Alter Egos

I remember Jeremy. He was sweet, and harmless. When he said hello, it was like somebody had died. He seemed so constipated. Then I heard he stabbed that Parker kid with a butcher knife. There was no way in hell he could’ve pulled off a murder. He couldn’t even defend himself from little Jenny on her bike. The boy had no muscle.

But then, he’d done it. He’d stabbed Parker nine times. It’s been over a year that I look after Jeremy at the LK General Hospital. I’ve been meeting him for over sixteen months now. He still has no memory of that night. Then, there are times I encounter his alter-ego, Clive. He says he did it. Initially, I found it hard to believe that this could be true. But, I know when someone is telling the truth, and I saw the fear in this little boy’s eyes.

During my meetings with Jeremy, I saw different facets of his character. I met Marvin, who is the first, and the main personality living within Jeremy. He is twenty eight years old, has blue eyes and brown hair. The second personality is William, twenty one years old, British. These two are the minds that control the remaining personalities that exist within Jeremy. Clive is the mercenary who controls the frustration and hate. There was the poor criminal, Sean, who was always a victim; and, lastly, a four-year-old boy called Joey.

In the mind of Marvin, he had been raped by his step-father. He told me during our meet that he was eight or nine when it happened and he distinctly remembers the day like a movie playing in his head. What would a child do at such a helpless, tender age? He’s too young to report the incident to the police, and might be neglected by his mother. May be this was why Marvin had always been the suicidal one.


To gain a deeper understanding of Jeremy’s personalities, I met with his parents, foster care supervisor and school friends. When I visited the foster care, I noticed that boys were being bullied by young men and administrators. When I met Jeremy’s father, I knew he was the one Marvin was afraid of. He seemed like a person capable of molesting his son. He also seemed like the one who would indulge in domestic violence. I saw gashes and wounds on Jeremy’s mother’s arms and neck. When I asked her about it, she gave me that apathetic look. Well, at least I knew where Marvin and Clive came from. Jeremy was afraid, but he also wanted to act on his fear.

Jeremy was good at the arts, explained his teachers. But he was bullied for the same. The boy who Jeremy murdered, Parker, was a senior. He locked up Jeremy in the girls’ locker room and oppressed him for hours. To make this worse, he video-taped it and made it viral across the school. Imagine the anger within Clive. The crime scene had photos of Jeremy passed out in a pool of blood next to Parker’s dead body. The feeling of anger within Clive was so intense that it physically drained Jeremy.

Each personality had its own need to come out and live in the outer world.  For instance, in a dangerous situation when there is need for defence, Clive would come out and fulfil his duty. Another example is just before Jeremy was found at the crime scene of Parker’s murder. Two days ago, Sean had set out to find a new job, and over the weekend Marvin had been reading a book about Great Leaders. All these personalities had their area of expertise, and when Jeremy was in a peaceful situation; William took charge and decided who would do what. For most of the time, this arrangement worked out without a glitch.

None of these personalities shared memory with one another. Only William could see what the others were doing. Imagine every time you wake up you didn’t even know where you were, or what you were doing. I could only imagine Jeremy waking up in a street with torn clothes and wounds all over his body, absolutely clueless as to what has been going on. Of all the papers I found in Jeremy’s file, there was a detailed rap sheet of various crimes that the same criminal wouldn’t commit. He was accused of rape, shop-lifting, and gang violence. It was almost as if each personality had a violent streak to them.

Sean and Joey were more dormant. I figured they were more empathetic towards Jeremy’s life, and the few memories he hopelessly held on to. He may have had a few good memories, which could’ve been instrumental in soothing his aggravation. I wish I knew him better to help him. Jeremy’s story breaks my heart. He was found dead in his cabin few days ago. I just presumed it could’ve been Marvin or William. Weak minds like Jeremy’s can’t handle stress well. They can’t help themselves the way we do. May be Jeremy was a victim all his life, but wanted to break out of it. In his mind, Jeremy could have created alternate visions of his reaction to the oppression he was subjected to. Mysteries that are hidden in the subconscious mind of people and are not so easy to identify.

