Friday, June 20, 2008

ANONYMOUS


The breeze seemed to sweep away his thoughts. He was trying to concentrate on his shoes. That way, he needn't look into anyone. This wasn't new. He always did that.

Joy. He was a nobody to anyone who'd see him for the first time. With ordinary looks and a polite, shy demeanour- hardly anyone would find him interesting. He wasn't very tall- neither too short. He was neither dark nor fair. He was neither too smart nor dull. Joy. A man- among many men.

Joy's life started with an alarm. A tea and news paper were his companions during the morning hours. A hasty shower; he usually boarded a crowded bus to work- A man among many men.

His job usually left him with plenty of time to think. A dusty office, and a name plate that read-"Joy Kumar, M.A.,B.L (Advocate)", hardly fetched him any client. He had never had a chance to know, how good a lawyer he was! He was anonymous.

Anonymous, the nameless, or- "Anamika". Every one knew Anamika. A wizard. A creator. A writer. Everyone adored Anamika. No one had ever seen her. Or him! But everyone knew Anamika. Her words were her identity. Or, his!

"The Messiah", everday, would receive a new story. A white cover- with the address typed over it. Inside, a short story- story that no one had ever heard of. Neatly typed, and neatly folded. "The Messiah" itself, wouldn't sell even one copy, if it weren't for Anamika's stories! People were dying to meet her. Or him!

4th of June. "The Messiah" had a news that excited its readers. "Anamika would reveal herself"! It read.

"The Messiah" threw a grand party. Only guests were allowed. These guests were those who hardly ever read Anamika. They wore designer clothes and attended fancy parties. A large crowd- outside the hotel, were calling out- demanding to get a glimpse of Anamika.

Sumit- a handsome man in his thirties. He was smart and people adored him, wherever he went. Sumit- a lawyer, a writer, a celebrity.

The crowd applauded. They now knew, finally, whom they had admired. Who had captured all of their imaginations. They cheered. They didn't want him to leave. Almost, everyone was smiling. There was one, however, who didn't join the celebrations. Who did not look happy about seeing Anamika.

Sumit had achieved what he had always wanted. He wanted to be famous. He knew, he'd be famous. He'd do anything to achieve it.

Later, that night, Sumit sat looking at the old diary. He turned its pages. ANAMIKA. The first page had captured his attention, the moment he read it. He remembered very well- the November night- a few years ago- he was in college. He had nicked it. From whom- he did not remember. All that he remembered about the boy was that- he was a nobody!

A knock on his door. Sumit thought- "Fans! They are so silly"!

The morning breeze seemed to sweep away his thoughts. He was trying to concentrate on his shoes. That way, he needn't look into anyone. This wasn't new. He always did that.

Joy came to a halt in front of a small shop. He purchased a tea and news paper. He walked into the park and sat over a bench. He sipped the tea and flipped
the paper. It read- "Anamika murdered!"...

112 comments:

Anonymous said...

good one :)...you could have extended it a bit i guess ..
i have a doubt..who was the murderer :P ..

Matangi Mawley said...

@arvind..

hmm.. u may be right about the length of the story.. bt i have a belief that it s more difficult to keep it short than to write a long one!
besides, i dont want my readers to read on and on.. shorter the post- easier it is to read..
thnk u for the comments! :)

Suchi said...

Anamika was murdered, but the anonymity of Joy was not!!

Loved the choice of names.

Matangi Mawley said...

@suchitra..

:) tht was a beautiful observation! thnk u! :)

Anonymous said...

nice one... good choice of names... :) gripping story!!

Matangi Mawley said...

@vinay..

thnk u! was uncertain whether or not to post it initially!

Anonymous said...

good thing u decided to post it...

Priya said...

That was a good one Matangi;) Precise and sticked to the content.

Anonymous said...

Now thats a mini-thriller...nicely written...suspense continues with every line...you can have a second part to it...lovely reading!

Azra Raphael said...

wow,that was very thrilling.
and the murderer is still on the loose!
*chuckle!

Abhishek said...

Beautiful piece of writing..

Matangi Mawley said...

@priya..
thnk u!
:)

Matangi Mawley said...

@flying stars..

sequel? :) lets see..!

Matangi Mawley said...

@raphael..

:)..

Matangi Mawley said...

@abhishek..

thnk u!

