Short Story: The Author

On a quiet night, in a quiet neighborhood, twenty quiet police officers quietly broke into a quiet man’s quiet house, arrested him and quietly took him away.

When he woke up, he was alone in a large, dark room with a bright light shining on him. He called out, for someone must be listening, but no one replied. He called out again, then shouted, but no one came. He got angry and shouted, cursed and rocked his chair. His hands were tied to the back and his feet were tied to the legs of the metal chair and did not budge. He tried hard and long, but he could not move an inch. At long last, he noticed a small red light switch on, right next to the bright light glaring in his face. A voice spoke from somewhere behind that light, booming into the room, “Please state your name, age and occupation. Also state your reason for betraying your country.” Continue reading →

Short Story: The Last Human

The beings gathered around the deck. Anticipation was high and there was a buzz of chatter about their next destination. It was somewhat of a surprise because even though they knew what it was called and where it stood, very little was known about it outside the circles of the tour company and the people who had discovered it. The buzz died quickly when the steward came around to the deck. All eyes turned to him expectantly and he cleared his throat before announcing,

“Ladies and Gentlemen, you are travelers from far or near, across the galaxy and some even beyond. In these past few months, we’ve shown you some remarkable places. You are no ‘alien’, pun intended,” some chuckled, but the steward continued, “to the variety of amazing adventures that our galaxy has to offer. We’ve been to moons ravaged with volcanic activity, we’ve dived into dying stars about to erupt into supernovae and we’ve seen the tombs of cultures long gone, but none of them have come close, in absurdity, to what we are about to witness on the planet below us. You might think that you’ve seen everything, but you’ve not seen anything till you’ve seen the largest museum in the galaxy!” With a flourish, the steward waved his hand and the ship’s motion sensors detected that as a command to open the viewing screen on the far wall. Everyone scurried to the wall of embedded diamond, which, while protecting them from harmful rays of the dying star nearby, also enhanced the view of the planet below them. What they saw below was an astonishing sight. The entire planet was covered with white plaster and buildings covered every single square inch of land and water that was visible from space. They had seen city planets elsewhere in the galaxy, but they were all dirty, alive beasts that shipped in goods and beings and shipped out laws or product, being vast industries of some kind or the other. But this planet was deathly serene. There was no movement, no sound, not even a space ship coming out of the place. It was dead. The steward started speaking and everyone turned their attention towards him. Continue reading →

Short Story: A moment

She looked back, slightly annoyed. The pedestrian light had turned green the second time and her friends had still not shown up. It didn’t matter much, it was summer time and they were free the entire afternoon to do as they pleased; but she didn’t like waiting. As the cars came to stop in front of her, the lead was taken by a black sedan that was a hybrid between a luxury car and a sports car. In other words, it was beautiful. She didn’t care much for cars, but if it was flashy, it was awesome and this one fit the bill. Her eyes rolled to the driver and she was stunned. There sat one of the most beautiful men she’d seen in her life. His jaw looked like it had been sculpted by God patiently. His hair fell on his cute face divinely. He smiled slowly as he sung along the decently-volumed music from the car stereo. The windows were down as he was enjoyed the summer wind, which caressed his face and ruffled his hair playfully. He looked grown up enough to be in a job and much like his car, he seemed to be the perfect blend of business-like seriousness and boyish charm and recklessness. Her mind was in disarray with emotion. She was instantly and forever, in love with him. He embodied everything that she’d thought of in a gentleman and hero.

As she swooned, thinking of romantic getaways and unexpected surprises, he smartly, suavely and nonchalantly, lifted a hand to go through his hair, as any perfect man would, and then, quite surely, took a finger of the same hand, to poke into his nose. He cleaned up a bit and simply discarded the refuse with a flick of his fingers. She smiled. Not all dreams are meant to be.

Doctor Who and a new adventure

Image Courtesy BBC

I’m writing a story about Doctor Who. But first, a disclaimer – I’m watching the Doctor Who series and I’m up to the Tenth Doctor’s episodes. Those who don’t know what or who Doctor Who is, please check out the BBC website or the Netflix page for Doctor Who and you’ll find a pretty neat story about a Doctor (believe me, I’m trying not to drop any spoilers here!) who keeps saving Britain and the Earth. I’m writing some fan fiction around him. Here’s a synopsis –

The Doctor and his new companion Meera find themselves in a new world. It is the same old Earth but in a different Universe. The most amazing thing is that the Earthlings seem to know a lot more about the Universe than the Doctor anticipated. This is because in this Universe, they have been given the gift of extensive knowledge by an alien entity. The Doctor, from a different Universe, is asked to look into the issue of the dying entity and to help them save it. As always, the Doctor is able to use his intelligence and infinite knowledge to resolve the issue.

So, how’s it coming along? Well, I’ve hit a writer’s block. I know what the story is and how to execute it, I’m even half way through it. The issue is that I’m stuck at around a point in the story where I’ve irreparably changed the story line to something I did not want initially. I’ve kind of even found a way to fix the issue, but the right words are eluding me.

