Considering that I met Kay just once and we talked for less than an hour, it would be strange for me to feel any sense of loss at this news. However, it not only shocked me but it also gave me some perspective on life and death and the very instant that I read about the person's death, the cliched phrase 'live like there's no tomorrow' made a ton of sense to me. Perhaps, it is alright to not know someone too well and not feel too mournful in such a situation, but the fact that someone so cheerful meets with an untimely end compels me to wonder what it is all about.
In the time that Kay and I talked, I got the impression that Kay was as real as real gets, there was not a single hint of superficiality in Kay's words which only reflected Kay's incredible enthusiasm and Jack Kerouac-esque zest for life and travel. I could relate so much to that since I'm quite mystified by both of these myself. I never really had a penchant for plays and theatre, I love watching them yes, God knows I love musicals, Cats and Aida did were truly enchanting and if I had the opportunity, I would watch one regularly...but I never had much of an interest in reading plays.
The only time that I took an interest in reading or writing a play was when I was around 13 or 14 years old and I was bored, and I felt the urge to type something out, so around 9 pm one evening, I wrote a small dialogue between young King Tutankhamen and young Julius Caesar. I don't remember what exactly I wrote but I vaguely remember the size of the dialogue and what it was approximately about - it began with both the characters who are children playing together and then one of them did something to irk the other and it just took off as a childish verbal fight from there. I printed it off and showed it to my father as well. I felt like a new person, like I had accomplished something great. I read it and I re-read it a couple of times and I liked it, I had my own approval and I was inspired to write more such dialogues and I hoped I would be able to extend my new-found talent into the area of writing full-fledged plays.
And why did I just switch my track to writing about plays? That's because I learned about Samuel Beckett from Kay and it inspired me to try and expand my literary interests to include theatre. Kay was a student of theatre when Kay was in school, but one of Kay's teachers did not appreciate it when Kay decided to write a play that was his own take on Beckett, in fact the teacher failed Kay just because of Kay's display of originality. If I had a teacher like that I think I would rather get a C or a D rather than be in the teacher's good books which I'm sure would mean conformity to tradition. Tradition is good but not always and in all situations. Innovation is to be appreciated. If everyone had to resort to conventional practices for everything, then we would certainly not be where we are today - I would not be typing this out and you would not be reading these words. Who knows, we would have probably remained apes struggling in search of food every single day, or maybe we would have just been extincy as a species. Innovation has pre-historic roots, for sure.
Well, I don't know where my sheet of dialogue between Junior King Tut and Junior Caesar is, but looking back at that one instance ties up my past with my recent past and even my future. But, after that one dialogue, I never really read nor did I write anything remotely related to a theatrical dialogue.
But I watched a Youtube clip of 'Waiting for Godot' by Beckett and it made me want to get hold of the play and read it. I would like to read all his plays if I find them, the depth of the philosophy in 'Waiting for Godot' is an element I would like to explore.
Perhaps one hour is not enough to know a whole deal about any one person, each person is a complex bundle of characteristics and thought processes after all; but without being judgmental, I think it is possible to get a general idea about the person in the least, if not anything else. You can easily sense the person's vibes and can at least tell whether you like them or not. But, then again, you could be wrong: a lot of people take a lot of time to open up, mostly the reserved kind. I know that for a fact since I tend to be quite reserved, but once I warm up to someone, I find it really easy to talk to them. I've met a lot of lovely people, I've had my share of unpleasant experiences with people as well, but I guess everyone that I've met has changed me and my life by way of conversation and sometimes by their behaviour, sometimes even by their mere presence in my life, albeit a temporary one. Talking to another person gives me so much perspective on a lot of matters. I have also realized the importance of varying perspectives, since without such a variety of these, the concept of brainstorming would have remained non-existent. At times, in order to re-inforce one's own perspective on something, it is important to understand a different perspective on the same matter at hand.
Oftentimes, the people who appear to be really pleasant when you are first introduced to them turn out to be anything but. However, in my experience, I think even a short conversation with certain people is enough to change one's life. But what I don't appreciate is when someone tries to give you a piece of his/her "advice" when it is completely unwarranted and that too, just in the first meeting. How presumptuous! The person who offers you his/her "advice" seems to lie under the impression that there is something wrong with you and they immediately offer you their pearls of wisdom. No thanks, but I don't think there's anything wrong here and I never called for Mr. Fix-It!
It's sad and strange to think of Kay as gone. May Kay's cheerful and positive soul R.I.P.!
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