A simple life lived the extraordinary way!!

Posted by Jagat Jyoti Saikia In: Graphic Novel, Short Story

Two Smokin' Barrels

Lucifer put on his overcoat, the chrome of his Colt Peacemaker revolver glistened for a while and then disappeared. He scratched his four day old stubble… and let out a curse and turned away to view the road from the window.

Someone is going to pay today... it has been 15 years now, it's payback time!!

He walked into the road. The evening traffic... directionless people travelling to nowhere lands… honking horns, boredom written visibly on their faces. Lovers walking past holding hands… perhaps sticking to each other… long after love has kissed them goodbye… a finality that most people take a lifetime to realize. Dreams rot, kids are the only thing holding them from falling apart.

He quickly gathered his thoughts and chided himself for getting carried away. He tilted his suede hat to partially hide his eyes. Eyes invariably give away what’s on your mind and Lucifer was not comfortable with that idea. Utmost secrecy... yeah… that’s the key to get the job done. Failure was not an option now… murder was on his mind… pure, naked, honest intent to snuff out someone’s living daylights… and no other person would have deserved this more.

He walked briskly in the esplanade… the cobblestone gave out a dull shine… the indolence sticking to it like grime… man walk, women walk, every damn person walk across these lanes… but none more resolute than the one with the Colt.

He went past the Chinese restaurant Red Dragon and a whiff of aroma wafted towards him. He has hardly eaten anything since he came back from that 15 year old journey but hunger can wait now. Although just before this thought passed he wondered what was the Chef’s special tonight… Octopus soup, Peking duck, Wontons… whatever! Anthony Bourdain must have tried some of those… that fella can eat anything…

A black convertible came behind him and honked like it was the fashion statement of the season… cacophony still haunts him just like absolute silence… the worst thing than madness is perhaps the realization that one is mad… the feeling that one is in control while one is perhaps just a puppet on a string.

He saw his target from a distance, it has been 15 years but still the vulgarity on that fellow’s face was fresh as ever, the aquiline nose and the pok marks and the undeniable feeling that this person is meant to be evil… he still wears his gold necklace… which more than anything else... accentuates the vulgarity of his existence. He was chatting with his numerous hangerons; perhaps making plans for another evening of his wretched existence. It’s time for his deliverance. Amen!

The plan was simple… it has to be swift, one shot to the head and the Colt will do the rest. The noise from the firing will create a din and bustle and he will make good his escape in the ensuing melee. He will flick the gun as soon as the job is done… it’s bought from the grey and he made sure that he won’t be traceable. The police, the investigators can all go to hell.

He clutched his gun under the coat… the cold chrome of the gun gave him a tingling sensation… the wintry darkness was his perfect alibi… the target was smiling… his uneven teeth flashed once… what a sweet, memorable end it’s going to be. Who will come to his funeral, will there be a memorial service... not that he deserves one. Death… poetic justice… whatever… Lucifer plans to visit his grave… to see that he is firmly encased down under… lilies, roses, karma, moksha….

Concentrate- Aim- Shoot and get over it- he pulled his gun out…

Bang! Arghhh…..

The target clutched his heart and fell with a deep thud… the hanger-ons scampered for cover…

He planned to hit him in the head and not the heart… there was something wrong somewhere… and more importantly, he was yet to pull the trigger…

Psychedelic... divine deliverance…?

He slid his gun inside his pocket and looked at the target… done for the good… eyes rolled out as if he was put in a suspended animation. Who else could have done that? Why?

He could hear sirens of the incoming police and paramedicos… he started walking away… nothing went as planned… he was in a daze… the honor of snuffing the evil life was taken away from him while he was almost there… life is cruel.. just life death. He hates both… now more than ever.

He took the alley connecting the downtown area… he saw a silhouette of a human form… elongated shadows… briskly walking… might be a lady… no not might... it is a lady… those curves… aah… can make anyone breathless… focus focus… he saw her dropping something near the dustbin… it clanked and disappeared in the heap. She then flagged a cab… her curles caressed her face and the taxi meter went down and she was gone.

He stood there for a while… he turned back to see what she has left behind… it was a Baretta 92...

