The Final Show
The last scene of the play was on, and Dev almost couldn’t contain his joy. Still, he knew he was on stage, and he couldn’t smile just yet. There would be plenty of time to smile later. Right now, there was the last scene of the play to do.
The noose was fitted around Dev’s neck. The warden came up behind him, and got ready to ask the final question.
“Any last words?”
A moment’s silence, and the curtain fell. A roar of applause rose from the audience. It was time for Dev to finally smile.
***
It was late at night, as Dev was zipping through the broad highway on his motorcycle, that he was reliving the night. He felt the shiver run down his spine again, as he remembered how he’d felt as he walked on to the stage. How he had felt as he looked at the countless faces that looked on expectantly at him. That feeling hadn’t changed, right from the first time that he had set foot on a stage.
***
At a little over four years of age, Dev had his debut acting experience. The nursery school that he was attending decided to organize a play on the life of Lord Krishna. Dev was a beautiful child – large expressive eyes, dark brown hair, and a perpetual smile on his face. It wasn’t that hard for him to get one of the lead roles in the play.
The only thing he was against was wearing a Ghaghra for the performance; but, as his teacher kindly explained to him, Radha always wore a Ghaghra. In the end, Dev agreed to wear the Ghaghra and play the role of Radha.
The play was a huge success, and Dev was the star performer that night.
***
The second role he played was not something that he particularly enjoyed. It was a street play, and he had a minor role in it.
***
He looked down at the speedometer of his bike. 120 Kmph. “That’s quite a lot. I didn’t know she could go beyond 80,” thought Dev, as he drove through the highway. There was never much to see along the sides of the road, but this was the first time that he was going via this road so late. Now, it seemed a different world altogether. A few pinpricks of light shone among the dark night, pointing out the human habitation. Somehow, the lights comforted Dev, knowing that even though he was travelling alone, at 120 Kmph, on a deserted highway, he wasn’t truly alone.
It was always a long drive, and as always, his mind never seemed to focus for too long on the road. His mind kept wandering, back to his big break. After 17 long years of struggle, he had finally made it to a stage this big. After all those long nights of rehearsing lines, and sleepless nights wondering where his life was going to, he finally felt he was on track. He was happy, as he relived the last few moments of the play in his head.
***
The crowd was good; better than he had expected. He could see the attention the audience was giving him while he was on stage. For a fleeting second, he looked down once, to ensure that he wasn’t wearing a Ghaghra this time too. He wasn’t.
The light was on him, and he couldn’t see the crowd anymore. The moment of distraction was gone. He was a prisoner again, condemned to die on stage.
The noose was fitted around Dev’s neck. In the deathly silence, the warden spoke out the last scripted line of the play.
“Any last words?”
***
The road was under construction, but Dev didn’t know that. At 120kmph, he couldn’t see the pothole on the road ahead. His bike hit the pothole. In a moment, he was flying through the air, thrown away from the bike and into the sky. The lights from the few houses shone at him from below. Even in that split second, he couldn’t help but notice that the view was beautiful. A split second later though, he realized he was falling back to the earth. Condemned to die, for real.
“Any last words?”
“Oh, shit!”
