The Masks
My eyes begin to search for the quieter ones now. What’s their story? Does the red Chinese mask with golden painted eyes have a Cantonese mystery to share? What about the Arabian ones with gilded bodies? Does the Vietnamese mask carved out of a tree root know where it came from, and what is the history of the beaded one from Ghana? What war stories of the jungle does the Masai tribal king know? Does he miss home? And the bejewelled shell mask from Mauritius, the yak bone Garuda and Ganesha from the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, and that old green tree Welsh man ... do they feel claustrophobic? Do these masks communicate more than I know? Do they know each other’s countries, cultures and languages? The Cambodian Buddha stares at me with a serene grimness. His look is laced with a quiet allegation. His eyes are closed in meditation. They seem to speak to me: ‘My renunciation of domestic life is meaningless if you buy me off the shelves from expensive home décor boutiques, bring me back to the confines of your plush homes, frame me or nail me to your walls like a piece of tastefully acquired property. I, who had left the material world for a spiritual journey, have been able to teach you nothing.’
I don’t know how long I have been asleep. A light rain screens through the open windows, spraying droplets of restless dreams on my face and hair. When I wake up, I find myself lying on the carpet, facing the bright orange wall. All the masks that were so alive last night are silent now. It is as if they have lost their tongues, or like they had never spoken.
I begin to gather myself up, unable to comprehend if I was awake or dreaming last night when my eyes fall on a soft brown piece of a fine fabric. I reach out and pick it up.
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Ananya Mukherjee
Ananya Mukherjee is a former business journalist and the ex-editor of HRM Asia, a leading business title in the Asia-Pacific region. She also wears a senior corporate leadership hat and leads global communications in Asia and Europe for a US-based multinational company. An Unborn Desire was published by Rupa Publications in September 2021.