Days can be so full of boredom. You wonder how they decided to weather such bouts of
listlessness and drag you into such vacant gaps of emotion. The Wednesday that sailed by, for example, left me in no doubt that about its intention to wreck my mood. It let the morning uncoil in such slow motion, I was all set to slap it out of its sleep. But mornings - you see - don't respond to slaps, or any such physical abuse. So, I clenched my fists, and let it take its own time.
As it stretched itself from 6 am IST to 9 am IST, I was done with all I had to: my teeth, my face, and my breakfast. Of course, I was not done with my plan for the day, simply because I had none. So, I dragged my planning till 8:59 am IST and decided I would not plan anymore. However once Wednesday dragged the clock to 9:10 am IST, I began to understand the need to have a plan. I had sat there at my dining table and had:
I sighed. Good Lord, I said to myself, I have no plan. And just as I let that thought rattle my head, my head realized I had a long list of books that awaited my viewing - if not reading - pleasure.
The list is indeed long and includes Jane Austen's work and Daphne du Maurier's as well. There's also Gerald Durell, Homer, Shakespeare, and a whole lot of authors and authoresses fuming at my not giving them the once over.
Well, so I thought I'll do just that: Give them a once over. Now by the time, I decided to do that, afternoon had arrived with lunch. Lunch is irresistible. You know that as well as I do. And I just had to have lunch. So, I lunched, belched, drank a glass of water, and sat on the bed.
Needless to say, Lady Siesta walked in with her magic portion.
"Drink this," she said.
"But why are you narrowing your eyes like that?"
"Oh that is how I lure people to sleep."
"Really? By narrowing your eyes? Why don't you narrow a lot else you know - the gown, the waist, the tummy-"
"Shut up!" she said, her eyes their normal selves again, "do you mean to say I am fat?"
"Well, you look fat."
"This!" - she said as she gestured wildly at her bosom and back - "looks like fat to you?! What are you - mad?"
"Well, go stand in front of the mirror. You'll see for yourself."
"What rubbish!, she spat as she pruned and posed in front of the looking glass, "I am full bodied.
All my men say that."
"That's because by the time they want to tell you you're fat, you've put them to sleep already."
The reply did not shoot out of her mouth as fast as I expected it to. Instead, she went into slow motion mode. She stopped posing ever so slowly, turned as if she were about to run in slow motion in a Bollywood movie, and pried open her lips to show what a fine set of rotten teeth she had.
"Oh shut up," she snapped, "look - do you or do you not want to sleep?"
"Oh yes I surely want to."
"Then just drink this!"
"Oh I would have anyway."
"Then why the hell are you behaving this way?"
"Well, it's always nice to see you act like a queen."
"Drink it and get lost!"
So I took in the siesta, and was in its throes for around five hours. The books were forgotten. And it was not till six in the evening that I finally decided to let go of the bed.
By that time, tea had walked onto the table with a rather delectable choice of biscuits. I showed those biscuits the way to my stomach. And then I showed my feet the way to the shower.
That brought me to 8:30 pm IST. The clock ticked on and my books looked on but I was in no mood to touch them. For dinner landed at 9. And by 10, I was on the bed again.
As I let my feet entangle the sheet and my hands look for a pillow, I realized that it indeed was:
A day so listless,
it insisted on being useless
A day so lazy,
it made my thoughts hazy
A day so lame,
it just had itself to blame
And it was:
A day so dead,
I wish it were not born instead.
listlessness and drag you into such vacant gaps of emotion. The Wednesday that sailed by, for example, left me in no doubt that about its intention to wreck my mood. It let the morning uncoil in such slow motion, I was all set to slap it out of its sleep. But mornings - you see - don't respond to slaps, or any such physical abuse. So, I clenched my fists, and let it take its own time.
As it stretched itself from 6 am IST to 9 am IST, I was done with all I had to: my teeth, my face, and my breakfast. Of course, I was not done with my plan for the day, simply because I had none. So, I dragged my planning till 8:59 am IST and decided I would not plan anymore. However once Wednesday dragged the clock to 9:10 am IST, I began to understand the need to have a plan. I had sat there at my dining table and had:
- caressed my neck
- inspected the map of pimples and pockmarks on my face in the mirror opposite
- concluded the right side of my neck hurt more than the left
- and then promptly decided that my shoulder hurt more than anything else - all because I was not sitting straight!
I sighed. Good Lord, I said to myself, I have no plan. And just as I let that thought rattle my head, my head realized I had a long list of books that awaited my viewing - if not reading - pleasure.
The list is indeed long and includes Jane Austen's work and Daphne du Maurier's as well. There's also Gerald Durell, Homer, Shakespeare, and a whole lot of authors and authoresses fuming at my not giving them the once over.
Well, so I thought I'll do just that: Give them a once over. Now by the time, I decided to do that, afternoon had arrived with lunch. Lunch is irresistible. You know that as well as I do. And I just had to have lunch. So, I lunched, belched, drank a glass of water, and sat on the bed.
Needless to say, Lady Siesta walked in with her magic portion.
"Drink this," she said.
"But why are you narrowing your eyes like that?"
"Oh that is how I lure people to sleep."
"Really? By narrowing your eyes? Why don't you narrow a lot else you know - the gown, the waist, the tummy-"
"Shut up!" she said, her eyes their normal selves again, "do you mean to say I am fat?"
"Well, you look fat."
"This!" - she said as she gestured wildly at her bosom and back - "looks like fat to you?! What are you - mad?"
"Well, go stand in front of the mirror. You'll see for yourself."
"What rubbish!, she spat as she pruned and posed in front of the looking glass, "I am full bodied.
All my men say that."
"That's because by the time they want to tell you you're fat, you've put them to sleep already."
The reply did not shoot out of her mouth as fast as I expected it to. Instead, she went into slow motion mode. She stopped posing ever so slowly, turned as if she were about to run in slow motion in a Bollywood movie, and pried open her lips to show what a fine set of rotten teeth she had.
"Oh shut up," she snapped, "look - do you or do you not want to sleep?"
"Oh yes I surely want to."
"Then just drink this!"
"Oh I would have anyway."
"Then why the hell are you behaving this way?"
"Well, it's always nice to see you act like a queen."
"Drink it and get lost!"
So I took in the siesta, and was in its throes for around five hours. The books were forgotten. And it was not till six in the evening that I finally decided to let go of the bed.
By that time, tea had walked onto the table with a rather delectable choice of biscuits. I showed those biscuits the way to my stomach. And then I showed my feet the way to the shower.
That brought me to 8:30 pm IST. The clock ticked on and my books looked on but I was in no mood to touch them. For dinner landed at 9. And by 10, I was on the bed again.
As I let my feet entangle the sheet and my hands look for a pillow, I realized that it indeed was:
A day so listless,
it insisted on being useless
A day so lazy,
it made my thoughts hazy
A day so lame,
it just had itself to blame
And it was:
A day so dead,
I wish it were not born instead.
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