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The hands sprung to life. I don’t know how long have I stayed frozen. It seems just a second back that I froze. I had been staring at the pavement. My last vision was of blood splashing across my face. Now I rest in a glass case staring at a street that looks familiar. I remember sitting somewhere similar to this, ages ago. The first time I got a breath was in July about 5 years from now.
5 years back, I used to sit atop in a showcase of one of the most elegant shops I had the privilege of visiting. I shone like a jewel on the crown. The key was jabbed in hard. My hands felt a jolt and they began their clockwork motion. The leather belt attached to my rims felt so soft and comfortable, cushioning me. They had been beautifully crafted.
Being kept on the top of the shelf, I couldn’t have a look at the other designs that lay below me. It felt weird. I hadn’t known this feeling. But it felt special. The casing around me shone very brightly. I had the chance to glance at few of the others in cases around mine, usually the ones that sat on the top. I used to think they too might be feeling the same way as I did. Alone.
I remember a florist directly opposite the place where I sat. Not a day went by when the flowers hadn’t blossomed around that small space of serenity. It looked so peaceful. The people who went in always came out with a smile. It was un-explainable. I never could make out the reason but all I knew that it was transforming. There was happiness in the air around that space. It stood out very differently.
I sat in such an enormous place. A place that felt so soothing but yet there was more happiness on the faces of the people walking in and out of that florist’s shop. I felt that I might be the jewel on the crown but certainly I hadn’t yet served my purpose. Those mere flowers threw a sense a serenity that couldn’t be matched. They shared happiness. I might have sat in a very calm zone but the difference was being made by something whose value was much below mine but definitely whose worth was infinitely way above me.
The objects in cases around me had been in and out quite a lot but not as much as the ones below them. I too had been strapped around different wrists a lot of time. I went a lot of wrists in seconds. People held me royally. They felt me and I guess loved me too but no one ever took me with them. Was it that my value was beyond their expectation or Was it that I wasn’t fit for them?
My smallest hand had gone in about a 1000 cycles before I landed up on the wrist of a gentleman. This man’s touch wasn’t usual. I knew it by the touch, that I had to leave my place. I had to serve my purpose. After being handled by so many hands, one can get the feel of the right person to hold on to. I finally had the look of my cradle. The velvet box from where I was first taken out. I finally stepped out into the world.
I was out of my comfort zone. This was the start to fulfil the work for which I was crafted. Everything happens for a reason, a purpose is defined. My existence was to be a measure of time. It was to help achieve the sense of responsibility and the hand that took me knew it very well. I was always mesmerized by the beauty of the florist shop across my comfort zone. They did indeed smell wonderful. Everything was so joyous around it.
On a closer look at those flowers did I realize that the sense of warmth and serenity they provide is because they are tendered and grown that way. I saw the florist’s care and concern for them. As we walked down the lane, I chanced to have a look at so many people with things of my kind. We were important tools. Although we didn’t occupy much space but our job made all the difference.
From the first day that I stepped out, I exchanged looks with a great deal of good looking objects like me. Many among those creations were simply fabulous that I too used to feel jealous. When I was in my comfort zone, I was the star attraction, but here, outside that safe cocoon, they were more of me that were just extraordinary. Sometimes I chanced upon some of the inferior objects too which gave me a sense of being special. But I had learnt that I wasn’t at really top of the world as I earlier thought.
My life was quite fascinating. I had the chance to travel a lot. Every time we moved to a new place, I had to be readjusted. It was quite a painful thing to have my arms moved forcibly by an external hand. Things are better the way they are. But we need to be adjustable in order to move forward in the right direction else the purpose would be lost.
I was enjoying the ways of the world when suddenly I took a pause. It had been coming on to me, I was getting tired. I realised that I need a jolt. A rejuvenation. But I could not say it out aloud. Then one fine day, it was around at 9 in the morning, I threw up. When I came back to my senses, my arms had been moved to a different position than from the position they fell asleep in. An hour had passed. The place I woke up to didn’t look familiar. It was shabby, not so elegant as my original place. My companion was in a hurry, hence he picked this place for repair.
I had all the time in the world with me, but the gentleman I was bonded with, was in a hurry. I wanted to tell him to slow down. There was no need to hurry. But he wouldn’t listen. I had never seen him this way. He was a patient man. But the sudden change in his demeanour was uninviting. I felt a great deal of wobble and bumps. I still held on to him. Maybe he would look at me and understand that whatever was the matter, time would set it right. I don’t know why or how, my grip on his wrist faded. The fine leather had suffered a great cut in this chase. I fell off.
As soon as I landed on the ground, I got a glance of my dear friend just a few feet from me. He looked patient and still, as anytime before today. My arms had frozen. For all that I could see now, everything was coloured red.
