My Changed Robben Island

Living in solitude, like in a narrow apartment, where sunlight is sparse and wind is still, is no good than a confinement. The only ambiguity here is about the source of my internment. Is it self-imposed, or somebody, unduly cruel to me, did it? Apparently, the answer is never straight, and so the question remains.

I began to savor the deliciousness of a much loathed ‘new life’, with people accepting my new role, wrapped up by warmth and love of two of my favorite women. The cutest and smallest of them taught me the hardest and biggest lessons. Watching her giggling and touching my face with small fingers, oddly made me realized the worth of the famous line of ‘Forest Gump’, Life is like a box of chocolates and you never know what you’re gonna get. Feeling her tender breathing while asleep on my shoulder, I learned the value of patience and care like never before. And she also taught me how to smile, thousand rupees worth. I began to appreciate my life for the first time, a joyous cycle of hours, far from the black words of dry starch-made white sheets and unreality of fantasies on screen. I was happy.

I do not search meaning of life or secret elixir of it. I do not care who created us or how we’ll end up. As I grow up, these things seem to be murky and misleading from getting enchanted and amused by a wonderful journey. But, as I lie down on sofa in dark in my new apartment and close my eyes, I watch two little hands surrounding my neck, a toothless soft mouth biting my nose and two incredible eyes fixed at my guitar at corner. I watch her mother too, standing near door, smiling at and pampering her mischievous little one’s every action. I watch them, as if they are here and not some 6000 kms away on an island. My eyes remain wide shut. And I wonder, is this the so called secret elixir? Have I now too begun seeking the meaning of life? Well, the taste is absolutely different.

I am back to my old self. But my own Robben Island is not same as before. Someone has snatched away all my clandestine moments and jumbled with her. While I waved towards her in airport, behind glass wall, she seemed to be oblivious, but I promised to myself, I will not be lonely and far away from her. A few years from now, she will search her role model, and I can apply for that. Well, I have to be prepared for the toughest exam ever. Wish me luck.