I'm Not Meant to be Understood

Nah. I'm not meant to be understood.

I'm meant to be just read. Like a book. Page by page, first word to the last word. Till the words start making any sense. And then to be passed on to some other hands. And some other hands. Till the last page gets stained. Till the jacket refuses to hold my stories together anymore. Till the story becomes a tale told and retold. There. There I'm now. In your kids' bedtime stories. In the screenplay of that mega-hit movie. In the quotes, surrounded by quotes of many unknown, just like me. To be copy pasted. To be twisted. And twisted. And twisted, till the words start making yet another sense.

I'm meant to be heard. Like a tape. Song by song, first note to the last beat. Till the song makes it to the Billboard charts. Till the song finds place in your lover's mind. Till the radio keeps abusing, and abusing, and abusing the soul out of the song. To be forgotten someday. There. There I'm now. In a music store, placed under the classics. In the contests, being hummed, only to be recognised by someone who once heard me. To be played in the nightclubs, when all the hipsters gather around the stereo, smoking, drinking and being merry. To be twisted. And twisted. And twisted till the music inspires another guitar to weep, yet again.

I'm meant to be just watched. Like a circus. Act by act, from a unicycle to the fall of the last trapeze artist. Till the circus is house full. Till the circus remains there for 30 days. Till the circus travels to the last city. Till the last child keeps laughing at the sight of the joker. Till the last tiger dies, dreaming of getting unleashed someday. To be forgotten someday. There. There I'm now. In your favorite movie, where the hero is performing a motorcycle dare, without a double. Only to be revived by a rich goon, who is smuggling the seals, and tigers, and monkeys and girls. Lots of girls. Till the last girl in the village is bought. Till the last elephant kicks the ball, waiting for the promised sugarcane he saw last week for the last time. Till one of the act makes it to the records.

See! There I'm again. To be read. Page by page. Word by word.

And you thought you'll understand me?

-Prateek