This kind of mental state is a hint at the depths and power of the subconscious mind. As humans we are the most developed form of species on this planet. We must have a wide perspective to understand the power of the mind. May be more testing into this disease might someday bring about methods to hone the central function of our body – the brain.

The brain is wider than the sky. We all have very powerful minds and, we don’t realise how our subconscious mind governs our daily life, slowly moving it towards the lifestyle we truly desire. The paradox of reality is that no image is as compelling as the one which exists only in the mind’s eye.

You can be whatever you want to be. It’s just a matter of how strongly you believe in it.

Never Gone

Never Gone

She held Mark's hand and led him through the woods. He saw a wonderful land where the trees were as green as they could be; sunlight was peering out of the clouds and a perfect rainbow drawn across the sky. He could hear a brook gurgling in the distance, and little splashes of water as they hit the rocks.

Mark gazed into her eyes as she escorted him deeper into that magical land. Although he was aware of the enthralling beauty around him, he was more engaged in looking at her walk him through the forest. Her face was gleaming, and she wore her hair loose. Every now and then she would glance at Mark and secretly smile as she looked around.

Suddenly, he felt his vision blurring into darkness. 'Call the paramedics,' he could hear from a distance.

   *** 

'Doctor, is he going to be okay?' Alice hurriedly scuttled across the hospital to get enough help for Mark. 'He fainted as he was walking across the lawn this morning,' she explained.

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, commonly known as LSD, is a hallucination-inducing drug. All of Mark's tests came back positive for LSDs. Alice only wished she could be more concerned! Mark hadn't slept in six years. His eyes were always red, and he looked around as though he were gazing into a gaping hole. He was a wreck of a person - his soul torn apart.

Six years ago, Mark lost his lovely daughter. A rogue stabbed little Gina with a huge chunk of glass, while Mark crawled across the street trying to save her.

Mark sat in the living room waiting for his wife to step out. The Sun had set. The sky was black and orange; night was silently marauding in. The air was still. His face was blank, yet he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. Mark put on a shoddy blazer, which was the best he had. He looked scruffy and exhausted as always. His face still was hopeless, and his eyes, vacant as ever.

He silently turned on the garden lights. The cake was decorated and candles were lit. She appeared before him in that same blue dress. She wore those pretty pump shoes, and her favourite suede jacket, still bloody from the stab-wounds. As she approached Mark, he could feel the ice in the wind. A burnished aura surrounded her presence, as she simply smiled at Mark and nodded in dissent. In a blink of an eye, Mark lost her. He was immersed in a mysterious hue of colours that formed a mist in the air.

The desiccated tree haunted the arid lawn; Mark sat on the wobbling bench. The dangling branches of the trees formed an ominous claw-like shadow over Mark's head. Yet again, he poured a drop of that pungent liquid on his fist.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.9

Disjointed Thoughts At The Break Of Dawn...

“When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past, 

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, 

And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:

Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow, 

For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,

And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe, 

And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight: 

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, 

And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er 

The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, 

Which I new pay as if not paid before. 

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restored and sorrows end.”

- Shakespeare’s Sonnet XXX

Yet again, I ponder on emotions – So many emotions. Off late I've been thinking about friendship – who really is a true friend? More often than not, I can’t place faith in my own self. I feel like a stranger in my own life… As though I’m watching myself in a movie and time is just passing by. I feel so helpless. I can’t differentiate between dreams and reality. My heart yearns for what is not mine, and, my mind abstains from choice.


Loving yourself is not selfishness and being strong is an endearing quality. If someone doesn’t make an effort to understand you, it’s not unto you to speak it out. Put up a smile and move on. You deserve only smiles.


