“Ouch”, he said, touching his abdomen. “Ah, hunger cramps”, he chuckled.
He picked up the lighter and lights the last cigarette he had and walks towards the balcony. The sky is raging grey. It seemed like a typhoon approaching but he won’t know. He hasn't stepped out of the house in months or watched TV or paid any bills or eaten anything in the last 3 days. There is no cash left.
He looks up in the sky, grey clouds rolling over the black sky. The tiny droplets hitting the window glass making strange images. He doesn't know if he is seeing theses images actually or is just a hallucination. He puffs little black clouds of smoke from his mouth and picks up his phone, and googles “online drug store” and selects Secobarbital.
“Do you have the prescription, sir?” the customer care executive calls to confirm.
“Yes, I am a doctor. I need it…..umm… for my patient”, he fumbles. “I have uploaded the signed prescription on your website”.
“Do you want to pay by credit card or cash on delivery, sir?”
“Ummmm… card”.
“Thank you for your order, sir. The medicine will be delivered by 12pm.”
He finishes his cigarette and feels the rain on his face. The rainwater wipes his tears, erasing the painful story of his life from his face.
He thinks of his mother and the day he graduated and how happy she was to see him as a doctor who would save lives.
And, there he was the one, planning to take one, with a suicide note on his table and a death drug on the way. . .
P.S. Wrote this story upon given a prompt of "Thank you for your order". More stories to follow.
I don't know why I am writing this, but then why not. You must count each time life blesses you.
I was 13 years old when one day I was lying in bed down with menstruation pain. Mom had told me that “periods” is something that a girl should never tell anyone. I didn't tell anyone- not even grandma, or may be I was shy.
That day, seeing me groaning in pain, grandma came and stroked my head and massaged me until my pain was relieved.
And then, covering my shoulders with the quilt she said, “Did you think I won’t know?” Hiding my face, I cried out of love.
Yesterday, after 20 years, I was lying down, crying in the same pain. My flat-mate heard my groans and helped me.
Somewhere in the heavens, an old soul cried out of joy, whispering “Did you think I won’t know?”
In the last 3 months I have traveled more than 32000 km.
“Wanderlust”, “Globetrotter” and “Backpacker” and other similar terms have taken over the internet. Like a community of people who are not happy with their lives and looking for something different. I am not too sure if I am one of them. But I do believe that unless you go through a tearing process of transformation, nothing changes.
I have been on similar journeys. But there is a different experience when you travel alone. More than just travelling I feel it is more of talking to self and this quality 'Me time' answers a lot of decade long questions.
Here are the 10 things I have learnt by travelling alone:
1. I got to see inside as much as I saw outside
2. I found the best travelling partner who thinks, feels and enjoys everything I do- myself
3. I became a better decision maker and a planner and more brave at heart
4. I met the most creative person in this world- Mother Nature
5. I became a better listener. I can hear myself say and have learnt to follow my heart.
6. I saw my limits expanding everyday- at staying hungry/thirsty, walking more than 20km a day, carrying my own luggage and being a risk taker.
7. Fear has limits and I defined them.
8. It is possible to live and reach places without internet.
9. Journey is not journey, journey is the destination.
10. I learnt to fly without wings
11. I am not a very bad photographer .
12. Your gut is your GPS. Follow it
13. Gives you an instant review of what you thought about a place and what you actually found
14. Helps you learn new cultures and human nature outside your comfort zone
15. I learnt the difference between collection and accumulation.
P.S. All these photos are mine.
