Creation

By Tapashi Choudhury

No one knew that a life existed in that damp basement in the middle of the busy street. How could anyone? No light was seen coming from that room after all.

The room had been abandoned years ago. A perfect place for microbes to grow or smugglers to smuggle. But contrary to that, there lived the old man barely anyone knew existed. No one to rely on, no family, and with no financial support, there lived the man who searched for food during the day and craved to create his biggest creation at night. With a little brightness coming from a nearby street light, he sat every night in a corner to give birth to his new masterpieces. Being an artist with no financial stability is misfortune, for he had to spend more than half of his earnings on buying colors. And thus, his lack of nutrition was clearly seen in his wrinkled body which was leaner than the brush he held to paint.

Everybody by now must have thought that his paintings earned him a lot. But that's not really the case, for his paintings were non existent to every soul passing by that street. People barely understood the beauty of his art, they barely tried to get to the insights of his paintings. For general public, his paintings had no value. Only he looked at his creations with awe. It was only him who understood the story and beauty behind each painting. To him, his creations were beautiful.

Years have passed. The man no longer exists. The authority has finally discovered the abandoned basement. The man died a silent death. No one knew him. No one knew where he lived. He was found lifeless at the nearby park beside the street lamp. As an act of humanity, he was respectfully buried at the graveyard at the outskirts of the city. Eventually this incident was forgotten. Of course, his grave was devoid of flowers. His traces were not found in the basement so no one linked him with that room. The only traces found were some usual paintings which can't be considered attractive. Not being admirers of art, paintings were considered useless by the people who visited the room. They were simply drawings of different landscapes consisting of trees, rivers, hills etc.

The paintings didn't get to show off their beauty in front of the public in any exhibition. They simply lied in another basement waiting for their turn to be thrown away.

By Tapashi Choudhury