Feelings are not meant to be spoken. Feelings are meant to be felt. Feelings are never wrong or right. They just define your closeness to a person. Would you have felt a thing, if you weren’t so close?


There is no sense in belittling your feelings by always speaking about them. The more you express, the more you are taken for granted. Gather yourself. Calm down. Take a deep breath and feel your senses relax. Look yourself in the eye, and respect yourself for who you are. If you can’t respect the person you are, how do you expect the world to respect you?


Don’t waste your tears over someone who doesn’t understand why you cry. Don’t let your own feelings hurt you. No! Your heart will speak to you. Accept its premise and simply understand its implications. Just feel your feelings. Don’t complicate your life by trying to act on it.


Sometimes, inaction is the greatest action of all. The one who loves you will find a thousand unspoken words behind your silence; the ignorant will find no meaning in your endless expression and tears.


The more you seek out friendship, the harder it becomes to find. Meditate. Love yourself. Accept yourself. You’re the best friend you’ll ever have. Don’t let yourself down. There is no life without hope. May be life doesn’t turn out the way you want it. That’s really alright. Don’t let your Tomorrow recede beneath the waves of Yesterday.

Watch the Sun Rise. Feel the energy when Darkness breaks into Dawn. Fill your life with Light. Everything is luminous at the break of dawn, yet nothing is clear. Think of where you live and what you love – things that elude you. Let the realisation dawn upon you – You can love without complete understanding. Be your best friend. Let the Sun Rise into your Life!

Ponderings

He sat on the park bench, breathing lightly, observing his surroundings. May be, he was looking back at his life. Just then, I saw myself running towards him. It felt as though, time had turned back and I was 12 again. He looked at me running towards him and got up that instant – we walked hand-in-hand, as he regaled me with various stories. I remember his voice; my innocent laughter rings in my ears as he narrated stories to me. And suddenly, this picture is blurred into my tears.

******

Tears trickled down my face, as I reminisced time spent with my Grandfather. He was a man of old age – he was 80 years old, when I was just 10. Yet, I remember him walking in the house – headstrong, tall, yet mellow and smiling.

It’s very difficult to accept that a person in your life has gone away, to never return. You never know when a ‘moment’ would turn into a ‘memory.’ Sometimes, you want to wail your heart out just so that your shriek brings them back. But all you can hear is silence – Dead Silence.

I wish for his guidance, and I miss his wise hearings. May be, that’s why I’m dreaming of him. May be I couldn’t cry when he passed away because I was too young to comprehend human loss.

Tears came, a little too late, a little too soon – as, 8 years later, I know what it means to lose a loved one to Time.

It pains me to know that every moment of laughter will later only ring in my memory. May be, there’s too much amiss in this world – but our share of it, however imperfect, is truly tailored for us. Sometimes, I wish I could record every such moment of joy, and relive the memory – it’s only when I realise how painful it is: The Ability to Remember. Sometimes, you wish you didn’t have it. May be, life would have been simpler.

It’s very easy to blame a friend for drifting apart. You can ponder as much you want over your choices, they wouldn’t change. Your feelings will remain with yourself until you speak them.

Ever wish you had full-time access to some one’s mind? What if you did? Could you still change the way they thought about you?

Sometimes, you’re in the best relationship in the world, and it comes to an end – all you’re left with is a blank mind and a heart ripped into pieces. To begin with, may be, you weren’t as close as you thought.

It’s not necessary to explain every feeling you feel. May be you end up saying it because your hearts are not as close as you think they are. If they were, would there be a need to speak? When your hearts are too close for words, days, months, years of being apart never seem to matter. You know that you’re understood. You know that the bond is alive. It’s an odd feeling of unsettlement in your heart – the sweetness of being loved with the acidity of being apart.

