It started long back. I did all I could to stop it. These Headaches. Could Kill me. They tried their best to treat me, scanned my head, I ate pills as if they were cigarettes (To tell you the truth, I even got addicted to it). It never stopped. It just got worse. It was no migraine. Neither was it brain tumor. In medical terms, I was sound.
Every now and then I would wake up. With this pain in my head. Never knowing what to do. Until I found it…My destiny…
I really don’t remember how I reached that alley. By profession, I am a journalist, one of those stylish investigative kinds who carry huge cameras with adjustable lens. I wouldn’t mind even carrying a tripod but it doesn’t exactly fit my job profile. On that day, something took me there. Anyway that headache was gone for some while. By instinct, I hid and was ready with my camera... That is when he came out. I had never seen him before. Never knew that he was for real. The Flame or rather, Flame. You would have never heard about Flame. It is ‘classified’ information. Often in nights, you might have seen a figure looming around in the darkness. You might have even felt a sudden flash of darkness across the road when you are out there driving. It must have been Flame.
Flame, a superhero who fights crime in the shadows of the night. One who keeps our city clean. There is just one Flame between the good and the bad, the saint and the sinner.
So was this the headache all about? I had been chosen by destiny. And I guess it was my destiny to be the one who tells the world who Flame is. The crime fighter, he is.
The pain would just take me to Flame. I was to be a witness for all his deeds. I was to tell the world what happens behind their back. To tell them what happens when they sleep. To tell them what happens in the darkest of the alleys.
I was drawn into the scene every time Flame was in action. I could see him jump over bridges. I could see him fly. I could see him staring down from the tallest building hiding in his hood. I could feel him. I could smell him. I had never met him but I could sense him. I wonder whether he senses me too. He never says cheese when my camera flashes. But he must know me. For God sake he is a super hero.
My headaches never stopped and it kept me drawing towards him. He became a drug to me. To relieve my pain. In return, I was to witness everything. I used to sleep with my headache but peacefully knowing that my city is in safe hands.
Then one day it happened. No, the headaches didn’t stop. It was Flame. He disappeared. I couldn’t find him again. The pain would take me somewhere but Flame won’t be there. I wandered alone in the darkness without a ‘Flame’ He was nowhere. It was as if he never existed. My pain had no purpose anymore.
That night my pain took me to a car wreck. I waited and waited there for Flame and help those hapless victims inside the car. I was just not able to accept the fact that it was fate to bring their very existence to an end in that very moment inside the car. I was just not able to accept the fact that there was no longer a Flame. So I stopped waiting, took matters into my very own hands. I didn’t wait for a second more. I moved the car. I became the ray of light for those poor souls in the pitch black night. Rather I became a glimmer.
After that day, I never had a head ache……
Flame has found a successor to keep the city clean. I found Him. Inside me. I found my destiny too. Now I do not sleep in the night. In the night, I fight. As I stand here pondering about the true purpose of me and my old headaches meanwhile narrating my story, I see my new friend waiting down there. Since the last few days, this photographer has been chasing me taking my pictures. He is my friend now .My only friend. Still, I never say cheese when his camera flashes and I never talk to him as I don’t want to scare him off.
He must be having headaches. Very bad headaches…!!
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
My Day Out - Part 1
Driving! I love driving. I love my car. I love that feel when I put her on her top gear. I love speed. Music! Oh! Heaven! When I started two hours back with this friend of mine, I had no idea where we are going. Even now, I have no idea. He has no idea. All roads lead to Rome. But I doubt whether we are really heading towards Rome. Actually I wouldn’t mind. I love driving.
My all-terrain is climbing up through what they call hair pins. I love hair pins. Especially love removing them from my girl’s hair. As the story proceeds, we stop in the way for the first time in hours to snap a few pics of this natural waterfall in the way. I tell you again we didn’t stop to be eaten by that man-eater-wild-bear who was drinking water from our natural waterfall. You know bears have a few major problems. They are huge and they make a lot of noise. Especially those man eater bears at the sight of tasty looking human flesh. So once we got down, it was not easy to miss. We ran back to the car. The hungry bear who wanted atleast one of us for dinner dint want to give up. He chased us.
My car can fly. I dint know that. My friend dint know too and of course the stupid bear didn’t know that. We are flying basically because I didn’t obey the traffic board. The red triangle shaped sign board said:
“Bend Ahead. Take Left”
If a 1000 KG (exaggerated) man-eater wild bear wants to have you for dinner and iis chasing your car, will you stop and read the sign boards or will you keep going? I kept going. So now, we are flying. While both of us are waiting for the black and white movie and enjoying the landscape below moving up to us, something happened. Something most unnatural. Just when we are about a few meters above the ground level, we stopped flying. Something stopped the descent. It was like we hit an air cushion and it look about 15 seconds for us to reach the ground. It was like sailing in a boat. We thanked the bear for not chasing us down here.
