ARUDPRAGASAM, Anuk

The Story of a Brief Marriage

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Perhaps people simply had no choice. Perhaps they had to keep moving, to get up in the morning, and to go on until evening. Breathing was not a choice or habit after all, it was not something you could start or stop at will. The atmosphere entered the body of its own accord, and in the same way it took its leave, from the first breath to the last, so perhaps in a way living was not a choice. The air would go on advancing, and till it stopped it would go on receding. When you were hungry you would have to eat, and when you were thirsty you would have to drink. When your bladder was full you would have to piss, and when your bowels were full you would have to shit. The legs had to move, so people had to go places, and so there were places they went. The arms had to work too, and so people had to carry things, and so there were things they gripped and held. All the while the atmosphere kept advancing and receding, the chest kept rising and falling, and maybe that was all, maybe that was life.

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