As usual, I’m not being able to settle down on a single thought. But, I’ve learnt one thing. It’s okay to fall apart with people you love. Being truthful is what matters. Being truthful is very simple. Being ‘hurt,’ in my opinion, is an over-rated feeling. Sometimes, you think you’re very close to a person because you’re spending so much time together and doing all these important things in life. That may not be true. Deep down, in your heart, there lives a bond which you might not be aware of today. Look around yourself, and think – think hard on how every bond affects you. Nurture the relationships in your life. There will be a day when your moments will turn into a memory. You’re always going to have that sinking feeling in your heart, wherein you wish you’d done something more. Get ready for it. Someday, you’re going to have to look yourself in the mirror, and just hope that when you meet eyes with yourself, you’re not going to cry.

All these years, I never realised that my Grandfather was so important to me. But, I guess he knew. He was wiser. I knew he heard me cry. That's why he came into my dreams. He could feel my heart yearning for a lesson.

As I clear the mist around my eyes, I still see him walking… I see him walking away.

I wish he didn’t leave me. I need someone to hold my hand, and guide me through this world.
Nobody’s perfect. We all need someone.

The Girl Who Cried

Tears filled her eyes as she hung up the phone. Yet she made her way through the crowd and moved forward to work. Life hadn’t given her that option to relax or unwind and be who she wanted to be.

She had a plan. And, she was committed to making it happen. As she found a train and cleared her face of the big beads of tears it adorned… she noticed a boy. He was not more than 12. He was trying to make a sale.

His hands were full of cheap stationery products and too huge for him to hold. It was almost as if he was drowning into his own baggage, yet, he seemed to exude the determination to walk steadily enough and make a sale.

He’d made up slogans, and was singing them out loud. His eyes showed the pain of his struggle, yet somehow his face was lit up with a smile.

At that moment, she wondered, what misery this boy must face. She wanted to go there and give him some money, but it seemed too impersonal for the connection she had with him – any money would just belittle his troubles. She knew that no material gains would make her tears go away.

 She wanted to go and buy something from him, but she couldn’t find the courage to look directly into his eyes.  It was a matter of shame for her. She wondered deeply and closed her eyes to let the tears flow away, as she broke into a hint of a smile.

Often we pray to our Gods, asking for wealth, courage, happiness… May be what we don’t realise, is that, we already have it all. It’s very easy to ask for more. Greed is such an ordinary feeling. The feeling of satisfaction is rare. That is what saints are made of.

The girl-who-cried, realised how little her heart was, how shallow her thoughts were. True happiness lies inside us, but it glorifies, when we see the light in other’s faces. Most people are so busy with their lives that they fail to acknowledge their loved ones, or thank God for the roof on their head and the food in their plate.

We are so busy in looking into our own troubles and magnifying them that we turn into selfish beings just hollowed by our very existence.

The girl in tears forgot her misery when she looked at the pre-teen boy trying to make a sale. He didn’t lose hope. May be he was robbed of his day’s work by some sick drug-dealer, or he earnings of the day were taken away by his drunk father, or he had to pay for a relatives hospital bills.

The little boy did not even find a chance to enjoy his earnings, and yet she cried over a petty fight for a stupid movie or a dinner party. Isn’t there more to life than our own worries?

The little boy never gave up his grit and determination to make the sale. He moved on with his life, notwithstanding the circumstances.

The same stands true for us. The best thing about Time is that it’s never the same. If you feel the Good days pass by too quickly, so do the bad ones.

All I’m trying to say is, joy or sadness is momentary. What lasts is the deed you’ve done for another. For, any efforts that you make for the happiness of others will truly lift you above yourself.

Sadness is an inevitable feeling. Without it’s existence, we wouldn’t know what happiness would mean. So, it’s okay to be the girl-who-cried. But, don’t forget to thank God for all that he has given you. There will be a day, when it won’t be there, and however little you thought it was, you would realise it meant a lot.

Rise above yourself. Like the little boy was thankful, so you must be.