CRD said...

wow. nice one. serves those pirates right. i wish i cud do tht to ppl who stole from bmy blog [:P] happened to me just once so far. the asshole copied my whole post..dint bother to change even one word. all tht he changed was the title [:P]

Matangi Mawley said...

@crd..

:) true yaar! i hate ppl who steal others' creativity!

Farzi Bhushan said...

Boss!!! u r a super story teller.

Keep rocking.

ishqia said...

oh it took me a minute to realise who was the murderer.. a very nice story

ishqia said...

u r a very good writer.. i will add ur blog on my blog roll.. hope to see u around.. brilliant posts.. keep it up

Karthik said...

nice post...but i couldn't figure out the murderer...

I'll try 2 be truthful said...

hey matangi , really good short story , i mean its one of those ones where theres no crap , but only good ol' story writing
by the way what does matangi mawley mean ??

I'll try 2 be truthful said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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Hemanth Potluri said...

wow...good one..loved reading it..nice blog over here....

Matangi Mawley said...

@farzi..

thnk u!

Matangi Mawley said...

@ishiqa..

thnk u! :) u 2!

Matangi Mawley said...

@ghost reader..

cache is in the para b4 there is a knock on sumit's door!

Matangi Mawley said...

@ truthful..

matangi is my name..
mawley is my dad's name! ;)

Matangi Mawley said...

@hemanth..

thnk u!

Matangi Mawley said...

@hamrash..

ll chk tht out..

my inner world said...

quite a gud one and this seemed to be quite different from what ur previous posts. :)

Matangi Mawley said...

@inner world..

ya.. may be tht s why i was lil confused whether or nt to post it!

thnk u!

Sameera Ansari said...

Very well written!You would make a great Agatha Christie :)

Thanks for blogrolling btw,you are blogrolled too!

vanilla sky said...

loved the way the story unfolded
apt choice of the names of protagonists

and yes, there's nothing as sad as plagiarism for an artist :(

Matangi Mawley said...

@sameera..

wow! agatha christe! thnk u! :)

Matangi Mawley said...

@vanilla sky..

true!
thnx!

Sakshi Arora said...

Oooohh.. nice story! And i understood it too! Super cool that is!
:)

SIM said...

Thanks for the props on my blog Matangi. I really liked this story, though I feel like you know more than you are letting on which is always an exciting process for a reader. But if I am right and you do have more to this short piece, do give us a sequel. Cheers!

black coffee said...

very intersting! :)
nicely written!

Anonymous said...

Quite gripping!! very well written!
I am reading quite a few of your old posts-- This one is very different---. The best thing about the story is that it complete in itself! Keep it up

Matangi Mawley said...

@sakshi..

thnk u! :)

Matangi Mawley said...

@sim..

sequel.. i ll think abt it! :)
thnk u!

Matangi Mawley said...

@black coffee..

thnk u!

Matangi Mawley said...

@mann..

tht s so nice..
thnk u!

Zee said...

for a blog called lighter side...this surely wasn't! :) nice one nonetheless

Matangi Mawley said...

@zee..

:).. "lighter" side.. it s my belief tht when mind is light.. thoughts flow in n out more freely.. more thoughts- better creativity.. so the name- lighter side!

thnk u!

Anonymous said...

That was one W O W of a read...! The anonymity of Joy was maintained; as noted by one of ur other readers.. Excellent.. :)

Matangi Mawley said...

@kartz..

:) thnx!

alx said...

hey good one....keep posting

Sushant said...

A very good short story. I like the tempo and pace of the story. Great work. Keep it up.

Matangi Mawley said...

@alex..

thnk u!

Sunil Kosuru said...

good one i enjoyed it

Matangi Mawley said...

@sushant..

thnk u so much!

Matangi Mawley said...

@sunny..

thnk u!

Arjun said...

A very unique post from u Matangi...!!
As someone said u can make a good Agatha Christie.....
Keep Posting..

Cheers..!!
Arjun

Matangi Mawley said...

@arjun..

wow! thnx! :)

tejuvinay said...

good choice of names, but i you cuold have written a bit more and be a little bit more descriptive.

keep writing

Teju

Matangi Mawley said...

@tejesh..

there wasnt much scope for description on tht post! wd try on future posts..

tnx!

Anonymous said...

Freak! That was an ending I didnt expect but me likey!!!


Seriously, loved the names.... I, myself, love the name Annamika...Somehow the unknowness (Coined a new word, i think) of the name intrigues me!! :)

Matangi Mawley said...

