wibiya widget

Friday, September 26, 2008

Stuck...



The Streetlight stared down at him like a one-eyed pirate, spilling shadows around him like stolen coins. The night was just about begun.


The city was a farce. Milling people, loud thoughts, unspoken actions. A Bad Attitude, ready to snap at you if you provoked it even slightly. The city was a hunter's trap, rusted out of corruption. The animals roamed free tonight.

He walked in slow measured steps, thoughts circling endlessly, bats caught in a disturbed cave. He walked down to the grub-joint, his morsel haven. He would not eat much tonight.

The people did not pay much attention. A dog barked somewhere. The night refused to go down quietly. Another fight tonight.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting the fight of the decade! On one side, we have the reigning champion, the nearly insurmountable Wit! On the other, the challengerrr, light yet totally menacing, almost death-like, we have the less popular Wisdom!! Brace yourself , ladies and gentlemen, as we get ready for another gut-wrenching battle tonight!"

His head felt light, thoughts scrambled like eggs. He could not, but he would have to. Shadows raced him, as he lumbered towards his shack. Something; anything out of the jumble. Clarity still came costly, and his senses were just about broke. Buying it out would be tough, but not impossible.

The lock yelped as he turned the key into it. "Mongrel lock", he thought and a fleeting grin almost formed on his lips.The door opened, a gateway to more turmoil, more thought. The guitar lay on one end, quite forgotten, procrastinating. No melodies tonight. The cooler came on with a grumble. He settled down on the bed, a novel lying neglected on one side. Desperation, the title said. How apt. He turned its pages, still trying to stack his thoughts, rumpled clothes upon a shelf. Sleep took over, stealing into his senses like old age.

Next morning was a blur; phone call, flash bath, tying shoelaces, flying down the road. Almost ran out of breath, like a kettle, wheezing a little. He crossed the road, now reaching the railway tracks. A train trundled past, listless faces looking at him like they would look at a caged animal. He crossed through, still trying to come up with something that would be coherent, something conclusive. A total muddle, fleeting ants on a forgotten crumb. At the lift now, waiting to go up to his office. Signed in, to realise its the last working day of the week. It would be a week today, so there would have to something . His personal deadlines danced in the back of his head, teasing him. Flashed his card on the slot and headed towards his terminal. He switched his computer on, and waited for it to boot. Words circled in his head, eagles, refusing to perch and just happy circling. Someone told him that Friday held so much promise since it was the last working day. He stared into the screen, a final thought almost screaming out,

"I must blog today."


He hunched over his keyboard and fired away.


(I seem to be facing some strange sort of a block. Its not that I cant write, there are a billion things playing in my mind, all wanting to come out at the same time. I just cant sort them out. I hope to come out with something more intelligent soon. Till then, I can just hope that the stuff above would give you an idea of the rigors that I go through to come up with something passable. The narrative is slightly inspired by Frank Miller's Sin City which I was reading sometime back. And yes, Desperation is a novel by Stephen King, which I am reading right now!)


Laters.

52 comments:

Utopia said...

and then one dark night the ideas finally took shape, in the form of words and characters and lo behold a storyline was formed and then poor readers like us did not have to wait like we do each time Scribbler apparently gets stuck.

Hiren said...

dude .... I have been gutted with same kinda block ... and sadly its been there for quite some time now ... it somehow doesnt seem to go away .... i did post a few posts but then i am myself not satiated with what i come up with :(

anyway ... hope you find your way out sooon ....

p.s. the best part of your posts is that everyone keeps guessing about the crux of the post until they scuttle their way through to the end :) ...

Che said...

Sin city....ah no wonder the writing style felt to graphic novelish...good one.

Unknown said...

Ahh a self-referencing post, eh?

:)

The description was very revealing in parts, I found myself among the streets, unlocking squeaking locks and running in haste.

jhayu said...

Fuck. This is what you create when you don't know what to write? Fuck. I feel like such a poser now.

deepsat said...

well written!!! ;-))

Gunjan Aylawadi said...

naice!!
i quite enjoyed reading it!!
spcly d i must blog oday part!!:D

Illeen said...

writer's block..or not really?

happens when u want ur next post to be better than the last all.waiting for more.

as of this one..good as ever. :)

Sarath said...

Is this what you write when you have a writer's block??

Are you sure it is a block? Coz it was very good

Trinaa said...

muahahaha.. i actually thot this was another of ur super creepy stories....such an innovative way of writing abt a block!!

rantravereflect/ jane said...

:)
i saw the whirlwind of thoughts there- n if ya can pit wit against wisdom in the fight of the decade, ya block seems to be a fading weenie to me :)

if life were full of melodies, then we can never celebrate dark melancholy, which is what ya're sinfully roasted in now..
:)

give the block a chance, for what gushes force thereafter will be a river of even better plots n stories!

kudos at the 'desperate act'

HP said...

"The Streetlight stared down at him like a one-eyed pirate, spilling shadows around him like stolen coins." -- waaah!!
loved the first few paragraphs!

dude, if this is how you write when you're "facing some strange sort of a block" i'm seriously scared of what you'll write when you're over it. ;)

Preeti said...

Scribe ji...

the way you've depicted it ... i know this sounds crazy but i was with you every step of the way actually seeing you go through all that...esp crossing the railway track and the faces inside the train and the sound of the mongrel lock, the grumble of a cooler - the bloody cooler seriously grumbles like that when you put it on... (kya analogy hai, yaar)...

i wonder what you write when there's no block...

