by Pankaj Ogra
He rolled over and moved very fast down. I tried to chase him but couldn’t as he was heavy and moved fast.
“I reached down later.”
“You lost this game; now it’s my chance.”
I went up with him. We started down.
I was rolling, and when I was midway, he was down. He caught me.
“I won both sides. You loser, what kind of loser human are you?”
“It’s your playground and your game, let’s play my game, and then see.”
He came over to me when I was on the ground.
“You can only play your games in your land. This is my land, and everything happens in my way.” He laughed.
“I have never experienced my food playing with me. This was on my bucket list and is checked off now.”
I looked at him and asked, “What do you mean by that?”
“I also have to chase my food never had an experience having a good time with my food before I had it.”
Now something within me told me to move. I tried to move my hand, and he grabbed me with his fist.
“This is the first time I am playing with my meal before eating. Something new to do rather than chasing them. The best part is my meal is already so calm. Ha ha.”
He opened his big mouth and took my head in.
Fuck, that was wild. I awoke from my nap. Sometimes, I get in too far. It was now drizzling. I also felt like eating after being eaten. Let’s see what I have in the fridge. I saw some sausages and mayonnaise inside. I took them out and put them in the burger puff. I made a coffee and sat again in the balcony. I had the last few puffs and had my breakfast. It was delicious.
It was not raining now, but the weather was pleasant. Bruno Mars was on the list now with the song, ‘Count on me now, and I will be there…’ It reminded me of my friend, and I felt the urge to meet him. I feel good eating after being eaten as I was very hungry. I made a call to my friend, with an assumption he would be at home looking at the climate, and he was. Friends know each other so well like no one else does.
I proposed that he join me, as I was alone. He said he would join me in an hour. I felt like sleeping until he arrived, so I went to my bed. And in a while, I was in a deep sleep.
Burning Metroid is coming towards the earth. It is very big and coming very fast. What will happen now? Who will save us? What will happen next? Will it destroy the earth or just a part? But it looks like it’s too big. Everyone is looking at it. It’s very big. Big sound…
I see people terrified and going to hide themselves…I also see the dust from the collision coming towards us rapidly…is this the end of the world…ohh shit it's taking everyone with it. I need to run too…but where. Let me hide in the basement of that building…It’s coming fast, it’s coming, it’s coming. A big energy wave took us all. I woke up at once. I was scared and gulped down a glass of water.
In a while my bell rang.
I got out of my bed to open the door. He was there.
He looked at me and asked, “Are you fine? You look scared.”
“Yes, I got scared in my dream. It was the same dream that I discussed with you earlier. It comes on random days and random times and makes me scared shit. You are sweating in this weather.”
“Can I get you something?”
“No, it’s ok. Just sit.”
“So you made up a reason to not go to office.”
“Same as you. The climate was too pleasant to waste this time in office.”
“Well, do you wish to share your dream in detail? We never had any conversation on that earlier as you never told me about it.”
“Will tell you today, while having some green.”
“Ok, as you wish. The climate is too pleasant. I woke up and went back to bed. And then I realised I have to inform my office. Sometimes, I feel like being free. I wish my parents had a lot of money for me.”
“I know everyone thinks the same way. I am sure the one who has lot of money would be running for love. It’s a cycle. We are never satisfied in terms of our needs. Anyways let us sit in the balcony as there is a cool breeze there. We will be surrounded by nature and have something natural. Hee-hee.”
We sat in and lighted one.
After having my first puff, I asked, “So what did you lie to not go to office?”
“This time, I said something different. I said I was on the way and I slipped in the rain, and my elbow was badly hurt.”
“Ha ha. That’s a nice one.
“How will you show them a clean elbow tomorrow? They would expect something.”
“It’s not a big deal. I will wrap it over with bandages, that will be the best proof.”
“You are good with excuses.”
“Thank you. We grow, and we mature with time in making excuses. Ha ha.”
“I feel so good. After a while, the daily schedule makes us like asses. Working all day and then eating and sleeping. Nothing new in life to do.”
“You are right, buddy. Even I was thinking the same since morning. And then that dream shook me.”
“Would you like to discuss the dream?”
“It’s something that has been coming to me for a while. I see a meteoroid coming to earth and destroying the whole earth.”
“Shit, what next? Were you alive after that or dead?”
“Well, it never gets completed, as I wake up every time before I see what happens next. It’s too scary.”
He said, “Do you see that the world is destroying in your dreams?”
I said, “Yes, I do, and I am confused why I get that such dreams again and again. I tried to figure out what it means. I also tried to search for such kind of dreams on Google but no answer justified the relevance of my dream.”
He said, “So what you do you think? You must have at least figured out something.”
I said, “I see it in this way. Maybe the world is going to be destroyed.”
He said, “What made you think so?”
