Nono meets me...

It was a great feeling. The air was rushing past me quite hard. No. It was not a skydive or a bungee jump. This was free fall. Even as the speed of the fall kept on increasing and the adrenalin rush kept on rising, I was dreadfully expecting the final crash. A twisted ankle hurt like hell. I have experienced it and so I know.  This fall kept me wondering how the ending would feel like. Suddenly, it all stopped as if somebody had turned off a switch. Everything was dark and silent. Was this death? Was it all over? But, I did not experience the pain or heard the sound of my body hitting the ground. I remember reading about a bright white light and feeling of weightlessness when we move on from this physical body. Maybe, I just need to wait. I didn’t move an inch or muscle or atleast imagined so and waited it out. It was like a lion waiting for its prey. Well, here I was the prey rather.

“Any moment now!”, I told myself

As I slowly regained my senses, I did see bright light and a rather harsh one too. Interestingly, my mom’s voice was also heard in the background and she seemed to be calling out my name. The sweat was trickling down from my hair to my face, before moving down to dampen the pillow. There was a fresh aroma of wet earth too. My eyes slowly opened up adjusting to the world and I realized that the white light was the sunlight pouring in through the window. And yes, the wet earth aroma was not due to rain but my dad watering the plants. I was not dead. Not yet.

“Not another day”, I grimaced in anger

There was hardly any motivation to wake up and survive through another monotonous and pointless day. I have had enough of this existence. When real life dreams are shattered, one would wish never to wake up from the dreams of the night.

[Hold on! This isn’t about me. You would already know that from the formal intro I had put in words before starting the blog. I am not writing a blog about my life but allow me this slight over indulgence as a writer. I know I do get carried away a bit. For now, let’s limit my intro to the bare minimum. I am Arun Kunjunny and counting down to completing 35 years of existence in this human hell. I think the age bracket of 35-40 is literally like being stranded in the middle of the ocean with no visible land in either direction. Being stranded in real life makes one lonely and if money and luck does not feature in your friends list, you are in for a rough ride. So, to cut it short, (Drumroll), I am the creator, writer and narrator of this unique and amusing relationship. Let’s get this wagon rolling and know more along the journey. ]

“Damn! It is a hot day.”, I used the wet towel to cool the back of my neck. 

Summer is the worst. The air and the ground remain as dry as my personal finances. I was passing time surfing the virtual waves of the internet as I was more of a loner and was also on the waiting period of my movie project.  It was the same dull routine day after day. However, today felt different and my mind urged me to step out. I grabbed a bite of whatever mom had put up on the table and aimlessly stepped out. A walk before the sun used its most potent rays to attack, felt like a good idea. Maybe the fresh would make me feel better too. I don’t know how long or far I walked. With the mind racing with a train of thoughts, my body was on auto-pilot and I glided along oblivious of the direction or destination. A loud horn startled me. The car had just missed me and I cursed my bad luck. Lady luck doesn’t favor you even when you want to end everything.

It was at that moment that I looked around and found myself in a strange neighborhood.  Wide iron gates welcomed me into a park. There was a buzz of activity with people jogging, talking to each other and laughing and kids playing. The place was a display of lush greenery with trees of different shapes and sizes and a wonderful palette of colors with all the flowers around. In stark contrast to this lively picture, an old tree which looked like it was about to fall, stood at an isolated corner of the park. There was a rusty iron bench at the beneath it. There was nobody around that corner and I felt the tree was like any human being in old age, neglected and isolated. I walked up to the bench and sat down slowly. My entry to the park or the occupation of the bench was hardly noticed. It was as if I didn’t exist. On a second thought, for a person who was practically invisible to family and friends, cannot expect to be seen by strangers. I smiled at that reality and closed my eyes, as I leaned back on the bench. The earphones of my music player were pushed deep inside my ears to shut out all worldly noise.  Lionel Richie’s voice flowed into my ears. “Hello…is it me you are looking for?”

“Hello”, a voice unlike Lionel Richie’s ringed in my ears

I could identify his hello from the song anywhere. But this was someone else and quite close to my ears. The song was so personal to me that I melted into it each time I heard it. The feeling was so intense at that moment that I did not want to break away and lose that relaxed feeling. 

“Hello there”, the voice was heard again and louder this time

I could not make out if it was a male or female voice. My eyes slowly opened into this world and I could see or rather sense something sitting next to me.  The first natural reaction would have been to panic and jump out of the bench. Humans, as a species, are taught to experience, analyze and define everything…even God. I did not feel any panic as I observed the form before me. It was not like anything I have ever learned or known. It was there but it was not there. All of a sudden, the park and the people seemed really far away and the spot I was sitting with the bench and the tree and this strange form, appeared to be in an island of our own.

“Is my mind playing tricks with me,” I wondered

I cleaned my glasses and pinched myself hard. As if that was not enough, I closed my eyes tight and slowly opened them again. No, it was still there. I was not imagining things. Its appearance was unlike any form or color I knew till then. Yet, I had a gut feeling that I could see whoever I wanted in it. As a flower dropped on to my lap, I looked up and saw that the old stooping tree with its falling dry leaves had changed in a wide expanse of green with flowers blooming on it. The bench was also no longer rusted iron but one of red finely polished mahagony.  I took in this sight in amazement before I turned to look back at it.  It seemed to resemble someone I knew and I felt I caught a smile spreading across its face.

“Wake up”, it snapped its fingers before my eyes

I observed that it had more of a human form now with short hair and all limbs intact. It was still tough to tell if it was a man or woman. It did not really matter as I was more than happy that it did not look like a ghost anymore. Talking to a ghost was the last thing my fragile mind needed, considering the thin line it was treading on.

“Are you a ghost?”, I stuttered as I put the question across nervously

“No!,” the smile grew wider in its face

“Then, what are you? You are definitely not human,”  I was still not sure if I was dreaming or hallucinating

“I am Nono”, it said and extended the hand

“Of course and I am Yesyes”, I laughed at my own humor

“I know you are Arun Kunjunny”, it replied extending the hand further

My smile vanished and I looked at that pale hand. I was still debating inside my head, when it spoke up.

“This is how you guys greet each other right?”, the hand was still there and waiting for me to react

Curiosity got the better of my nervousness and I slowly shook hands. It did not feel like a human hand. There was no warmth or life yet it felt more profound and touching than a human handshake.

“Maybe this could be the motivation I was waiting for. This could be a new beginning”, my mind voiced out

I did not feel human anymore. Well, the good part about that was that I didn’t feel like ending my life anymore too. We sat together on that bench silently for a few moments, as we looked at the complex human lives playing out their parts before us.

“Nono is my story”, I told myself as a smile spread across my face