I’ve been writing stories since I was a little boy. I’ve enjoyed writing original, inspired and even fan fiction stories over the years and if I’m ever able to execute the whole thing in one fell swoop, there’s no one more glad than me. So, I’m mighty irritated that I’m stuck here. The last time I hit this kind of writer’s block, I ended up leaving the story in the middle, with no ending (I’m sorry Sherlock Holmes). But not this time because I’m intent on finishing this story no matter what happens. I’m too far into the story to quit now. Let’s see what happens.

This was my update for the day. Once I’m done with the story, I’ll post it here.

[Fiction] ReOrganiSys

Fischer got up from his sleep, still a bit groggy from the party last night. He looked to the person sleeping next to him. His wife looked very beautiful and peaceful in her sleep. Not intending to wake her up, he slowly crept out of bed and went out of the room. Daylight was creeping into the valley. He went to the kitchen for a drink and then went to his study to re-check his appointments for the day. He didn’t really need to, lawyers generally have a good memory. Yet this seemed to be an irony. His first appointment was with a company called ReOrganiSys who were going to somehow re-organize his brain so that all his memories be stored correctly. Technology could do anything these days and this particular technology was a rage in corporate culture now. Every company lay great stress on there being at least one team member on each project whose brain had been ReOrganised, as they liked to call it because that person could easily afford to read all the relevant documentation, dating to even decades back and then recall everything in absolutely correct order because of the way memories were being stored in his brain. Fischer’s company had chosen him for this important task as he had been with the company the longest and had a great track record in the court room. Thus, his knowledge of the cases combined with his knack to win was the perfect combination for their company, which, of course, was payig for this costly process.

As he pondered over all this information, his wife woke up and came to him with some breakfast. He had been told to eat light food so that he would be comfortable and accordingly, she had prepared a simple meal of juice and toast. He quickly gobbled it up, unnecessarily fretting over the extremely safe procedure. The company had a hundred percent safety record on their proprietary technology, better even than some bungee jumping companies! He smiled at this thought and got ready for office and, of course, the small ‘operation’ before that. When he was ready, he kissed his wife good bye, promised to take her out for dinner at some nice place that night and headed out.

The office-cum-hospital of ReOrganiSys was about an hour away from the city, which meant that it would take Fischer an additional two hours just to get back from the hospital to his office, which was in the heart of the city. Nevertheless, he parked his sedan in their parking lot and went in for the meeting. The plush interiors comforted him, reassuring that this company had been built on countless successful operations. The receptionist greeted him cheerfully and asked him to sit for a while during which she would contact the doctor. Before a few minutes had elapsed, a middle aged man introduced himself to Fisher as his doctor.

“Hello Mr. Fischer, I’m Doctor Kahn, the head-surgeon and MD of this company and I’ll be doing your operation today.”

His voice exuded confidence and experience and Fischer was instantly comforted by it.

“Now, before we continue towards the operation theater, is there anything that you want to ask or talk about?”.

Fischer’s instant impulse came up with a feeble “Is this operation safe?”

The doctor chuckled politely, “A standard question, one I get asked too many times a day. Yes, the operation is very safe. It’s not that we going to affect your brain in some physical way, only reorganize the way the electrical impulses are stored within there. Anything else?”

“Well yes, actually,” Fischer knew that there was one bit of information which he had not found from anyone or anywhere on the Internet and was very vital to his personal space, “is there any was that you could organize my memories in such a way that certain memories get more importance than others? For example, my personal memories are more important to me than my professional ones.”

“There is no way that we can do that kind of thing. However, I hope you understand what our process does. We reorganize your mind in such a way that all your memories get equal preference. You see, the mind is a maze where everything is stored but very less retrieved. The mind often reacts to external stimuli or emotions, bringing out a specific memory in response to a question or a new memory. This sort or organization of data is quite cryptic and we can never know how to truly stimulate the brain to coax out certain information out of it. But after you are done with our process, your mind will have learned to react to any sort of query with the correct information. The memories will be stored so that even by thinking about your requirement, you’ll be able to get a reaction from the mind. So much so that as soon as you think of your wife, you’ll remember the day’s grocery list and all the grocery lists you’ll ever fulfilled or forgotten!” The doctor laughed at his own joke, but Fischer joined in too, knowing that this operation was going to be monumental for his life.

They soon had the operation theater ready for him. The doctor requested him to move to the location but Fischer had just one last query. “What if a person looses his memory during or after this operation? How do you solve that? Do you store his memory somewhere so that you can restore it in case it’s needed?”

The doctor opened with a retort, “Ah! Always thinking like a lawyer, aren’t we? No, we do not copy a person’s memory on to our hard drives, that’s impossible to do! We cannot in any way, take out or put in any memory. All we can do as a safety valve is to copy a person’s Alpha patterns so as to document how that brain functions. In case it ever came to the situation that we need to restore someone’s brain, all we can do is feed those same patterns to the mind and hope that the mind can re-establish it’s memories based on the way it used to work earlier.”

Fischer felt both relieved and anxious by this answer but knew that there was no way he could delay this operation any longer. Thus, we went ahead to the operation theater and was made to lie down and was fed some anesthesia. Soon, he was floating in his dreams and when he woke up about two hours later, the operation had already been done. Surprised at their efficiency and precision, he thanked the doctor for an amazing operation. The doctor, however, was more interested in ensuring that the operation was successful.

