Extract from the Journal of Dr. Faustus
Friday night:
Place: Bangalore –
Mephistopheles and I have come to meet an old friend who goes by the rather pretentious name of “eternal” and who likes to be called Captain Nemo [I should never have told him about his previous lives, but hindsight, as they say comes only after the fact.]
Nemo told us that he has got into a rut with his work, the mindless peering into a CRT to make sense of the characters appearing on it once in a while… trying to match some software professional’s skills with the requirements from his clients… He had a sinus problem... The women in his life have all disappeared for the Independence Day weekend, leaving him sighing… He has a writer’s block…
I solved his sinus problem with a snap of my finger, remedies made from leftovers. This being a weekend in Bangalore, even Mephisto, with all his magical powers could do nothing about making software professionals available for a talking to. Nemo has no desire to see Helen of Troy [maybe he has no desire to see a thousand digitized ships… and the topless towers of Ilium suddenly bursting into flames on his widescreen dolby home theatre system.] and Mephisto, damn his black soul, declines to materialise Norma Jean so we can do nothing about his loneliness. The easiest thing to do is to get Nemo out of his writer’s block, and who has had a better life than me for a wonderful narrative of adventures? [My friend Casanova’s life comes a distant second… but his share of misadventures is more than mine]
In a few moments, dear journal, I shall leave to have dinner and to tell Nemo some fascinating stories. I have no idea when I shall return to you, till then… fare thee well…
Saturday Night : Blank
Sunday Night : Blank
Monday Night:
Place: Weimar
When we took leave of Nemo today morning, he was exhausted but very restless, bursting with ideas for writing. I hope he slept for a few hours atleast before going to work. The last three nights were spent in a joyful, nostalgic mood at Nemo’s home in Bangalore. We [I and Mephisto] recollecting all our adventures of the last few centuries… my associations with some of the greatest men of science, philosophers and adventurers. And Nemo listening, what an owl he is… doesn’t sleep till the first rays of dawn strikes him… He listened and made notes, not trusting his phenomenal memory for trivia for the first time since I got to know him.
He might soon write about some of those people, their work and my associations with them …
Knowing him, he might just write it in a first person narrative. IF he does so, I hope people will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed living it…
Friday night:
Place: Bangalore –
Mephistopheles and I have come to meet an old friend who goes by the rather pretentious name of “eternal” and who likes to be called Captain Nemo [I should never have told him about his previous lives, but hindsight, as they say comes only after the fact.]
Nemo told us that he has got into a rut with his work, the mindless peering into a CRT to make sense of the characters appearing on it once in a while… trying to match some software professional’s skills with the requirements from his clients… He had a sinus problem... The women in his life have all disappeared for the Independence Day weekend, leaving him sighing… He has a writer’s block…
I solved his sinus problem with a snap of my finger, remedies made from leftovers. This being a weekend in Bangalore, even Mephisto, with all his magical powers could do nothing about making software professionals available for a talking to. Nemo has no desire to see Helen of Troy [maybe he has no desire to see a thousand digitized ships… and the topless towers of Ilium suddenly bursting into flames on his widescreen dolby home theatre system.] and Mephisto, damn his black soul, declines to materialise Norma Jean so we can do nothing about his loneliness. The easiest thing to do is to get Nemo out of his writer’s block, and who has had a better life than me for a wonderful narrative of adventures? [My friend Casanova’s life comes a distant second… but his share of misadventures is more than mine]
In a few moments, dear journal, I shall leave to have dinner and to tell Nemo some fascinating stories. I have no idea when I shall return to you, till then… fare thee well…
Saturday Night : Blank
Sunday Night : Blank
Monday Night:
Place: Weimar
When we took leave of Nemo today morning, he was exhausted but very restless, bursting with ideas for writing. I hope he slept for a few hours atleast before going to work. The last three nights were spent in a joyful, nostalgic mood at Nemo’s home in Bangalore. We [I and Mephisto] recollecting all our adventures of the last few centuries… my associations with some of the greatest men of science, philosophers and adventurers. And Nemo listening, what an owl he is… doesn’t sleep till the first rays of dawn strikes him… He listened and made notes, not trusting his phenomenal memory for trivia for the first time since I got to know him.
He might soon write about some of those people, their work and my associations with them …
Knowing him, he might just write it in a first person narrative. IF he does so, I hope people will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed living it…
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