If Today Were The Last Day

“Bucket List” is a term which I came across in a film of the same name. Film aside, the name stayed in my head, and I, in my temporary boredom of solving sums regarding thermodynamics, decided to make one of my own. But before I did that, I gave a thought about why I’d need to make one. I came up with a good cause-the end of the world. What if today were the last day every single person had in this world? What if tomorrow, everybody would die together? What would I do? What would anybody do? Before I went to that part, I thought about the doomsday itself, the end of the world. Everyone fears it, or rather, most people. I’ve heard prayers said, I’ve seen mindless films being released, but I don’t think anybody’s given the D-Day much of a thought. I did give it a thought, and I’m bringing it out of the closet. Here’s what I think D-Day is, and it’s certainly more than the last 86400 seconds.

I think D-Day is the one last second chance we’ve all been yearning for, it’s the one day when we can set right the wrong, and actually “rest in peace”. Imagine if tomorrow the world were to end. Would all of your wealth and possessions matter? Would your ego or your job matter? You may say yes, but when you think about the fact that today’s the last day, trust me, none of those things will matter. So, in short, all the things that divide us will vanish. Nobody will remember the hatreds and grudges, everybody will be focused on spending their last day with happiness. Many will cast away all their wealth, many will endeavour to do things they never thought they were capable of doing, cus after all, nobody’s got anything to lose on their last day. If one sees a homeless man on the last day, then they’d give him food and clothes and invite them in for a day of fun, maybe a drink or two. Prisoners and criminals won’t try to con others or shed blood, cus even to the apparently heartless, a last day is a last day, and nobody’s gonna want to lose that last chance of happiness without excuse.  It’ll be a holiday from work for everybody. People will actually spend time with their families and friends, cus after all, when nobody’s working, the world’s backbones will cease, stores will be unmanned, restaurants will be waiter-less and chef-less. Theatres will be without projectionists. In short, a perfect setting to spend time with family and friends, actual people. Nobody’s gonna ask you questions, not on your last day, not on their last day. No questions, no equivocations, no excuses. For once, people with their lives coming to an end due to some disease or the other will not be looked with pity, they’ll also be able to roam the world fully free, cus everybody will be sharing the same fate. Yes, that’s the biggest advantage of the D-Day. Everybody will share the same fate. Fate loves to take twists and turns,  fate loves to act like a spiralling and sometimes coiling yarn, but not on D-Day, where everybody goes home together. On D-Day, fate will be just one big, thick rope, with all the strands terminating at the same point. D-Day, in short, is the one preview of the Utopia that philosophers and artists have only imagined, where everybody’s happy. The fact that the last day will last only for one day makes it even better, cus not even a single second will be wasted.

That said, here’s what I’d like to do if today were my last day.

1)Eat a family size Double Cheese Pizza with Extra Cheese and Paneer. Yeah, if today were my last day, I wouldn’t care about cholesterol or fat.

2)Give all my stuff to some poor kid, so that he gets a taste of what he hasn’t had till now. My PS3, cell phone, iPod, books, and pretty much anything he can carry :)

3)Go and kiss the girl I love, even if she doesn’t love me back. One small kiss won’t hurt, not on the last day (I hope :P).

4)Tell my family I love them.

5)Do full on timepass with friends.

6)Write a goodbye note, stuff it into a glass bottle, and throw it into the sea.

7)Steal a million dollars from some big bank and blow it all away on useless stuff, like say, a Lamborghini Reventon :P

8)Go on the fastest rollercoaster.

9)Say thank you to every single person who’s helped me at some point in my life.

10)Give a hug to someone who needs one or hasn’t got much of it. Hugs are a wonderful way of expressing care :)

11)Make love(yes,you read it right).

12)Spend the last hour of the day on a beach, with a bonfire and people dear to me by my side, as we recount tales of the past, the anecdotes, the fooleries, the good times, the crazy times.