@rashi..

thnx yaar! i really love the name anamika too..! tht s why, i wantd to use it to its fullest..
i hope i ve done justice to the name tht i adore! :)

thnk u, again!

Karthik Padmanabhan said...

it was a mini-thriller no doubt...superb..

Matangi Mawley said...

@karthik..

thnk u!

Rinzu said...

nice story....


keep writing...

i suggest u get ur on book published...!!!

will be treta for ppl like us...


:)

Matangi Mawley said...

@rinzu..

wow! tnx!

Unknown said...

That was superb!!!!!

Gripping to the core..

yaar! pl write a sequel..

it wd b gr8!

Matangi Mawley said...

@ananya..

oh, .. i ll think abt it!
tnx!

man in painting said...

@matangi
Thriller!
i beleive you can take more freedom as a writer..stop even without a clue so that let them guess..guess and...
Some more twists will make the plot even more mysterious..
my thoughts were chasing ANAMIKA..Was joy a psycho?loosing anamika was too much for him..i mean he loved that virtual anamika..and loosing her...But your idea was different..
Matangi...shall i call you "our agatha cristie"
keep on writing..
me have a new post
i have added you to my list..

Matangi Mawley said...

@man in painting..

wow! I feel agatha christe is really a huge.. praise!

thnk u so much for the comments!

~Lord Anshul said...

dudette...you are an awesome writer !! i'm still delirious with the content. cheers !!
~anshul

Matangi Mawley said...

@lord anshul..

:).. thnk u!

arunima said...

wow!! u right so well!! and ur blog is real nice too!!
the story was amazing... thriller sorts....i can never write that well....
keep going!
and blog rolling u!

Matangi Mawley said...

@arunima..

thnk u! :)

alx said...

hey nice one....i had 2 read it twice 2 get a grip.....

waitin 4 d nxt one
gud luck

Rajesh said...

superb one...really enjoyed...keep writing...superb... blog rolling u :)

Matangi Mawley said...

@alex..

thnx again!

Matangi Mawley said...

@rajesh..

thnk u!

Rajtilak Bhattacharjee said...

Hi Matangi, how are you doing? Read your comments on my blog yesterday, but your blogger profile does not have your email id so that I could have sent my gratitude. Thanks for your comments! I read "Anonymous". Now Matangi, I don't belong to the intelligentsia where I can comment on someone's works, but I always can and would appreciate a good piece of writing like this one. So I guess I said it all, haven't I? Would love to see more of your comments on my blog. Take care and keep smiling :)

Matangi Mawley said...

@rajtilak..

ya.. u ve,indeed.. thnk u!

Si_Lee said...

Nice one .. though I would have preferred to see joy kick the bucket .. as thats generally what happens and i somehow find it right being an ardent fan of ayn rand...I know u will argue with me on this so not elaborating just yet ..

Matangi Mawley said...

@descrying the shadows..

i would indeed..

thnk u!

Anonymous said...

great to read!
:)
keep going...

Matangi Mawley said...

@kannanokannan..

thnx!

The Solitary Writer said...

hey its good

kp it up

Matangi Mawley said...

@srephan..

tnx!

Winnie the poohi said...

wowie!

I love it!! Can i blog roll you ?

am reading ur whole blog today!

Matangi Mawley said...

@winnie the pooh!

thnk u so much.. with pleasure.. u may! :)

Anonymous said...

loved it...n esp how u ended it..no blood or gore..just to the point n..very precise. :)

Matangi Mawley said...

@rain girl..

thnk u!:)

Amber Light said...

I disagree with the other people who have commented saying you should have included some more descriptions and I DON'T think a sequel would have anything to add here. This story is crisp and stops exactly where it must. That is a great victory because that is what matters the most in short stories of this kind.
But I agree that this one was excellent. Your blog has a lot of variety that is hugely interesting :)

Matangi Mawley said...

@amber light..

tht was truly, a gr8 comment.. i felt so pleased reading it!

thnk u so much!

Preetilata【ツ】 said...

wowwww.... wat a thrilling story...grt work matangi. i think d story dsnt need any sequel to it n nor even any more descriptions.... its just perfect n if u hv added som more descriptions or hv extended it thn i think the story wud hv lost the thrill... grt work matangi... kp it up.

thnx 4 visiting my blog.. n my due appologies to u to visit ur blog so late... actualy i ws not blogging 4 long...but i am back 2 blogging agn..hope 2 c u on my page.. i wud b ur regular visitor now..

take care n god bless u
:):):)

Matangi Mawley said...

