this but lets cut to the chase..ummm lets just say lets move on. I switch on the tv and and some idiotic English channel is running and to top that it is running a adaptation of the "christmas carol" by Charles Dickens(i don't mind Charles Dickens(cheesy surname i must say), but its jan 17, a bit too late for christmas stories).
I look closely, the scene when Scrooge is told that three ghosts will visit him is currently on, disinterested I turn back to my thoughts and I look start reflecting on the past few years, its been one presentation( they call me ajay 'ppt' singh in college!) and exam(just too many, i have lost count) after the other, i have missed(or just attended for such a short time that at one time, a treasure hunt was organised to spot me at a wedding) family weddings, parties and perhaps all those moments that i should have spent with my family and friends are now gone, how many times have I shirked away from helping somebody who really needed it, countless
times perhaps....I again turn back to the TV and what the..the scrooge scene is STILL ON!!!argh, I should have listened to shahrukh khan when he said "thoda aur wish karo" instead of sticking to my silly cablewallah, I switch the channel and.....lo!!! Star Plus is running the same scene!!! What is happening...I furiously skip channels and all the channels are running it!! I decide to watch the scene, maybe my cablewallah wants me to see it(i am seriously lunatic to believe this!)
A bespectacled man on the screen says " listen carefully, starting at 9:00pm today and uptil tomorrow morning you will be visited by three ghosts, heed their call or you will be doomed like me uncared for, unloved...hahahahaha",he says ending his line with cruel, mocking laughter, suddenly the normal programming routine starts on all channels...this is a first, how did this happen, ah well, chuck it I think and I turn the TV off. I have nothing to do, my exams are over and nobody is at home so i decide to doze off on the couch.
///****At around 9:00****///
tik tak..dhum..Whats the noise?? i wake up with a start and i see a shabbily clothed figure standing beside the couch, startled i ask him.
"who are you and how did you get in". I ask
"Lad,I am the ghost of lohri(i hope you know this festival, i am saying this not the ghost!!) past, didin't you get the message that we were arriving" He answers while having a look around the room.
"What ghost of Lohri past??, was the message on the TV for me ?? and if you are that ghost are you not supposed to a ghost of "christmas" past and what do you mean by "we"?? I retort back.
"Easy lad easy, that message was for you and i am the ghost of christmas past but since you are a north Indian I have orders to act like the ghost of "lohri" past because the actual ghost of lohri past drank a patiala peg too many, these north indian ghosts argh.., so you see i am doing overtime covering his a**, and just like the tale there are three of us: Ghosts of christmas er..lohri past, present and future" he says with a bit of anger in his voice.
I look around stunned, dazed, i think i am still in sleep...
Suddenly he interrupts rudely and says "close your eyes i am leading you to back to your past"
///****Year 2003****///
My mom is dropping me to school, ohhh what surprise, i can see myself as a kid. We(me and my mom, that is) arrive at the school gate and i see myself getting of the car all the while ranting about how i am late because of her(my mom) and then i run into the school...The ghost grabs my hand and leads me to where my mom is standing near the car.....and what... my mom has tripped and she is still looking towards the school and smiling in her pain, i try to help her up but my arm passes right through her...the ghost shouts from behind "you will be an illusion in all your trips, you can't be seen, touched or heard". shaks! i see my 'kid form' running into school, not even once do I look back towards mom...how ungrateful and uncaring.
Suddenly the ghost grabs me and leads me into my class in the school and i see myself at the last desk, a girl approaches me and says hi, i glare at her and do not respond, she syas hi again but i remain silent...i sheepishly ask the ghost "why am i silent, this girl used to be best friend, i even liked her a bit" The ghost retorts back "don't you rmember you had a fight but you refused to forgive her and that ended the feelings she had for you, only if you could have been less stupid, things would have been different"
///***Year 2006***///
I see myself stting on the couch watching TV, I check the calender on the wall while my 2006 form watches TV, its a day before my board exams and my past form is watching TV!! The ghost says "your parents left and you watched TV all day, only if you had studied and not betrayed their trust, but come i must lead you back to the present"
I land on my couch and immediately i see the ghost of lohri present standing by the couch, he is nattily dressed, he holds my hand and says "come, we must not waste time"
///***My uncle's home, present day***///
I can see my dad and mom, my dad is happy and he seems to be saying something, I start to listen carefully "ajay has proved to be a good son, in a few months he will be an engineer with a sound job or will be pursuing a MBA from a good college, what a proud moment that will be" he says beamingly to my uncle. My mom is also praising me, tears well up in my eyes, I always thought my dad thought of me as a loser, someone who could not qualify the exam he wanted me to qualify..but alas he was sitting here praising me, how wrongly have i been judged my own father for the past few years, i stumble and fall to my knees.
The ghost barks "don't get emotional sonny boy, just try to be more grateful and trusting towards your parents from now on, get that, now come i must lead you back, the future ghost has a habit of arriving early"
Again I am in front of my house and suddenly i hear a car horn from behind and a finger points out of the car and tells me to get in, i do as told and on the driver's seat is not a man but a hazy figure, who i presume is the ghost of lohri future(which he tells me he is).
The car starts flying and everything goes white,i get out of the car as the mist clears, i read a calender on the wall, its the year 2016.
I see a restaurant, the ghost points to a bunch of people sitting on a table, they seem to waiting for somebody, amongst them a girl looks restless. The ghost says " these are your future friends and the gorgeous restless girl perhaps likes you and maybe today she wants to say that to you , but you are late..attending a meeting i guess as always, busy"
After a few hours the group walk away(after having tired of waiting for me) with the girl having tears in her eyes, I try to stop them in vain because I remember that I am an illusion and they can't see me.
The ghost then grabs me by the collar and shouts disgustedly into my face "can't you ever think for others, you careless, loveless idiot...hah who am i to say, i am sending you back to the present do whatever you want, get lost"
zooom and I am back at my study table, the clock shows 7am...wooh what a night, oh its my friend's birthday today, i pick up the phone and wish him, I am planning to throw a surprise party for him...maybe i will do some extra chores for mom today, maybe i will look towards my dad with the pure love that i had for him once...maybe the night has changed me and miracles do happen after all..............
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