The Answer

What does a Mask know of love? What does he know of the emotion so pristine that even I shudder at the mere thought of falling in love again? I shudder for I know that love is all pervasive, it takes over your life in a way not even a success laden mask can. It shakes your entire being and makes you an all together different man – a man they say is in love.

Oh, how the lines vanish when you are in love!

The line between sanity and insanity; between how much of yourself you wish to keep and how much you want to give up and the line between dreams and reality. Are you ready to give up your manipulative, scheming mind as a price for one successful lustful reverie with the face that you speak of? Will you embrace the innocent face and surrender your soul to unite with her in the world that she exists in?

If you answer in yes, then indeed, the Mask can fall in love.

But here is the bitter truth, the Mask is forever a Mask, it does not exist outside a make believe world of faked happiness and unfulfilled desires. A Mask is always an after thought, never an unbridled surrender to heart felt wishes; a Mask is born to a lie, love is the eternal truth. So my dear Mask, fall in love if you must, but you can not love; for you are incapable of loving back. Masks serve to survive and not to spread happiness and that is the rationale of your existence. At some point in your life, you must betray the innocence to keep the Mask alive.

I fear for the innocent face though, for after the Mask is done with loving her and the ground beneath her tender feet turns in to a deathly marshland, the innocence would have died and yet another beast would be born; a beast who herself will wear the Masks that I now wear and the circle of life would continue uninterrupted.

I do not write destinies, least of all your destiny Mask, but I do think of the day when all innocence is gone from our lives! Think of the day when all our Masks have usurped all the innocent faces and what we are left with is a hideous congregation of single faceted Masks. The Masks who lie, cheat and deceive; but alas, there is no one left to lie to, to deceive and to cheat!

Such will be the state of the world where Masks fall in love and thus we will all exist in a void world free of love, happiness and dreams.

The Face

Question?

I am enamoured, I am enticed by the beautiful face.

The face is all I keep seeing, in my vivid dreams and imaginations and even as you warn me against the vicious addiction; I keep conjuring lustful reveries with the face.

Oh, such a beautiful, innocent face!

Tell me, pray, tell me now:

Why can’t a Mask fall in love?

The Union: I am myself and I am the Mask

What if I ever were my own man?

I sit alone, wondering; what if I did not have a Mask? Would I be any more or less of a man then I am today? Would my triumphs or travails be any less pronounced? Much as I like you Mask and much as I am now mortally dependant upon you; I still sometimes long for independence. I do wish to live a day in the life of the protagonist who never wore a Mask.

Such a day would begin with divine emptiness perhaps, for their will be not much to think and plan for. Such a day will wear on amidst vast luxuriousness of a forsaken wasteland and will end with no sense of gain or loss; for today would be no different from yesterday and nor will tomorrow bring more hope.

That is how I would be without my Mask, without my omnipresent friend.

I have made my choice, I have acknowledged the fact that no person on this land lives without a Mask. Many deny the existence, scoff at the dependence; but such is the extent of ignorance that even as they raise the rhetoric in denial they do not realize that it is the Mask of false bravado who speaks for them that very moment!

As more people read our letters, the more they feel intrigued, somewhat uncertain. People now wish to know who they are talking to when they are with ‘me’. I believe it is natural impulse, to know if they are being manipulated, lied to. This is not what I wish to do; I do not wish to raise insecurities. I just wish to talk and tell myself and others about the Masks that we wear. The Mask that I wear with people is forever the person I am; once they have known me and my Mask, they will forever talk to both of us; together.

The introvert me, with the extrovert Mask; the ambitious me, with the laidback Mask; the docile me; with the beastly Mask. Together we make for a complete package of sorts, as you complete me; you help me complete relationships. You are the missing piece in my quest for a perfect self and if you help me complete the puzzle of my life, you must be good for those who love me and seek happiness through me.

I worry no more about the shadows of my past; I believe my destiny is firmly in place. The churn has to now happen and much baggage needs to be left behind. People and memories who have outlived their relevance in my life need to be left behind with respect or neglect and new chapters now need to be added.  With this churn must also go some of the Masks which have no more use for me.  

As a new life begins, the great sense of acceptance warms my heart. This morning, like the others in recent past, I forced myself to smile and sing songs when I woke up. I know it is you who smiles and sings for me; but I do not complain for the song lives in my heart all day long and the smile lingers on.

A small surrender made to find happiness with in!

The Face

The Beast

Such a long period of hibernation!

But we did not sleep, did we? It’s been a perilously difficult journey in these past few months. Even I feel tired and drained; I wonder how you must be feeling! But this is not the time to stop and reflect, this is the time to walk faster, for the time of reckoning is closer then ever. Have you not felt it? Have you not felt the shadows of your past creeping up upon you?

Oh, how the shadows fill you with fear!

For years we have ran together, causing the heist and then escaping in to nothingness, only to emerge when the noise turns in to din to cause another crime. For years we have laughed at the naivety of our victims and now when the sun of your life has gone over and past your head, the shadows are beginning to lengthen.

But here is what I tell you my friend, you must not fear, you must not give in and bury your proud head in the sands; for you have me.  You have your ever loyal Mask, the one who never got defeated, the one who has lived inside you and helped you escape every time. So this is what we do now, in the time of crisis – we evolve in to our best, most ambitious form ever and take the shadows of the past head on. We must not hesitate from lying if we have to and speak the ugly truth even if it kills them. We must create a wholly fantastic illusion to deceive those who now wish to catch us off guard.

What do you stand to lose when you have nothing? What do you fear for when death is not an enemy? What do you yearn for when all the love that you ever had has already been lost? The freefall of stairs and the leap off the cliff has already happened to you, in your sub-conscious mind you have lived through the most traumatic pain. Now is when you start laughing with abandon. For years I have yearned to see a truly happy YOU! Now is the time when you should repay my efforts and surrender your soul to the attainment of the ultimate goal – realization of self. I wish to see you living for yourself, finding happiness within, finding happiness in others and moving on and ahead when others suck the happiness from you.

Oh, what immense joy in just the expression of a desire - The desire to live for self! Imagine a life time spent in the pursuit and attainment of this desire, how wholesome and gratifying! Now my friend, tell me how you feel, does the weight on your shoulders still weigh you down or do the sparkling possibilities of a life fill you with the child like energy that you once possessed? Tell me who you see in the distance, see with your eyes and tell me where we should head to.

On this cold wintery evening when the sky looks gloomy, pull the sun out of its hiding and place it right above your head. The beast is coming back to life, with the unbound force of passion and desire that lay dormant for years. Yes, bring the beast back to life, let life run through the veins of our tired existence once again and let’s call for a toast.

Here’s to a life without shadows and a life full of happiness!

The Mask