“What day was it on February 27th of 1999?”

Without even needing to think, almost as an impulse reaction, Fischer replied, “Saturday”. Surprised at his new-found mental power, Fischer answered a few more routine questions from the doctor and then played with his own memory, remembering, suddenly, every last detail of his first case, first kiss and even the reason for the tenth fight he had with his wife. Within fifteen minutes, he had been discharged by the doctor and was free to go to work. He thanked the doctor once again and headed out, playing with his mind by the time he reached office. He realized many times during that period that his mind was much sharper than it had ever been and that he could remember even the smallest of details which he did not realize that he had even noticed.

When he was about to reach the office, he stopped his mind games and decided to give his mind a rest, something recommended by the doctor to be done twice a day during the first five days of the operation. He silently drove to the center of the city where the multistory building which housed his office lay. He parked in the basement at the space where his name had been engraved by his company and got out, suddenly aware of the amazing clarity with which he could remember all the details of his drive to the office. A little amused, he entered the elevator and pressed the button to the forty sixth floor. As he exited, the sheer detail of his company’s office hit him hard, every detail etching itself on to his mind. But before he had time to absorb at this, a hundred hands clapped in unison, welcoming the company’s most loyal employee and the first ReOrganised member of the team. They had all gathered to meet him and his boss was at the front of the gathering. He cheered Fischer, shook hands with him and then called on to his coworkers.

“Today, we have amongst us, a new kind of power, a new tool given to us by science. Our very own Fischer, one of our best Lawyers in Criminal Law, has had his mind ReOrganised. Hopefully, it’ll work correctly now!” Everyone laughed. Fischer’s mind was working well alright and to test it, his boss now called on everyone to ask at least one question per person from Fischer. So, for the next half hour, Fischer was grilled by everyone in his office on some extremely silly questions. He answered all, from the day on a date twenty years ago to the names of all the Presidents, Vice Presidents and Governors there had ever been. Finally, when people got bored of the new office know-it-all, he was left alone to get some actual work done. He moved to his office, sat and rested for a while and then began work for the day. His most important task currently was a new case which was building up into a furore with the media and Fischer had been given a research team to save the ‘poor little starlet’ who had brutally murdered a well known businessman. It was clearly a case of prostitution but there was not enough precedent for such a case where a lady had been spared the noose. However, Fischer’s boss was intent on winning this case and so Fischer, one of their best, had been assigned to the task. Adding ReOrganiSys to the platter was simply the icing on the cake and his boss was confident that now Fischer could definitely pull it off. After perusing some files, Fischer called up his team to brainstorm about the case. They assembled in a conference room and began reading cases related even remotely to the situation at hand. Fischer spearheaded the data mining as he had a large list of cases already in his mind, most of which he had either read during his studies or attended during his long career. Unfortunately for his team, their lists overlapped and Fischer was quick to dismiss most of the cases they brought forth as he remembered some intricacy which made those cases different than this one. Besides, he noted in between, in most of those cases, the culprit was either male, or the best that had happened was that certain death was reduced to a life sentence, which was not exactly considered a victory according to the standards set by Fischer’s company. So, within a few hours, the team had exhausted most of the ideas they had come up with. Then they just resorted to a blind search through their archives, looking for keywords and situations which seemed to match. After what seemed to be a long hour of searching, someone hit upon a case which somehow seemed to apply to their situation. The wife of some rich business tycoon had gotten away with murder about fifteen years ago because her lawyer quoted a law more than fifty years old, calling it a crime of passion. The team agreed profusely on this verdict being the key to their case and Fischer read through it quickly. Not finding any loopholes, Fischer told his team to read the whole case and start writing their appeal so that he could quickly submit something to his boss and get his approval to move to the court. While they worked, Fischer got bored of the task and sauntered out of the office. As he was about to walk out, one of his co-workers called him and commented, “Hey, guess when this case finally got settled, December 31st of 2001, guess you can get just about anything if you’re rich enough!”

Fischer smiled, that guy was right. No one works on the last day of December unless there’s a large amount of money changing hands. With this thought in mind, he exited the building, hoping to get some fresh air before diving back into the hazy world of law. He felt tired and thus relieved when the cool wind hit him. He looked around. On one side, the large parking lot of his building stood waiting. On the other, the busy street moved on, uncaring for anyone, awaiting none. He took the street, heading out to the closest metro station. He took the next train to the downtown pier. The subway took an hour to get him to his destination, from where he walked a few minutes to arrive at the pier. he looked at the houses nearby, feeling a vague sense of belonging to the place. A red brick building caught his eye and he remembered that he lived there with his parents, who, old as they were, were waiting for him inside that house right then. But then he looked on to the park near that house, where he grew up and played as a kid. Near the edge of the park was a lone bench where he had spent some wonderful moments, long talks with his father, his first kiss, his first heartbreak. He went and sat down there, looking at the water splash at the pier and slow, lazy fishing boats float around, waiting for the sunset. Slowly, his mind was filled with thoughts and memories and he fell into a reverie, reminiscing the old days.

