Nocturnal Programmer

2AM Sangumugam Beach, Trivandrum, India

He was too old to cry. Wisdom they say. An attribute of the old. His mind was rather as calm as the sea, yet not without the waves, a turbulence that is constant as long as the sea remain. They say, the sea has the power to wash away all worries of living, just being near it, watching it. Rhythm. Teaching the mind to resonate as you watch it rise and ebb away. Rhythm. Like learning music. Like being trained in the army to march. Like an athlete’s footwork. Done again.. and again… until you look like you were born that way. It is easy for the world to pass it of as a natural talent. Lazy world, what do they know about hard work. About life’s destiny. About dedication to commitment.

It has been 6 long hours since that destined hour since his love of life orbited past his skies again. An orbital path never expected to cross again in his lifetime. Across the same skies he’d look up to pray for peace every night. Damn. Pagan skies. He wondered if early christians were love lost.

She’d been there briefly. Scrolling around the beachside with her new family. A conversation of confessions. About how her girly confidence was long lost and she thrown into the world of womanly uncertainty. Ah.. the days of confidence. He was just one of the flowers the frolicking girl who ran around the fields plucked to beautify her hair. How innocent is growing up, one would write about. But the flower was young, not a drop of honey broken, not a full days sunlight relished.

Was it enough to let her find life her own way. Was it enough to save her when she got lost? He wondered if every person were to learn everything from scratch and repeat history in his own world, how can the world pass of anything as common. Earth turns. Sun rises. Everybody falls in love. Everybody dies. History by design is bound to repeat itself. He wondered if extraordinary was just happenstance or calculable only in fiction.

And then his phone started ringing. Jasmine.

“Hello Jasmine.. Have you landed?”

“Yes, just now. Damned fog, an eight hours delay. Were you sleeping in the car waiting?”

“No I’m at the beach side”

“What are you doing there? Getting drunk seeing crabs hanging out having late night parties in their underground joints?”

“Hmm I wish… I was rather just missing you”

“Yes. Me too. It is very hard to be married and be away like this Vijay. I only wish I could get this course over with fast, so that I can be with you all the time”

“Alright, I’ll come around to pick you while you check out”

“Ok… See you soon David”

“Who is David?”

“Oh sorry Vijay, its this friend of mine whom I met briefly while at the airport waiting. I just accidentally spilled out his name for you.”

“Ha.. Alright. I thought you met him briefly”

“No actually… he came to drop me too to Chennai airport. You know he sort of works with me in the labs sometimes, so we are just friends”

“Yeah ok. Come fast Keerthi, I’m waiting for so long”

“Who is Keerthi?”

“Hah hah.. I was just kidding”

“Bad boy!!! Fine, I’m walking over Kerala now. Come over fast”

“Ok. See you soon…” Click

He was bored. Looked at his watch. 5AM. Day Break. His wondered if loyalty was just a perception. He couldn’t care less. He walked back to his car singing- “Sunrise… sunset… sunrise… sunset… simply flow the days…”