Friday, October 17, 2008

Scatman's world.

Scatman, fat man, black and white and brown man. Tell me 'bout the color of your soul. The lyrics hit me like a lightning bolt. The song was creating a strange effect on me. I decided to take a tea break and get my composure back. Thoughts were traveling back in time at a scorching pace. And then in an instance, it finally dawned on me.

I had been listening to the bromidic songs for a long time and was desperately trying to find something new to listen to. Then the search result displayed Scatman's world. To me its a kind of song that I can hear for a while but it fails the test of time. However, it had been a long time since I had heard it. I decided to play the song and after a while I was off for a tea break.

What was it that was nagging me? Was it colonialism? Was it the slave trade? Was it the caste system? Was it the religious wars? or Was it about the other divisions that humans had inflicted upon themselves? The lyrics were surely sounding different this time. Finally I knew I was thinking on a much bigger scale. In reality it had been an incident that had happened when I was young that was gnawing me.

There were two groups of 3 students each who were rivals in everything they did. The rivalry had been started very early and over the years it had been blown out of proportion. They were destined to fight over everything. I was a part of it as well :(.

The quarrel had started in the same fashion as it always had. Arguing over a minor statement that had nothing to do with the subject that was being discussed. It had not come to blows this time. But I had a feeling that this was different from the normal angry disputes. The fight was taking a more serious turn. Others were trying to intervene but to no avail. And then one of us said something that should not have been said. It was related to every discrimination that has divided the world for last thousands of years. Instantly all the six of us knew that this had gone too far. What had become of us? Was it worth it? We left the battle field silently. For the first time it looked as if both the armies had lost the battle.

The next day went by silently and so did the week. Then almost the start of another quarrel. But there was no steam in the fight. We were all coming to same conclusions. Now that had never happened. And then to everyone's surprise we were on talking terms. Then exchange of good words for a while and then jokes. The wind of change was blowing.

Now we were a single group of six. But we were not searching for another group of six to fight. It seemed like we had seen the color of our souls. Today we talk once in a while and celebrate the day when we had fought our greatest war and lost.

Dedicated to putting an end to discrimination and the violence arising out of it. How can someone win if winning means that someone loses.

4 comments:

Kapil Singbal said...

great.... simply great... finally something extraordinary.... and no village elders to spoil the fun....

Unknown said...

man...i am speechless...cause most of it went over my head....seriously...you have to explain a little bit to me later...

Vishal Pai Vernekar said...

Thanks for the comments. Do continue reading and providing much needed feedback.

Shridha shetye said...

hey vishal... i did not read all of them... but liked them all...it gets very interesting as u read it. very good work.. i think u should publish this... keep up the good work it is just great!!!!

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