Pirañas and all that is nice and clean...

Pirañas, they congregate around the victim. Schools of them. Morsel by morsel, within no time the body is stripped to the bone...what remains is a perfectly clean skeleton.

What about me? I  still have a lot of flesh left. In fact I could fall into the fat category. No, not obese. The nurse Shantini, who used to dress my big toe after the nail came off in an avoidable accident told me I was perfect the way I was. I remember her beautiful warm smile when she said that. Like the blue arch of the sky with just one feather-light cloud floating in it. I wanted to hug her. She was pregnant, and girdled in soft natal mist.

Everyone  wants a nice clean life. How can we not? The post-covid era, with its emphasis on exercising excessive precautions, being ultra hygienic, avoiding contact with strangers have finally succeeded in herding the humanity to the paddock where it can comfortably sit and cud. For the average individual this translates into the ultimate convenience  of working from home, clocking oneself on the treadmill and thence steering clear of the nasty sneezes and snoozles of the lowly.

We are now able to live the sterile existence we were groomed for. The kind that the European aristocracy had once dreamt of, divorced from the sordid and uncouth. This is the kind of clean life Albert Camus spoke about in his book The Fall: 'a nice job, a family and even some organized leisure time. It's a delicate eating away of our soul. Everything quietly gnaws at the being, always stripping it off itself. Not frenzied like the Pirañas', yet it shares the attribute of painlessness.
Pirañas are omnivores. Ferocious eaters with voracious appetite, their teeth can regrow an umpteen times. Shantini's smile flashes across the memory... cocooned beyond the suns and the stars an echo of life shines in her eyes. I want to hug her, feel the breathing waters pulsating inside... Pirañas, they say, are an important part of the ecosystem. As rapacious scavengers, they keep the rivers clean.


Comments

Michael said…
Seema, this is beautiful. Such sharp writing!
September 30, 2023 at 10:39 AM
dleec23 said…
Beautiful Seema. Love your writing. You are an inspiration ❤️
October 2, 2023 at 6:38 PM
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