For the Mad Hatter Day 😀
There has been very few things which had provoked my thoughts other than those ideas about death, and it was a prominent part of my life for a long time along with those vampires, zombies and ghosts. Four years earlier than where we stand now on the sands of time, there was an incident which made it stronger. It was during our journey to Colombo through Chennai as part of a Ramayana Tour arranged by Riya Travels; it was a beautiful experience, but before there was any experience, there was the presence of Sir Death, the smartest hero and villain I have ever known – the available information about the same is shared as it is:
On 25 July 2010, Kingfisher Airlines Flight IT 2482, bound to Chennai, detected smoke in its cargo hold, due to chemical reactions happened in a chemical consignment cargo for a laboratory. Leakage from ten packets of boric acid powder and two 100 ml. bottles of liquid detergent where packed in a single consignment, resulted in the chemical reactions, causing smoke which triggered attention of ground staff. It was found that, there was security lapse among the cargo security staff to allow such a consignment reach the aircraft’s cargo hold. There were 36 passengers and 3 crew members on-board. The consignment was taken off and the flight was cleared to take-off.
The messenger of death with its tombstones (Pic from The Crow’s FB page)
That deals with our flight. There was no delay with the smoke as nothing was there after the airplane had taken off. The smoke came too early for Death to take over. May be there was too much to handle upstairs to take me, or may be Death needed more people when crashing one flight. The ways of Death are indeed strange, for it vanishes even when there is the need for its presence and comes when it should have stayed in its abode. One has to wonder if Emily Dickinson was ready for her suitor when he arrived, as she already let us know about the uncertainty with the same due to her being too busy.
So, without earning Death’s displeasure, I shall call him the Grim Reaper, the name that we usually associate with him – or the Angel of Eternal Sleep should also be nice, I would think. I would mostly go with Miss Dickinson there with her good depiction of her suitor, as long as the one passing to the other world is me. On such an occasion, he is indeed a gentleman, and I would respect his choice and the duty to take me away. But there shall be no such respect when he sneaks in to take my loved ones, and in that case, neither he or his messengers are welcome here.
Poe and his plutonic black bird (Pic from The Raven’s FB page)
Talking about his messengers, let the due respect be paid to them, the crows and the ravens; from being the sacred creatures of Apollo, the legends have grown. We had Edgar Allan Poe depicting it with all its mystery in his poem as he asks the raven to return to the underworld of Pluto/Hades. It is an enchanting creature of the shadow world and darkness there, and its chant “nevermore” is rather the mocking of human hopelessness on the face of death, and only the dark creature knows the master of death. It is as if it knew what awaited the man in the depths of Tartarus, and it is a bird of wisdom which knows how meaningless man’s vain puruits are.
There was the 1994 movie based on the crow and its ability to bring the soul back to the body as it acted as the messenger to the other world. Acting as the link between two worlds, this crow should be Grim Reaper’s favourite. The leading actor, Brandon Bruce Lee had also died during the shooting of this movie adapted from comics. The feeling of watching that movie was something dark and beautiful, and leaves us with the desire for a reboot. It is like looking at the black bird and feeling that it is no longer the same creature any more. May be I need such a bird as a pet as much Grim Reaper needs his scythe.
Alice and her world of wonders (Pic from Alice in Wonderland FB page)
This is part of my own celebration of the Mad Hatter Day on October sixth which I enjoy as the un-birthday on which twenty one cups of tea and a certain dose of madness are to be added. Let me ask you then, why wouldn’t a raven be not a writing desk? Well, what if our tables were ravens? What if they acted like a portal and had the entrance to the other world? My dear Jabberwocky, I do wonder, how you make perfect sense to me; there is no vorpal blade that remains in the modern world, and can you grin like a sweet little Cheshire Cat as you show me the way out of my thoughts? It is a bloody frabjous day, even for the jubjub birds. Happy Mad Hatter Day, everyone 😀
TeNy
The Tea Cerebrations 