Just a Toy.

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Life was so perfect then. I used to lay peacefully on the top shelf, watch other mates getting picked or rather they choosing people. Like everyone else, I wished to be taken by the right person. Then one day, when you walked in, picked me up and took me to your place. That was the happiest day of my life. Toy’s day. I was very popular, wanted to be possessed by many but no one other than yew got the chance.

Everything was going great. We had our good and bad times. You loved me, spent time with me, and treated me like anything but just a toy. Then came the day when I realized ii no more grabbed your attention. I was at the corner, not even sure of what drove yew away. Was it someone else? Was it some other toy? I was simply in dark.

Now gone are the days when ii wanted to be with you, when ii thought of laying in your arms and seeing you smile at me, when ii thought of staying with you forever. I see the world now, loud and clear. On that top shelf, ii had a view so unclear of reality. You brought me face to face with the cruel world. I wish ii had stayed on that shelf. I better had not come down. I would have preferred being finished off without going through all this rough time, without getting picked.. But nothing can be done now. All ii hope that now you leave me in dark forever. I don’t want to be picked up one day and humiliated in front of other species when they laugh at me while you tell them about the times ii entertained you. Because when you’ll be done, ii know I’ll be thrown away again. To be picked again.

And again and again.

Whichever toy keeps you happy now, ii hope he doesn’t meet the same fate. I know one ought to get bored by one toy at a time but ii have some hope for that toy now. Because even though you got bored of me, ii didn’t get bored of you. I hope that toy means the same to you as you did to me. Its okay, what happened with me though. Was meant to happen, ii guess.

After all I’m just a toy. Destined to be treated like one.

Orientation

You say you love me,

But am confused

You say you need me,

But am confused

Unsure of what the truth is and what are lies,

Oh, am confused.

How do I react?

To what’s going all around

How do I perceive?

The actions and words that reach me

I can’t make out what you want

Dear Lord, am just confused.

Among all the transient demeanor,

Unhappiness is what I experience most

Even if am unsure of what we both want,

Grief remains indisputable

Consequently it comes down to one solution

Seems am not so confused anymore.

My eyes are tired,

from being fired

I long to see your face,

full of love and grace

you seemed to be so carin',

without any flaw and flarin'

I loved stealing a gaze,

to look at you in amaze

a peculiar brightness to be seen,

the perfect face I mean

with the arrant features,

like no other creature

a look at you took me into trance,

with no other man, I had such romance.

He Says

I wanna talk to him but I don't wanna talk unless he replies to my questions. There are so
many of them, left unanswered.
He's being so strange suddenly, sometimes soft sometimes  hard - on me and himself as
well. He says, he was always this way but I know he wasn't. He says he cares, but I
never see him care. He says he loves me, but I never feel his love. He says he'll try but I
never witness him trying. He says he's always with me but when I am low and I need
someone to talk to, he's never around. He says he doesn't mind me talking to other guys
but when I do, he gets angry. He says I fight with him but its always me who tries to
massage his ego. He says I am immature but he's the one who wants to be taken care of
like a child. He says he always speaks the truth but there were times when he lied. He
says who else will he share everything with but I see him sharing his life with others
more than with me. He says he never forces me but all I ever experience is doing things
forcibly. He says he understand and he'll never do it again but "again" doesn't seem to
mean anything to him. He says he's interested in my life but when I think about it, am sure
he knows nothing about the on-goings in my life. He says he wants us to be together but
he drifts himself apart. He says he feels like talking but it's always me who initiates.
He says I don't understand him but I do.


And
He says he knows me but does he not know what I am going through ?

He says so much that now am unable to believe him. Only because all he ever does is
SAY.

The Banyan Tree

Everyday, every few hours, I heard a new story – a story of love, sorrow, deception, hatred, life, marriage, divorce, lust, etc. Mostly, they were the sad ones, by people who had the violent urge to narrate their stories, their feelings, and their expectations. It gave me immense happiness, to know I was offering to them more than I had to offer. They took shelter in me, in my silence to utter their own words.

