Two faces

Two faces

"Two Faces" "The world is surrounded by faces! Faces that w... 09:34

"Two Faces"

"The world is surrounded by faces!

Faces that we make, faces we show and faces that we hide..."

But exactly what inside a face leads to affection or sympathy or what kind of expression on face reveals the character?

Why sometimes we get attracted towards random faces in the crowd?

Why an innocent child’s face causes so much affection, why an old man's pale face gets noticed?

Why face of beggar fetches sympathy?
Probably a photographer or a portrait painter could answer this question better!

I remember one such face on the royal auditorium street, which had something deep inside, due to which I started following him!

I used to cross him daily on my way back to home, when he was going for his job of the "stage performer"

          I am not a kind of person who shows interest in some random stranger on street. I hardly talk to anyone I don’t know. But he has something in his character which was signaling that, he is someone who can become a good object for character description write up.

One day curiosity led me to the auditorium!
The auditorium was not much crowded when the show started!

I was expecting some sort of drama or a program where there would be some other co-actors.
But it was a solo act! He told a fantastic story, well decorated with little laughter, some great quotes, a level of imagination followed by his hands and a nice body language!
It was so energetic and fulfilled with such a quality of thoughts!!!
It truly amazed me!
I asked one old gentleman about his show,
And I was surprised by his answer.
He said "this man alone is performing here from past few years and we few old people are his regular audience!"

After all why? Why his face attracted me towards him?

Who was he?

He was not a beggar on the street fetching some sympathy.
He was not a kind of person whose eyes were telling his emotions...

He was not a photogenic face, neither someone with some story on his face…

It was just a face of a local stage performer, pretty smiley...
And today, after thinking so much about him, I still can't find any satisfactory reason of, why that face attracted a person like me, who is writer by profession and who has no interest in acting and stage performances.

Finally I satisfied myself with a conclusion that, he had some depth in his character, which was reflecting in his face, capable of attracting someone who has depth in his thoughts...

Some days later, it has become a habit for me to attend his show after my work gets over. It was a source full of ideas, emotions thoughts! It was just like a feast for a writer like me. Finally one day I decided to meet him in person and tell him how fantastic his show is and I am such a big fan of His! I thought whether it will be appropriate to meet him without the appointment, but when I went to the green room I realized that almost everyone from the audience was there waiting for him. After watching that crowded room, I decided to meet him some other day and turned back, when a familiar face in from the crowd called me!

“If you think that you fill find him alone someday, that’s not going to happen my friend.”

I turned back, when the old fellow raised his hand and called me.

“After the show we all have a good talk about the things we liked in Today’s performance, things about which we want to discuss more and it’s all about informal get together of few intelligent thinkers!

Yeah that’s what we call ourselves!”

Then I joined them. Finally when that “intelligent discussion got over, I went to him and introduced myself. I was going to talk about the show first, but as soon as he heard my name he interrupted me by saying,

“Aah! The famous writer from the ‘Times’, I am a big fan of yours Sir!”

          Well I was not a famous writer. Just a weekly story in ‘Times magazine’ was what my regular literary work was all about. Besides that I used to write for some local publications. But I was happy that he knew me!

Then I told him, how much I like his show and even I am big fan of his. After few minutes we concluded with the talk and said good bye to each other.

“Well, if you don’t mind, we can leave together; I live nearby to your house on the same street towards Greenland’s boat club.”

I looked towards him with a surprise that how he knew about my address, but he read my face,

“It gets printed below every article in the Times.”

He replied with smile.

I started laughing thinking how stupid the question was. Even that few minutes’ walk towards the home added so many things to our friendship!

After that, Walk from the same royal auditorium street towards our homes, has become a routine for us from past few years!
I remember, in that short journey we used to share number of stories with each other. As a writer, I always like to share my own stories with someone and listen to someone else's stories.

He truly, was a fantastic story teller!
His stories were never sort of untold stories; rather pretty common but with very uncommon and excellent morale!
Even I have heard most of them earlier, but with a different conclusion.