Quite a lot of time passed before he realized that it was getting late. Another thing which Fischer realized was that there was a stranger standing very close to him, talking on the phone. What seemed strangest was that she seemed to be looking directly at Fischer as she spoke. “Yes, I’ve found him. Was sitting near his old house. No I don’t know what he’s doing here. Of course I’m angry, but relieved to find him. He’s never done anything like this, even his car was left at the office. I wonder why… ” Her voice trailed off as she realized that Fischer was looking at her. She smiled and walked over to him and sat down next to him. Middle aged, rich yet humble, a BMW key and a costly looking phone in her hand, Fischer profiled her as soon as she placed herself next to him. But she seemed cute and he had no intention of driving her away, even though he felt the urge to be alone. She spoke softly, “Dear, what are you doing here?” A strange way to introduced oneself, thought Fischer. He was not sure why this rich lady was talking to him in the first place or what her story was. From what he had overheard her talk into the phone, it seemed like she was looking for her husband and may have found him, but not the situation he was in. Maybe her talking to him was a way of getting back at her husband. Whatever it may be, Fischer felt a strange connection to her and felt like talking. “I come here often, makes my head clear. The water, ” he pointed towards the boats and the sea, “keeps me calm.” “Well that’s wonderful, I never knew that! But don’t you think it’s getting a bit late and it’s time to come home?” Saying this, she kept her hand on his, trying to pull him towards herself. Suddenly, Fischer felt something strange about this setting and pulled his hand back. The lady flinched, unsure of how to react to his actions. She slowly spoke again, hoping to say something which would sooth him, “But honey, it’s quite late and I want you with me.” “Listen lady, I don’t know what you’re thinking but I’m not interested in coming with you. I have a house right here which is where I am going now.” Saying this, Fischer got up. The lady’s face suddenly changed, from confused to contorted. It seemed that she was silently weeping and this made Fischer stop. He kept his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her, unsure of what to say. She looked up at him with expectant eyes, but did not like what she saw. “Do you not love me any more? Is that why you are here, are you planning on leaving?”

Her question hit him like a jolt. For a second Fischer could not make head or tail of what was going on. But he knew that the lady was mistaken, perhaps deluded with emotions. “Listen lady, I don’t know what your story is, but you’ve mistaken me for someone else and frankly, I’ve never even seen you!” The woman stood up suddenly, a new found anger writ all over her face. “What the heck do you even mean? You mean you don’t recognize my face? You mean you have never even met me? You mean to say that you don’t remember you own wife, the person whom you’ve woken up next to since the past twelve years?!” She sounded exasperated and that confused Fischer. He did not know how to react. He looked at her face but did not recognize her even a bit. He had truly never seen this woman and he knew that for a fact! He spoke slowly now, hoping to drive the point home. “Listen lady, I really don’t know what you are talking about because, frankly, I’ve never been married ever! I really don’t know who you are but I’d appreciate if you left me alone. I’ve had a long day at the office and I just want to relax and spend New years eve with my parents at my home. So please, leave now.”

The woman looked at him, perplexed. He seemed to be pretty confident of what he was saying but she knew otherwise. “Fischer, honey, your parents are dead, they passed away five years ago in that very house.”

Anger boiled over Fischer’s face. How could this woman be speaking such rubbish about his family? Who was she anyways? But he was disturbed and not interested in this conversation any more, so he broke off from her and tried to walk away. But the lady followed and grabbed him from his jacket. This was the last straw, “that’s it lady, you’ve come far enough. Let’s get a few things clear, I don’t know who you are. I have never met you, my parents are alive and well and I am going to see them now and celebrate New Years with them, so if you’ll leave me now and not disturb me any more, I’ll not call the cops. Understood?”

Suddenly, almost as though it was a train, the facts hit her and she left Fisher’s jacket, looking at him, but thinking hard. She had looked at his appointment diary when they had told her that he was missing. She knew where he had been in the morning, she knew what he had done. But they had said that it was completely harmless. Unsure if her worst fear had taken shape, she asked him one last question, “What date is it today?”

Fischer replied, “December 31st of the year 2001, of course!”

[Fiction] The Dress

She had spent a fortune on that dress.

Yet when she looked at herself in it, she was satisfied. It was a surprise for Him, though not bigger than the surprise which waited for him in his Credit Statement at the end of the month.

She opened the doors and went on towards the party. She wasn’t the center of attention but it was enough that he had seen her from afar. His eyes were glowing when he looked at her. When she finally got to him, he twirled her around and looked at the dress, impressed at her choice. It was a beautiful Emerald Green and Blue dress and her shoulder length hair and petite figure made the dress shine even more than it actually did. She happily showed off her dress to him and he approved of it with a smug look on his face. She shone because he was happy with the dress.

Soon they were separated, in their own little groups, chatting and socializing with friends. Every once in a while she would catch him glancing at her from the corner of his eye, enjoying the sight. After some time, the men went into a different room for drinks and the ladies sat down to enjoy dinner. Everyone complimented her on her dress and many women asked her about it, appalled at the price of the garment. She enjoyed this new attention, though it could never match how he had made her feel. After the dinner, everyone was enjoying dessert when someone came and told her that she was expected on the phone. In her rush to get up and get to the call, she pulled a napkin with herself and a cup of custard tilted and poured itself on her dress. The world froze. There was no phone call, no time, even space had lost it’s meaning for those few moments. There was only a sense of urgency. There was not even a sense of embarrassment as she slowly started crying right there in front of all those ladies. All that mattered was that the dress was ruined.

