Ch 5: Emotions

Life is all fun and enjoyment, I thought. I was too late to discover that it wasn't so... too late when is discovered myself, my powers. But life gave me a second chance. Here's my story, the story of a woman.

I was born to rich, normal parents, or so I thought. Through my teens i had everything i wanted, be it the Barbie girl, round the world tour, or the Mercedes I got when I was still seventeen. Money was power, and it could buy anything. I was in the second last year in school when I met someone...

He joined my school in plus 2. From the first day itself, I fell for his good looks and cool attitude. I knew I was in love. The moment I looked at him something started burning in my head. It was not like the simile 'burning passion', this was real, physical. I felt some kind of connection between my mind and his, and felt my emotion passing on to him. It was really weird, but the same day, he asked me out. It was heaven from then on.

We dated for months. Then in December, he had to go to visit his parents in Dubai. I didn't see him for a month. When he returned everything had changed. He didn't like me, he never had... It was all my doing, my power had forced him to love me against his will. I was crestfallen. I can still remember that day - it was my 18th birthday.

When I returned home, mom and dad were waiting with my presents and birthday cake. I fell crying on mom's outstretched hands and opened my heart. She took the whole incident with much less surprise than I expected. I asked her, "Mom, is there something I should know?" She replied.

Days passed on, but after knowing 'the truth', it was never the same. Suddenly life seemed to have more meaning. I felt some kind of responsibility to human race. Though we were the superior race, we were the aliens on this planet. The feeling of being alien in a place you called home, it's unnerving.I joined CET the next year.

It was the second day in college that I saw the man of my dreams. He had the looks of Tom Cruise and poise of Hugh Grant. I told myself never to tinker with her emotions. As I walked past him, I tried a weak smile hoping he would notice me. It was beautiful... Amazingly, he asked me out the next week. I couldn't utter the words to express my happiness, but i think my nodding head conveyed the message to him.

That evening, we were at Lords. I was sipping on the last drop of limejuice, when I unintentionally started to pass on my emotion of love unto him. I stood up, trying to control the power. I told myself "I shouldn't make him fall in love with me. It will ruin his life. How would he ever understand that I can control emotions..". He tried to calm me down, and told the story of his life. He didn't know why he had the power or where it came from. His parents were so distance from him that they never cared to reveal to their son 'the truth'.

All that is history. We married and have a son, Deepak. Deepak's dad told me few weeks ago that our son's in love. He wasn't sure the girl felt the same for the boy. And then the day came when the dreaded accident happened. I had gone out shopping and saw the whole thing. Deepak suddenly shifted in his seat and the scooter went out of control. I ran towards them, but the crowd prevented me from getting anywhere near. I saw a girl getting out of the car that stopped just inches from Deepak. My power burst out upon her, and I could see the effect. The girl (whom I later came to know was the girl my son was after) felt an instant urge to help my son. She took him to the car and drove him home. I called out to my hus, but my voice was drowned in the crowd.

When I reached home, dad took me aside and said to me, "Our son knows I can read minds. The time arrives that he should know 'the truth'. And one more thing, the girl he's after, the one who saved him today, is Hari Seldon's heir!"

Ch4 : The Truth!!

"Damn!! how disgusting...these assholes changed my name from Neetha to Neha!!! One day I'll have my payback.". Neha was talking to herself, but she didn't know she is being overheard,Yes!Deepak, it was him.....!!
Stunned by the other side of his dear girlfriend he made a snort, Neetha realizing the presence of a stranger, in panic, shot from her revolver (hidden inside her hand bag) in the direction of the sound. With a loud yell Deepak fell down, Neetha felt a thunderbolt running down her spine and rather caught out.Deepak was rolling on the floor with pain, he was miserable. He felt like the angels calling out to him, "Deeepak....".

