Sunday, January 4, 2009

Stark White Ends


He felt the breeze ruffle his hair lovingly, as the bike yawned lazily down the dark road. Unlike most people, for whom biking meant riding full throttle on an empty road, flying faster than the wind itself, leaving the world behind, for him, it was a slow ride along an empty road, taking in the scent of the wilderness, breathing the slow languid solitude, as the world moved past, slowly at its own pace. Nothing relaxed him more. On some nights he would go to the dark empty road on the outskirts of the city, just put the bike in the first gear, close his eyes, and let the bike take him wherever it wanted to go.
It was one such night.. He was lost in his version of nirvana, when he sensed a foreign aroma ripple through all the familiar odors of the night. He tried to place it..what was it that he smelt? A bud of passion in a swirl of loneliness coloured with a dash of the wild and the unfamiliarity of the city, an open invitation hiding an impenetrable wall, a feminine mystery.. his eyes opened, and he saw her walking down the pavement. The white salwar, unhurriedly kissing the quick paced heels... the kurta coloured with little drops of ruby red, that seemed to be shifting, forming a new pattern with each step... the long black braid, that went in a pendulum motion, that had something hypnotic about it, It took him a minute to force his eyes away and break its spell. But what took his breath away was the scarlet dupatta, which seemed to whirl around with a life of its own... the deepest red with the starkest white ends...
He pulled his bike ahead and stopped next to her. The heels stopped, and she turned a slow black gaze towards him raising her questioning eyes, with just that hint of suspicion in them. For a moment he didn't say a word, standing there dumbfound, staring at those impossibly red lips. It was when they moved to ask him his purpose that he finally snapped out, "Hey! This is kind of a lonely place,to be travelling alone, I would love to give you a ride back to the city". He sensed a hesitation in those vibrant eyes, and quickly turned a smile to put her at ease. "Are you sure, it won't be a inconvenient?", the lips asked slowly. "Not at all, I was going there anyway".
The bike started again, and he felt the dupatta on his back, almost caressing it. He could have sworn there was something almost wet and sticky about it.
He ignored it as the wind took over and the scents of the night returned to fill him.
The trees fell past, as if of its own violation, the bike got faster... the wind ceased to caress him, but crashed against him to break into a million pieces.
The grey ribbon ahead disappeared, as the red dupatta whipped out like the devil's tail, to wrap itself around him.
The ripple of his scream shattred the silent mirror of the wild, before it set itself back in one.
She walked on with the white salwar, unhurriedly kissing the quick paced heels... the kurta coloured with little drops of ruby red, that seemed to be shifting, forming a new pattern with each step... the long black braid, that went in a pendulum motion, that had something hypnotic about it, and the scarlet dupatta, which seemed to whirl around with a life of its own... the deepest red with the equally bloody ends...

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've started getting scared of you now. Dark post, this one (Shivers).

I was so expecting that today is this guy's lucky day :)... Not to be :)

radiohead said...

Fantasy !!
Cryptic !!
Scary !! ..

and my initial thoughts were that you are sharing that bike ride of yours .. but then I am sure you wont even kill an ant .. forget that chap.

umangexuberance said...

@Rakesh
you should be scared of me..
now you know I am not just sweet and sappy :D

umangexuberance said...

@anuj
aaaah now don't be so sure about me not hurting anyone..u never know ;) :D
I might just be describing my bike ride or all u know

Anonymous said...

you know, this reminds me of an old horror movie 'Veerana'. This was the most cliched scene - Hot women in wet white clothes asking for a lift.... hooo... got to sleep so no scary stories... hooo.

umangexuberance said...

@rakesh
I haven't watched the movie, but would definitely look it up :)

miracle child!! said...

pleasant change...but whats wrong is this some kind of strong desire or long lived fantasy...!!
stay away ..dont ever bother to wear such clothes and come near

umangexuberance said...

@abhi
dude
u'll be the last person i'll ever dress up like that and come near :D

@all
the point that i think almost everybody failed to notice was that it was the dupatta who was the vampirish killer not the girl

Anonymous said...

dupatta!!!

duhhh!!!

Anonymous said...

dupatta,, yeah. great so we need to stay away only from dupattas. Next time I give a lift to a girl, first thing I'll do is remove her dupatta HE he...

What might follow???

umangexuberance said...

@humble devil
yes dupatta..lame wasn't it?
thats what I think now
so basically its tuned into a comedy from a horror story

@rakesh
what might follow is "one tight slap"!!

pooja said...

lol..the way it all started ..it sounded so "filmy"....ended well..-bechara :P

Joy deep Majumder said...

Its been a long time that i got so lost in a writers words..became one with the characters they created.....

excuisite is the word.....

P said...

One of your best blogposts..took a while to sink in...beautifully written!

crasiezt said...

Coming here after a long time..really long in fact..

You totally got me there!! I thought it was going to be a nice little romantic story..but whoa!!! Terrific!

umangexuberance said...

@pooja
lol
ya I guess I get a little filmy at times :)
Actually I first see the pictures in my head and then put it down into words.

umangexuberance said...

@blue kite dreamz
Thanks... I am truly honoured :)

umangexuberance said...

@priya
thanks...that meant a lot :)

umangexuberance said...

@craziest
hey! great to have u here :)
thanks :)