She rushed to the restroom and tried hard to clear the custard, but it was as adamant as winter in the Arctic. It stuck on, not willing to budge one inch for her sake. She tried and tried and she cried and cried but to no avail. Even her tears could not wipe out the custard now. The Stain remained.

As the party came to an end, the men returned from their seclusion. He looked for her in the crowd but could not see her. His worry eased just a bit when someone told about her getting a phone call. None of the ladies dared to mention about her dress. A few detached from the party and went home. He grew wary now. He wanted to see her, to ensure that she’s safe. Suddenly he saw her walk in from the far end of the room, only, this time her dress was frizzled and wet, a deep patch of water barely hiding a deep stain. He looked at her, worried. She looked at him, a scared look creasing her brows. She came up to him and tried to explain what had happened and how much she had tried to fix it. He listened to her as she explained and inspected the dress when she pointed to it. Then when she stopped and looked at him expectantly, waiting for a chide or a remark from him, her eyes watery with new tears welling up since he had a grim look on his face, he slowly smiled and said – “Don’t worry, it’s only a dress.”

Years later, she loved wearing that dress on every anniversary and loved telling anyone who asked, the story of the dress, the way he proposed to her the same night of the incident and how, after everything she tried, the Stain remained.

The Statue!

the many types of thieves…

A Statue, in honour of the Indian Criminal!

His head held high, encompassing all boundaries of politics, religion, region, caste and creed.

He is Everywhere.

He commits every type of crime- financial, moral, physical and non-humanitarian, knowing of his prowess and that of his money.

He is omnipresent, omnipotent and has every physical size, shape and appearance possible.

He is the black market and the black money and every black deed ever committed. He is friend to all, the terrorist, the dacoits, the politician, the policeman, the tax man, the reporter and the reportee, the society and even the common man.

He is Robin Hood when he wants to be, Hiranyakashyap when he feels like it and even the Leader of the Nation when it must be so.

He is the Nano and the Ferrari, Jet Airways and Kingfisher, Satyam and Infosys, Haryana and Punjab.

He is the MF and the PF, the fixed dividend and the High Risk.

This is not just a statue, this is THE STATUE.

This won’t be spit on or shit on or decapitated. Instead, it will be revered forever, as the True Saviour of our Nation.

All hail,

Our Grey National Hero.

Dialogue of an Egotist

Listen, we have a problem. We definitely have a problem. Since quite some time now I have been getting the vibe that I don’t like You. I know, I know, I am just adorable and you can’t stop loving me but hey, sometimes one may have a dislike for, you know, lesser people. So I just wanted to tell you that I have a dislike for you. I know you worship me but come on, sometimes I also need my space you know. Anyways, I just wanted to talk to you coz I thought that maybe we’ll sort out our differences so that you can love me even more. So here goes…

Look, in life, at times, there are points and places where one reaches and feels that there has been no lower point in one’s life. This deep abyss is a place of very low self-esteem and the realization of a sickening reality that perhaps you are not worth anything to anyone and this life you are living has been a farce and will continue to be so for much time to come. I believe that as a friend, it is my responsibility to ensure that YOU get out of this cage which you have put yourself into. Just understand this my friend, if ever you want to cry your heart out or need to speak to someone about the problems in your life or just express yourself and your pain, remember, you are Alone! Don’t expect me to come running to help you, I’m way too busy for that! I’m not going to be available 24/7 you know, I have a life too after all. I’m not sitting here at your disposal you know. So just get over your problems and come running to ME, I NEED people to pamper me, to be there for me. After all, I am ME you know, it’s your duty to come to me. This is ME you are talking to. I am the reason for your happiness ok? Believe that coz that’s the truth about your life, it’s there at my disposal, that’s all it’s there for. But hey, if you ever need advice about how to run your life or you need a critical analysis about how useless you are, just call me. If I’m free, I’ll take out some time to tell you your weaknesses and faults, although it’ll take us quite a lot of time, for there are just so many! But don’t worry, I’ll find some time to tell you how miserable you are, I will really, I consider it as a public service. Hey, hey, hey! Why are you crying? Don’t cry, you aren’t helping me look good in public! People are watching, they’re staring! Stop torturing me with those tears! Come on, do you really need to cry? All I’ve done is told you the truth, nothing else and I’m sure deep down you knew all the time what a waste your life has been! So don’t cry ok? No tears, it doesn’t make me look good.

There’s something else also which I wanna say to you; look, I know that you are feeling miserable but don’t let your misery and gloominess and wretchedness and all your suffering mix up with good health. Good health doesn’t mingle well with these feelings of self-contempt. You know what you need? No not the open skies or anything, that’s for birds. You need to shut yourself up in a small room if you are ever feeling like you are in good health, just shut yourself up and crawl up in a corner ok? That’s the right thing for you to do. I, of course can roam around in the open. After all, people love me and look up to me. Without me they are lost, so I need to stay out in the open and enjoy life, you know, to give others a good sense of direction. But you, you need to find a small, dark and dank corner for yourself and crawl up in it and stay there. You really need it!

