Twilight Zone
I have long had the dubious honor of being THE OFFICIAL STORYTELLER (fairy tales, etc. NOT the other kind of stories) for Juni and Abhi. I have had quite a few accidents here - mostly on account of falling asleep midway through a story - which is why Arjun got quite an earful of the IT & ITES industry midway through Jack and the beanstalk, the otherday (True, I swear). Its quite funny actually - A story being a story, Juni cant pin point when my mind starts, ahem, losing the thread. He keeps on listening, hoping its just a new thread in the tale. Until the story of Goldilocks takes a sharp turn to my tailor's shop and the dress shop, and doesnt seem to go anywhere near the woods. Or the bears, for that matter. But the IT and ITES story stunned even me. At this point, I am typically tugged awake by two tiny hands, and cries of "AISHU CHITHI!!!!!!". Funnily enough, when I wake up, I typically continue right from where I left off earlier- some sort of a selective amnesia. I remember hardly anything about my alternate story, and all contents of the same are those gleaned from a very amused Krishna.This took a slightly serious tone the other day, when I suddenly related this to my Dad's Mom. She was senile for over two years before she passed, and those are some of my most difficult memories of her. I see distinct paralells between me when I am incoherent-falling asleep, and how she was, falling into a permanent sleep. Makes me wonder - I was forcefully kept awake by my nephews who wanted a story, and my "aunt" self wanting to keep them happy. Are these people being forced to live, by similar constraints? MP (my grandmom) would start a sensible sentence, and then comfortably (shockingly, to us) meander away into utter nonsense. And sometimes, come back to the same thing.
It all seems to boil down to how much control you have over your mind- I remember that MP's first episode into la-la land occured after she had a very very disturbing argument with one of her nephews. At the age of 80, wouldnt one feel like "Tired... just want to give my mind a rest". We keep hearing about a heart that kept pumping, but no one talks about a mind that kept going. Only about minds that gave way.
posted by Aish @ 2:53 PM
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