Monday, November 12, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
The Unstrange - Chapter 4
Links to previous chapters (reading in order necessary):
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html
Chapter 2: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-2.html
Chapter 3: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-3.html
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Matt opened his eyes. It seemed like a long time since he had done so. The light in his eyes was incredible. It took him a few minutes to totally open his eyes without cringing. He could see the thick branches, which came out of huge trees. The top of the forest was so dense, with intermingling branches and leaves, that no light of sun could pass through. Matt was lying on the ground, staring at the ceiling which was made up of far reaching thick branches of huge trees. He tried to sit up, it certainly took a huge effort to do so. He noticed that his arms were as thin as sticks, his clothes were all dirty, torn and frayed, the depth of his ribs ended in a small cliff where his stomach started and there was blood on his jeans just below the knee on the right leg. He looked around and fear gripped him. He was sitting in the middle of what looked like a graveyard turned upside down. There were bones of various shapes and sizes, full skeleton of birds, skulls of various animals, some bones very small and some of unimaginable sizes. They were everywhere Matt could see. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. The dread was so great that he sat there frozen. Where was he? What had happened? Where were the others?
If getting up was difficult then walking seemed almost impossible. There was no strength left in Matt's legs. But he had got to get away from that place, which in no way looked safe. He wouldn't dare shout out loud for others, there might be some things in the forest that he would not want to attract. He started walking, taking very small steps, one at a time. He was trying to remember the events that took place before he lost consciousness. The memory was patchy, but it was slowly all coming back to him. For now, he was mostly concentrating on his steps. Strength was returning in his legs, the stiffness was slowly subsiding. The floor was full of undergrowth, there were thick bushes on the ground. The roots of the trees were sprawling from everywhere. Even an able bodied man would have found it tough to walk. Matt was hardly managing. He was going to the east, where he knew that according to the Death Zone area, the boundary glass wall was there. But, obviously, this was not the Death Zone of the Jatinga, it was some other Death Zone and it were the bones that scared Matt. He wanted to move away from them as soon as possible. He kept on walking for sometime, one bird skeleton or the other would make itself show time and again, but now it was pretty much clear except for the great forest which didn't seem to have any end. The forest look old, very old indeed. The trees were gnarled and knotty. The air was still and the silence was deafening. Matt, couldn't hear anything except his own footsteps, sound of which was magnified. He thought that he surely had made enough noise to wake any animal, if there was any, in the forest.
Matt was very weak. He had realized that no food or water had passed his mouth for god knows how much time. He was thirsty and starving. He could not walk for long, suddenly he fell down, breathing hard, after what looked like two miles. He had tried calling for his colleagues, but his throat was raw and his lips were parched. Whatever sound came out of his mouth would not travel very far. He needed water. The ground beneath his face looked moist. There might be a stream flowing nearby, he thought. But there was no energy left in him to even move a muscle. He was not sure that he would even live for long or not. There might be some clues in his memory of how he ended up here and how he could get out, he thought. "I must remember" he said to himself.
It had all began with "the discovery". Just after Matt had been inducted to the project, there had been the incident, when the dawn happened at the dusk. The ground shook horribly. It was the worst earthquake that Matt had witnessed, for he had witnessed many. The earthquake lasted for 4 hours, varying in intensity from time to time. He came to know from others that the earthquake was new, it had not happened before during the previous incident. The event had caused an enormous amount of excitement in the camp. Everybody was running around, seeking correspondences. Matt became the busiest person on the camp, since it was his domain. A visible change had occurred in the center of the zone. The geometry of ground had changed. Small plateaus, about a feet high, had formed. Some trees in that region had been uprooted. This had prompted Matt to immediately order fresh satellite scan of the area. It would be crucial to know what lies beneath the ground. It looked as if something had grown inside the ground.
The event had thrown the focus from above the ground to below it. Satellite pictures of the composition of the elements of ground came and the results were shocking. There appeared to be a 4 to 5 Km deep hollow space in the ground starting at a depth of around 3 Km. This hollow space was not present before. Plus the scan showed that the hollow space had large amounts of Silicon present in it, larger than what is present in the soil. It virtually ruled out the possibility of presence of something gaseous. The only way to find out what was present there, was to drill. Drilling was initiated. It was a deep drill, it took days to reach even a tad closer to the starting point, and when they reached it, their drill got stuck. It turned out that the silicon heavy compound was actually a liquid, a dense and extremely viscous liquid. The big drill had been caught in the liquid and wasn't able to rotate. because of the viscosity of the liquid. It was withdrawn, without wasting anytime. What came out was even more interesting. The top of the big drill was covered in what looked like some crystal. As if the crystal or the glass casing has been formed for the drill. They came to know that the glass had been liquid because of the tiny and rotating fissures that were formed on the surface of the glass. Peculiar things happened after that. The glass was so strong that it wouldn't cut with normal saws. Scientist immediately drew a conclusion that the glass was actually diamond. Matt had a strong reservation to this because the satellite scan had suggested an abundant presence of the element Silicon whereas diamond is made up of Carbon. Diamond cutters were introduced and the glass was cut. When the properties of glass were tested, the results proved that it was not diamond. But the glass was highly unusual, although there are many varieties of glass almost none is found in the ground, the elemental structure was very complex and was unlike they have ever seen before, and it was not like normal glass which breaks in sharp shards, it cut like it was iron, grainy.