"Eh!! What the hell?? Shit!! A nightmare.It is already seven and I'm not ready for school yet.Shouldn't have seen 'The Unfaithful' the precious night." Deepak stopped rolling on the floor and got up to get ready for the school.
But why the hell did he think of Neha as a traitor, the reason she would turn rebel is not going to be as filthy as a name.The question dogged him to the class and he found no respite from his thoughts. Even in Neha's company he felt off sorts.
"Why are you so moody Deepak???",Neha asked.
"OH!! Eh!"as if just waking up from a dream."No,nothing". He longed to tell her about the dream but something held him against.
"Is there anything that i can help you with??"Neha looking very much concerned.
"Its so nice of you Neha darling, but no nothing of a great concern.Just that I'm having a minor head ache.." Deepak evading the temptation to open himself up.
"Ok...then i guess you need to take some time off... "Neha replied.
"Yeah!! I guess i get going now Neha dear..See ya tomorrow...."
Dé·jà vu!! He felt he had talked to Neha in an almost similar manner sometime back. This has become a pretty regular occurrence nowadays this,Dé·jà vu!!
"Some thing's wrong somewhere, the only person,one i can trust, who will have a solution for this problem is my dad..But he's off to some business tour from the next day of our 'small freak accident'. He had left in haste, never gave an indication as to his departure..."
He walked back home for he wanted to stack up his thoughts into a neat pile so that he can figure out whatever his problem was.
A pleasant surprise waited for him back home, his dad had returned from the "tour". Deepak was ecstatic and cried out with joy, for he felt comforted and safe.
At nightfall he went to his dad for some counseling on his problem.
"Dad i believe you might have read my mind already,eh..i don't know what's happening I'm confused..eh..."
"Say no more son...I understand.Once me too felt the same. Yes son you are gifted too..like me and like many others who roam this world.The next few things I'm going to tell you is going to take a lot from your part to assimilate in one go...But I've to do this, the time has come for you to know the truth."
Deepak stood amazed and anxious, what on earth was going on??
"Listen boy, I've been away to see some of my old friends, them belonging to group called The Council of AEI.I know its going to be too much for you to take in but you have to be patient and listen.AEI is 'Aliter Encampments for Ithopia'. The world is not what you see around boy, we are time travellers from the world of Ithopia. The place you call Universe is just another part, in fact the primordial part of a greater system called Ithopia. We are from the future boy! You are unique because during the years of my research about our past you were born. The so called business tour i was away for, was a journey back to our time because after that accident i grew concerned about you, for in this primitive place there is no automotive security and the people here are very slow for they take hours to reach just 500km(less than half a minute journey in Ithopia),I've got the permission from the council to take leave from my assignment for a couple of earth-months. We have the science of psychohistory**(developed by the great mathematician Hari*) so I can most often predict the future correctly, and that's what you know as my mind reading capability.We are researching about the possibility of settling in the past because our world is getting crowded more and more.We live in the planet of Earth in fact right here but a 10000 years hence..And the deja vu you have been having is because you too have the elements of psychohistory in you so you tend to see a lot things of the future through your dreams.Take your time to come in terms with the reality and and when you are ready I'll be taking you for a trip back Home....."

This was too much for young Deepak, he didn't speak a word but stood gaping at the stars wondering if they looked the same from some other world he couldn't even think of and if the dreams were to come true,he would think no more..... He couldn't sleep,he feared he might see something he didn't want to...The world around him was changing and so was he......

**Psychohistory has been assumed to be implanted into the human genome by some technique developed long after our era.(OH!! By the way for those readers who don't know what psychohistory is, its a mathematical thesis presented by the mathematician Hari Seldon in the epic Foundation series .... )

Speed 3: Chase on Rails

Is that a bird?
Is that a plane?
Is it superman?
No it's John's Indica car

Ten mins before:
Ring..ring..ring.. He didn't move. The mobile phone lying alongside him had 4 miss calls written on it. But he didn't know - It was in silent mode. His mother woke up and answered the land-phone which was ringing. They shouted at their son.. "Nithin, wake up it's Mahesh.. something urgent". He opened his sleepy hero-eyes and walked up to the phone.
"Enthada?"
"Da this is Mahesh. I've to catch a train at 7:10. Could you please get me to the station.."
"Yeah..I'll come now"
"Please hurry" Clik. Mahesh put the phone down.
That's when John looked at the clock... 6:45 am.

'Oh my god.. It's gonna be too late. It takes atleast 45 minutes to get to the station with no traffic. But he's my friend, and the ticket is booked to Hyderabad. I should give him a chance..' John's mind started to work at a higher pace. He could drive Mahesh to a taxi stand. Maybe a mad taxi driver could save him. The idea was dropped, for one there wasn't any taxi stand nearby and the other reason being it would take much time to swap cars. So he took the responsibility upon himself to take the risk.

