Killed by a Shooting Star

Homen Thangjam *

You're late, said the caretaker.
The four freezers are already occupied
You'd to find a spot to spend your time
Until your trials are over
That could take days, perhaps ages
Time remains frozen here,
Mocked the caretaker.
Identify your group, be at ease.
Rats and cockroaches are aplenty
They feast on dead bodies.
Showed us his hollow chest, as if
To prove his point

But we're already dead!
Why the trial?
None judges the dead?
We echoed our innocence.
Tsk! Tut, tut-tut! Says who!
You're in Paradise on Earth
Not yet in heaven or hell,
Thundered the caretaker in disdain.
Innocence is a guilt here, said he.
As an example he pointed at a shadowless figure
Underneath a tube light swarming with moths
Playing with his cobweb-covered soul.

We took refuge nearby
By the coldness of the Shadowless Figure
To avoid the squabbling spirits
Who do not have time to haunt, we learnt,
(Became part of their lot later on!)
Human beings or other creatures at night
As they fight amongst themselves
All the time just as they'd fought
Amongst themselves while being alive
Over promises, loyalty and booties.
How true! A morgue is never quiet
Even a hungry dog avoids it!

Shadowless Figure narrated us his fate
The truth surrounding his death
That he was killed by a shooting star
(Even showed us the crescent-shaped wound)
On a silvery night six months ago
While making love
In the bewitched garden of fantasy
With his alter ego, Luminosity Positive,
Or the Life Giver as folks fondly call her
To give birth to a dream called redemption
And deliver the world (of Manipur)
From darkness, remorse and oppression.

He looked scornfully
At the judges, jury and hired witnesses
Nationalists, liberators and patriots
Crossbreeds between tigers and Kangla Shas
For denying him justice.
They called him a liar, convincingly
Asserted with transcripts of an conversation
Between New Delhi and Imphal
Of a "fierce" encounter and gun fight.
Shadowless Figure was killed in the encounter, they insisted,
Not by a shooting star. Caretaker smiled at us mischievously
Ordered us to stand for trial.