You must think that somewhere on the way in this write-up, there’ll be a moment, when the girl gets out of her own troubles and helps the boy. But that’s not what happens. When you have to give or share a feeling, it’s not about how rich or poor you are. It’s about how sensitive your heart is to a stranger’s life.

It’s ironic how a small boy with far less means than the girl, could help her forget her sorrows and grow. He gave her a gift… A gift of a moment that she would never forget, and a lesson for life which she would always cherish, no matter how good or bad the times are – he gave her A lesson of Gratitude and Togetherness.

Give it a thought – “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

Let’s make an effort to look beyond ourselves and be humans, in the true sense.

Feelings

Sometimes, when you hear something very hurtful, there’s a physical pain you feel in your chest. It feels as though you’ve been violated.

Your world has been vandalised, and when you look around, you can literally see the good days just floating in empty space, blurring out into your tear drops.

Pain is a feeling harder to describe than love – the feeling that eats you up and throws you down and vanquishes your faculties to even act coherently.

To every person, his pain seems the greatest. Truth is very hard to accept, but it’s even harder when you not only accept the truth, but also embrace the consequences that come along.

And, it is that wretched moment, when you want to speak your heart out, however much shipwrecked you may be…

It’s unnerving when you muster up all the courage you have, to confront the one you love about how you feel.

You’re short of words…sometimes, breath! You’re choking at every thought and your head spins, but you feel you’ve finally made it. You’ve shared how you feel. The battle against tears has not been won; alas, it has just begun.

‘Painful’ isn’t even the word, to begin with. You try to be numb, but you are not. You can feel the agony in your heart – you feel a physical torture inside your head and the inflictions of those emotional wounds on your corporal being. It’s like your mind is numb, to everything but the hurting and throbbing; your head’s heavy and all you see is a glare of colours disintegrating into their natural forms – you’ve lost the capacity to distinguish between your pain and reality.

The heart aches for love, and it aches more of curiosity. Expectation is such a bitch!

It’s painful when you can’t convey how desperate and lonely you are for someone’s love and acceptance. What stings more is, when all the courage you’ve amassed, have turn into hollow words – because, they can only hear your feelings, they can’t understand.

Follow Your Heart...

From the Ink-blots in my Notebook...

Sometimes, your goals seem too close, yet too far. Like, it’s a hard day’s work, taking you no-where. You feel exhausted and lose hope; and, all-the-same, there is a voice inside you that pushes you towards it.

You’ve been with yourself forever, but you just can’t seem to fix the puzzle in your own head, that is, - What do you really want?! May be it’s the closeness that blurs your view; may be standing further along and judging would give you the vantage point you need. May be, it may not.

All you need to do is continue on the path your heart feels is right. Love your family, fear God, and be honest with your day’s piece – you’ll get what you deserve. Don’t leave any stone unturned.

It’s very difficult, sometimes. You think you know what you really want from life, and suddenly you’re without a plan.

May be, that’s it. Life has no plans. Life is unpredictable. You just have to live it. And, the day you reach your goal, however sooner or later it may be, no one can take it away from you. It’s your achievement, you worked for it – No one can take it away from you.

And now, magically, when you look back at the time you spent, you see the plan unfold. All this while, when you were flustered, now seems like a good day’s work – your journey to success.

May be that’s all life is about – being truthful. It’s way too simple. Wonder how people manage to complicate it?!

Doing what you love best shall never let you down. Failure shall not hurt you easy and success shall not render you proud. It shall humble you – give you an odd sense of unsettlement in your heart, to push yourself a little more, and compete with yourself. Cause, that’s the real measure of competition – open and the toughest, where you challenge your own faculties. Mind over mind!

Think over it. May be, you’re wrong. Yes, you have been with yourself all your life. But, make sure you aren't seeing yourself in the light of how others perceive you. There’s a little voice inside your heart trying to scream out what you would really covet. You’re dimming that sound within the drone of the world’s expectations. Nevertheless, you hear that voice humming.

Think really hard before you decide – Are you judging yourself too much?