Their stories shouted, with grave silence, narrations of the sufferings they had gone through. Their tears washed away with them the pain their little heart beheld. And I heard with patience.

They would sit down in front of me, peacefully and carry on with their work – eating, resting, and other petty things to do and narrate their tales. They touched the roots of my heart, their tales.

Sad ones were many, mostly rather. People loved to grieve, I used to wonder. Until, one day, I heard a tale of a young girl. She told the story with such innocence that I doubt she understood the immensity of love her story possessed.

She came towards me, walking with slow steps, looking at the ground and sat beside me. After being quiet and playing with the mud for sometime, she broke the silence. She said, “But why? Why should father do that? Maybe I shouldn’t complain so much. He has too much to do and worry about already. Hmm. Oh, I can ask big brother to get it for me. But only father can provide the money. But it’s sad. I want it. It was so beautiful and everyone in class will have it soon. I want it before they do. But again, father stays so tense all the time. He scolds me too, for no reason sometimes. You know Bannu, I cry in nights because father shouts at me. He even hits me at times. But I know he does that only because he’s upset and my acts hurt him more. He stays worried; the frown lines are always visible on his forehead. He has a lot of work to do and a lot many things to take care of. I am also a kid though, I too get hurt. Its okay, I guess. I know father loves me the most, more than big brother too.”

She started playing with her hair.

After few minutes, she continued again, “or, I can ask Reena aunt to give me some work and in return, I’ll ask her to buy that beautiful Barbie doll to me. That way, papa won’t have to spend a lot of money on me and he wouldn’t have to worry. He works so hard and if I get the Barbie myself, he’ll be happy. And in the next grade, 5^th , I’ll have the best one with me.”

She got up, smiled cheerfully and hugged me. And went back happily jumping on her toes.

The purity in her eyes and her love for her father, made me realize that in this world of sorrows where people only like to share their pain, there are innocent ones like her who unknowingly spread happiness around.

Who am I? I am Bannu, the Banyan Tree.

Assumption Game

One fine evening, he decided to take a walk on the beach. It had been a week since he came to this place, this new city, a new neighbourhood, new people but old him. Raghav had decided to finally move to another city and try his luck there in the corporate world.
On the beach, he let his mind run.
He had kept first few weeks to explore the place, explore himself in that new city. He had left a lot of things behind - his former job, family, friends, acquaintances and most importantly Tanya.
Tanya was his love, a girl whom he saw as his soulmate. But something had caused him to leave her, he didn't know what. He had been reluctant about a lot of things - his growing feelings for her, her importance in his life and the very fact that he never dared to confess his feelings towards her. They had been great friends, for the last 5 years, but lately, things had been different, difficult. He was trying to figure out what was wrong with him, why he felt so special about her. He was in huge dilemma and there were times when T used to ask him what was wrong but he himself didnt know what to asnwer so he always nodded his head and told her that everything was fine. But everything was NOT fine. they were drifting apart. He felt that. He knew that.
What he did not know was whether she felt the same way ?


Had T also noticed their drift ? But if she did, why did she never try and stop me ? If she really felt there was something special between us, why didn't she ever say anything ? Why was she always very normal around me, talking about her other guy friends ? Did she not feel what I felt ? Did she never see me burning with jealousy when she talked about that guy from her office ? Or about the guy she met at the bar ? She never cared as to how I felt. She was always indifferent about my feelings. She always thought of me as a playboy and that's why she never thought of me as a special one. I should have told her how I felt before leaving but I guess it's fine. If she feels like talking, she'll call.