He smiled… Death came... not once but twice!!

Posted by Jagat Jyoti Saikia In:

Confessions of a Bibliophile

Lucifer put on his overcoat, the chrome of his Colt Peacemaker revolver glistened for a while and then disappeared.

Someone is going to pay today... it has been 15 years now, it's payback time!!

Wrote this dialogue to portray the power of the written words… where we teleport ourselves into a world of our fantasies and imagination. Each one of us might visualize Lucifer in a different manner,

· How old is he?

· Who is he?

· Why he took out the Colt Revolver? What is the bore? How it looks?

· Why he has put on an overcoat? Is it cold? Rainy?

· Which place he is in?

· Was he a wronged person or is he a criminal?

· What he was doing for past 15 years? Was he jailed? Or in a coma?

I’ve just started reading Amitav Ghosh’s first novel titled The Circle of Reason. I mainly read in the long Infy bus journeys and hardly able to turn a page during the weekends. During one such journey I just drifted into the memories of my school and the school library. Every Friday afternoon we were allowed to borrow books from the school library and it was my first serious foray into the beautiful and incredible world of books, novels, poems. My dad also had a medium sized library at home; his journalistic inclinations veered him more towards Assamese literature and more serious stuff which was a bit too much for a scrawny kid just promoted into 4th standard. When I grew up I finally realized the value of his collection. There were rare issues of TIME, SPAN and such foreign publication magazines dating back to the 70s, award winning Assamese novels and Assamese counterpart of the Reader’s Digest named BISHMOI etc. I remember reading Lost Horizon by James Hilton and was such in awe of the Paradise on Earth Shangri-La!! Those were the days when internet was unheard of and books were a constant companion. There were books on Osho and Super Consciousness and I just couldn’t comprehend it at all that time… left reading after 1-2 pages. The problem starts when we grow up and began to understand the essence and the nuances of words… during my B-school days a teacher recommended the book called The Autobiography of a Yogi… and it was such a spiritually uplifting book.

But then when you read/know too much you start to think too much and then starts the dissonance. You come up with many questions for which you can’t find an easy answer and then you start more, even in Infy buses… you start typing random lines in your mobile textpad and then try to find some coherence in them. And then you long for those bygone days, when as a kid you would jostle with your half-pant schoolmates and try to issue another action packed issue of the Hardy Boys, Famous 5 and The Three Investigators!!

Frank and Joe Hardy, Chet Morton and his yellow jalopy; Julian, Dick, Anne and George and Timmy the dog; Jupiter, Pete and Bob were such an integral part of my childhood memories. I would venture every week into castles, solve mysteries of the talking skull and bust a gang of art thieves. Those were innocent childhood fun times with a dosage of bravado, adventure and spine chilling moments. By the end of it all I and my friends managed to read almost all of Hardy Boys, Famous Fives and 3 Investigators.

Days turned into months and months into years… and I graduated from teen novels to books by Sidney Sheldon, Robin Cook, Jeffrey Archer and Sherlock Holmes (By Arthur Conan Doyle) and a bit from the Indian writers. Jhumpa Lahiri and Amitav Ghosh are a personal favorite as was Ayn Rand and Paulo Coelho (read almost 80% of their books). Ayn Rand’s lesser known book WE THE LIVING has a protagonist named Andrei Taganov who was tagged as A Communist Hero in an Anti-Communist novel and that character, I feel, is the literary character I resemble the most… and he was finally the victim of his own idealism and more so for his love!

I woke up to Assamese novels quite late… perhaps as a 15-16 year old and there are a few ones worth mentioning… Kanchan Baruah’s Ashimot Jar Heral Seema (rough translation: Boundaries are lost in infinity) was a fantastic read and kept me engrossed. It had a mythical, magical feeling to it that was unparalleled.

The bus journey in the evening through the Hosur Road are less frustrating now… because I’m also traveling along with Alu, an orphan who flees Kolkata to Goa and then boards an illegal trawler to Africa… finding and then realizing that life comes a full circle and that every circle also has its own reasons!!

Here raising a toast to the magic of the written words!!