What do you mean this is over? This dialogue is not over till I stop talking. What do you mean this is not a dialogue? Of course it’s a dialogue, I’m talking and you are listening. There are two sides to a dialogue and these are it ok? This is a Dialogue!

Nature

The Lake is azure, its waters reflecting the sky above, yet unable to conceal the plethora of Life inside it. It is teeming with life as always, thousands of fishes schooling around to gain their daily morsel or fighting for a tasty titbit dropped from a boat or the rare remains of a bigger fish. Nature dictates that the big eat the small, but Death, the great leveler changes all this and allows the smaller fish to have its fifteen seconds of fame; after all, it is not in Nature’s plan to bury or cremate your loved ones, but to let them be and move on in life, happy to be alive. So the fishes are living their life, avidly eating what they get and enjoying the simple pleasures of getting as many plankton as they can. But about the surface of the lake, alone, a fish strives to get something more out of life than just a few quick meals soon to be forgotten, for there is something more important to do in life than to eat away to glory: The glory of swimming. The fish streamlines itself to the current in the water and rushes forward, beaming at the amazing speeds it has reached by a single twist of its fins. This morning is special for it as it has discovered a joy far more intense than the blasé and mundane activities of the one day at a time life of its brethren. So our fish, whom we shall call Fish, which is appropriate as that is what we call it, although it doesn’t know that, is happy today, avowing that it has found a higher meaning to life as opposed to that told by their ancestors and is probably on the path of spiritual augmentation. As it thinks so, it leaps out of the water while reaching the apex of the current of joy it feels surging through it and before Fish has even dropped back into the cold water and before it has had a single breath of air via its gills, a huge splash is heard just above it and within a second, Fish is struggling in the talons of an Eagle, writhing not in pain, but in vain to get back its new-found and newly lost freedom, only to thrash wildly towards its ultimate demise.

High above the clouds, the wind is not as serene as the lake below. The air thrashes on the face of the Eagle against which any ordinary eagle would have failed to steady and surely fallen, affrighted by the amazing speed of the wind. But this is no ordinary Eagle, this is the Bald Eagle, the proudest of its species, ever alert, an archetype of acuity and awe, abominated by all in the animal world, but acclaimed for its swift attacks which seldom went abortive. The august bird is so aristocratic in its demeanour that it was chosen as the national bird of a great nation and used forever to symbolize power and authority. Of course, the Eagle never knew all this, you see, it wasn’t accustomed to humans.

The Eagle has been up there for a half hour, observing the lake below ardently, noting every movement of the fish, our Fish and is amused at its stubbornness in staying up at the surface of the lake. All the better for the Eagle, since now it would be easier to catch it. The wind has been ruffling its feathers for too long and although the Eagle is stable and apathetic towards it, it has to be ready for the attack and moves downwards. The regal bird has been observing the serf for long enough to know what the next move of the Fish will be even before the Fish itself does. So when the Fish leaps out of the water, the Eagle has already started its descent and has timed it to match the return of the Fish into the water. So when the Fish touches the water, the Eagle has ascertained the exact path it must take to get to the Fish as early as possible and even before the Fish has had a whiff of gill processed air, the Eagle has it clutched in its talons. The sudden loss of freedom causes the Fish to give some reactionary thrashes, but the Eagle’ grip is too strong to overcome. The Eagle is now moving away from the water, higher up into the sky and as the life drains out of the Fish, it revolts one last time. Irritated by this, the Eagle pulls its talons apart, ripping the Fish into two, dripping blood as it goes away. Down below, life continues as always, for not many have noticed the disappearance of the Fish and those who have choose to ignore it, continuing to live in the fantasy that they are the kings of their domain and live, eat and die without the fear of any predators.

The Eagle has been flying for a few hours now. It has a long journey to cover to get back to its aerie. Food is scarce in this area and it has travelled far out of its territory to hunt. But this is not to fulfil its own avarices. The Eagle itself is on an abstemious diet, taking in just as much as needed to survive.

As the Eagle approaches its nest, it is greeted by the loud crying of the Eaglets. They are eager at the sight of food and twitter loudly to beckon their mother to hurry up. They are excited and as soon as the Eagle settles down they start gnawing at the dead fish. They are hungry and the Eagle quickly feeds them, ripping only a few bites for its own sustenance. The Eaglets eat ravenously and as soon satiated. Then the Eagle puts them to rest and covers them up with its wings to give them warmth. As it rests, the Eagle feels a twinge at the thought of its mate. The male had been taken down by a gunshot a week ago and although it was alive when it fell, the humans had taken it somewhere far away and the Eagle had not been able to find it even after looking for three days straight. For the next few days, it avoided its nest, not sure it wanted to rear its children without a father. But their shrill cries rung in its ears day and night and the Eagle knew it could not abandon them. So it went back to its nest, astonishingly in time to save its children from a pair of audacious squirrels which had come to dine on the atypical feast. It then realised that it would be difficult to hunt for food and protect its fledglings as a single parent. But it had kept at it and although prey was attrite in the area, the Eagle had kept finding food for them, assiduously ensuring that they remain safe while it goes to hunt, covering them up with twigs to ensure that no passing bird be able to see them, always acknowledging that one day it would have to risk their lives and travel far to find food. The fateful day had come and the Eagle had to go far beyond its territory, fearing another attack by the squirrels, praying all the way to find food enough for them all and returning with a prize catch.

