The Place

It’s a good morning. I can clearly see the sky ,very clear indeed considering the fact that I am standing at 10,000 feet above the earth’s surface. Yes, I am living in the skies or the heavens as I like to call it. I just moved here recently , must have been about 5-6 months. You can never time tell here, some times the sun doesn’t come out and it could be days or just few minutes before it resurfaces. The fact of the matter is that no one here actually cares , yes they are more like me and they have been living in these skies for centuries. They call this place something ,they have a name .I keep on forgetting, maybe I can recollect it later. Like as I was saying…..these people have inhibited these skies since a long time. I haven’t met many of them. The common thread that links us is that we all prefer to be ourselves. Some alone, some with their partners. So socializing is not our thing. Well I have this neighbor ,they call him the giant…not much of a chirpy fellow. I think he is still a little pissed off at jack for taking his golden goose. I think it’s not the golden goose that laid the golden eggs that he misses…but the goose as a friend that he misses the most.


Well for all of you who are thinking what the hell am I doing up in the skies , well I got this idea from Kafka….when I read his “ burrow” .I wanted a place like that , not exactly the same but the idea was on the same track . I didn’t like the burrow idea too much. The rodents, the insects and especially the mud during the rainy season would have been too much of a mess to clean up . It has it’s merits, but I prefer something more free and moreover I didn’t want to feel like I imitated someone’s idea. I prefer being genuine and unprecedented. But yes! they were people who had thought about it before me but how I was supposed to know. Maybe if I had known, I would have gone for something else but I like the skies, I wouldn’t want it any other way .Getting here was a daunting task but I was tenacious and focused to reach my destination and the moment I reached here ,it was all worth it.

Here at dawn the rays of sun reach out for you as if it beckons you to gear yourself for the grand adventure that lays ahead. And everything is transformed by it’s touch. The ambience is really pleasant here ,even on a sunny day u can feel the swift breeze whisk u by . The silent wind is my confidant revealing nothing and absorbing all that is told. But when it’s gets stormy , it’s like an upheaval up here .The smell of the falling drops of water is exuberating ,the water never touches us and sometimes I do wish I was standing beneath the showers of the heavy rain but if I want to wet myself in rain water all I have to do is jump in a cloud and the rest just is invigorating. Imagine taking a dip in rain water at 10,000 feet in the sky. Wish you be could be here…..you would have loved it .

As for the food and water ,well water is not a problem at all . All you got to do is dip your hands in the clouds in the form of a cup and drink it or you can try what I like to call as “dip and sip” .You just have to dip your face in the soggy cloud and sip away. As for the food, all the people here have small gardens in which they grow anything to everything they want .We barter our food supplies. We exchange food in return for something we want. The life here is quite simple and plain. There is no fixed period for certain vegetation. You can grow whatever you want whenever you want. It’s as if the flora here cannot wait and wants to mature as fast as possible to feel in the aura of this place. It’s like magic ( though I m agnostic about it) but there is something so beautiful , surreal and so whole some about this place that you cant miss it.



The beauty of this small dwelling is that nobody knows about this place and those who do find out about it are worthy of living in it. Most of the folks who live here are unique in their own way. We have this one Mr. Sven son who is a writer. I know ,you haven’t heard of him, nobody has cause he never published his real works. His writings wouldn’t be understood by the lot of the stupid people of which there is no scarcity in this world , if u were to put it in his words. He would rather have his writings not read at all than be read and not understood by people. I tried to refute and clarify that they are people who do understand and that he should have at least tried. He said he did try and made a lot of dough over it , but what hurt him the most was that even though his book was chosen among the best novels of the century and even on selling millions of copies of his book , nobody really understood what he was trying to convey. I asked under what alias did he write . He refuses to tell me. He said that he likes me and wanted to keep it that way. He said that it was better for his sake that I was devoid of this piece of information . He despised his readers not because they dissented but because everyone agreed with him. He has given me some of his short stories to read. On asking that when will I get to read his main works , he said as a smile appeared across his lips “ only time will tell if they are meant for you” . A polite way of putting whether I am worthy of his works or not. I do understand him coz amidst this world of chaos and turmoil , filled with vague and hazy notions of religion, moral virtues, rights and among these irrational vagaries of men, it would be futile to expect some kind of sense out of the order of things . But still there is this hope against hope that there might be people like you and me that matter . It always kills me when I see the sadness in his eyes that has been left over from his past ventures where his hope has betrayed him every time. You cannot help but respect and admire him for his never ending endurance and resilience . Anyhow you have got to hear him speak. One heluva of an orator. You would love him.

Then there is Mrs. Maria Pavlovna who always has this black kerchief over her hair. Always. She is from Russia as you might have guessed. She is from some town I don’t think any of us can pronounce at one go and by the time I reach the end , I completely forget what I just said .It’s one of those words, too difficult to pronounce and too bloody damn hard to remember. She is an awfully sweet women and offers her mouth watering chocolate pudding every time I pass by her place. She lives with her daughter , about whom I don’t know much as I haven’t see her that often . Mr Pavlovna died some years back as I have been told. She doesn’t talk about it though. And you would love her sense of humor. She kills me every time she says something. I mean most of the time you can hardly make out what she is saying and one would have thought living here among the people who ….most of whom converse in English, she would have learned by now. But the manner in which she says whatever she says, it makes you feel as if she just said the funniest thing imaginable. Her vibrant smile is completely devoid of her age. She is one of those that if you are in the dumps, she is sure to crack you up.
You would love her.

Each and everyone who lives here is distinctly diverse .You wouldn’t find such folks all in the same place.I think that is why this place is what it is .Every one works, no debts nothing of any sort. Most of the people here don’t believe in God . I haven’t seen a shrine or a temple or a church or anything of that sort. This is one thing that really stupefies me , that with out any common nationality, topography or religion ,these people have been coexisting peacefully but then on the other hand it all makes sense. Why shouldn’t they ? These are men and women of reasoning and rationality .Work is their religion .


I will write more, but as the shimmering light fades giving way to darkness , my eyes seem to be strolling sluggishly towards drowsiness. I need to get some rest now ,for tomorrow early in the morning I have to set out for my next adventure . I’ll send for you soon. You would just love it here … I do.

And just so you know , this whiff of air snaking by my red swollen nose is not a dream, and I am definitely not hallucinating particularly when I am freezing, yet liking it at 10,000 ft above the sea level. I stress upon the cold, because I have seen times when its bright and sunny outside and your heart is colder than you could imagine- I know better now, where to save my warmth and where it does not matter whether hell freezes over!