By Snigdha Jain
RETELLING OF HAMLET (From Rodrigo’s perspective)
Hi there!
Look up, you silly traveller,
You’re lost!
Don’t you realise?
Stuck as you are on your screen.
You seem puzzled.
No! it’s not your SIRI scaring you,
It’s me Rodrigo,
One of the greatest characters,
Shakespeare ever wrote, though he killed me off.
But Anyway!
Oh! So, you don’t know me.
Don’t worry, I’ll tell you who I am.
Wait!
Where are you running?
You only enter at your choice,
But you leave when I finish my rhyme.
Don’t look bored,
My story is full of intrigue,
More interesting than Netflix I swear.
It has action and drama, love and betrayal.
And… now! Your eyes sparkle!
So, let’s begin,
Centuries ago,
I was healthy and alive,
Pre-Me too and Times up,
Those were simpler times.
Being a male ghost,
You know how difficult it is to justify scaring a female.
Anyway!
Then women, still belonged to men
And there was one, I longed to have.
She was a beauty unlike any,
Her temper sweeter than sugar,
Her manner so gentle,
And her smile angelic.
Desdemona! Desdemona!
No! Don’t look at me like that,
I don’t exaggerate.
It’s true.
Anyway!
But I wasn’t so lucky as she loved another,
A man of sound temper and stature,
But a MOOR!
How could she love him and not me was beyond my understanding?
Oh! I know what you’re thinking,
But racism back then, was a way of life.
Full of anger and distress
For rejection I could not bear.
Depressed one day,
I bumped into a man who looked wise.
Seeing me distraught,
He asked my story,
And eager for sympathy, I narrated it.
Took a long time,
As it was before abbreviations and WhatsApp.
Afterwards, he promised to get me what I want.
And so Elated, I was,
But the happiness would not last long.
As by meeting him, I had started my own clock to downfall.
For his plan,
He demanded money, more money,
And jewels and more jewels
Until my coffers were squeaky clean.
Cunning Iago!
You must know, like a girlfriend,
Who avoids, he avoided me.
He ignored me.
And here,
I grew more anxious.
And my mind rang bells of danger.
Then one fine day,
He somehow convinced me to murder,
Someone whom I had no reason to.
But I agreed, because a fool I was.
So, we waited for the man to show up.
And then as I attacked,
And a brawl ensued,
Iago killed me!
And thus, I was betrayed,
In love and in friendship.
And cursed to roam forever,
And warn people,
Never to love and never to trust.
You seem white!
It’s okay.
I don’t think I need to worry about you,
As your generation,
Glued to their screen,
Anyway, don’t have friends, or trust someone.
Hundreds of social media friends,
Yet you’re stuck talking to a ghost.
OH GOD!
Your phone’s buzzing too much,
GO ON THEN!
OFF YOU GO!
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