Not all of his stories seemed satisfactory to me or even to someone among his regular audience. But, he was satisfied with each and every story he told!
"Finally, there was someone, who is not living to satisfy others! He was doing all that, just to satisfy himself!"

I don’t remember a single day when he has taken a break from his work. He used to perform even on the Sundays. On the contrary, he used to say that,

“Actually I should perform twice on Sundays, because there is great tuning with the audience on Sundays. They concentrate to their fullest on Sundays by keeping all other thoughts aside and that gives me more pleasure!”

But except on those days, when that Royal Auditorium remains closed due to holidays, he was forced to take a break from his work. I remember his face on those days. On one such holiday he invited me to his house for Dinner.

I could not refuse his offer.

Only curiosity led me to his home!
I thought his home must be full of joy, filled with inspiration!  But, the room was scattered, there was absolutely nothing in the room! Not even "what you call basic necessities"
There were four photos on the wall, one was of old woman, then a man and a woman together, they must be around 35! And there was a young girl…

"Do you live alone?" I asked him
He nodded.

I was shocked!
‘From where he brings all the energy? How someone like him spreads so much joy and happiness around the world?’
Probably my face reflected my thoughts!

He smiled and pointed at one more photograph on the opposite side of the wall. There was a photo of Charlie Chaplin on the wall!

"Secrets reveal only at the end or when you reach deep inside the story, but the art is how long you keep your secrets as secret!" He exclaimed.

But after all why you selected this path? And how you get so much energy to make people laugh? And from where?

He smiled and said,

"Because those people in the audience will never read my heart! They will read my face! And you will be always judged on the faces you make! And believe me that can hide what is written on your heart!"

"I don't understand?" I replied.

“Tell me, how you select a book when you are at library? You just read its cover page and back cover and try to judge what would be written inside!
Well, that’s what I try do my friend!"

Days and months passed like that, but respect for him as an artist was risen by much more times in my heart after that visit!

Our friendship grew stronger and stronger. His story was truly an inspiration!

One day I told him that, I wish to write a short story about him!
He laughed at me in the beginning, but, I convinced him, that it would be a good motivational story of a stage performer!

The day after that he handed over the spare keys of his house and told me that, "please keep this with you; it will be helpful for you just in case I lost mine!"

"Helpful for me, huh?"
Both of us smiled.

"So you actually lock your home? May I ask why you do so? Who will be interested in robbing a house where there is nothing to steal inside?"

I asked him with a smiling face.

I was just hoping that this question won't hurt him! I just asked this question because I was expecting a fantastic answer in return! But suddenly, a thought came to my mind that I have crossed my limits.

He started laughing after listening to my question! He asked me a question in return,

"Tell me, which will make you more unhappy,
If a thief enters in your house and takes all your luxuries, like your TV, Refrigerator, your money and everything,

Or let’s suppose a thief who is writer by profession rob your house and takes your all literature, your ideas, and your thoughts?

Obviously, the second one!"

"Yeah, but at least there is something to steal in my house, may be in the form of diaries, journals, magazines!
If some another stage performer enters your house, what he will take away from you? He will just greet you and go back!"

I decided to go one step further after seeing his friendly response to my first question.

"Ha-ha! A stage performer will not steal anything from my house dear,
But, if a writer just like you, enters my house, he will get a story, if a photographer enters my house, he will get an abstract photograph across the walls of my house!  If a news reporter enters my house, he will probably make small news at some corner of a newspaper!"

My question was completely diverted by him, and now it was pointing towards me like an arrow.

"Oh! I am sorry dear; I think you have not liked the idea of making a story on you."

He interrupted me by saying,
"No, not at all dear! Rather, I am thankful to you!
And that's why I handed keys of my house to you where resides a good story!
These keys will add some essence to your story my friend!"

"Yeah! I can write like that, we were so much close to each other that he even handed keys of his house to me!"

