The Gold Beads and The Peppercorns

The aftertaste of the phase, these days, is leaving me a little deranged. As my coffee is moving towards the bottom of the cup; the taste of the black peppercorns that I had added, is getting stronger and sharper. With every sip, I tell myself, black pepper is good for throat. So sip on.


This phase started somewhat seven years ago, when, out of sheer challenge to myself, I decided to take a plunge in the pool of gold beads, shinning bright in the sun.. Stepping in the pool, I was too glad to see gold beads all around me, a few in the pocket and lots around, waiting to be picked. I walked lazily, and stuffed whatever I found, in my small pocket with large holes.


The pool was getting larger and deeper and I left shore to step a little more inside. O Boy, it was slippery. Beads, small and large, rolling under my feet were new, shiny and smooth. They slipped faster and balancing was an art that I had never mastered. So I started enjoying the slips and falls, neck deep.


But how neck deep a dwarf can be? A small man is a small man.


I picked up more than my hands could hold, my small pockets could stack and my socks were stuffed. The shine was breathtaking and the everywhere was a sea of gold coins. Enough to be picked up, enough to live by and enough to show off.


As the sunlight went down every time, it grew darker. The coins did not shine anymore. They looked hard, cold and black. Like little black peppercorns all around me. They were there all around, around me, in my hands, in my eyes, in my nose, even in my gut. Just like the gold beads, they did not belong to me but they were there.


Somewhere behind the dark night clouds, a distant moon occasionally shone, throwing a silvery light on these little beads around me, creating a mesmerizing specular extravaganza of dreamy color. It looked magical. The corny feeling of pepper all around me just vanished when the moon came, transporting me to another perspective which had all the happiness, all the magic and rainbows. Each night was better than before And when sometimes when the moon was down, amavasya time, or cloudy days, I just spend time waiting for my moon, knowing it would come, thats the law of the nature.


The cycle of day and night became a ritual, but my mind was not on my gold beads anymore. I just spend time polishing the beads around me, decorating them all around my face and head, so that I could get more and more of that moonlit magic


.... to be continued....


I would write more about how gold beads and black peppercorns fought and how I got the hole in my palm and also the way I tried to thread the beads, and when moon came closer to the pool and a few more things . There is so much to say before I switch off.