Presently, one of the chicks coughed slightly. The Eagle removes its wings and looks at its children queerly. It heard another cough, this time from the second one. They were both now coughing in a raspy hacking manner. They look at their mother questioningly and she smiles back at them weakly, reassuring them that everything is alright and bringing them closer to give them affection. This time, a mother sighs. The wind was cold today and it must have affected their weak bodies. As it assures them, the Eagle feels another pang of sorrow, realising that they may not survive the night.

The Horrible Heart

In the stygian darkness, a faint red glow surrounded a small pedestal kept nearly at the centre of the hall. Atop that table was a bottle, containing a scientific relict bathed in a pool of vinegar, preserved for a suitable day in the future when Man would be willing to find this storehouse of unfathomable information about the past world. And the red glow was from the most important object in the hall, a real Human Heart. A heart ripped out by a scientist with his own hands in order to preserve it for a future generation. Many centuries had passed and yet no one came to retrieve these artefacts. But the heart had hope. It knew that one day a man would come along with a woman and they would have that heart for their own and instill the peace and equilibrium which had once existed.

Long, Long ago, Mankind was at such a stance that war was commonplace and all of the world’s strength and intelligence was dedicated to creating better arms and ammunitions. War had been a passion for them since ages before that and Man was truly dedicated to reaching the end of each other, willing not to stop until all others had died. In such a scenario, there was but one weakness which held back Man from becoming a true God of War. And that was Love. Many great warriors and Generals had fallen due to matters of the Heart, killed when reminiscing or betrayed by their own. Such was the hatred brewing among the ranks that one day, a brave soul went ahead and ripped out his heart, leaving no place for a weak emotion and thus became so ruthless that no one could stand afore him. His army soon followed suit and became great warriors and fighters. Such was their terror that everyone did the same to their hearts and stomping over them, becoming so stolid that they were incapable of Love. They became great fighters but lost their humaneness. In rage, they glowed like a red neon bulb, harming others even by their wrath. Amidst such a bloody vista, no man or woman could possibly remain with a heart and so even those who were not directly fighting tore out their hearts and fought away to glory. Mankind became an animal of contempt, wasting not a second on Love. The last one, a scientist, who swore never to rip his heart out, did so after his wife attacked him near fatally, killing their child in the process. But before he did so, he created a lockhold containing all the pleasures of his time and enough stock of food, wine and riches which he thought were enough to hold out for anyone who came looking for this place, with Love in his heart and their Lover by their side. That person would have the heart and Humanity would start afresh. Then the scientist filled hi heart with immense hope, ripped it out, put it in the bottle of vinegar and went out of the hold to kill his wife.

After many centuries had passed the ripping of the last heart, Humanity stood at the brink of extinction. Having done nothing other than fight, kill and reproduce, there were so few left that the wasteland around them had enough place for each to go into hiding. There were no communities, every man and woman was for themselves and whenever there was a confrontation, there would be a fight and the better won. Weapons were more sophisticated and thoughts more lethal.

Amidst this, a man and woman met each other and although they knew from first sight that they wanted nothing less than to kill each other, as soon as they began fighting, they just couldn’t! When one hurt, the other cried in pain and when one got the blow, the other felt it. It wasn’t so with anyone else. Men and Women had been raping each other for centuries, making sure they reproduce to create more warriors, but they had done so in lust, never feeling this odd feeling which these two individuals were feeling right now. They did not want to create warriors, they wanted to be together, without having to rip out the heart of their offspring as soon as it was born, as was custom.

All the ravaging which affected the other warriors did not get to these two beings, who felt something they had never known before. The man knew instinctively that this was something called Love, a remnant of the Old World and a veritable weapon when in the hands of others. Stories of yore reminded him that he had to travel to the farther end of the world where amidst the barren lands lay a mythical kingdom where he would achieve true freedom and gain a power which would make him a Superhuman, even, perhaps, a God, if only he made the journey with this woman. As much as suppressed these thoughts, they only grew stronger and his animal instincts soon gave way to his curiosity to seek this magical land. He convinced the woman to go with him and promised her a life completely different from the one they led now. She agreed, but not without demurring on the topic. Finally, they both set out together to solve this enigma, facing the wrath of many people whom they met and destroyed them as they went. During one such fight with a middle aged but very experienced man, they were geurillaed by a young man who attacked the man with gusto but dropped his weapon when he laid eyes on the woman. Apparently, he had the same illness as the other two and confessed immediately to the woman. Although the woman was amused by this young fellow but wasn’t attracted to him. His feelings unrequited, he swore to follow the woman everywhere and help her in every way possible.

So went on their journey till they came to the barren wasteland. Here fear took over the young man’s emotions as he was not yet so experienced at war and he withdrew, saying that he would wait for them here till they returned, if they returned.