The discovery of glass had generated much excitement. The properties of glass resembled the properties of diamond and so would the cost. Special ceramic testing machines were installed. Special Indian government officials were now constantly present on the camp. A decision was taken by them to extract the glass. It was a scientifically tough decision to make. The glass would have to be taken out as oil is extracted from the ground but because of the viscosity, it might not come up with suction. But where there is greed there is a way. Cryogenic suction pumps were installed, correct medium pipe size was selected, drilling began again but this time on a large scale and out of the Death Zone. The plan was to drill to the bottom of the glass reserve from the side and start extracting the glass from the side so that the inherent pressure of the glass mass helps in oozing out of the liquid. Matt on the other hand was concerned about the various questions that the discovery threw at them. Where and how did the glass come there if it wasn't present there before? What the hell was that earthquake about? And how these extraordinary events were happening in this 2 Km square area of ground only?
Matt had crawled for about a hundred meters, for he had no energy to walk. There in front of him was flowing a very tiny stream of water. His heart leaped at the sight of water. This gave him all the energy to stand up and walk up to the stream. The water was cold, initially it burned in his mouth. Once he got used to it, he drank to his fulfillment. Matt felt as if blood that was earlier frozen, had started to flow in his veins again. There was some magic in water. After drinking it, Matt felt as if he had a meal after a long time, he felt energetic. Little did he know about how messages traveled over in that land. Matt started walking again. He was lost and he needed to leave the forest. He could devise only one way of getting out, that is to travel in the direction where the trees grew least and it actually worked for him. The trees were starting to thin out, the forest cover was lessening. Now, the memory was all clear in his mind except the last part.
Drilling into the ground to extract the glass triggered something nasty. On the twelfth day since the drilling had started, the drilling was almost complete, the suctions pipes were simultaneously being lowered in. After everything was complete, the suction process were started. The pumps, powered by same technology as the jet engines, started rolling, creating a storm in the forest. Ten minutes after that, the ground started to shake vigorously It was unlike anything Matt had experienced before, the vibrations were huge and pulsating. Rocks started to rip out of the ground and fly in the air. Matt was right in the middle of the zone as his experiments were with the change in soil properties. He couldn't stand on the ground. All around him the ground was pulsing, there were strong waves that were generated from the ground which was sending everything upwards. This time the sky turned dark. Matt was caught in the eye of the storm, if he would have moved an inch he would have been tossed off by the pulses that were coming from the ground. Then there was a roar in the sky, and light tore through it. The light was violet and excruciating to the eyes, Matt could no longer keep them open. The next time he opened them was in the forest on the bed of bones. Matt knew that his memory was not yet complete, something very horrible had happened after that, but was like a forgotten dream or more like a nightmare.
Matt came out of the forest at the sunset. Before him lay plains full of greens and he was struck with the feeling that he was now not at the same place as he should have been. There seemed to be no one around for miles upon miles. He kept on walking. All the energy that water had given him was now spent. He was very tired and looked for a shelter to spend night in. He found a small ditch where he would be well hidden from the cold winds that were now blowing. He had lived in forests before and knew how to kindle a fire and dry wood was available in plenty. He lied down and fell asleep almost immediately. His dreams were disturbing, there was a huge roar and the ground kept on jumping. There was sounds of people screaming, running away from him. Many were tossed up and fell away with a crashing thud. There were stars in the sky, the stars appeared a lot big, there was no ground in sight now, he was lost in stars and there was no air to breathe. He woke up with a start. A hand was covering his mouth. There were many men standing above him, there faces were covered in black cloth, only eyes were visible. The man that covered his mouth let go of his mouth and pinned his arms and legs to the ground, he was strong, very strong. He was saying something to Matt, but Matt didn't understand the language. All the men around him, looking golden in the light of the fire, had some kind of armor covering them. The armor was shinning in the fire light but it was no metal. The armor was transparent. The man said something to another ferocious looking man. A command was delivered from him, and Matt's head exploded with pain and darkness took over him.