The last thing I’d like to do isn’t actually something only I should want. I want this for the whole world. We have a custom of welcoming each new year with hands held high, and with a loud shout of joy. Well, wouldn’t it be nice to look at the face of doom, and hold hands with whoever’s standing next to you, and scream out :”Hasta La Vista,baby”?

Who knows, maybe on seeing billions of people roaring together, the doomsday machine will actually get scared and back off, or maybe God’ll see that we are indeed capable of being united, and give us an extension to this second chance. Ah, and here ends my dream of the penultimate and the final day on earth. It was a good dream while it lasted. I don’t know if this dream will come true, I hope it does, cus I’m dying to see unrestricted happiness.

Like Steven Tyler said, “Dream on, Dream on, Dream on, Dream on till your dreams come true”

I will keep dreamin’ on, friend :D

What Goes On In His Mind

It’s now part of my normal routine that after my coaching class ends at 8:30 in the night, I walk back home instead of taking the bus or an auto-rickshaw. Walking simply allows me to see the faces of so many people, and get a glimpse of a part of their daily lives. But yesterday, one person caught my thoughts. It was in the Andheri Station Walkway that I saw this man. I don’t know his name, nor do I know where he comes from or what he does. I saw him sitting on the steps, with an old, worn out backpack behind him. His clothes were filled with brown dirt, hair unkempt, face tired. I knew at that moment itself that he was homeless. Homeless people aren’t a rarity, not in Mumbai, but what was it that made this man stay in my thoughts? It was his eyes. Usually, you’d see homeless people looking up to passers by, hoping for some act of good will, so that they may fill their stomachs. But this man just looked ahead, with a dreamy look in his eyes, as if he were in deep contemplation. I could see some amount of regret on his face. Maybe he harboured a lot of regret, I’m not good at reading people. Not once did he look up to the hundreds of commuters. Not once did he move. He just sat there. I walked on, leaving him behind physically, but not mentally. I wondered, “What goes on in his mind”? Perhaps he might’ve been regretting some past deed that led him to the steps of the station. Maybe he was dreaming of a better tomorrow. Maybe he was dreaming of nothing at all. But those explanations weren’t satisfactory, those explanations could not possibly give that man his expression of regret. No, there must’ve been something else. I can never tell what exactly, but I do have a thought about it. What if that man had been a very good human being? What if he always gave to the needy, always loved others, always smiled and tried to make others smile? What if all he had in his heart was goodness and love? Yet, what if fate dealt him the hard hand and put him on those platform steps? Would he be wondering why, despite being good to others, did God allow this to happen? Would he be actually regretting being a good human being and instead would’ve preferred to look after his own back? He must’ve been wondering how twisted this world had become, where the good are ignored. Like Shakespeare said, “The good that men do is oft ‘terred with their bones, but the evil that men do lives on’. He must’ve been wondering why, before his own death, his good deeds were buried away. He must’ve been wondering what sins he’d done in the past that he’s perhaps paying the price for now. But more than anything, why, despite being good to others, is nobody good to him. It is scary. They say “What goes around comes around”. Maybe for the sinners, what goes around comes around, but what about the good people? Why is it that they face the blunt end of life? I write all these big thoughts, but in the end, even I’m just a big mouth with weak hands. I won’t be able to do anything to help that man, or change the world. But one thing is certain, his regret will always be imprinted onto my mind, and so will the great truth that came with it-it doesn’t pay to be good. It may make you feel good about yourself, but when it comes to the rest of the world, you’ll find that it doesn’t give a damn.

I saw him today too, he was there again, in the same spot, with the same expression, same clothes, same bag, and the same dreamy look in his eyes, as if he were frozen in time, a tragically beautiful portrait painted so that the onlookers could perhaps feel the apathy. But that portrait will never move unless it’s destroyed. That man will stay there forever, and I’ll see him every time I walk back home, and I bet I’ll have the same thoughts going in my head: “What goes on in his mind”…