I said, “Look around, man. People are killing each other. We are at war most of the time. It’s not the nuclear war that will destroy this world. It’s humans against humans that will destroy everything. I see negativity all around. No one is ready to help others, everyone thinks of his or her own selfish ways.”
He said, “Well, it's everyone responsibility then, and it starts from you and me too. We all are going down a path that is not productive. We all should do something about it.”
I said, “Yes, I know that, but I think I am too small to make a difference. How will I change the whole world?”
He said, “Who said anything about changing the whole world? Did Gandhi ask people to follow him? He made a change for himself, which was accepted by everyone. Why don’t you make a change in yourself first?”
I said, “What is wrong with me? I am fairly good to everyone. I don’t do any bad things. I don’t hurt people or plan manipulations against them. I always see that no one is hurt because of me. I prefer not to rob or, for that matter, make selfish plans.”
He said, “Look at yourself. I just said you are wrong and you started to defend yourself. Did I say all the things you came up with? I just said you need to change.”
I said, “You tell me what is wrong with me.”
“Hey, I don’t know man. All I know is being a liar is also not good and you lied in the morning just to satisfy your need. Was that fair? You could have also said that you don’t feel like coming to office as it's raining, but you were scared that they may call it off.”
Sugra said, “I won’t say I am good to this society as I am also a liar. But I don’t take charge to change this world. I feel it will run this way and end the same way one day. I am just passing my time with the flow. You are right. I also act selfish sometimess.”
He continued, “Sometimes? I would say most of the time. I can give many examples, but that’s your job to figure out. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but what I have observed is that this world lacks the basic principles of life, and that is
being truthful and taking responsibility for our actions in this world. We always run from being exposed, and we are always scared to accept it. We say a lot of things about ourselves that are not true and try to hide what is real in us. We are just living in a manipulative world where everything is a lie. People know it but don’t accept it, it’s only when the time comes they realise it.
We are hypocrites, and the one who is not is being destroyed in our society, as a society can’t stand that opposition and see their reality, so they apply a simple formula of justifying themselves to the other. We can’t change. We have become people who like to live in a false world with all the materialistic thing tempting us to live a false life. We like to gain our pride with false appreciation for false actions.
If society has to change, it has to adopt real values based on truth and integrity towards every human being, but that is impossible. But if you think you want to make a change, start with yourself first.”
I said, “Yes, you are right. I also feel nothing is impossible as it seems. It’s just the first step towards the goal that matters.”
He said, “Yes, you are right bro. I also think sometimes why our society has such issues like poverty, casteism, religious barriers, etc., but then I am helpless. I can only think about it. But I know one day, things have to change. If not tomorrow, maybe later. If they don’t change, this world will surely come to its end, and all our humankind will be history. I am sure the creator of this world would be thinking of it, and one day, they will do something like what happened years ago with Noah.”
I said, “Hmm. I think sometimes, we all are driven by our souls and every living being has a soul, then why we are so different?”
He said, “It’s the connection between us and God, and similarly, all the souls are connected to God. I don’t know why we are different being connected to the same source of energy.”
I asked, “So does that mean every soul is connected to every other soul by one means or the other. Then how come humans don’t recognise each other?”
He said, “Well, that’s the charm of this materialistic world, which makes us forget everything. We can’t stand against the “I.” I is ego, which never lets us down. The day we understand that our ego is of no value when we are not in this world, we will understand that everyone is equal.”
I said, “I never knew you think on such deep lines.”
He said, “You never asked before. I think everyone thinks in similar lines whether they accept it or not.”
I said, “Well, it’s enough of the world today, let’s party. How’s is Reena doing these days?”
He laughed, “Ha ha. Look, we are not interested to even speak about this. Well, she is fine; she is in Hong Kong doing her med school.”
I said, “Let's plan something and utilize our lies. What would you suggest?”
He said, “I would like to go for a long drive. It’s cool outside. We will get a few burgers from Chum Street. They are just delicious. Ham and sausages.”
I said, “Sound good. So what are we waiting for. Let’s go.”
He said, “Won’t you take a bath before leaving.”
“Are you mad? Lions don’t bathe,”
He retorted, “Yes, you are right; even street dogs don’t bathe.”
I looked at him in surprise, his comment made me feel sick, so I took a bath before we left.
It was raining and when it rains, there are huge traffic jams, so I proposed that we go by metro. He agreed.
Country roads was playing…
We reached the metro station and saw huge lines of people waiting to board it. It was quite a tricky job to enter the metro so we used our best skills to do so. Incidently, I was able to get in and he stood behind. As was the mode of understanding, we spoke with our eyes that we would meet at the destination.
I was high and my music was too, so as the stations went by, I tried to recall my destination so I wouldn’t miss the station.
