“ It caught my breath.” I talk to myself.
“Yes, I did.” I am thrilled to see landslide talking to me. I pinch myself.
“Take it easy.”
I start trembling. I lost myself.
“Whoa! Wait.”
The sliding body smile.
“You are speaking.” I boggle.
“You are here to study me.”
My eyes are wide open.
“Am I right?”
“Yes.” I whisper.
“Every month someone is here. They check me out. But, you know, they never return back to check again. And every year, there is a team who excavates my body and place some sort of wall around my toe.”
I see no one around me. I pinch myself again and again.
“The funniest part is. I slide every year. Ha-Ha! The wall doesn’t work. They excavate me in such a way that it is easier for me to slide.”
I utter. “And you are happy with that?”
“O, common! Now, don’t ask me that. I find it foolish, you know. Can you sleep standing? You get unstable, right? So, what about me? Can I stay unstable? My position is disturbed now and then. I need to make myself easy. I have to slide.”
I have no answer.
“And that thing on your hand is compass, right? You measure me from every angle. What you actually do with that? I mean the other team doesn’t do this stuff. They just ride the dozer over me. “
“I measure discontinuities.” I don’t know why I answered it.
“Okay, I get it. You measure my orientation. Fine! What is use of it? Do you take in account of this measurement during excavation?”
I have no answer. I actually use it for my academic report.
“It seems you have promised not to reply. Isn’t it weird? Every month there is someone like you. Don’t know, why they scan me.”
I remember five articles of this landslide. I mean those are articles are amazing. The result of stability analysis is really good. But don’t know where the articles are used except for literature reviews for other researches.
“Will you move down this Monsoon?”
It is rude. “I will for sure.”
I think of unfolding its mystery behind the movement. I do have constraints. It does as well. Who wins the race?
“Can you tell me about the team extending the road?”
The body is still.
“Did you hear me?”
It doesn’t move.
I get call from my supervisor. “How are you doing?”
“Sir, I will get back to you later.” I rush to find the team excavating the slope.
~From Badal’s Memoir
July 9, 2017