@preetilata..

thnk u so much! :)

Arun said...

Maths a good story indeed :)
But y do u always geeev a melancholic touch 2 ur stories......
I think Anamika is joy ....it mite b his pen name m i rite???

Arun said...

Hey i do get remembered from ur descs about our school day lit lessons...Ravi playin hide n seek...nobody takin heed 2 find where he was...

Si_Lee said...

yeps.. now i can argue .. feel free to buzz if u ever see me online to argue back.. i wud love that..
Joy.. who was he ..? a guy who was one among many you say.What i wanna know is ..Do you feel that it is wrong of a person to be the way you described him..? See animals..Whom do the lions hunt down in the mega herd ? The weakest bunch..They dare not cross the path of the strong ones..Dont you think it is the law of nature..? No i don't advocate the actions of the other guy,but then i dont advoc ate joys final resort as well.. what he did was simply a prof of his weakness and his incompetency to fight a situation..He chose the easy way out.. Sumit was an A#% agreed but joy was no less... You may have a sentiment for joy and feel sad for him and thus condone his action out of sympathy and pity .. but tell me this ... What was the cause for the injustice meted out to him ..? Was he not responsible for it to a great extent ..? the same way in which people say sumit's end was justified ...I say joy's end shud also have been similar ,because he did commit a crime as well ... and you cant shield him from that

Ranjani Ravi said...

Great story there!You never fail to amaze me, Matangi!Kudos!

Si_Lee said...

hey .. this may sund out of the blue .. but i have a project i want to start and ur skills can be invaluble to me.. no not a job a more of project related to a novel...lemme know asap if u r keen to atleast know what it is..

Matangi Mawley said...

@arun..

ya.. tht s joy s pen name..

melancholic touch? indeed! :) reason.. well.. let s nt discuss tht here.. too complex..

Matangi Mawley said...

@arun..

tht s the.. "orange n the lemon" story right? :) nice relation.. bt i didnt think of tht whn i wrote it! :)

Matangi Mawley said...

@descrying the shadows..

hmm.. i must tell u tht the plot just occurred to me.. m not justifying any body over here..
personally, i think wht u say is correct.. joy is equally responsible.. bt on second thought, he was after all in col! u knw most ppl in col wont remain the same once they go out.. perhaps, had he had the diary with him, he might ve tried coming out of his shell.. he was, only never given a chance..

besides, i believe tht one has the right to live the way he wants to.. if he wishes to be an anonymous writer, wht s wrong with tht? see, if one has the right to take a decision, then one has the right to take the wrong decision too.. i cannot justify joy's actions.. for i am not responsible for joy. u may say tht he is my creation- my brain child.. bt still.. i am not joy. so, right nw, i dont understand how his mind is working..!

Matangi Mawley said...

@rampantheart..

:) thnk u!

Matangi Mawley said...

@descrying the shadow..

hey.. thnx for considering me.. i should really like to know wht it is abt! and if i d be ok with it.. i might do it!

Anonymous said...

Hi ,

I was reading ur blog posts and found some of them to be wow.. u write well.. Why don't you popularize it more.. ur posts on ur blog ‘LIGHTER SIDE’ took my particular attention as some of them are interesting topics of mine too;

BTW I help out some ex-IIMA guys who with another batch mate run www.rambhai.com where you can post links to your most loved blog-posts. Rambhai was the chaiwala at IIMA and it is a site where users can themselves share links to blog posts etc and other can find and vote on them. The best make it to the homepage!

This way you can reach out to rambhai readers some of whom could become your ardent fans.. who knows.. :)

Cheers,

Matangi Mawley said...

@ray..

thnk u! wd chck tht out soon..

Indrajit said...

impressive . Wd love to see th end . Awsomely wrtn

Matangi Mawley said...

@indr..

thnk u!

Comfortably Numb said...

Nice..Such writing does not click wimme much but this is a nice attempt!

Cheers!

Matangi Mawley said...

@comfortably numb..

thnk u..

pandian chelliah said...

gripping and fascinating......let me try if i can steal some time..to read the continuation and then will comment

Matangi Mawley said...

@new philosopher..

sure! tnx..

shailesh said...

Very nice.. loved it.. :)