Scene: Chennai International airport, 0100 hrs.
Protagonist: The writer
Antagonist: The writer
After a brief yet snugly stint at home, here I sit facing my laptop, with my headphones camouflaging my ear drums, legs resting on the luggage trolley, and fingers inflicting pain on the keyboard, waiting for my flight to Kochi which departs at 1030 hrs. Well, now that's some waiting game that I'm obligated to play.
However though, it's fairly quiet in here at this hour of the day(or night: have it your way). And apparently it seems like I'm not the only one bounded by an obligation. There are others too, ready to embark on their journey to some distant land. Alike me, there are a few who are apparently busy browsing their cell phones, while there are others (such as the gentleman resting beside me) who seem to have slipped into limbo.
Well, there's a pretty girl in pink sweatshirt who has just occupied one of the empty seats in close vicinity to mine. And as I sheepishly sway my head to catch an occasional glimpse of her, she appears to be a be a bit too absorbed in her cell phone to notice anything.
And suddenly there's crowd building up, all so to dispel the primeval silence that exuded calmness. Slowly even the lights have been undimmed as the passenger traffic is relatively getting thicker. For the record, I have a real proclivity for dimmed lights, especially while writing, which I've been into since quite recently.
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Well now let me not digress while writing this. So I mentioned in the introduction that I am traveling to Kochi( Kerala, India). Yes, it's a beautiful city located on the southwest coast of India by the Arabian sea in the state of Kerala. It is virtually the epicenter of all activities ( be it cultural, political, sporting etc.) happening in the state.
I happen to be a chemical engineer by education and currently work at a crude refinery located in Kochi, owned and operated by a global fortune 500 company. Perfect ain't it. ? a chemical engineer unscrewing the nuts and bolts of operational processes at a chemical engineer's paradise( refinery as they call it..Surely it must be all sunshine and rainbows for me, right? having a job as challenging while being cushy at the same time, what else could one hope for.
Yeah, that's what the general perception is.They feel I'm savoring every morsel of it. They say I must live and love it all. They say I'm fortunate enough to have as they call it a "dream job" and mustn't for a second think about quitting it, for that will be folly and sheer desecration in their view.
While I at the same time don't concur to any of it. And that's what makes me the antagonist. A naive and cluttered sheep that is trying to extricate itself from the flock. Stupid ain't she..? surely the docile creature has been indoctrinated by some radical clique.
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Or maybe it's her gullibility that makes her believe, that she has a real chance of abandoning the conventional route and disembark. But alas..! poor creature is utterly imbecile to think so. Surely she needs to be guided, or rather forced to stick to the flock, because that's where she belongs, because that's where she is safe, at least as per convention.
But maybe this is not the sheep which can be dissuaded or stifled by the shepherd.Perhaps, she isn't prepared to let her dreams be smothered by the external forces. As folly as her prospects may seem to the saner heads, she's prepared to tread on the seemingly treacherous path. Perhaps her amenability to devour the tasteless pasture(sheep's supper) has crept into oblivion.
Perhaps the modus operandi isn't lending her the desired flavor. Perhaps...
And as I finish writing it's already 0430 hrs and there's ruckus in the offing as I lurk on the floor in here with my headphones still camouflaging my ear drums as the pretty flight attendants wade to and fro with their luggage. The lights have become brighter during the course though, few of the fellow travellers are done with their waiting game and are proceeding for boarding, while I still wait for my flight that takes me to the field of tasteless(which is rather becoming unpalatable) pasturage...
Finished at 0445 hrs.
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