sputnik sweetheart
dhaka, bangladesh.
'in dreams you don't need to make any distinctions between things. not at all. boundaries don't exist. so in dreams there are hardly ever collisions. even if there are, they don't hurt. reality is different. reality bites. reality, reality.'
'it made her think of Laika, the dog. the man-made satellite streaking soundlessly across the blackness of outer space. the dark, lustrous eyes of the dog gazing out of the tiny window. in the infinite loneliness of space,
what could Laika possibly be looking at?'
'understanding is but the sum of misunderstandings.'
'it is the same with anything - you have to learn through your own experience, paying your own way.
you can't learn it from a book.'
'remove everything pointless from an imperfect life and it’d lose even its imperfection.'
'why do people have to be this lonely? what's the point of it all? millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. why? was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?'
'did you ever see anyone shot by a gun without bleeding?'
'don't pointless things have a place, too, in this far-from-perfect world?'
'i have this strange feeling that i'm not myself anymore. it's hard to put into words, but i guess it's like i was fast asleep, and someone came, disassembled me, and hurriedly put me back together again. that sort of feeling.'
'there weren't any curtains in the windows, and the books that didn't fit into the bookshelf lay piled on the floor like a bunch of intellectual refugees.'
'who can really distinguish between the sea and what's reflected in it? or tell the difference between the falling rain and loneliness?'
'maybe it's just hiding somewhere. or gone on a trip to come home. but falling in love is always a pretty crazy thing. it might appear out of the blue and just grab you. who knows — maybe even tomorrow.'
'i closed my eyes and listened carefully for the descendants of Sputnik, even now circling the earth, gravity their only tie to the planet. lonely metal souls in the unimpeded darkness of space, they meet, pass each other, and part, never to meet again. no words passing between them. no promises to keep.'
was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness? just a tribute, bye...
