Rashmi bookmarks “Driving Blind”

I have always been in awe of the genius of Ray Bradbury… with this collection of short stories, I marvel, for the umpteenth time, how much this writer takes me through the entire gamut of emotions from “Yes! I know that feeling!” to “Wow! I have never known such emotions”! (In no particular order) here are my favourites:

* Someone In The Rain - My website features a thought by Kahlil Gibran, “The biggest thing in today’s sorrow is the memory of yesterday’s joy.” This story reminds me of that thought. It talks of a very special memory that was created in childhood, and was cherished for an entire life. It undergoes a very specific attempt to recreate that memory exactly. And it realizes with a breaking heart that what once was, never can be again.

* Mr. Pale - The idea presented here was fantastic enough to be simultaneously incredible and plausible! Is it possible that there has existed a creature since the beginning of time that lives off the lives of people? Could it be that we die so that it can live? What if its death would mean immortality for us? Are we sure we can risk finding out? And if we do find out, are we sure we can bear immortality, with its “immense burden of memory”?

* Nothing Changes - Starting from an old bookstore with forgotten high school yearbooks, this unusual journey takes us through an eerie coincidence involving different pairs of people separated by several years but sharing identical faces, and finally to a metaphysical, almost surreal, truth of life where - across generations - nothing changes.

* The Mirror - This was a story about twin sisters who mirror each other in every little way. The great divide came the day one of them met a man, leaving the other alone. From then on, they grew apart, much to the shocked disbelief of the whole town. Their final meeting after a long estrangement was a fantastic one, and one that I did not see coming!

* Remember Me? - The eye-opening truth in this simple story touched my heart. Most of us go through the motions of Life, Job, Household Chores. We follow the same routines at the same times; we meet the same people at the same places. But what would happen if one of those fixed elements was removed and presented in a whole new setting? How would you react if you met your local butcher while vacationing in a different country?

* Driving Blind - What if you wore a mask - perhaps to hide a deformity, or perhaps just because you were shy? What if after many years you realized you had forgotten why you had put it on, and had been making up sad stories to justify it? And then, what if, instead of discarding that useless mask, you were so confident in your perfection, you did not feel the need to prove any point? Via conversations between an out-of-town salesman and a 13-year-old boy, these are some of the very soul searching questions this story raises.

I must also mention the sheer horror of Fee Fie Foe Fum, the poetic love of Grand Theft, the tragedy of I Wonder What’s Become Of Sally, the novel idea of Madame et Monsieur Shill and the life and death of Hello, I Must Be Going. It is this range of emotions and ideas that makes Bradbury one of the best creators, and his stories, some of the finest!