Once upon a time in a pencil box a sturdy lead pencil – Raj, fell in love with a slender felt pen – Scarlet. But he may have rubbed her the wrong way. She did not respond the way he wanted, because she was fascinated by the hues of multi-coloured sketch pens.
Raj’s best friend the Ballpoint pen – Parker, pointed out, “Raj, don’t look so leaden, sharpen up a bit. Maybe she doesn’t get a pencil’s point of view as she’s rather sketchy.”
Meanwhile Kitty, a fancy Chinese eraser, had a bit of a crush on Raj. She never missed an opportunity to show off her translucent skin. She annoyed Raj, as she was always rubbing against and hoping to entice him with her tangerine scent. But Raj only dreamt about Scarlet and wished they could travel all over the landscape, drawing in free hand, a beautiful love painting.
Raj the pencil just longed to be held. He wondered how Scarlet did not realize that with him there could be no mistakes. He was the only one who had an eraser on his crown and could always start over till everything was just perfect.
Scarlet however, had taken a fancy to a permanent Marker as she sought a long-term relationship. The Pencil thought she must have erased all her memories of him. The menacing Marker was a tough guy and became over-possessive of Scarlet.
“I want to tattoo my name in bold letters, on you.” declared Mark.
Scarlet was frightened by his dark and rigid behaviour and came running to Parker and Raj. “Help me please!”
Parker took them to the Don of all pens – Monte of the Carlo family. Monte was just about to take a dip in his pool of Royal Blue.
“Hmm, now you come to me for help. The pen is mightier than the sword you see. I will send Vito after Mark; he can wipe out every trace of even the toughest pen.” He mumbled, flashing his diamond head at them.
Vito a.k.a. The Corrector was Monte’s hitman, a slimy looking correction fluid pen who liked to dress in all white. Vito sprang up, shaking his heavy-set, squishy self and the metal balls inside rattled. He took off his cap exposing his metal head. They were taken aback, but thanked Monte and left.
However Raj was not happy with this solution. For even though he put his head into a metal sharpener every day, he did not like violence. So, he mustered up courage and took matters into his stride.
“You’re definitely crossing a line here.” Raj confronted Mark and told him to back off.
Scarlet then stopped going out with Mark, as she was afraid of his threatening ways and controlling attitude.
As they traversed through the pages of life, suddenly their life turned a new chapter. One day Scarlet saw the true potential of Raj. He was in a brace with a compass and she saw him swing from one graceful circle to another. Then into semi circles over a protractor. He turned sharp angles with the set squares and slid steadily down the ruler. Raj went on drawing countless beautiful patterns with graceful dance like movements that fascinated her.
Kitty was also watching and sighed,
“Ohhhh! Raj is so perfect he never leaves any work for me. The ideal partner I would say. You never need to clean up after.”
Scarlet felt a pang of jealousy. She began to read between the lines of the simple sketching of the pencil. She realized that life had many beautiful shades of grey and that everything didn’t have to be multi-coloured or permanent to be good. So, she settled for the simplicity of the Pencil instead. He was plain but always kept in tip top shape.
“I’m a ‘Nataraj’ you know and consider you as my ‘Apsara’. He cooed to Scarlet.
As days passed, he collected his many wood shavings and designed them into a beautiful ball gown for her. She was delighted.
In time the pencil grew shorter and shorter and he asked her. “Will you still love me when I’m old and reduced to a little stub”.
She replied “Of course my dear, I will love you forever till the day my inky blood runs dry.”
Thus the story of Raj and Scarlet came to an end but as their owner lay them down together in his old Geometry Box in the back of his drawer, they knew they had explored love from every angle and tangent. But we mustn’t confine ourselves to a sad ending of this tale and instead think out of the box.
For at the magic hour after midnight, when everyone is asleep, Raj and Scarlet still tip toe out of the box. Under the Moonlit night they dance a tango on the table top till dawn before returning to a peaceful slumber in their boxy home.
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