The place where we descended ‘was’ some kind of a township. Completely deserted. Not a single form of life around other than the two of us. While we were stepping out of the vehicle, we noticed something. That the car wheels are not touching the ground. My friend didn’t step out of the car completely but by then he started floating around weightlessly. When I stepped out, I couldn’t do the space floating stuff but my car sure did. She also floated away. Soon I realized something. I must be someone like ‘The One’. Maybe He Himself. The car didn’t fly off coz I was.inside.
Now being the (only) One, I start roaming around in this deserted-no-gravity town. I could find nothing specially interesting other than the fact something is missing-Gravity. Furniture and some stuff seem to stand a few centimeters above the ground while some things, say my friend and my car, are floating around. Finally I reached near that wall that I am going to tell you about. The green wall. Of course there is no way I can find out what is waiting for me on the other side of the wall.
I stood there a few seconds before the walls started moving. New walls started to appear all around me. Those bright green walls. Remember there is no gravity. These walls seem to fly out of nowhere and enclosed me all four sides. No doors. No windows. Nothing. If you are watching a movie, you would say “WOW, cool CGI effects!” Sometimes, in crunch situation, you are expecting the worst to happen so that even if the worst happens it doesn’t affect you. It didn’t affect me. (Nice line right? I will definitely use it in my next story.) So I started looking around in my small cozy green room. I found a pen and a few papers. So I started writing:
Driving! I love driving. I love my car. I love that feel when I put her on her top gear. I love speed. Music! Oh! Heaven! When I started two hours back with this friend of mine, I had no idea where we are going. Even now, I have no idea. He has no idea. All roads lead to Rome. But I doubt whether we are really heading towards Rome. Actually I wouldn’t mind. I love driving…
My all-terrain is climbing up through what they call hair pins. I love hair pins. Especially love removing them from my girl’s hair. As the story proceeds, we stop in the way for the first time in hours to snap a few pics of this natural waterfall in the way. I tell you again we didn’t stop to be eaten by that man-eater-wild-bear who was drinking water from our natural waterfall. You know bears have a few major problems. They are huge and they make a lot of noise. Especially those man eater bears at the sight of tasty looking human flesh. So once we got down, it was not easy to miss. We ran back to the car. The hungry bear who wanted atleast one of us for dinner dint want to give up. He chased us.
My car can fly. I dint know that. My friend dint know too and of course the stupid bear didn’t know that. We are flying basically because I didn’t obey the traffic board. The red triangle shaped sign board said:
“Bend Ahead. Take Left”
If a 1000 KG (exaggerated) man-eater wild bear wants to have you for dinner and iis chasing your car, will you stop and read the sign boards or will you keep going? I kept going. So now, we are flying. While both of us are waiting for the black and white movie and enjoying the landscape below moving up to us, something happened. Something most unnatural. Just when we are about a few meters above the ground level, we stopped flying. Something stopped the descent. It was like we hit an air cushion and it look about 15 seconds for us to reach the ground. It was like sailing in a boat. We thanked the bear for not chasing us down here.
The place where we descended ‘was’ some kind of a township. Completely deserted. Not a single form of life around other than the two of us. While we were stepping out of the vehicle, we noticed something. That the car wheels are not touching the ground. My friend didn’t step out of the car completely but by then he started floating around weightlessly. When I stepped out, I couldn’t do the space floating stuff but my car sure did. She also floated away. Soon I realized something. I must be someone like ‘The One’. Maybe He Himself. The car didn’t fly off coz I was.inside.
Now being the (only) One, I start roaming around in this deserted-no-gravity town. I could find nothing specially interesting other than the fact something is missing-Gravity. Furniture and some stuff seem to stand a few centimeters above the ground while some things, say my friend and my car, are floating around. Finally I reached near that wall that I am going to tell you about. The green wall. Of course there is no way I can find out what is waiting for me on the other side of the wall.
I stood there a few seconds before the walls started moving. New walls started to appear all around me. Those bright green walls. Remember there is no gravity. These walls seem to fly out of nowhere and enclosed me all four sides. No doors. No windows. Nothing. If you are watching a movie, you would say “WOW, cool CGI effects!” Sometimes, in crunch situation, you are expecting the worst to happen so that even if the worst happens it doesn’t affect you. It didn’t affect me. (Nice line right? I will definitely use it in my next story.) So I started looking around in my small cozy green room. I found a pen and a few papers. So I started writing:
Driving! I love driving. I love my car. I love that feel when I put her on her top gear. I love speed. Music! Oh! Heaven! When I started two hours back with this friend of mine, I had no idea where we are going. Even now, I have no idea. He has no idea. All roads lead to Rome. But I doubt whether we are really heading towards Rome. Actually I wouldn’t mind. I love driving…
Saturday, July 15, 2006
A tribute
I do not live in a quiet neighborhood but then it is not very noisy also. It is quite a peaceful place. I like sitting on my easy chair beside the window watching through the curtains the outside world while listening to the music from the wind chimes. For the peaceful neighborhood we owe a lot to my neighbor, the police officer. He’s got a very happy family and a set of not so happy criminals as his enemies....
Well, when I am watching now, there is a band of them walking into this happy home. Home Sweet Home. It looks like the family is not going to be very happy. One of the goons have an eye patch, the other one has a big cut on his face. The third one is a cripple but looks villainous enough. I hear gun shots. I can imagine what is happening there. I am worried for their boy and their younger baby boy.
I am still looking as I hear footsteps outside their house over the music of the chimes. I can see only the legs. The legs of the boy running with the curtains covering the view of the rest of his body. The villains have the baby. As and when the boy is running, I can see his feet slowly changing into a grown-up’s. Nice boots those legs are wearing. Those legs are chasing a purse snatcher.
“Madam, Aap ka (Your) Purse”
I just have to shift my easy chair a little to see the little boy and the madam singing songs and dancing around in the garden nearby. But the little boy is also on a mission when he is not singing and dancing with the madam. He has to find his baby brother meanwhile becoming a police officer, fighting for justice and killing all those cartoon villains.
I woke up startled from my sleep hearing a commotion from the neighborhood. I guess a thief tried to rob the little boy police. I guess it must be the baby who was brought up by the villain with the eye patch. This time I can see two pairs of legs running. The first one belongs to the baby thief and the second one the little boy police. I have lost my ‘appetite’ for sleep, I have decided to sit and watch the proceedings on the easy chair by the window with the music from the wind chimes as back ground. The little boy police caught up with the baby thief and they are fighting. Madam also joined the commotion and she is the cheer leader for the little boy police. Suddenly she notices that the little boy police and the baby thief has the same birth mark and the same 10 rupees locket which I guess no other person in this world would care to buy.
I know you must be wondering how I can see all this. Well. the catfight is going on around the same trees where madam and little boy police were dancing.
Now it looks like the madam has convinced the little boy police and the baby thief that they are siblings. Now they can fight the bad guys together. The baby thief seems to owe allegiance to the police dad and house wife mom who were eliminated in the earlier part of the story. He doesn’t seem to have any kind of feeling towards the eye patch wearing foster father/villain.
Hmm I can sleep peacefully now.
This is a happy reunion and time for a picnic song, the Baby thief has a girl friend who sells paan (tobacco) and cigarette in the near-by basti(read slum). Well in the picnic song, it doesn’t look like the baby thief’s girl friend who sells paan and cigarette is poor. She must be on a payroll from the baby thief.
All is well that ends well. But it is not going to be that smooth. I heard that the baby thief has been shot at by some of the goondas of the eye-patch clad villain. From one of my windows, I can see the the baby thief fighting death in the ICU in the hospital. Through the next window, I can see the little boy police praying in the temple. There is thunder storm in and around the temple but it looks like there is someone like God. Coz as soon as little boy police sang that song which their housewife mom used to sing to them, the thunderstorm stopped and even the baby thief woke up and joined the song. He also remembers the lyrics. The baby thief seems to be recovering fast. Readers please forgive me coz I am not sitting on my easy chair and I don’t have the wind chimes music background.
I guess now its time to get rid of the villains and a happy ending. The resurrected baby thief and the little boy police are ready to take on the villains. The girl friend-who-sells paan-and-cigarette, her house owners who-are-the-comedians etc are there to help with the fights. The last fight is infact taking place at my backyard. So I decided to climb up the stairs and have an aerial view of the happenings from my balcony. Our heroes and the side kicks easily got rid of the villains. The eye-patch, the cripple, everyone. All is well that ends well.