6:55 am:
Indica cars haven't been known to race in NASCAR. Neither does it have a history in F1. But John was behind the wheels of the fastest car in town [at least for that day]. He had his father alongside him, who had insisted on coming along. That gave the young driver both confidence and fear that his father may prevent him from speeding. Everyone who's been to his house knows that the car cannot be put into first gear before reversing it for 100 metres, a problem that also involved two sharp turns in reverse gear.

First gear.. accelerate..second..accelerate..third..accelerate... slow..bump ahead.. accelerate.. slow.. Mahesh ahead. He got in the car. Dad asked him.. "What happened"
"I woke up late..."
John tried to turn the car 360 around, but it didn't work - no power steering. Reverse gear, pull back a li'l and forward again. The mission had begun. John had always been a bad driver in NFS. But his real life driving was much better. Had this been a computer game, he would have crashed into something within seconds. He drove on.. 40 km/hr..60 km/hr.. above that, he dared not look at his speedometer.. Thankfully his dad wasn't objecting for once.

Ulloor, the bottleneck of NH-47. Governments have changed, party policies enforced encroachment drives all over the state. But national highway near Ulloor never widened more than the width of two cars. The place has history of having worst traffic jams, maybe even the first one in the state might have happened there. Even early in the morning the Indica was caught up behind a bus. Three minutes wasted. John looked at the clock in front of the car.. 7:10 am. Knowing that it was about 5 minutes ahead didn't bring any cheer. Major part of the journey was yet to come.

The next 10 minutes passed like a blur. Overtaking fast passengers, speeding vans.. the slower vehicles moved out of sight as soon as the came. The traffic lights were not in operation so early in the day, so that wasn't an obstruction. The final hurdle was to go around island in front of railway station and park in front of the entrance. Mahesh jumped out as soon as the car slowed down. John stopped the car and tossed the keys to his dad- the cars couldn't be parked in front of entrance for long. He glanced at the clock again.. 7:20.. 5 minutes late. Every hero has his day of failure. He ran inside dejectedly...

"John.. I'm here inside the train" Mahesh shouted.
John couldn't believe his eyes. Mahesh had got the train. It was on the second platform. He had crossed the rails on foot and jumped on the train. Emotions flowed..delight and relief. John walked back out of main entrance. After all this he didn't want to get caught for not having a platform ticket. That's when he noticed something on the notice-board. ' Trivandrum - Hyderabad. Train rescheduled from 5:20 to 7:30 am.' Mahesh had gotten into this wrong train? John rushed back into the station and checked the number of that train. It didn't match. He had got the right train after all. The train left at 7:20, ten minutes late... Those ten minutes felt like an eternity to them.. it was all John needed to get him there... 20 minutes for a 45 minute drive.

If it were any bollywood film, I would've been driving in F1 by now. Instead I'd to return back home, on the slow track.. It took about an hour.

FUTURO

Hmmm...For the last few days i have been involved in a lot of extra-curricular activity(very unlike me)like watching tv series,reading books,playing etc.

I am a very contemplative and analytic by nature,which made me look deep into what the series and the books would mean if they were to be true.
The series "HEROES" and the book "PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION" ,by Issac Asimov, deal with a hypothetical situation which allegedly is going to be the future of mankind.
According to the series the human gene is under a constant process of revival and goes on explaining the plot using Darwin's theories. They say nature has its own way of controlling living beings and technically speaking,the process of natural selection and the concept of survival of the fittest is ultimately going to make our genes alter themselves and express in a different more adaptive way. But there can also be a counter argument that the evolution process has long remained in a quasi state,which eventually has made us make adjustments to our environment to suit our cause(with its own consequences of course).

The book rather emphasis and solidifies this argument about we human beings being very manipulative towards our surroundings and in the end resulting in a galactic empire which is extremely mechanized and technologically very sound. The author has predicted the future to be a world full of robots who are going to be the loyal servants.

So i feel that our future is in a mixed bag of fortunes bound to be opened at the stroke of a great catastrophe (or a revolution), which might just sweep away the present and in turn bring a new dawn we never imagined and most probably will never.