Well, I got out of the metro train, and as I had to wait for him, I went forth and sat near the wall for a while until he also joined me. In a while, another train came in and the doors opened. I saw him standing in front of me just next to the door. Now I was waiting for him to get off.
He looked at me with surprise and I too, as he was not getting off. We didn’t speak to each other, but we kept having our eye-to-eye conversation. I realised he was saying that I was not at the right place. I told him that he was taking me to the wrong place. Time ticked by quickly and the doors closed. Now I became aware and looked at him again. Then I thought that maybe I should look at the map just to confirm.
I learnt I was not in the right place. The place I had to go was Gurum and I had gotten off at Galam. I realised that somehow G for Gurum became G for Galam in my mind. Well, big mess up, but when you are high, you tend to mix up things and thoughts.
I took the next metro and reached him. We had many laughs thinking about what just happened. It was fun. We roamed around the markets and had delicious food and drinks.
Time and Goal
I was sleeping one Sunday afternoon. Suddenly, my house started shaking. I got scared and thought that maybe it was an earthquake. So I took my phone and wallet with me, just in case I was left with nothing else, and ran to get out of the building. However, after 60 seconds, it just stopped. I had experienced it earlier, but this one was a little different. I went back to my room and saw Zanam sitting on my bed.
It was good to see him. I asked him, “How are you doing?”
He replied, “Good but worried.”
I asked him, “What is making you worry?”
He said, “The whole situation has changed now. Now we not only have to convert people but also have to prepare ourselves for war.”
“What? You said war will only happen if they get to know that we are making changes.”
“You are right, but they lost their patience finally. We were speculating on this earlier, but now they have planned to destroy the earth and have already started their preparation.”
“How much time do we have?”
“We expect them to reach here in 4 years.”
“Well, that’s very little time. I have just started my task and had fairly good success and now you are saying they will start a war against us. That’s too early.”
“I know. It comes as a surprise to us as well, but we got confirmation from our informer based there. They have planned a specific way to destroy us. For years, they have been working on finding the best possible way to destroy this planet in just some time.”
“While they were creating negativity on our planet, they had a plan B of destroying it once. Now they have succeeded in making that possible.”
“The first batch of aliens came with this understanding. They mingled easily with the population and changed the mentality of people living in this planet. They turned people against people. They destroyed the harmony of this planet. The best part is no one knew why human is fighting humans, as they were both the same and there were no differences.”
“Everyone in this planet is in a race to become something and become someone, but no one understands that in the end, nothing will matter. Well, we at the core really feel a lot of pain seeing our work destroyed by someone.”
“Did you learn what weapon they have made?”
“Yes, it’s a destructive one.”
“How does it work?”
“Once fired, it will just absorb all the water from the earth at once, even inside the human body and take it outside the earth’s atmosphere as a cube.”
“What? Humans can’t survive that change. They are made of water like watermelons, most of them. Do we have any plan to counter them? What if we get that cube back to earth and bring it back to life?”
“That can’t be done, as humans won’t survive the time it will take to get it back, but we have a solution to it. When we created the earth, we kept a huge amount of water inside the earth core just in case. Now I see we can take that out
if required only once to keep life going.”
“I am just not sure if they fire another one, how we will survive that.”
“So we have one option as of now.”
“Yes, we have just one option to give us a shot at survival, but we have to plan it such a manner that we need not use that portion.”
“Have you been working on something in the core?”
“Yes, we have already started to work on this, but I am not sure how much time it will take to get something in picture. All we have is hope—both you and me. Today, all of us are standing on the same ground where we are planning to make survival possible. We have very less time for everything. You need to proactively start your search and be who you are.”
“We also hope you will come up with the solution to this problem as you will put together knowledge from different minds.”
“It’s time for me to leave. I wish you luck and success.”
So We All Meet
It took me another 2 years to find the others. It was not a smooth journey, but I got through it. During this tenure, I learnt many aspects of life based on what I faced as a problem. I looked at problems as challenges and faced them with optimism and patience. I kept up hope to turn things into reality.
As I went through the days, I saw that I was just not learning but also making progress as a human being and as a person living in this world. I recalled all my past mistakes and tried to close those loops. I made peace with all the people I had held grudges against, as I understood that nothing matters in the end. No one was responsible for what happened to me when they were with me. They were just the sources of learning. Time taught me many things. I understood that they all came into my life to help me learn. Had the time been different, it would have been someone else in their place, but time has its action planned.
Time had played its part, and I was on my way to make a change in every human being as well as to fight a war. Over time, I also realised that nothing was easy and everything takes time, but in reality, as we can’t see the progress visibly before us, we just get paranoid and lose our patience.
There was a time when I had nothing and now I planned to take one of the final steps. With plenty of time and efforts put in by everyone, I was able to find everyone.