Khoob Bhaalo...

:-)

She said...

I can see the Sin City connection here. Fabulous and very very descriptive. I like the analogy about the ants on a crumb bit. I can almost picture you running amok. But personally if this what you churn out during a block may you never get over it.

Chronicler said...

is that how one writes when ones suffering from a block?? hmmm... if such are things i'd want to be afflicted by it all the time... great piece of work...

Pooja said...

is dat wot u produce wen u r havin' a block???stop kiddin'..

waitin' 2 read u wen u come outta it...

AB said...

ohh finally.. I have started understanding you...!!
Brilliant! :-)

WritingsForLife said...

yes, I get very frustrated when I am unable to assign words to my thoughts.. but i suppose it happens... and when that happens, i dont try hard... i take a deep breath and let it go. Words eventually come back to me.

? said...

Many thanks for leaving a trail to here...very interesting posts with very soothing music to calm the nerves. I have to say your style of writing is inspiring and I would like to stop by again soon but until then, take care.

btw: I searched youtube for videos of mere yaar - the exact one in the background - but couldn't find. It's simply breathtaking

Trinaa said...

new fotuuuuu..!! :P

Trinaa said...

its cute..me likes :)) but m sure ye sun kar aap hyperventilate kar rahe hain n jald hi apna pic change kar lenge :P

Che said...

Hmm yea in your previous pic you looked liked my less eviler twin!

Asmi Saxena said...

Wit and Wisdom! Oh boy.

Neo said...

:(
i would say a Bloggers Bloc.


Honestly,i love the way you play with words.

PI said...

interesting stuff. and the block would work itself out. good luck!
btw, i loved that song "mere yaar" who is it by?

DMulan said...

damn.. no creepy ending :(

you're like the m night shyamalan of blogger :P

PS: you call that a block? seriously???!

Stupidosaur said...

Hmm writer's block eh?
More like a writer's building 'block' towards greater thing to come I say.

But true. It was a little boring compared to your usual self.

The battles were won. Each sentence was a gem. But on the whole, the war wasn't as glorious as usual.

Diana Sahu said...

I could visualise everything that has been written...

harish said...

ahhh....been there...been there...

have you seen the c&h strip on writers block?

Sameera Ansari said...

Nice!

Anonymous said...

I get that too, a thousand things at once and then .... I just stop. I dunno why or how, it just goes *pop* and for a few days I'm pointless and then, as quick as it hit - *pop* its gone and I'm posting 3x a day lol

Akshaya Kamalnath said...

Yup by ur stds, not a gr8 post. But you have your defence in place and frankly no1 could write this well with a writers block. But make sure u get bk wid ur nxt post SOON:)

Trinaa said...

@che...stop confusing him!! if u say such stuff he'll def go back to d old pic!!

Preeti said...

are you sure you are the same person...?
in the last picture you looked totally, drastically different, man....

and CHE's right ...

you looked like his less eviler twin...!!!

heh heh heh!!!

Anu said...

hmm..you need to sleep, and then one thought will strike you ,which you can't get rid off - you'll blog and we all will get to read... this one was good too!

S said...

writer's block and this?
:D

Benaam Badnaam said...

the wit comes from wisdom :)

and being confused and clouded is a sure sign...that ohe has got brains which work...

muZer said...

i liked da way u narrated da dark night.. as if witnessin it myself.. n da end.. whoaa.. :-)

Neat,, pretty neat..!!

Vinz said...

terrific..man..if writers block is ruling you and still you came with such stuff, what will be the scene when you will be overpowering him..!!

waiting for that moment...

:)

arunima said...

cant think of any other way to say that. well wriiten. awesome!

Another Blogger said...

nice.. very obviously sin city-ish..
i disagree with just one small bit though.. the fight between wit and wisdom. it never takes place because wit takes birth from wisdom.
i like your style of writing..
hope to see more.. so sort out those thoughts and type away.

Vaudevillian said...

woah. no fuel and spacecraft still reached imagination-on-crack-land?
berrry goood.

For Change and Alter Egos said...

the block that you refer to in the post, is the block that you release when you post.

Heart'n'Soul said...

Oh
Wt block?

this ones goooood.... i don know wt u referin to man!!! whrs the block?

n btw where r our pics man :)

Jadis said...

i love the hint of eliot-ish cityscape-depiction... :)

swati said...

pretty intrstng..go n get ur degree,b4 it escapes away...

Avanish said...

welcome to the group dude!!!
I am reeling my thoughts myself to somewhere I have never been to :D

Guesss, next time u'll write something which you can think upon!!

c.H.a.O.s FrEaK said...

Looks thick n dark. I like thick n dark...your new reader's here

Unknown said...

nice blog....

http://shayrionline.blogspot.com/

AshenGlow said...

Fridays ARE promising in every sense.... Me going to Kerala on Saturday for a week..
Yippeee...
So much for maturity....
Bah humbug... ;)

And trust me. Blocs are good. People gasp when the tank un-dams one sunny day...

Way to go, buddy! All the best!
Ashen

Pinku said...

if this is what you write when you dont write....then what you write must truly be worth waiting for.

Anindita said...

Block and all and he comes up with this! Goodness!! What next?!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...