We both laughed at that statement.

"Always remember my friend, even a lion or a tiger being the strongest creature of the jungle lives inside a cave because he feels there secured!
This house gives me energy and enthusiasm to perform with the same strength each day and that's why it means so much to me!"

I remember, I used to ask him so many questions about his life, his family. He was always ready to answer them, but his answers were like a puzzle!

I don't remember his answers today, but I remember one amazing story which he told me,

"There were two friends, very intelligent and thoughtful! They used to share their thoughts and knowledge every evening when they meet each other.
One day when they were sitting on the coast, one of them said,

"Probably our discussions are like that horizon, nobody knows, whether it will end somewhere? Probably it will keep rising again and again like that sun everyday!"

And from that day they started feeling very curious about that horizon! They used to ask each other many questions,
'What do you think if we travel straight through the sea, how much time will it take to reach that horizon?'
They both knew the answer somewhere deep inside, but they refused to agree with their mind!

'Exactly at what point that sea swallows the sun? And from where it rises again?'
Those questions inspired them for the search of horizon. 
Finally one of them left the coast in search of horizon!

The other stayed at the beach observing the sun and horizon every evening...

Finally after 7 years when the friend who left the land in search of horizon returned, with nothing in hand, except the stories of his sufferings.

They discussed whether anyone of them got a clue about that sun and horizon?

The other one said yes!
"Probably there is no horizon we are just rotating around that sun...

And when our surface of land rotates, at one point we cannot see the sun because sun goes somewhere below our land!"

"Both of them called each other fool after listening to their stories, but the world called first one, The Inventor!
But, why? After all it was just a possibility, just a prediction, a gamble, baseless...
But he predicted something which was acceptable, which was told in a different way!
Why? 
Because, we never understand the things which we see unless someone shows them!" 
That’s it, the end! Now I don’t have to tell you which friend was happier!

“I don’t understand, what is the morale of the story?”

"Morals are never told my friend, they are always created!" He replied.

His answer caused a smile on my face. Then who told you this story?
"I have created it!" He said.

He told me this story 7 years before…

I never understood what he actually meant.
Until…
Some days before when he passed away due to some disease...

Incurable...
He knew that disease for more than 7 years!
Finally today I understand the meaning of that story...

"Actually he never told me the story. He himself was the story! He told me the morale of the story!
He always knew how it is going to end...
How meaningless it is to chase something that he is never going to get…
That’s why he shown the story in a different way, by being a different happy enthusiastic face!
He always had those two faces!
That’s why he always chose to be happy and spread laughter! That’s why the world called him an Artist!"

But some questions remain still unanswered.
Why there was that second face in existence?

Why he had those two faces? And why not just the face full of enthusiasm?
Why there was the other face of sorrow, when he had chosen the other path?

I knew where I will get answers for these questions...
Only that Charlie on that wall could answer my questions...

I took the spare keys of his house, opened the door and rushed inside.

The Charlie on the wall was gone!!!
There was a note besides the hanging of Charlie,
"Well, I always had two faces! Charlie was my face which I showed the world, I am no more, and that’s why there is no Charlie. He is gone with that happy face!
And I believe, 

"Secrets reveal only at the end or when you reach deep inside the story, but the art is how long you keep your secrets as secret!"
I think this is the end, so someone must reveal the secret!
This room left with those 4 photos on the other side of the wall is my other face, which is enough to reveal my secrets."

“The story with the second happy face is not the story, but how that happy face masked that first face and how that pain of sorrow, vanished when no one paid attention towards it, that’s the story!”

I was surprised!

"The end" well this is the end of the story.

"How long you keep your secrets as secret!"
From the beginning! 
The photos were there from the beginning!
And yes, that’s the art!!!

My hands started clapping in that empty room!

And today I got the answer of my last unanswered question,
"Why the Charlie was exactly on the opposite side of the wall!!"

-         Niteesh Sane©