Friday, September 01, 2006

Homo Erectus

Those tender limbs: All grace, no stability
Seven hundred and thirty days into his life
Crawling on all fours was his only independence

Held each step by his parents
The center of all attraction
Needing a good center of gravity

And then it happened one day
He got up and didn’t fall down

Standing on his own feet
For a period greater than two seconds,
He announced

His foray into human society
His first nod towards success
His first step towards failure
Himself

Slower than his steps
Slower than his bemusement
Came shock, to his parents
Then realization

Overwhelmed, excited, perplexed
They watched the kid with his outstretched arms
Waiting to be lifted, to be celebrated

They scuttled, as if escaping bombs
One for the camera, one for the video recorder
Leaving behind

A pair of outstretched arms
And a little boy collapsing on the ground
Down on all fours


P.S> I saw this happen in real life. The only twist here is my interpretation. Just read it, don’t read too much into it.

7 comments:

the Monk said...

Seriously, good one...

santu said...

he sways and drapes
my scarf as a 'helmet'
everything on the head ma - helmet

he blinks and smiles
and anticipates -
a smile or a thwarp for the masalas outpoured?

he chews the brush
like he would a neem twig
me tarzan ma, whats brush your teeth?

he is my bairn
the love of my life
i capture him in memory
despite life's own strife..

G Shrivastava said...

Awkward...

junat said...

looking anyone take the first step is always the most exciting one because it is so easy for us to do the same.... just realising that may be we had to take that much of trouble at some in our lives...

RS said...

:)

Quite accurately captured, I often do that during programs/stage shows that I like - watch it through the camera lens and forget the fun of watching it live!

Apun Ka Desh said...

Good One.

http://apunkadesh.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

It's hard to read and not read too much into it:).

liked it a lot.