He put a cigarette in his mouth and, as a matter of silent routine, offered one to Gwyn, who said ‘No thanks.”Richard looked at him.”I packed it in.”"You what?”"I stopped. Three days ago. Cold. That’s it. You just make the life choice.”
Richard looked up and inhaled needfully. He gazed at his cigarette. He didn’t really want to smoke it. He wanted to eat it. Almost the only thing that he still liked about Gwyn was that he still smoked…Paradoxically, he no longer wanted to give up smoking: what he wanted to do was take up smoking. Not so much to fill the little gaps between cigarettes with cigarettes (there wouldn’t be time, anyway) or to smoke two cigarettes at once. It was more that he felt the desire to smoke a cigarette even when he was smoking a cigarette. The need was and wasn’t being met…
While it would always be true and fair to say that Richard felt like a cigarette, it would now be doubly true and fair to say it. He felt like a cigarette. And he felt like a cigaret…
I miss those days of DD, the late-night classics were such a treat, as were the Sunday afternoon "regional films". I remember having stayed up several nights in a row, devouring Guru Dutt, Ritwaik Ghatak & Co. Also, back in the 80s, DD Srinagar had caught hold of a bunch of Sohrab Modi films. My whole family hugely enjoyed watching those!
ReplyDeleteI actually watched late night Ritwaik Ghatak special on Doordarshan last year. DD can still surprise people. They are digitalizing their archives and a lot of this stuff can be watched on Lok Sabha channel.
ReplyDeleteAbout DD Srinagar...I don't recall much as too young at the time, but people at home do recall it with fond memories. Were in Kashmir during those days?
Yes. Between 1980 & '84. Lived in Barzulla.
ReplyDelete1984...I was still in my daipers. But I have heard about Barzull. It was like a new colony...mostly high officers and all. Good to know.
ReplyDeleteI travelled across the city every day. Home was in Barzulla & school (KV) in Badami Bagh. My kid bro went to Biscoe in Lal Chowk. Stopped at that little ice-cream shop on Zero Bridge every day!
ReplyDeleteI studied at Biscoe till '90. There are now actually two zero bridges in town - old and new. It's still kind of a 'safe zone':)
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