Tomic Riter

Tag: travel

  • Exploring new ventures : Thoughts from a shop backroom

    Been away for a long time. A while ago, I was sitting with this friend of mine in his shop’s backroom. We were talking about how something must be done soon. About what, we couldn’t say. But something must be done. That much is clear. It is as if everything has come to a standstill. It is as if we are alive but we do not feel so. Something, hence, must be done to feel alive.

    But what. Should we start a new business. Should we make a youtube channel like many others. Should we make an instagram travel account. Should we start vlogging. The thing is that it isn’t enough to start something. The question is why start anything at all. What is compelling us to take on something new. Maybe because we are capable of doing far more that what we are currently doing.

    Our conversation was cut short by the arrival of a third man, a nuisance, a menace to the society in general. At that point, we stopped talking. We let the third man talk. He was angry at something. About what, I didn’t wish to know. A million things anger me, but it’s not anyone’s business. Only mine.

    Soon, the third man left. Our conversation couldn’t resume immediately upon his leaving. Something about that space had changed. Maybe our moods changed. Maybe we were too exhausted from the routine that we were unable to talk further.

    Soon, the clock struck 9 o’clock. We got up, walked out of the shop, locked it behind us and we drove back to our homes as quietly as we could.

    – Tomic

  • Riding back home.

    I wanted to ride further on the road, but I decided to ride back home. On the way back, I found a vegetable seller lying dead under a sheet of cloth covered with fresh vegetables. He was lying on the left side of the road. I stopped there for a while. His boy was standing there, waiting for somebody to buy the remaining vegetables. They won’t last longer than a couple of days and after that the rotting will begin. No gut can digest rotten vegetables without consequences. I bought some vegetables from the boy and dropped money notes in his dead father’s open palms. For some reason, he seemed alive and while I was talking to his boy, I felt he could listen to me. I put the vegetables in my bag and rode off, and before that I smiled at the boy and he smiled back at me as he waited for another customer. Half the sky was clouded. It did not rain that day.

    Copyright © Tomic Riter. All rights reserved.

  • Last night.

    Last night, I dreamed and that’s all I can remember now. I remember more than that but I cannot say if any of it is true. Alcohol seeped into my unconscious, awakened the subtle fears. I am not free but I know the path to freedom. Owing to laziness and unnecessary sleep, I lack the will to pursue that path. Buying alcohol gives more satisfaction than buying food, despite the idea being foolish. Another day of riding miles on empty roads that cut across the green swampy fields. I ride back and forth to memorise a landscape. Too far seems scary. Before I reach too far, I always run out of time and sunshine.

    Copyright © Tomic Riter. All rights reserved.