Puzzler Reloaded

     In the spring of 2012, out of the blue, I started writing. When I say writing, it was not my regular ponders and awkwardly chopped sentences dressed up as poetry that I started writing! My creative energies were busting at the seams for a short while and those evil energies made me take up the 'walking on eggshells' task of writing a short story. In my not so seasoned tenure as a reader and writer, I had come to love one form of writing over all else - and it is the short story form. When you are limited by the words you could use, when you are expected to convey a lot in little, and when you have to culminate an idea into a few short pages, that is when, according to me, one's play of words and ideas come into actual play. I was feeling very brave and a little adventerous - the end result was something that had two main characters who were lost in conversation and each other's company as arbitrarily as the idea to engage them thus had stuck me - It all happened under the moniker ' Puzzler' - except the result never 'ended' meaningfully so to speak!

     The venture generated interest in my close (and only) circle of readers. Just then, I made friends with a man my dad's age and he would diligently ask me how the story was suppose to end. "What happens at the end Laxmi?" He would ask in his cute Gujarati doused English accent. "Wait and read" I would answer while trying to figure it out for myself. Truth be told - I could never really end it in one way or another. I wanted the story to mean something else, and suddenly, the two main characters, that I'd christened with names close to my heart, seemed like my children. I couldn't do one wicked thing to them or another  and I couldn't really justify writing further, in the spirit of how I supposed an ideal short story should be. I didn't visit them back in words - as much as I did in thoughts till the following spring, and this one, partly because of my own attachment and curiosity as to what would happen to them and majorly because, a good friend of mine, who is easily my biggest admirer, kept nudging me to complete the story.

     Puzzler became a part of our every conversation. "When is 'Puzzler' on again?" The friend would steer our every conversation, every chat into that direction at one point or another - to an extent where I would evade the question and change our direction of discussion. Till the persistence won over my reluctance to deal with my literary children. In my signature spontaneity, I promised that I'd get it all done and published by the end of this month. Now, I am going to keep up the promise, aren't I?
So, for the past few days, ever since I slapped a deadline stamp on my promise, the characters sneaked into my head with cozy sleeping bags - and no, they don't sleep there! - They talk their heads off...they eclipse my every conversation, every thought, every action, every minute, second and nano second of my day. I try, but fail, to lull them to sleep. Incidentally, the past two years have seen me grow up in a way I never thought possible. In a way, I look back and wonder, if I started writing this story, just to complete it a couple of years later - after evolving, getting stronger and ahead from where I was when I was in the gestation stage of that idea.  Puzzler might not be my ideal 'Short story' - It might not strike a chord, it might drown in all the sense, nonsense and everything in between that seeps into my blog and my brains. It sure will be something close to my heart nevertheless.

     And, It shall all be in black and white, printed and published before the end of the week. The promise will be kept, the work shall find its destiny - for the haunting is a little too much to take! - Especially when one of the haunters is not a fictitious one ;-)