Caution: A long post ahead so don't rush through it instead read slowly because i wrote it slowly. And please be kind enough to leave comments.
The clock strikes the zero hour. Trance music mixed with tonnes of smoke fills the entire space of this hall jammed with hundreds of 20- somethings. Scores of hands go up in the air every second and an equal number of them come down simultaneously. A small space at the corner of the hall houses a small table with some 100 grams of white powder on it. These 20-somethings periodically come to this space, snort some coke and return to the to the trance zone in a state of trance. Another corner houses a bar-counter with an arrangement of some stools on the outside. On two of these stools sit Alex and Issac who are in fact the only two people who are inside the trance zone while outside the state of trance. They are here with Mark and Steve who are currently floating in space outside the milky way on their space shuttle- marijuana.
The bar tender pours orange juice and lemonade into two crystal clear stem glasses, cuts a thin slice of an orange and a lemon and garnishes the two drinks. He then places two crooked straws in the two drinks and serves them to the only sober men in this rave party. Alex picks up the orange juice while Issac sips the lemonade.
Alex to Issac: Why on earth did we have to come here, i mean i am feeling totally out of place here. I should have had this juice at a place where people were actually into juices.
Issac(while sucking in the lemonade through the crooked straw): But then this juice won't have tasted half as good as it does now. Just relax and you will be fine. Sip the juice, listen to the music and simply soak in the atmosphere.
Alex slowly sips the juice and does what Issac told him to do. After a while he begins to relax and feels a lot more at ease.
Alex(trying to start a conversation): You come to such places quite often don't you?
Issac(casually): Yeah, i kinda like to observe such stuff. Man these guys are capable of pulling off some real weird stuff when they're on moon.
Alex: So you never get high yourself?
Issac(playfully):I get about as high as this lemonade and this crazy decibel level can get me. And believe me thats very high for me.
Alex(smiles): Well, don't you ever feel like getting high?
Issac(is somewhat drawn in now): Do you?
Alex: Well, earlier i never gave a thought to these things, but right now looking at these people i feel like doing it myself.
Issac(looking very interested now): Really, you do. Ok tell me what exactly about these people draws you to them?
Alex(trying hard to find words to express his feelings): I don't know, it's just that they look so free.
Issac: You know, when i was very young, my friend William once took me to a video game shop. William was very fond of a game whose protagonist was a character called Mustafa. He then took control of the machine. I was really intrigued by the adeptness with which he handled the controls. He used only his left index finger to control the joystick and his right index finger to press any of the four buttons. I stood by his side watching Mustafa kill all the enemies one by one and finally achieving the mission by completing all four stages of the game.
Then i got to lay my hands on the machine. I tried to emulate William in my handling of the controls but had no skill to go with it, so Mustafa was getting brazenly beaten and gradually lost all his life. I inserted a new coin in the machine but this time i left all the elegance aside and pounced on to the controls pressing all the buttons simultaneously. As a result Mustafa was now delivering flying round kicks to the enemies. I was overjoyed. But after a few such kicks Mustafa died himself without at all getting beaten by the enemy. I inserted two more coins played the same way and got the same result. William then told me that each time i pressed all the four buttons together Mustafa lost some of his life while delivering the round kick. If the game was only about pressing the four buttons together then it won't be much of a game, he added.
So you see while Mustafa looked very free jumping in the air delivering those acrobatic flying round kicks, he was actually wearing out, getting weaker with each kick.
Alex(amused): Man i should have believed you when you said that you can get high on lemonade. So are you saying that what we are seeing in front us right now are hundreds of such high flying Mustafas.
Issac: Yeah, you've hit it. (Pause)...
See, God gave us a consciousness with five senses to go with it.Through these senses we interface with the world and experience a whole gamut of emotions through our consciousness. Using drugs is like pressing all the four buttons together. Everytime you do it, Mustafa will fly and deliver a round kick to the unpleasurable sensory inputs by by-passing the consciousness but this is not without a cost. It is not and can not be a replacement for skill. Like William said it won't be much of a game otherwise. The crux of the game lies in your level of skill with the controls and using your perishable resources frugally like William did to clear all four stages of the game to achieve the missison.
Alex(nods in agreement then shrugs): Yeah, may be you're right. But what the heck it's fun anyways.
Issac(playful again): Totally true. Sobriety sucks! Do you see that guy at the center, man he always dances the same way when he's high, with one hand in his back pocket the other one in the air and his chin glued to his chest. And that guy at the back......
May 2, 2007
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