Fallacy - slaughtered

Twilight had set in and stars had started waking up. Golden lights shone from the windows of the tiny huts in this little hamlet in Jaipur [Chowki dani]. There was a cool breeze blowing. I drew my jacket closer and thrust my hands into my pockets to keep them warm. In my right pocket, I could feel the shape of the metal fox, a talisman that I had bought a while back. I just held on to it ‘cos there was nothing else to hold on to and the cold breeze made me want to hold on to something…anything! I looked around. There were people everywhere.

At one corner people had mobbed together and were looking over each other’s heads, peering at what ever was happening there. I started walking towards the mob. Rustic music filled the air and I could see 2 poles with a dirty white cloth tied stiffly to the poles to form a screen. Standing on my toes helped me catch a glimpse of the puppeteer who was calling out to people and 2 of the puppets as well. They looked beautiful.

Very soon people had settled down on the golden sands of the pink city and the puppet show was on at full swing. The puppets that were merely objects of art were transformed into ‘reality’. The puppeteer had given them identities, voices, ideas, visions, emotions, life…….



Once the puppet show was over, the puppets lost their everything. They’ll have to wait for the next puppet show when the puppeteer would give them identities and bring them back to life once again. For that span of time when they are alive, they can voice the thoughts that the puppeteer has for them in the voices that he gives them. They can live their lives, do all that the puppeteer makes them do and lose their lives finally…..only to regain them again. This cycle would go on….for how long..nobody knows!

I looked up at the sky. The beautiful stars shone down at the world…countless number of them. There could be lots more of them that are not visible to my eyes..lots more of planets..gallexies..solar systems…..perhaps life and other life forms…

Don’t know whether it’s the serenity of the whole place- the star studded sky, the golden lights, the bright colors, laughter in the air,…dunno what gave me the thought, but I suddenly felt like a puppet- a puppet who thinks she is in full control of her life, looking at life with confidence, trusting that she would realize her dreams and most foolishly holding on to a piece of metal, believing that it will somehow take her closer to her dreams. I let go off my grip on the talisman. It had by then created an impression on my palm.

Reality shone from somewhere amidst those stars.