The Red Button

By Nikhilesh Dholakia
 
Another furtive look
Crimson, bold…almost irridiscent
The red button
Starkly framed, white plate and black frame
Centered… in bold, defiant relief
The red button
The instructions are clear
“Do not press, except in emergency”
Itchy fingers
Held back by determination
From
The red button
 
Busy place
People darting back and forth
No one seems to care
About its Cyclopean stare
Mocking
Daring
The red button
 
Transfixed, tantalized, twitching
Will, slowly slipping
From my perspiring being
Silent scream of help
“Look… people! It’s not me…
… just look at its impertinence”
The red button
 
Whose last contemptuous guffaw
Snapped the inertia
Trilling alarms, screaming sirens
Last memories
Before
Exhausted collapse
After
Index finger
Jammed into
The red button
 
Ahmedabad, July 20, 2004