Burning Away The Morbidity

Tradition - a word which on its own reeks of 2nd century BC. Things imposed unto you by people who claim to know better. Things you always want to rebel against. The tyrant that prevents you from doing things "your way". But what if you were to create your own traditions and follow them to?

Two eccentrics once did initiate a tradition of their own. A real queer way of celebrating their success and leaving behind their failures in some hazy memory. It wasn't an idea that fell upon them like the Newtonian apple. Rather they just did it in a 'matter of fact' manner like many of their other quirks. But soon enough it became a tradition that they revered and religiously followed like none other.

There was a systematic process - clean, roll, name and enlighten. The tradition lay in naming it with uninhibted creativity and finesse. Sometimes the names went beyond personal successes and failures to embrace people or things that were truly arbit. From Maya John to Jan Tests, they all found their death as their names waned away slowly into nothingness. Memories good and bad were done and dusted with.

All the joy lay in the naming. It was an intriguing duel between both eccentrics to prove that each was the greater eccentric. The winner for the night was honoured with his ingenuity being engraved for posterity. And the one who finished second initiated the celebrations to follow. For him lay the greater prize of being the one to englighten the other's creation.

Like all traditions this one too met its nemesis. Distant dreams did the two eccentrics apart. But the bond that it created still lives.