P.S Which literary character you resemble the most?? :-)

Some of my recent clicks:

Posted by Jagat Jyoti Saikia In: Poetry

When Memories Stand Still

Slide 2

A nomad through life’s labyrinth

Reminiscing the good ol’ memories

Holding a promise of everlasting remembrance

And waiting till Time ceases to exist

In the darkness of the night I search for you amongst the stars

And my heart leaps up in adoration too

My tempestuous mind swiftly flies away

Such strong is the desire to be near you

Like sparks of lightning we met

Strangers yet finding a common tune

Dreams woven together, blessed by the moonlit sky

Aren’t our lives all about love and being loved?

Posted by Jagat Jyoti Saikia In: Mumbai Sightseeing, Nikon D40, Pune sightseeing, Traveling

Flying Without Wings-- Rendezvous at Pune and Mumbai

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller

Last extended weekend I was in Pune to be with my friend to spend some quality time. After days of planning, creating a ‘touristy itinerary’ and modifying it time and again… and still clearer of the idea that life’s greatest journeys are those that are taken unplanned… I landed up in Pune’s Lohegaon airport… trying hard not to look like the ubiquitous nerds and carrying half my intended clothes and double the money!!

Day 1: was for movies and eating out… and planned to watch AA DEKHE ZARA or THE REVOLUTIONARY ROAD but eventually had to settle for a typical masala flick starring Bobby Deol, Shriya and Nana Patekar titled EK- The Power of One… due to the ongoing strike betn the filmmakers and multiplex owners.

Day 2: was originally planned for a visit to Matheran but eventually changed it to Mumbai and it turned out much better than expected. Took a Volvo and took pics enroute, visited Churgate, Nariman Point, Marine Drive, Chowpatty, Boat ride in front of the Taj Mahal Hotel, Gateway of India, Lunch @ Leopold Café. One thing we noticed was the bullet mark in the window right next to where we sat in the first floor of the café… a poignant remembrance of the ill-fated day perhaps. The place is famous as a backpacker’s joint and was bustling with people… conversing over good food and mugs of beer…

Once we came out after having lunch I noticed that I’ve left my Fastrack sunglass in the café… and I just moved on… although it would have taken just 5-7 mins to walk back and get it back…:) It was a sultry day but a day well spent… although we were dead tired by the time we came back to Pune at 9pm.

Day3: After a good night’s sleep we had a nice heavy bfast comprising of utthapams, Sabudana khichidi and chai… we planned for the day. The earlier plans to visit the Sinhagad fort and other nearby places got modified and we planned to start the day by watching AA DEKHE ZARA… for me it was a welcome change from the regular multiplexes and we visited a single theatre movie hall which was as plush as a multiplex with good sound and deluxe reclining seats… all these and much more for just 80 bucks a ticket… and the morning show was available for just 40 bucks… :)

I am not sure about the Critic’s ratings of this movie but we thoroughly enjoyed this movie… and definitely worth a dekko… In between lunch and movie we got some spare time and we visited a nearby mall and I bought a Provogue T-shirt which was a 10-sec impulse buying… and I changed my Pink Floyd black T-shirt with the new striped maroon one in the restroom and walked back with a new look!! J

We also visited Shanivar Wada and Shinde Chatri and really liked the whole experience… as if our history is preserved in a time-warp.

Evening time was reserved for visiting Oh! Calcutta which was a specialty Bengali cuisine restaurant… and we enjoyed Hilsa in mustard sauce, steamed rice plus other delicacies… The absolutely fantastic ambience and piped instrumental music made it a truly memorable outing.

Next day I took my flight back and reached office directly from the airport…. It took 70 mins from Pune to Bangalore and 2.5 hrs from BIAL to Electronics City… which truly highlights the sorry state.

It was a very memorable weekend break and I made good use of my Nikon dlsr as well… plus I came to appreciate the timer mechanism in her Kodak camera which helped us to take many ‘US’ pics without asking any bystanders to do the honors!!

Ending this post with a few lines from the Westlife song- FLYING WITHOUT WINGS.

And you're the place my life begins,
and you'll be where it ends.
I'm flying without wings.
And that's the joy you bring,
I'm flying without wings.

Here are a few pics that I managed to click during the journey: