Blahsphemy

Did he recognise you? I weighed that question in my mind. Did he? His face didn't give away much. His eyes were staring vacantly into space. His body was immobile. So did he recognise me? No idea, even he won't be able to answer that for his brain and body had stopped functioning long ago. 

I checked my mail for the umpteenth time. The job list was full as usual. Who wants to work on a weekend? The brain refused to kick-start the action. I am perfecting the art of procrastination. 

This happened a long long time ago. When you read it you won't be able to relate to it. All the places and faces would've been eaten up by time. So why bother telling it now? I won't, don't worry.

Five mistakes that can screw up your job, the subject line screamed. He opened the mail gingerly. As he progressed, realisation dawned that he had done every single one of them and with elan. In fact he had done a couple of other interesting things as well. He sat back and contemplated, if this email is true then how the hell did they make me the CEO of this damn company.

Zooropa was distant land. A land so distant that no one knew anything about it. When Ghad set out to discover the world, he also didn't have much of an idea as to what the world looked like. For him, Zooropa was his world, and for the world, he was an other-worldly creature.   

Today was a holiday for his brain. A week deserving break after being the grandmaster. But it was the most boring day in his life. He missed his pawns. He missed the checkered board. He missed the calculated moves. He sat there dumbfounded just looked his opponents when he used to utter stalemate. Little did he know that he was being played by life.

He wasn't there. That's the first thought that hit me while I turned the corner. I have been meeting him every day for the past three years. But today, it was different. I felt betrayed. He was a part of my daily routine and he wasn't there. How can he do that? I wouldn't have done that to him. That's when the newspaper headline caught my eye - "All statues to be removed for city beautification". Chances are they mistook him for a statute, or was he really one?    

I slept peacefully like a log. When I woke up, the calendar had shed more than 365 days. The world had changed its appearance. The children had grown. My friends had disappeared. A few wars were fought. It is really amusing, as all I did was sleep and the world went berserk.  

As usual I was waiting for my thoughts to return. I had sent them up the elevator at the mall. I could see them inside the claustrophobic glass capsule slowly moving up. I was waiting patiently by the elevator doors when someone in a guard's uniform confronted me. He wanted to know whether I was ogling at the women in the glass elevator. He laughed out loud when I told him about my thoughts. He pushed me out after threatening me with dire consequences. Now, here I am staring at the screen waiting for my thoughts to ring the doorbell. 

You have thirty seconds more, the mechanical voice chimed. He wasn't finished with his business, but he knew that if he didn't he will be humiliated publicly. Somewhere deep inside the labyrinthine structure, the HR manager was smirking, thinking about how he had succeeded in training his employees to piss fast. 

The red car was under the green tree as always. Those were her favourite colours, red and green. Why am I saying this now, no idea. As usual, her thoughts were getting cloudy. The anti-histamine were muddling her neurons. Soon red and green will merge to create a black hole where her memories will be sucked in. 

We bump into each other every other day. As soon as the doors shut, we nod and pretend to be busy in our own way. Sometimes he will count the stripes on his shirt. At times I will marvel at the condition of my worn out shoe. We never wanted to break the silence within those four steel walls. For it was our own sacred space which we co-inhabited.    

The mouse was dead. The deserted driveway was its deathbed. How did it end up there, no one knew. Somewhere in the distance an owl scolded its offspring for wasting a kill. The owlet hung its head in shame. He had hoped that the mouse would rush back to its family when he let him slip away from his talons. 

You owe me seven stories, the book screamed. The pen was taken aback by the sudden twist of things. It was hoping to have a leisurely stroll over the white expanses of papyrus. But today, things were different. Something had ruffled the book's pages and it was upset. 

It has to be a cathartic process, the words echoed in the empty corridors. Already the fire alarm had done the purging. The building was deserted and a fire was smouldering by the window where the Molotov cocktail had exploded.       

That's my story on four legs. It looked lost. It was panting as well. It just came out of nowhere. It sniffed the parked cars and regretted doing so. At times it seemed scared. At times it seemed brave. It stared at me. I stared back. I didn't extend a friendly arm or offer a biscuit. I just sat there. Soon, it grew disillusioned and went its way. All I know is that it was black. I can still see it in my mind's eye, a black speck floating away in a sea of white.   

The words disappeared again. This is the fifth time they are doing this. That too in a day. Let me to search for them, while you wait.

He fled leaving behind the acrid smell of his burnt hopes. The very hopes he had so lovingly nurtured all these years. All it took was one misguided thought and whatever action that followed. As he looked back, he could see them slowly fuming like a forgotten pyre.

I lost one day. Which means my year now has only 364 days unlike yours. How do I fix it? Can I borrow some days from your year?

Bowie was recalled today. His tape had come undone. For many, he was the man who sold the world. In five years he preached modern love to Ziggy stardust and was branded rebel by young Americans. For some slave oddities he was a hero whose moonage daydream brought changes to their world.

When the title came easily to him, he never suspected anything. Then he saw the lizard flee from its hideout. Maybe that's a distraction, he thought. Next came the strange sounds from upstairs. He didn't quite figure out what they were. All he knew was that this room was perfect to rattle out a horror story for the seedy old newspaper editor of Ghoul Times.

The prince couldn't revive her. The fairy godmother couldn't help either. The dwarfs were also at their wits end. Little did they all knew that what killed snow white was not the spell but the pesticide on the apple.

They were everywhere. It's automation at it's worst, screamed the media. But humanity couldn't live without them. They made everyone's life easy. Right from sweeping the roads to delivering babies, they did everything. And now they have discovered a bot that can help us walk. You just have to slip one on like a trouser and you will never have to move a muscle. How's that?

There is always something to look forward to in life. Little did he know that he was looking forward to his doom this time. There she was all set to crash into his fragile existence like a loose cannon ball.

Did I miss you yesterday? Or was it there day before? I ask this question whenever your face pops up. Sometimes I see you looking back at me in my rear view mirror. Or the ID card in my wallet. Or the family photo by the bed. You are always there. Even my wife recognises you. She even thinks that I am you.

All the lights just became green at the same time. And all hell broke loose. Soon traffic came to a stand still. It was chaos everywhere just because of green.

The ground was moving fast. He was speeding towards another realm on rails. Everything was a blur. And then wham, the breakthrough happened. Everything was suddenly in slow motion. His future and past lined up like two tracks to eternity with him suspended in space.

The street was empty, just like his wallet. He had used up his last penny to buy some ammo. Because when the war comes home he shouldn't be caught unaware. So he climbed back in to the claustrophobic cabin of his tank and shut the hatch tight. Now it's just me and them, he thought. That's when he saw the shadow of the mother ship looming large from behind the buildings

It better be impressive, thought she. After all it was the first day of the year. But he was in another world. The alcohol from last night's party still raged in his system. His hands were unsteady. The crowd waited impatiently to see the duo create magic on the trapeze.