On the other side -

Tanya was sitting in her balcony, staring at the cars passing by and wondering what went wrong. She had met R at Eminem's concert and they had clicked right away. Something about him made her feel so comfortable about everything. She could talk to him about anything and everything. He was one guy who truly cared for her, who loved to make her smile, who understood her. But something had been off lately. He had suddenly decided to move, out of the city, out of her life. For last one year, she had felt special about him, like she knew it was him she wanted to spend rest of her life with. She used to tell him stories about her other guy friends only to get a hint of jealousy on his face which would have given her an insight of his feelings. They were amazing together. But what caused him to move, she didn't understand. She had tried asking him several times but he never gave away anything. He was quiet all the while. Quiet as much as that, that he didn't even ask her before deciding to just walk away and abandon her. She went numb, the moment she got to know about his decision. She didn't know what to say to him or to anyone else.


How could he do this to me ? How can he just leave without giving an explanation ? Did he not see the tears in my eyes that begged him to stop ? But how could he not, he understood me so well ? Did he not feel even a slightest thing for me ? But he was so amazing, its so unusual for someone to not notice what special we shared. So long years, and he just went away, just like that ? He knew me so well but he could never make out what I felt for him ? I always teased him to be a playboy but he knew I thought of him as a GREAT guy, because I knew him inside out. But he still went away. Maybe he never cared as to how I felt. He was always indifferent about my feelings. He always thought of me as a any other girl and that's why he never thought of me as a special one. I should have told him how I felt before he left but I guess it's fine. If he feels like talking, he'll call.




And the Assumption Game had begun.

Sadistic Pleasure

Katie was confused, hell confused about her life. Love life, to be precise. She had been single for long and now she wanted, rather didn’t mind getting into a relationship so her emotions had been taking a toll on her lately.

She already had a guy in her life, whom she thought she liked. She was sure that she didn’t love him but she knew that she did have feelings for him because she hadn’t done things close to what all she did for that guy, to keep him happy. But she wasn’t sure of him for he was the “popular” one, the one who very well knew how to play his cards right with girls. She wanted him to take time to get to know her, get to understand her and vice versa but things seemed to be going from bad to worse. She wasn’t accepting the fact that the guy wasn’t right for her but deep down, she knew he wasn’t.  She knew the consequences she would have to face but still she kept going on.

When she thought about it, she realized that she was now in a habit to learn things the hard way. She found some sadistic pleasure in what all she was putting herself through. She knew if she fell real bad, she’ll get up but with new spirits and will never fall with the same mistake again. But for that to happen, she wanted to make sure that the mistake had to be big and cruel before it made her fall.

So having an absurd way to make herself strong, she was putting herself through the unnecessary pain and troubles. What she could never understand was why she was doing all this? She knew, in a way, that she was only making things difficult for herself and that she was just hurting herself even more but she chose to stick to it. Her past made her certain that she needed to make herself strong beyond any possibility of getting hurt from anyone and regarding anything. She would talk to the guy who would hurt her again and again, act like she was happy, would pamper him even when she felt the urge to tell him to leave her alone but she would just continue.

She would indifferently ignore the guy who would treat her right, merely because she couldn’t get herself to believe that someone would actually like her and would want to make her happy. She had fallen way many a times to give herself any importance in anyone’s life.

She was so used to not being pampered, not being taken care of that now she hardly cared if anyone did. And if anyone did do it, she would think it’s just for a matter of time because eventually they would stop. She felt the care and love was transient.

Not quite understanding why she expected way too much out of anybody, the thing which kept pushing her was the fact that she knew no one would ever be able to reach up to those high standards and so she only blamed herself and no one else for setting such high standards. But eventually, she was making it difficult for others to reach her.

She was confused, anguished, insecure, scared and messed up.

Well, so am ii !

Why would anyone, despite knowing the outcomes, would do this to themselves? If someone was unintentionally hurting themselves, it’s still understandable. But what Katie was doing to herself, is just plain confusing and weird.

Am insanely obscure about the necessity to do this to ourselves when we have a beautiful life, comprising of loving friends and family. If you have any possible answer or explanation as to why Katie does that to herself, feel free to suggest.