Baby

Silence.

Deathly silence.

Noises of the world fade into the background.

All that he could hear was his own laboured breathing.

He could not stop the smile which silently crept up on him.

I am alone.

Again.

Finally.

I am alone.

His mind fell down the rabbit-hole that Alice knew so well.

And like a flash of cards, images swept by his mind's eye...

Quiet birthday celebrations...

Mahatma Gandhi...

His old house...

The stories that Shivaji's mother used to tell him when he was a child...

Ramayan...

Mahabharat...

His first job...

Inexplicable joys in the simplest of veg. rolls on Park Street...

JRD Tata...

Durga Puja...

Relationships...

Break-ups...

Scheming relatives...

...and as he continued falling down the rabbit-hole, he felt a sense of relief, that perhaps at the bottom of this hole all his thoughts would end.

Finally, he hit the ground.

No images, no sounds.

Just a monotonic humming... perhaps it was the air-conditioner.

His mind seemed to have gone as silent as the enclosed world around him.

He smiled once again at the thought of a dark, quiet world.

I'm in a womb once again and I can suspend reality for the time being... at least.

He smiled one last time before drifting off.

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Doctor: What's the report on bed no. 3?

Nurse: I've given him a strong dose of sedatives like you advised. He mumbled incoherently for a while, but is resting now.

Doctor: Do you think he'll sleep well?

Nurse: (Smiles) Like a baby.