Yesterday, I was working on my computer and, for some reason, unaware, I looked at the time on the screen and realized it was 1.28 AM, late of course for someone who has to be at work the next morning!
*PLUNG*PLUNG*
Someone pinged me on facebook (yeah! that's how it sounds on my speakers!!) and I switched tabs and found out it was an old schoolmate, well, surprisingly after a long break! Nothing substantial about the conversation though; we merely exchanged pleasantries (wotta timing!) and that was it!! He logged off, I forgot my work and got busy scrolling up and down repeating the same posts over and over again! Seemed like a long time and suddenly it struck me I had an overdue of pending work waiting at the other tab! My eye accidentally caught a glimpse of the time and it was, wait a minute!! 1.28 AM? Still? I double clicked on the time display just to check if my computer hadn't frozen! Nope! Seemed fine and working! I raised my head to look at the wall clock, which I'd made sure to be synchronized with the IST like in the computer, and behold! It's 1.28 AM!!
I looked around the room and it was absolutely silent! I went out of the house and it was absolutely still (quite normal for a quiet Bangalore with not much of nightlife, sadly!)!! The city seemed to be in a state of unconsciously deep sleep! It was not windy as I remember it, but there was no trace of any movement associated with it! No rustling leaves, no breeze that blew the fallen dead leaves off the ground, and everything seemed like a live set of lifeless life forms!! Realistically artificial!!
I went near a tree and looked at it for a moment. The leaves were motionless. I reached out for a leaf and touched it. It felt real but yet, seemed motionless and dead(!) like plastic. I looked around for any signs of movement, no vehicle noises (strange!), nor any street dogs barking! I walked past the house to the next lane that connected with the main road. I was sure there could at least be a truck going at this hour and I waited. Nothing!! Until I saw someone walking towards me...
I squinted my eyes to see who it was! The streetlights were faint and didn't seem to illuminate much. All I could see was that they were glowing! But the light somehow wasn't reaching out enough! It seemed dark, though it wasn't! The presence was closer now and I cried out to him (was a man!) but I couldn't hear myself! I tried louder this time...silence!! I could feel the effort of shouting, I was going...No!!! I should've gone breathless at least, but I hadn't realized I wasn't breathing at all until then!! I walked cautiously towards him, as he approached nearer, I saw his face and it 'was' me!!
Yes! I, or he, looked a lot younger, like back in my clean shaven days (I have a beard now! Yes, a big one!)! I tried to touch him and couldn't feel it! It was not physical, and I thought my mind was playing tricks on me! I've walked on this road umpteen times since my childhood. Uh! Did I say childhood? I saw another of me, about 14 years old, riding my red Avon bicycle (which is no more now!) down the road. I followed 'him' to the next road and lo...a bustling crowd, all of myself! In different time periods of my lifetime!
And everyone to my surprise were looping! The 14 year old was still cycling in the same place, the first version of me was still walking, and then there was another, eating gol goppas on the road side! Still eating (I'd have been full then!)! And nobody noticed me strangely, nor each other, like they were totally disconnected and unaware of where they were and what they were doing! I walked back on the same road and the trees? They were gone! The road was wider now! The houses were different! The vacant plots had full fledged apartment buildings. I walked a little further just to check if I'd missed the road but I was sure! The street where my house was is a dead end! This was it!
Suddenly I saw someone walk past me. He looked much older. No surprise this time. It was me again, 10 years into my future. I'm going bald already but here I was much balder, a little slouched and walking alone and slowly. I wanted to know what my future was and I tried to catch up with him. He seemed to walk slowly but he was quick. I tried running behind but couldn't quite catch up with my older version. Yet the relative distance between us was, well accurately, the same as I observed! And from nowhere a car entered past him into the road and started coming towards me. I was unable to realize what was happening and the car hit me...! Well, it actually passed through me like I was a wandering spirit in the earthly world! I turned back to look who the driver was (I wasn't interested what model or color the car was...it was not important at the moment).
You guessed it! A much younger version of the older one who'd just walked past appeared from the car and got inside the house! I was speechless and was finding it hard to comprehend what was going on around me! I frantically tried to follow him to get a glimpse of my future and tripped against a rock and fell...on someone! Not someone, but me! Dead! In a grave! Old and at peace! I looked at my death, aghast, and tried to see what was happening around above the 6 foot grave!
I heard wails now! I heard chattering, cries, and they were getting louder! I tried to rise up but something held me back. The crying got much louder, with women, men and children, all crying out their symphonies of grieving a close one's death and I could not take it any further. I forced myself to get up and something fell on me! It obscured my vision a little bit, but I could recognize it as soil! More of it fell and it started getting dark all around! I felt I was going breathless and the voices were getting muffled out! I tried moving but was surrounded by muddy soil unable to move a finger! It was closing in and I felt it extremely uncomfortable! I was scared if I was dying! My breath was running out and suddenly I shook!!
I shook again, not by myself, but as if someone was trying to shake me! I gasped in breath and looked around. My brother stood beside me. I could not realize what was happening. I looked around and the hazy vision slowly cleared off to reveal my room! Well lit!
"Yo! Wake up! You've dozed off already!", I heard my brother say and it startled me a moment coming out of nowhere! I realized I'd dozed off on the computer table. I couldn't believe my eyes...everything had seemed so real! I suddenly remembered something and looked at the monitor screen for the time! It quietly changed to 1.29 AM!!
