A Twin Underworld
The road on a rainy night is like a black mirror.
It's a mirror that turns headlights and streelights into long quivering pillars of light. On such nights, these quivering pillars of light light up the road like a city under glass. An undercity of black lights! The undercity is a city stuck to its sky. Upsidedown.
The undercity is a dark twin come up for some air and attention. Suddenly made visible by the rains. An illusion realised in space. Like moments in a film. Moments that ARE simply because they HAVE BEEN.
These are things we know. And yet we can never find out.
On rainy nights the twin undercity comes up to snigger at those labouring in the overworld. The Upside Up, Downside Down people of the regular world. The dark citizenry of this dark undercity comes up to see the overcity of light and regularity. And to throw eerie back-glances, from an upsidedown perspective, at the overcity-world above.
It's a funny sight, the play of light on blackness. The rising of Hades on rainy nights. Like the birth of Venus. The coming alive of an unknown, unseen undercity.
Most drivers of cars and two-wheelers are oblivious to the undercity's appearance on rainy nights. They're more worried about getting wet. Or busy making waves of rain and gutter overflow. Or perhaps they think the undercity is a reflection, no more.
The columns of light dance on the black mirror like laser swords. Sometimes they also make dazzling shapes of light.
It's a spectacle to see light enter the domain of darkness.
Delhi on such a rainy night made me think about the nature of light. How when light enters a surface (a non-reflecting one) it disappears. How it's seen only when it is refused entry. How some things become visible only when they are refused entry. How light creates undercities of black light when refused entry.
Or do undercities really come up to look at their twins sometimes on rainy nights?
It's a mirror that turns headlights and streelights into long quivering pillars of light. On such nights, these quivering pillars of light light up the road like a city under glass. An undercity of black lights! The undercity is a city stuck to its sky. Upsidedown.
The undercity is a dark twin come up for some air and attention. Suddenly made visible by the rains. An illusion realised in space. Like moments in a film. Moments that ARE simply because they HAVE BEEN.
These are things we know. And yet we can never find out.
On rainy nights the twin undercity comes up to snigger at those labouring in the overworld. The Upside Up, Downside Down people of the regular world. The dark citizenry of this dark undercity comes up to see the overcity of light and regularity. And to throw eerie back-glances, from an upsidedown perspective, at the overcity-world above.
It's a funny sight, the play of light on blackness. The rising of Hades on rainy nights. Like the birth of Venus. The coming alive of an unknown, unseen undercity.
Most drivers of cars and two-wheelers are oblivious to the undercity's appearance on rainy nights. They're more worried about getting wet. Or busy making waves of rain and gutter overflow. Or perhaps they think the undercity is a reflection, no more.
The columns of light dance on the black mirror like laser swords. Sometimes they also make dazzling shapes of light.
It's a spectacle to see light enter the domain of darkness.
Delhi on such a rainy night made me think about the nature of light. How when light enters a surface (a non-reflecting one) it disappears. How it's seen only when it is refused entry. How some things become visible only when they are refused entry. How light creates undercities of black light when refused entry.
Or do undercities really come up to look at their twins sometimes on rainy nights?
I like your way of looking at things differently. As you had stated that somethings become visible only when refused entry, I guess that's the law of nature. Sometimes our best comes against all odds. At that moment we just take a step back and see the other side of the problem, light seems to shine through the darkness.
ReplyDeleteWe are then filled with the LIGHT that transforms us and helps us make a journey through the DARK without stumbling or falling. Then we can turn the picture Upside Down to get the complete view.
Wow. I know we share something kindred... mystical...our minds have shared...
ReplyDeleteTo read this is eerie. I cannot tell you how many times I have driven on rainy night roads haunted that I may get sucked into the underworld. I had tears in my eyes by the end. How can you know me so well?