Sunday, October 30, 2011

Dreams within.

He woke up in the middle of his ultimate dream.

Perplexed, he stormed his way out of the house, half-dressed, breakfast consumed whilst glancing at the houses nearby. There was something different about today. He could feel it.

Driving at a high-speed, he was shocked to listen to his favorite song, as soon as he turned on the radio. He expressed his luck by grinning at the school-girl staring at him from the school-bus next to his car. The light turned to green. And he crossed the school-girl and her bus. He noticed in his rear-view mirror, that she was still staring. As if she had either seen a ghost, or a celebrity. There was sympathy in her eyes.

Today was the launch of his first-ever book, 'Dreams within'. It was picked up by a renowned publisher 2 years back, and had received outstanding media hype. He had been thinking about this day ever since he was in college. His launch was set in one of the most popular art galleries of the city. The launch was scheduled to start at 10:30am. It was already 10:34, with no signs of the author.

His secretary kept calling him since 9:30 in the morning. He realized he was late, and was not responding to any calls. Until he saw his mother's name on the caller ID. He had not spoken to her in 10 years. Ever since they had a major fallout. He hated her, and did not want to take her call. 'I wish you all the best', said his mother, in a brief 10-second one-way call. He took the call, for some odd reason. All of a sudden, he felt animated and conscious. He felt a huge relief, almost as if it had freed him from prison.

He reached the gallery at 10:58am. His secretary was at the gate to receive him and brief him about the launch and the agenda. He had his speech well-prepared. He had worked on it for almost 2 months, and rehearsed it every single day. It was time.

--

With a shaky voice, she continued addressing the audience gathered at the 5th memorial of Chris Hayden. "This excerpt was from Chris's Biography written by his wife. Chris passed away in his sleep the morning before his book launch, exactly 5 years ago. This Biography is in his memory."

"I still remember how Chris used to think about his ultimate dream, all the time. As if he had planned every second of it."

"I loved him very, very much. After all, he was my only son."

9 comments:

  1. Tragic... poor guy reaches so near his lifelong dream and alas.. drops dead! Tolstoy stuff man! *tears in my eyes* :P

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow.. that was so well written.. good story telling and sad at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think there's another side to it. It goes to show how we're stuck in this race to succeed in life while forgetting those closest us. Family is EVERYTHING

    One who cant stand being with his family doesnt deserve the love and affection of others. He will always be alone - will die alone.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great piece to mull over...I think that's what destiny is when your plans end up matching with the divine ones otherwise they're just efforts gone waste....sigh....

    ReplyDelete

Sup?