*PLUNG*
My friend I was chatting with pings back saying, "Bro...u der??"
*PLUNG*PLUNG*
Someone pinged me on facebook (yeah! that's how it sounds on my speakers!!) and I switched tabs and found out it was an old schoolmate, well, surprisingly after a long break! Nothing substantial about the conversation though; we merely exchanged pleasantries (wotta timing!) and that was it!! He logged off, I forgot my work and got busy scrolling up and down repeating the same posts over and over again! Seemed like a long time and suddenly it struck me I had an overdue of pending work waiting at the other tab! My eye accidentally caught a glimpse of the time and it was, wait a minute!! 1.28 AM? Still? I double clicked on the time display just to check if my computer hadn't frozen! Nope! Seemed fine and working! I raised my head to look at the wall clock, which I'd made sure to be synchronized with the IST like in the computer, and behold! It's 1.28 AM!!
I looked around the room and it was absolutely silent! I went out of the house and it was absolutely still (quite normal for a quiet Bangalore with not much of nightlife, sadly!)!! The city seemed to be in a state of unconsciously deep sleep! It was not windy as I remember it, but there was no trace of any movement associated with it! No rustling leaves, no breeze that blew the fallen dead leaves off the ground, and everything seemed like a live set of lifeless life forms!! Realistically artificial!!
I went near a tree and looked at it for a moment. The leaves were motionless. I reached out for a leaf and touched it. It felt real but yet, seemed motionless and dead(!) like plastic. I looked around for any signs of movement, no vehicle noises (strange!), nor any street dogs barking! I walked past the house to the next lane that connected with the main road. I was sure there could at least be a truck going at this hour and I waited. Nothing!! Until I saw someone walking towards me...
I squinted my eyes to see who it was! The streetlights were faint and didn't seem to illuminate much. All I could see was that they were glowing! But the light somehow wasn't reaching out enough! It seemed dark, though it wasn't! The presence was closer now and I cried out to him (was a man!) but I couldn't hear myself! I tried louder this time...silence!! I could feel the effort of shouting, I was going...No!!! I should've gone breathless at least, but I hadn't realized I wasn't breathing at all until then!! I walked cautiously towards him, as he approached nearer, I saw his face and it 'was' me!!
Yes! I, or he, looked a lot younger, like back in my clean shaven days (I have a beard now! Yes, a big one!)! I tried to touch him and couldn't feel it! It was not physical, and I thought my mind was playing tricks on me! I've walked on this road umpteen times since my childhood. Uh! Did I say childhood? I saw another of me, about 14 years old, riding my red Avon bicycle (which is no more now!) down the road. I followed 'him' to the next road and lo...a bustling crowd, all of myself! In different time periods of my lifetime!
And everyone to my surprise were looping! The 14 year old was still cycling in the same place, the first version of me was still walking, and then there was another, eating gol goppas on the road side! Still eating (I'd have been full then!)! And nobody noticed me strangely, nor each other, like they were totally disconnected and unaware of where they were and what they were doing! I walked back on the same road and the trees? They were gone! The road was wider now! The houses were different! The vacant plots had full fledged apartment buildings. I walked a little further just to check if I'd missed the road but I was sure! The street where my house was is a dead end! This was it!
Suddenly I saw someone walk past me. He looked much older. No surprise this time. It was me again, 10 years into my future. I'm going bald already but here I was much balder, a little slouched and walking alone and slowly. I wanted to know what my future was and I tried to catch up with him. He seemed to walk slowly but he was quick. I tried running behind but couldn't quite catch up with my older version. Yet the relative distance between us was, well accurately, the same as I observed! And from nowhere a car entered past him into the road and started coming towards me. I was unable to realize what was happening and the car hit me...! Well, it actually passed through me like I was a wandering spirit in the earthly world! I turned back to look who the driver was (I wasn't interested what model or color the car was...it was not important at the moment).
You guessed it! A much younger version of the older one who'd just walked past appeared from the car and got inside the house! I was speechless and was finding it hard to comprehend what was going on around me! I frantically tried to follow him to get a glimpse of my future and tripped against a rock and fell...on someone! Not someone, but me! Dead! In a grave! Old and at peace! I looked at my death, aghast, and tried to see what was happening around above the 6 foot grave!
I heard wails now! I heard chattering, cries, and they were getting louder! I tried to rise up but something held me back. The crying got much louder, with women, men and children, all crying out their symphonies of grieving a close one's death and I could not take it any further. I forced myself to get up and something fell on me! It obscured my vision a little bit, but I could recognize it as soil! More of it fell and it started getting dark all around! I felt I was going breathless and the voices were getting muffled out! I tried moving but was surrounded by muddy soil unable to move a finger! It was closing in and I felt it extremely uncomfortable! I was scared if I was dying! My breath was running out and suddenly I shook!!
I shook again, not by myself, but as if someone was trying to shake me! I gasped in breath and looked around. My brother stood beside me. I could not realize what was happening. I looked around and the hazy vision slowly cleared off to reveal my room! Well lit!
"Yo! Wake up! You've dozed off already!", I heard my brother say and it startled me a moment coming out of nowhere! I realized I'd dozed off on the computer table. I couldn't believe my eyes...everything had seemed so real! I suddenly remembered something and looked at the monitor screen for the time! It quietly changed to 1.29 AM!!
*PLUNG*
My friend I was chatting with pings back saying, "Bro...u der??"
