Book Excerpt: Yatrik by Arnab Ray

The man looked lost, deep in thought. Silence settled on them like light snowflakes.

And then he spoke again.

‘Have you ever wanted to know what happens to your life when you are not looking?’

‘I am not sure I quite understand.’ Anushtup was now genuinely puzzled. This was all so Alice-in-Wonderlandish. Now all that was left was for this man to slowly vanish, leaving behind his smile, and he would have seen the Cheshire Cat.

‘So many of the things that change our lives happen when we are physically not there. I mean, not in the room, not at that place at that time. We live with the consequence but we do not see, because we cannot see, the action that caused it.’ Anushtup said, almost mechanically, ‘There is only action and consequence. Baba’s line.’

The man’s eyes lit up, ‘I never thought of it like that. Perhaps even in the world of living, that is all there is. Action and consequence. Time is but an illusion, just an invention of companies that make watches.’ He smiled. Anushtup suspected this may have been a little joke.

‘Not that I expect dreams to make sense, nor eighty-eight short 27 should they for that matter, but still it would help if I you explained yourself,’ said Anushtup.

‘We need an example.’ The man stood up and started pacing slowly up and down, with the practiced stride of someone used to explaining things. ‘You go for a job interview. You think it went spectacularly well.’ Anushtup sneered, ‘Which means your tie was perfect, you looked very eager and your résume had the proper lies.’

The man continued, ‘But then, a week later, you get a rejection letter…’ 

‘There were many qualified candidates for the job… Blah. Blah. And so it goes.’

‘Right. Right. Exactly,’ the man pointed towards Anushtup. ‘But they never tell you the exact reason why you did not get the job, what they really thought about you, what they discussed once the doors were closed. Don’t you want to know that?’

‘No, not really. I don’t want to know why I don’t get jobs because I already know. I would not hire myself either.’ Anushtup smoothed down his unruly hair. ‘I get what you are saying though. And what exactly has this got to do with the game?’

‘You pick three incidents. Conversations. Situations. Anything. Just things that affected your life, but things you did not get to see when they happened.’

‘Okay…and then?’

‘So now…you get to see them. Like a fly on the wall. You cannot change what happened of course. That’s all done and dusted. You just…see the truth.’

‘That’s it? That’s the game?’

‘Yes.’

‘So if I understand correctly, I am going to be watching videos of things that happened when I was not around, but things that affected my life in some way.’

‘Couldn’t have said it better myself. What happens to your life when you are not looking.’ The man seemed smugly happy with his own way of saying it.

Anushtup shook his head slowly and sighed. ‘An old gentleman in a checked cotton shirt and trousers that went out of fashion round about the time I was born is offering to show me three secret videos of my own life. Even my drug dreams are so fucking meh.’

‘Life, some say, is a dream. But death, definitely is not.’

‘Someone paying you to say those lines? Bloody awful they all are. Or maybe it’s my imagination that’s really poor.’ 

‘What you see here is not a failing of your imagination. This is happening.’

‘All right. All right.’ Anushtup grumbled. ‘Have it your way. But I must tell you sir, that death is deadly boring. The management needs to make it sexier. Or at least, live up to your publicity brochures.’

‘Publicity brochures?’

‘Yes. What you tell us mortals downstairs about what happens once we die. A gigantic man in a white beard standing among the clouds and judging the dead. Rivers of blood that must be crossed holding the tail of a cow. Or by giving a gold coin to the enchanted oarsman. The Devil’s horsemen. The Grim Reaper. Angels with gossamer wings and sexy exposed shoulders. One of these at least.’

‘Death is an anti-climax. But don’t worry. It will grow on you.’

Excerpted with permission from Westland Ltd.

Book: Yatrik
Author: Arnab ray
Publisher: Westland Ltd

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