BUREAUCRACY, A THEORY man in white says i am the barb-wired picket fence and the cement wall behind the back door. man in white has a bark just as strong as his bite. man in white wakes up before the sun does and does not use an alarm to do so. man in white has a heart which beats in time to the metronome of his file-shredder. man in white likes three plain wheat toasts for breakfast and a glass of lemon water for his stomach. he says men in white do not believe in lubrication. man in white looks like a blood-thirsty shark with one lazy eye and a blindfold for his ears. he says I am nothing but a service dog, an extra hand tied to a leash tied to you, deaf and dumb and dead and you, who does not know the difference between his blood and your blood they smell the same, you, with the flesh of your palm grating on the rope grating your skin because man in white took boy scouts very seriously. man in white wears clothes one size too large to fit a pocket too big to hold things which should not belong to him. man in white popped a button trying to fit with all the extra weight he jingles around. man in white tells you to stop because he needs breathing space. man in white hovers over you like a balloon you can never let go of. man in white says i have read your letters, says I hear you, means i can see your tiny mouths blabbering but give me a minute and see if I care, see how I forget you, see how I trample over your puny figures oh no did I hurt you? man in white is a tow- truck cum excavator cum bulldozer. man in white knows struggle like the back of his red hands taped together his fingers dripping green dripping white dripping every colour on the palette all men in white are expected to mix. man in white had to teach himself to stop emoting because straight posture concrete face open palms closed heart is how one gets through this life. man in white was forced to forget that he was born human. man in white forgets that he is human. . #Bureaucracyatheory #IITROORKEE