But wait, the police has not arrived yet. They haven’t arrived. Not even late. The meaning is obvious. There is a twist in the tale. There is somebody else who is going to be caught. A master mind. A villain above all of them. Hmm I cant keep it away from you people anymore. Its me. I am the master villain. Both the little boy police and baby thief seem to know it. Coz they are coming for me. The final count down has begun. But they want to know why I did all this. I am not ready to talk. So they just killed me. I dont know what happened after this. I am already dead. But as far as I guess, The baby thief and the girl friend who sells paan and cigarette got married. Ofcourse, the little boy police and the madam also spent rest of their life together. I hope the wives give those two boys most horrible time in their lives because both the girls are my daughters. But no one knows it.
[Sigh and a villainous smile ]
I am still looking as I hear footsteps outside their house over the music of the chimes. I can see only the legs. The legs of the boy running with the curtains covering the view of the rest of his body. The villains have the baby. As and when the boy is running, I can see his feet slowly changing into a grown-up’s. Nice boots those legs are wearing. Those legs are chasing a purse snatcher.
“Madam, Aap ka (Your) Purse”
I just have to shift my easy chair a little to see the little boy and the madam singing songs and dancing around in the garden nearby. But the little boy is also on a mission when he is not singing and dancing with the madam. He has to find his baby brother meanwhile becoming a police officer, fighting for justice and killing all those cartoon villains.
I woke up startled from my sleep hearing a commotion from the neighborhood. I guess a thief tried to rob the little boy police. I guess it must be the baby who was brought up by the villain with the eye patch. This time I can see two pairs of legs running. The first one belongs to the baby thief and the second one the little boy police. I have lost my ‘appetite’ for sleep, I have decided to sit and watch the proceedings on the easy chair by the window with the music from the wind chimes as back ground. The little boy police caught up with the baby thief and they are fighting. Madam also joined the commotion and she is the cheer leader for the little boy police. Suddenly she notices that the little boy police and the baby thief has the same birth mark and the same 10 rupees locket which I guess no other person in this world would care to buy.
I know you must be wondering how I can see all this. Well. the catfight is going on around the same trees where madam and little boy police were dancing.
Now it looks like the madam has convinced the little boy police and the baby thief that they are siblings. Now they can fight the bad guys together. The baby thief seems to owe allegiance to the police dad and house wife mom who were eliminated in the earlier part of the story. He doesn’t seem to have any kind of feeling towards the eye patch wearing foster father/villain.
Hmm I can sleep peacefully now.
This is a happy reunion and time for a picnic song, the Baby thief has a girl friend who sells paan (tobacco) and cigarette in the near-by basti(read slum). Well in the picnic song, it doesn’t look like the baby thief’s girl friend who sells paan and cigarette is poor. She must be on a payroll from the baby thief.
All is well that ends well. But it is not going to be that smooth. I heard that the baby thief has been shot at by some of the goondas of the eye-patch clad villain. From one of my windows, I can see the the baby thief fighting death in the ICU in the hospital. Through the next window, I can see the little boy police praying in the temple. There is thunder storm in and around the temple but it looks like there is someone like God. Coz as soon as little boy police sang that song which their housewife mom used to sing to them, the thunderstorm stopped and even the baby thief woke up and joined the song. He also remembers the lyrics. The baby thief seems to be recovering fast. Readers please forgive me coz I am not sitting on my easy chair and I don’t have the wind chimes music background.
I guess now its time to get rid of the villains and a happy ending. The resurrected baby thief and the little boy police are ready to take on the villains. The girl friend-who-sells paan-and-cigarette, her house owners who-are-the-comedians etc are there to help with the fights. The last fight is infact taking place at my backyard. So I decided to climb up the stairs and have an aerial view of the happenings from my balcony. Our heroes and the side kicks easily got rid of the villains. The eye-patch, the cripple, everyone. All is well that ends well.
But wait, the police has not arrived yet. They haven’t arrived. Not even late. The meaning is obvious. There is a twist in the tale. There is somebody else who is going to be caught. A master mind. A villain above all of them. Hmm I cant keep it away from you people anymore. Its me. I am the master villain. Both the little boy police and baby thief seem to know it. Coz they are coming for me. The final count down has begun. But they want to know why I did all this. I am not ready to talk. So they just killed me. I dont know what happened after this. I am already dead. But as far as I guess, The baby thief and the girl friend who sells paan and cigarette got married. Ofcourse, the little boy police and the madam also spent rest of their life together. I hope the wives give those two boys most horrible time in their lives because both the girls are my daughters. But no one knows it.
[Sigh and a villainous smile ]
Friday, June 30, 2006
The Only Edition
We tried everything. Watching from roof top, Surveillance cameras, watch dogs, everything. No luck. We got to find out where it comes from. We are hiding in the bushes now. Not together. We are in strategic positions. We have our own signals. We think we are as good as SWAT. We have our hockey sticks.
