Sunday, June 8, 2014

Unwritten

There is this clear, brown, whiskey-ish tinged glass of Earl Grey resting lazily on the table in front of me. Its been sitting like that for ten minutes now, and even though I really want to sip in the warm liquid and feel my nose and throat react to the subtle strength of the concoction like a cold child wrapped in the benevolence of a blanket, I merely inhale the aroma and stop. And smile. And remember. Wasn’t he similar to this cup of tea – magnificent in his beauty like amber in a crystal goblet, but someone to inhale, not someone to sip from too soon? Or ever?

I wasn't falling for him. I did, however, for a brief moment, fall into him. He had a careless stare, but one which could pierce right through you when he so desired. He had a million irrelevant details to talk about, but somehow, when his velvet voice touched the words, they acquired importance, even if they were mouthed out in a slumber-deprived, slurred speech. There was so much visibly wrong about him, and yet, there was nothing I could point at that I did not like. He had it, he flaunted it. And no, not in the average style of a self-possessed narcissist. I mean, narcissist he was, but strangely enough, he flaunted his vulnerabilities with, almost, a performative ease. Perhaps that’s what he was – a performer, and a darn skilful one at that. Perhaps I was seeing him exactly as he wanted to be seen by me, my own judgement feeling miniaturized under his imposing (yet not arrogant) personality. In plain terms, perhaps he was a jerk. But then, perhaps he was not. And this dint of a fiercely enticing possibility kept my senses in an overdrive – for I had to use some, and curb some. I was not yet sipping, you see.

At the end of it all, I reckon I could finally arrive at a safe inference about him. He was not a majestic idea bound in the rhythmic prosody of a refined poem. He was the gloriously unwritten plot of a novel which held the promise of indecipherability since its inception in the author’s brain. If anything, he was that. To top it, he had a cute smile. And since remembering that smile puts me off-track in a strangely lunatic sort of way, I should probably focus on gulping down the cup of Earl Grey, now cold, but also pregnant with reflections of my thoughts, or him. A cup of tea, sometimes, is all it takes. 


20 comments:

  1. Perfectly captured Saumya! Well done! Sometimes, the smell of the earl grey is also something we have imagined and that imagination makes the earl grey (also it's lovely name) smell stronger, perhaps more pleasurable, when in reality it is probably not. You know what I mean.

    I love your writing!

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    1. I do know what you mean, and perhaps it is over a cup of Earl Grey that you and I should plan to catch up!

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  2. Wow. I love the command you have over words and expressions. Just perfect this is.
    This piece almost inspired me to pen some fiction. Been a while. Such was the magic of this piece.
    Beautifully written.

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    1. Oh yes, I have not read anything you wrote since long. Do share soon!

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    2. Somehow your 'Earl Grey' and 'He' inspired me to write. I wanted to use the same brand of tea as I love the name but then thought would be repetitive but still. Here read->https://whisperingwithwords.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/he/

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    3. That tea does have something magical about it - beautifully written!

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  3. Excellent :) This has been inspiring ;)

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  4. Well,part of it makes me believe that its not a fiction,its a self experienced thing sandwiched with a beautiful analogy of sipping a cup of tea.I often associate olfactory remembrance more close to my heart whether its the red eraser I used in my Kg class,or the smell of the shampoo of a girl in my school bus,or the tangy smell of unused woolen clothes kept in ny drawer or the spices my mom uses in the sabjis she makes,or the perfume that a particular person wears its all there in my mind,not the name not anything specifically but these kind of smells ting a particular bell in my mind .Keep writing :)

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    1. Olfactory remembrances are, in fact, the strongest memories we make. You've also reminded me of some very fond smells of childhood - will write about them someday, perhaps.

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  5. achcha likha hai.... all those incomplete details which you know but you dont want to write because you don't want to kill that subtle good part. you just want to write the good part.

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  6. You had me mesmerized, slowly drawing me deep into the web of words you've so beautifully woven. Sometimes we do have memories associated with the most mundane things like the way your phone vibrates or the sound you hear when the door creaks open. You've captured so much in such less words. Yet it leaves me curious for more.

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    1. And I am waiting for your response to the sequel :)

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  7. Beautifully written and I do agree with Amrit. It felt real, sandwiched between the smell of Earl Grey and the beautiful thoughts. As always, pleasure reading.

    Much love

    P.S.- 1 Million views. Wooohhhhhooo!!!!

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    1. Haha! You were the one to tell me about them, so thanks to you :)

      And I hope you read the sequel too :)

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  8. Your writing is as vibrant as you are. Congratulation for achieving 100K and beyond.

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    1. Thanks Jitu ji. Like always, the encouragement is valued :)

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  9. Hey Saumya,

    This is a nice mood piece. Is it about a stranger or a past love? I got the feeling that you didn't really know this person, but maybe I read it wrong?

    While the words are good, the prose, I think, is a little clunky. Maybe it's all the long adjectives that you've used. We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that nobody will take us seriously unless we use long, complicated descriptive words (adjectives and adverbs). More often than not, they steal attention from the nouns and verbs instead of enhancing them.

    'Miniaturized', 'performative', 'fiercely enticing', 'gloriously unwritten' - these are all adjectives that force the reader to pay attention, whereas the nouns and verbs are what we really care about. A good way to get around this is to write a bare sentence first, and then add in adjectives if you think they're necessary. For instance, would 'he was the plot of an unwritten novel' be more powerful?

    Ultimately, of course, it's your piece :-)

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  10. hey hey jus read this the third time!!! saumyaaa your words are visual delightttt!!! i love your talent of making ur audience drift into a mental movie as good as the one we see n cinema's...
    may your heart keep breaking until it opens, and may these cracks keep triggering such mesmerising work!!!
    keep the show on sweetheart!!!

    p.sss - we have a due date!! loads to catch up

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