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| Sunday, 5 January 2003 |
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Short story In a stupor... Shantha had false starts . when he got on to the course of life waiting for him. In spite of his age he had joined an institute that was turning out products attuned to maintaining law and order. After a series of lectures that were full of combinations of words placed together to obtain meanings that were dull inside a brain, and lecturers who assaulted his eardrums with their pronunciation, he made a firm decision to meet his friend, Padma. Decisions were not very firm at his age. Dialogue With Padma, dialogue was ideal and it happened in equal effect and influence in both minds. Topics were usually desultory. None of them would be aware at the turn of the subject, would jump on the new subject as if it had been there for a while. They transcended bounds without an involvement of their intelligence. Padma read a lot. Books occupied a great part of his day. His brain was full of stocks of them. They were arranged in order of subject and knowledge unlike the disjointed evidence of knowledge in Shantha's brain. Padma's knowledge was waiting for an invitation or a request, while Shantha's would jump out of control and at inappropriate environments. To Shantha, Padma's company was as good as one among the pages of Chekov, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Mark Twain, D. H. Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, James Thurber, Sommerset Maugham and all the rest. No moment was dull with Padma. The two minds and their thoughts always set out towards the probe of the glorious efforts of those great men. When reading them or talking of them, Shantha always remembered Aldous Huxley's famous saying: "Only a man is born to a century and all others are teachable animals". Job Padma never had a false start. When he reached the stage of his life, he found himself in, he had run through a course of study in an university and later was the pick of an advertising company for copy writing. It was his first job and the first month on the job. His job was an interesting one. He had to play with words and create expressions that defied the norms and rules of grammar and that was entirely different from the ordinary arrangement of words. It was a fine game. A game for his mind. A game set to express the idea born in his mind in his novel way. The effect was always fresh. Padma was delighted to meet Shantha. The minds being alike could not meet on better circumstances. When Shantha stood at the doorstep of Padma's office there was only happiness. It was the end of services for the day for Padma. After greeting one another both carried themselves away to the restaurant serving beer and other attachments. Beer was an additional stimulant to their friendship founded upon knowledge and intellect. Meeting The meeting was well set although not predetermined. Cordiality stood supreme over circumstances. They had known each other for years. Since their first meeting their generosity for goodness and their ability to feed a relationship had borne out enough grounds for a next meeting. They had considered each other with regard. One felt raised up in stature to know the other and be in the company of the other. Restaurant The restaurant was a good, clean place. Customers were waited upon by young girls. Some of them were pretty close to being beautiful. In their youthful passage of life, Shantha and Padma were, by nature, attracted by the beauty constituted in the female human form. Their indiscreet eyes went ahead of their intellect and always rested upon the superficial splendour. A girl named Anne, served them the first bottle of beer. Not much used to alcohol yet, and being in a period of probation for beer, the first draught itself had a transformation. There was no clear demarcation point at which the discussion began, since it may have been a continuation of a topic picked up on the way. Minds were let loose in their equal ability to meet each other's argument. In such a situation the concept of time loses its influence on such gatherings. There were differences between the two. Only a trained mind and a mind with an intent to identify a difference between equals. Shantha liked his points of argument accepted with the least conditions, while Padma liked his being criticised since it gave him more grounds to be in the discussion. Shantha had no control of the influence of beer in him while Padma had his personal authority amply separated from it. Gulps They reached the second bottle without any disagreement. On the last occasion they had improved on their capacities and gone beyond one bottle. Padma took in the beer in decent sips enjoying the effect by the degree it changed while Shantha took it in violent gulps and liberally leaped over many stages of effect and was losing the battle for authority to beer. The third bottle was an improvement achieved that day. Although not properly prepared for it, they were determined to experience the extra content of alcohol in them. Since the level of liquid inside their bodies were coming on par with their throat at times, they took a long while to conclude the third bottle. At the end spirits were high. The experience of a fourth bottle was not for that day. They had to postpone it for another day. Anyway they had to consult their wallets before venturing further. Resources One was a student and the other was on his first month, and his first salary was due. They had to gather up resources sponsored by their parents. Funds accumulated together made enough to pay the bill and five rupees survived for their journey home. They were in Bambalapitiya. Shantha had to go to Angulana and Padma to Koralawella. They had a crisis at hand. Having five rupees they could not go beyond Dehiwela. One had about four miles to cover on foot and the other more than six miles. Although their spirits were higher, they retained enough intelligence to assess the situation. They decided to take the bus and meet the problem as it emerged in stages. Buses carry a load that their manufacturers never intended. Shantha stood fighting his inability to stay erect and trying to keep his efforts away from the others. Padma intelligently applied his weight to an upright prop at the bus halt. Two buses conveniently empty came. They refused the loud invitation of the two conductors to get in. They had convenience in the mass of bodies. An overcrowded bus arrived ending their difficult waiting. Shantha, with all his tricks held in order that they should come out, got in first and made way through the two rows of standing bodies. Padma followed his example. Six other persons followed him in. Shantha reached the last row of seats in and Padma instinctively was behind him. In an instant two persons seated the last row rose to get off. Shantha grabbed the opportunity and Padma stole the other vacancy from another opportunist preparing to take it. The conductor had to wait for a while to begin his efforts through the rows of bodies until the two trying to get down from the bus concluded theirs. Shantha sat down and winked proposing that they should resume the discussion they adjourned before they arrived at their dreaded discovery. They did not know whether it was the adjourned subject they resumed or an entirely new one they started, but the occasion demanded one. In a little while the conductor arrived, he was making inquiries with regard to fares from standing commuters. Having completed, he did a full glance through out the last row for new faces. The faces he saw on the bus were comparatively old. He saw two commuters who had broken sleep at home and then taken advantage of their comfortable positions soundly sleeping. He heard Shantha and Padma discussing a subject far away from his understanding. The conductor was entitled to the conjecture that Shantha and Padma were commuters who had boarded the bus at Pattah (the beginning of the bus route). Shantha fought bravely an irrational desire to laugh. Padma sustained a solemn pretence owing to the seriousness of the situation. The topics of discussion came out in intensified fervour, and Shantha was the main contributor. Padma's agony of pretence and Shantha's enjoyment of it was short lived. The bus brokedown two bus halts before Mount Lavinia. The conductor shouted out his orders clearly. All commuters were to get down from the bus and board another one. This was another calamity. They were offered an added scenery to play in their drama. The conductor stood at the door making inquiries of the destination of each commuter climbing down the bus and handing over each one the required fare for the rest of the journey. Shantha had enjoyed playing his pretence. Padma's mind was employed in fighting out the agony of a possible betrayal. Shantha rose from his seat and pushed himself between two innocent commuters and Padma followed him. There were commuters behind them and in front of them and the conductor was offered only a short while to deal with them, and had little time to probe any clues of betrayal. When their chance came Shantha cried out, "Angulana", as heartily as he could, while Padma uttered, "Moratuwa", solemnly, since Padma had to board another bus to Koralawella. Both were handed over their necessary fares for the rest of the journey. Shantha's desire to laugh and Padma's desire to put the incident out of his mind was equal in their requirement. They walked lifelessly, both requirements retained well intact, until they reached the next bus halt. At the next bus halt Shantha burst out liberally throwing friendly jabs at Padma while Padma produced an innocent smile to state that he was happy that their youthful prank was complete!. By Prinath Fernando |
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