When Shadows Meet....

Cobbled street in that reclusive corner of the town, filled with puddles and dirty rain water... Lightened by a solitary lamp.. fickle, yellow coloured light.... just enough to make one aware of that nook.....

And lies in that reclusive corner, a rotten, wooden bench...reminding you of a rainsoaked firewood.... useless, damp and in expectation of that inevitable end...

But it has been the only standing witness..... witness to the games that shadows play, on such windy nights and dusky days......

Often in the corner lies an old tramp, wretchedly dressed, something like a mad man, counting pennies and collects of the day... some leftover chocolates, bread pieces today, a delicacy in a lifetime... He sits back, aligned to the lamp, relishing the sight of the food.... his shadow stretching a mile away on the road....Overbearing with happiness, his win, his food for the day...

Shadow of two little kids, hopping across the road, jumping on pool water, their day made with this wonderous game.... their little feet trampling away everything,,, the play deepens and its a fight of might....one huge jump, a large fountain of water, shouts of esctatic win from the kids,,, a feebled sound of pain from the other side.. bread pieces covered with mud......

the shadows change, the tramp is crouched, the impending battle of the day is lost... and from there, he sits the shadow of kids receeding further away from him

And often on dusky evenings, steps of a coy girl.. the shadow tiptoeing to the nook... where a handsome boy awaits her... the two shadows transforming into one in the silhouettes of the night sky... unaware of this world, its over bearing norms....

And sometimes, there is a forlon man, talking to himself, cursing his loneliness, conversing with his shadow....

"I HATE YOU,  please leave my side,,,, i am tired of being accompanied by you... you who wont speak to me, who wont soothe me in times of disarray, please leave my side"

"How... you should be grateful, i have been with you in days of pain and utter loneliness, the gloomy life that you are now living in... "

"But i dont need you, i need someone to talk, to share things, to keep me happy and make me feel I am cared for.... Being eternally present but distant in mind, heart, feelings and communication is not what i want.... This loneliness eats me up and hollows me from within... I don't need a shadow, a passive, uninterested, unattached soul.. but someone who feels...

"But you must agree, I am better than her, she was with you but yet passive, unattached, uninterested... a living shadow... I am atleast real..."