THE PORTRAIT

Trying to make a portrait.. trying to sketch the lines..fill in the colours, figure out the contours.

But everytime I commence sketching after a break, I find the lines on his face have changed..Some have vanished, a couple of new ones have surfaced..What am I to do?? Start all over again? Or rub the lines I drew..?

Would it be honest to erase those lines which have now disappeared? It's not as if they were never there..They did define him someday, sometime, when we met somewhere..

How could I erase them? It would be a lie.

So, I decided it would be unfair to erase those wrinkles , those contours that I can't see now.

I continue my sketch, over drawing layers of new fresh contours, new lines, new wrinkles.

After so many interactions, I finally think, I did it. Yes, I finished my porttrait.

What do I see?

A mess of lines, one over the others.. a picture unidentifiable. A picture with no resemblance to my friend whose portrait it was meant to be.

And there's light.

The tunnel has gone.

Enlightenment finally.

I realise the eternal truth.So simple. So subtle. 

I AM NOT TO JUDGE.

It's unfair and It's useless.

And yeah, maybe it stops you from reaching the other end of your tunnel.

Relief. Joy. Ecstasy.