For many months, the duo searched for the place, hoping to find it at any moment. They finished off their food reserves and lived on water, pining for that day when they would find this Promised Land. At last, they found the entrance, with the sign of a palm on the door. The woman was too tired and wished to rest, so she suggested that he go on inside, as it were his idea and his journey from the starting. So the man went to the entrance and put the flat of his palm on the sign and the door opened.

As the man entered the hall, lights switched on all over the place and the man had to cover his eyes , for although he had seen such bright lights many times when bombs had gone off around him but none were so clear. Eventually he got used to the light and looked around. He was amazed to find riches beyond his expectations and wine beyond measure just kept there, as though waiting just for him. He took a swig too many before he discovered food so much that that the world could have eaten. A golden liquid labelled honey gave him the sweetest taste he had ever known while in a cold box labelled Dates, he found something which when he ate gave him so much energy that he felt he could have killed any number of men and women with his bare hands. As he discovered more, he reached the centre of the hall. That’s when his eyes fell on the bottle of vinegar and the amazing object in it which glowed with such intensity it could have been a dying Sun. As soon as he set his eyes on it, the man understood, this was his Destiny. He stood in front of a Revolution. As he approached the bottle, something arose in his mind, like a second voice in his head which wanted to talk to him.

The Voice was crystal clear when it asked him who he was and he answered by introducing himself and giving the reason of his visit. Hearing this, the Voice seemed overjoyed and thanked him for coming. Then he asked the Voice who it was.

The Voice said, “I am the Human Heart, the last of its kind. I lie in this bottle and bring with myself the promise of hope and happiness and prosperity beyond imagination. I promise to restore order and equilibrium and to bring this world back from the fathoms of darkness, pain and war.” Hearing this, it was the man’s turn to be overjoyed and he asked the Heart how it would do so.

The Heart replied, “I have within me, the power to create Love, the feeling which has brought you so far. When I am fitted into your chest, peace and harmony will spread through this world and you yourself will Love. No longer will lust be the reason for men and women to come together and no longer will anyone fight to kill. I will help you to have a truly amorous relationship and you will make friends and will be the Saviour of All Mankind. The difference between Man and Animal is not that Man can think; it is that Man can Love. Man became an Animal the day the first heart was ripped out of its body. But now Man will Love again and Live again and will be, Human, again.”

Hearing this, the man rushed towards the pedestal to hug the bottle, but the Voice spoke again, dallying him just a little bit more, “But before that, I must know two things.”

“What are those?” asked the man.

“First of all, where is the woman?”

“She is just outside; she stopped because she was tired.”

“Then you must go to her as soon as I am installed in your chest, because she is the reason you came here.”

“I will do that.”

“Good, now the second thing- after you felt beckoned to me and now that you are here, do you hate anyone so much as to want to bring harm to them?”

At once the man thought of the young man who waited for them at the edge of the barren lands. He knew that the boy had lusted for his woman and he hated him for it. His body started to glow menacingly as he fell into a reverie of what he would do to that man if his woman were not around. But the very next moment, it stopped glowing as the Heart had spoken again, “Stop hating the Young Man. he can do you no harm and he will be instrumental in making you popular. Once you and the Woman fall in Love, he will become a venerating servant and will spread your story far and wide and people will want to know you and Love like you. He will be there by your side when you will bring peace to the World.”

The anger in the man subsided and a calm ensued. Thinking straight, Man went up to the pedestal and took the Heart out from the bottle. The Heart urged him to install it into the cavity in his chest. Man did so and at once, the centuries old Hope of the Scientist rushed into him, giving him strength and determination. The Heart felt the pain and anger in Man subside and felt itself fit perfectly into the chest of Man. It was Destiny.

She had rested well and was rejuvenated. It had been a while since the man had gone through the entrance and the woman was anxious for him to come back. They hadn’t eaten in days and she was hoping that he would rush back to her when he found food so that they could continue the adventure together. But he had not appeared for so long. At first she thought of going in too, but she was too tired to follow and so she rested. After a while she sat thinking that he was probably fighting some sort of fight inside and that is why he had not returned. Her ruminations were put on hold as she saw him emerge from the entrance. He was holding a bottle of wine in one hand and some sort of food in the other. She was happy that he came for her as soon as he could. But then she saw the smile of contentment on his face and not a single mark of a fight on him, she was enraged at him. He had been enjoying himself while she starved outside. She felt anger brewing inside her. When he started to tell her about all the riches and food and his talk with the Heart, she felt resentment, contempt that Man had chosen to chat with a silly bottle of vinegar instead of returning to give her food and drink. She felt Anger fill her to the brim and explode outwards.

Seeing her glow, Man tried to talk to her, to calm and soothe her by telling Woman what the Future held for them. This angered her even more and having rested and regained her energy, she swiftly took out her dagger and thrust it exactly where she knew would hurt him the most, in the centre of Man’s chest. The Heart felt the blow like a nail having been stuck into it. The pain was unbearable and the Heart shrank, the Hope and Energy having been drained out of it. There was no more Love and Man swayed, unable to bear the pain. He clutched the Heart tightly, not wanting to let go of his Destiny. But the Death of the Heart was his own too and in his last moments he knew that THIS was his Destiny, for Man can never truly Love.