I really don’t remember when all this started. Anyways it has been some while now. It has affected our lives so much. After it came, we lost everything we had. I never proposed to that girl who smiles at me everyday when we meet at the flower shop. I don’t see her now. It has been long since I stopped my job hunting. We stopped the hunt. We are in a different hunt now.
No luck again. We are on a mission. A mission to make this world a better place. For everyone. Someone is showing us the way. But we don’t know how. we don’t know who. However I can say that he is from a different dimension. Maybe a fourth dimension which is beyond our understanding. We have split into teams now. It is a matter of life and death. Our life. Maybe Somebody else’s also.
All this started for me when I moved into this house some time back. I was looking for a job then after my not so successful academic career. The fact that I am a superhero with a hockey stick doesn’t help me a bit. They don’t have a job for a superhero who saves the world. According to them, I will end up taking too many leaves and there will be mysterious disappearances. We never signed any pact to be superheroes. But the people expect us to be there when they need us. They expect us to know everything that is happening here…
Kids are shouting “Look, there, they are, the [Beep]” . We don’t have time to stop. We save the world day after day. Again and again. Never ending. When will all this stop?With the world or with us? Time is running against us. We have all the details. The coach number, the seat number, the color of the suit case. We just need to reach there and defuse it.
In a way we change the world. We change it everyday. We prevent anything bad that is going to happen to this world. Someday all those theories of physics and those theories of existence will come up against us. This world will not survive if we the FireFighters turn up everywhere and fight the fire that threaten to consume this world. We might be going against the laws of nature but as I always say, we are on a mission. A mission to make this world a better place.
We have it now. No one has any clue but about what it is. No one needs to know. Its our secret. This is just a part of our day. A daily routine. One day it might blow up.We might pull the wrong wire and it migh all end. We can even end up right in front of them waiting to pull the trigger. But its not today. Today we live!
It is not me. It is not my friends. The house is not haunted Atleast we think it is not haunted. The problem is the newspaper. The only edition. We get the only edition everyday. It is printed for the next day. It is printed even on National Holidays. It reaches us even if we don’t want it to reach. We tried everything. Watching from roof top, Surveillance cameras, watch dogs, everything. No luck. We got to find out where it comes from. We are hiding in the bushes now. Not together. We are in strategic positions. We have our own signals. We think we are as good as SWAT. We have our hockey sticks.
I really don’t remember when all this started. Anyways it has been some while now. It has affected our lives so much. After it came, we lost everything we had. I never proposed to that girl who smiles at me everyday when we meet at the flower shop. I don’t see her now. It has been long since I stopped my job hunting. We stopped the hunt. We are in a different hunt now.
No luck again. We are on a mission. A mission to make this world a better place. For everyone. Someone is showing us the way. But we don’t know how. we don’t know who. However I can say that he is from a different dimension. Maybe a fourth dimension which is beyond our understanding. We have split into teams now. It is a matter of life and death. Our life. Maybe Somebody else’s also.
All this started for me when I moved into this house some time back. I was looking for a job then after my not so successful academic career. The fact that I am a superhero with a hockey stick doesn’t help me a bit. They don’t have a job for a superhero who saves the world. According to them, I will end up taking too many leaves and there will be mysterious disappearances. We never signed any pact to be superheroes. But the people expect us to be there when they need us. They expect us to know everything that is happening here…
Kids are shouting “Look, there, they are, the [Beep]
In a way we change the world. We change it everyday. We prevent anything bad that is going to happen to this world. Someday all those theories of physics and those theories of existence will come up against us. This world will not survive if we the FireFighters turn up everywhere and fight the fire that threaten to consume this world. We might be going against the laws of nature but as I always say, we are on a mission. A mission to make this world a better place.
We have it now. No one has any clue but about what it is. No one needs to know. Its our secret. This is just a part of our day. A daily routine. One day it might blow up.We might pull the wrong wire and it migh all end. We can even end up right in front of them waiting to pull the trigger. But its not today. Today we live!
It is not me. It is not my friends. The house is not haunted Atleast we think it is not haunted. The problem is the newspaper. The only edition. We get the only edition everyday. It is printed for the next day. It is printed even on National Holidays. It reaches us even if we don’t want it to reach. We tried everything. Watching from roof top, Surveillance cameras, watch dogs, everything. No luck. We got to find out where it comes from. We are hiding in the bushes now. Not together. We are in strategic positions. We have our own signals. We think we are as good as SWAT. We have our hockey sticks.
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