a journey

03.06.07

I wanted to see the world. From up there, the highest peak, every tiny visible area looked a picturesque landscape, a perfect dream destination. So I thought why not take a closer look, and I jumped off the cliff.

Ahh!!! Don’t worry! Nothing was going to hurt me, nothing was going to break me. I wouldn’t bleed, or cry in pain, because there wasn’t going to be any injury, any pain to me. I was never going to be influenced by any emotions too. Why? You are reading my journey.. I am a stone… a stone’s journey!

A stone that is hard, that is tough, that do not have a heart, and do not feel anything, in love(I know stone cant know what love is..) with the beauty I saw from the top f the cliff I ran out to… he he feel the beauty. Whatever you say one knows what one can feel and how much one can be hurt.

As I jumped, I felt the strong breeze against myself, but then for sometime I floated in a vacuum where I did not have any control on myself too. After moments of the slow motion suddenly gained speed, and before could understand anything, hit a big rock n the edge and off went a corner of me breaking away.

I didn’t stop there, in fact I just couldn’t, bouncing I went down again and the same action kept repeating.. hitting.. bouncing.. floating…. And just when I would gain momentum hit again and each time some small part of me departed crashing on the rock. This went on until I landed on a flat surface something of a soil kind, softer that neither broke me nor bounced me but just took me fast sloping down on its body so I went rolling down..

Who says I don’t feel? I did feel the softness and the warmth of the soil and felt it so intensely after the hard hitting rocks. That was a beauty in itself, a beautiful feeling..

Rolling down my love of that moment, I opened my eyes and glanced around me. Everything that had looked so tiny for years, had taken a giant form. And then I looked at myself, Ha! What have I become? Almost all my older corners had vanished and some totally new edges had formed on me. Well as no heart no feeling you would say a stone has no shape too. Right! This one I accept. I had no shape… nothing constant!

Well you tell me which part of this entire landscape has a constant shape? Wind, trees, leaves, water, mud, mountains, clouds, birds, animals…. Human being…. Nothing! Change is everything! The essence of creation, the only purpose the creator gave us all! Keep changing! Keep moving!

And so did I! I kept moving observing everything around closely. Now somehow I had decided upon a destination… I wanted to reach the river. That I saw from years. Don’t know how… so I kept moving.

Just when I saw a small steam ahead, I started fast approaching it, but the hell I got stuck. Yeah! Stuck in something – yellow and white in colour. I just couldn’t move.. Tried figuring out what it was, but had never seen such thing before. Just like me it no definite shape and structure. And it would sound a joke to you, it smelled bad.. really bad. You would laugh at me saying – stones do not smell!

I started finding a way out, couldn’t bear that odour anymore, so looked around and found there were so many such kinds of things all over the place- in blue, black white and soon.. all sorts of colours. But what are they? From mountain tops I could never see them. They made the beautiful and my ideal landscape look ugly. But while traveling along how I didn’t notice it and got so crazily stuck. Hmm.. I know. I had set all my eyes on my destination – the river, so I couldn’t notice what all was on the way. And the tall trees, the colourful flowers, the various shaped branches and leaves, the sweet birds all up there took away my attention from the ground.

My destination was so near to me and here I was stuck. I had no option but to wait. It started getting dark, even cool and it was so romantic to see the moon with the borders of trees, never seen it that way. Everything was so beautiful except this smelly unbearable thing! Was this really a pert of the nature- my beautiful landscape? I don’t know. I want to get out of it. Just then something touched me.. something cold, gentle that initially ticked me. He he. But then it started rising high and in sometime over me. Ohh! This is water! The flow of the stream had increased and the waters had reached me. In some more minutes there I was flowing in it, with that ugly thing and finally some moments later I was out of it. It went flowing fast away from me to the other end. Finally I felt free and so happy! Yes I know stones do not have emotions, they cannot be happy!


In that dark I don’t know how much and where was I traveling. But just made sure that I kept moving in the current of the water. Along with the water I was feeling touch of many hard things also. There were some new sounds there – insects leaves, and some known ones as the sounds we stones could make I guess. Okay the hard things around me were other many stones flowing that time with me. I had a company. I said them hello in the dark, introduced myself, but there was no reply. Unknowingly I started sharing my experiences in this journey and waited to hear their experiences but – no response, fine.. stones do not convey, do not communicate, they do not share. They are dumb and deaf things that do not feel. HAPPY!

So I did shut up and moved on. As it started getting brighter, I understood the sun was approaching. I loved seeing the morning and evening sun from the cliff, but from here there were so many obstacles, tried jumping to have a look but all useless. Just then I remembered that I didn’t even see the setting sun yesterday.. forgot that thing entirely in my so called thrilling journey. A few sunrays then fell on the waters and everything shined in that gold poured out all around.

I thought how wonderful this life is! Stones do not have a life!! Well, how beautiful this moment is then! Fine? Just keep floating in the water. Keep going where it takes you. Where does it finally reach do not know.. might the huge water body far away that I used to see with small eyes from up there. And as I was thinking this I started feeling lots of hindrances in my floating. I felt as if the water was leaving me away, and indeed it was. Where? I mean where are you going and why not taking me with you? I thing it was bidding me a bye and saying you will have to wait for another tide. And yes water left me! Alone!

Alone? But was I alone? Here I was among hundreds, no thousands no crores of stones, like me… shapeless and as you say heartless on the open banks of the river. Now I looked at my shape and what I see, much o my edges had become blunt. The softness of the river must have transformed my hard edges a little softer like itself. Anyways I loved all this for some time, that two or three stones around me started chatting with me. But I watch closely – I see all of us the same here, with no identity, with no dream, we are just like we have been, like each other and will always be… waiting here till another current washes us away with it, taking us somewhere we have never been and tomorrow leave us at some other part of the beautiful landscape. There is no vision to this journey, I am like everyone!

Yes I accept stones do not have an identity. They shouldn’t or cannot dream. Stones do not have visions! What about u? humans? Do you have a vision? Or are you STONES in your WORLD?