**My Life My Rules** (An Epistolary fiction by Suman Bhattacharya) Chapter 2: The Idiot I was 18 that time. He was in my class. He wasnt the friendliest people to be around. He kept himself hidden from everybody else. He wanted to stay that way. I would have never known him if he wasnt selected as my lab partner. When we were grouped together, I was not pleased about that. But on the first day he smiled at me like we knew each other for ages. From that moment that weird, quiet boy became a part of my student-life. For me he was a friend but for others, he remained a loser - an idiot. As the years progressed, I saw him changing. He used to smile without a reason. One day he acknowledged. He was in love. It was difficult for me to have faith in. Leaving every charming, spontaneous souls he was the one who got the blessing of love - that thought bothered me. The rumor got spread – the idiot was in love. Bullies confronted him. They made fun of him. He never denied. His quiet grin replied on his behalf. Everyone, including me, doubted him. After all, he was just the idiot. One day I saw him anxious. I insisted. He confessed the girl, his love interest was from a different religion. Her family was against their relation. He wanted to flee away with her. He asked for my help. I looked at him in distrust, refused him. His feeling was beyond my empathy. I asked him if he didnt know her identity. He smiled like always. I love her, not her name, the idiot said. I gave up on him. My survival instincts guided me to keep away from the chaos. I was happy in my safe, artificial world. He was the idiot, I wasnt. Next I saw him, he was wrapped in white sheets. They tried to remove the blood stains but they failed. Some people, a system, killed him. He loved outside our description of social boundaries and he paid the ultimate penalty for it. That night I cried. I cried for him, his belief, his faith on an emotion that took his life. Some consolation, some cynic comments, some casual ignorance were all that he got. He liked to live quietly. He left this world in the same fashion. In a few weird memories he remained as a depraved reference – one that you should never act like. Never be an idiot. Deep down I envied him. I wanted to be like him. I wanted to love without rules. I wanted to be as assured of my feelings as he was. I wanted to have his courage to stand up without considering the price Ive to pay for. The truth is I can’t. I’m greedy. Selfishly I compromise everyday to co-exist in this world of social acceptance. With some rules, some definition of morality – killing my own conviction. Medical science says, madness is relative. For a mad person everyone sane around them is crazy. I wonder, if that applies to inanity. Was my friend the idiot, or the rest of us are? (To be continued)
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 07:24:26 +0000