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html
Chapter 2: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-2.html
Chapter 3: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-3.html
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Matt opened his eyes. It seemed like a long time since he had done so. The light in his eyes was incredible. It took him a few minutes to totally open his eyes without cringing. He could see the thick branches, which came out of huge trees. The top of the forest was so dense, with intermingling branches and leaves, that no light of sun could pass through. Matt was lying on the ground, staring at the ceiling which was made up of far reaching thick branches of huge trees. He tried to sit up, it certainly took a huge effort to do so. He noticed that his arms were as thin as sticks, his clothes were all dirty, torn and frayed, the depth of his ribs ended in a small cliff where his stomach started and there was blood on his jeans just below the knee on the right leg. He looked around and fear gripped him. He was sitting in the middle of what looked like a graveyard turned upside down. There were bones of various shapes and sizes, full skeleton of birds, skulls of various animals, some bones very small and some of unimaginable sizes. They were everywhere Matt could see. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. The dread was so great that he sat there frozen. Where was he? What had happened? Where were the others?
If getting up was difficult then walking seemed almost impossible. There was no strength left in Matt's legs. But he had got to get away from that place, which in no way looked safe. He wouldn't dare shout out loud for others, there might be some things in the forest that he would not want to attract. He started walking, taking very small steps, one at a time. He was trying to remember the events that took place before he lost consciousness. The memory was patchy, but it was slowly all coming back to him. For now, he was mostly concentrating on his steps. Strength was returning in his legs, the stiffness was slowly subsiding. The floor was full of undergrowth, there were thick bushes on the ground. The roots of the trees were sprawling from everywhere. Even an able bodied man would have found it tough to walk. Matt was hardly managing. He was going to the east, where he knew that according to the Death Zone area, the boundary glass wall was there. But, obviously, this was not the Death Zone of the Jatinga, it was some other Death Zone and it were the bones that scared Matt. He wanted to move away from them as soon as possible. He kept on walking for sometime, one bird skeleton or the other would make itself show time and again, but now it was pretty much clear except for the great forest which didn't seem to have any end. The forest look old, very old indeed. The trees were gnarled and knotty. The air was still and the silence was deafening. Matt, couldn't hear anything except his own footsteps, sound of which was magnified. He thought that he surely had made enough noise to wake any animal, if there was any, in the forest.
Matt was very weak. He had realized that no food or water had passed his mouth for god knows how much time. He was thirsty and starving. He could not walk for long, suddenly he fell down, breathing hard, after what looked like two miles. He had tried calling for his colleagues, but his throat was raw and his lips were parched. Whatever sound came out of his mouth would not travel very far. He needed water. The ground beneath his face looked moist. There might be a stream flowing nearby, he thought. But there was no energy left in him to even move a muscle. He was not sure that he would even live for long or not. There might be some clues in his memory of how he ended up here and how he could get out, he thought. "I must remember" he said to himself.
It had all began with "the discovery". Just after Matt had been inducted to the project, there had been the incident, when the dawn happened at the dusk. The ground shook horribly. It was the worst earthquake that Matt had witnessed, for he had witnessed many. The earthquake lasted for 4 hours, varying in intensity from time to time. He came to know from others that the earthquake was new, it had not happened before during the previous incident. The event had caused an enormous amount of excitement in the camp. Everybody was running around, seeking correspondences. Matt became the busiest person on the camp, since it was his domain. A visible change had occurred in the center of the zone. The geometry of ground had changed. Small plateaus, about a feet high, had formed. Some trees in that region had been uprooted. This had prompted Matt to immediately order fresh satellite scan of the area. It would be crucial to know what lies beneath the ground. It looked as if something had grown inside the ground.
The event had thrown the focus from above the ground to below it. Satellite pictures of the composition of the elements of ground came and the results were shocking. There appeared to be a 4 to 5 Km deep hollow space in the ground starting at a depth of around 3 Km. This hollow space was not present before. Plus the scan showed that the hollow space had large amounts of Silicon present in it, larger than what is present in the soil. It virtually ruled out the possibility of presence of something gaseous. The only way to find out what was present there, was to drill. Drilling was initiated. It was a deep drill, it took days to reach even a tad closer to the starting point, and when they reached it, their drill got stuck. It turned out that the silicon heavy compound was actually a liquid, a dense and extremely viscous liquid. The big drill had been caught in the liquid and wasn't able to rotate. because of the viscosity of the liquid. It was withdrawn, without wasting anytime. What came out was even more interesting. The top of the big drill was covered in what looked like some crystal. As if the crystal or the glass casing has been formed for the drill. They came to know that the glass had been liquid because of the tiny and rotating fissures that were formed on the surface of the glass. Peculiar things happened after that. The glass was so strong that it wouldn't cut with normal saws. Scientist immediately drew a conclusion that the glass was actually diamond. Matt had a strong reservation to this because the satellite scan had suggested an abundant presence of the element Silicon whereas diamond is made up of Carbon. Diamond cutters were introduced and the glass was cut. When the properties of glass were tested, the results proved that it was not diamond. But the glass was highly unusual, although there are many varieties of glass almost none is found in the ground, the elemental structure was very complex and was unlike they have ever seen before, and it was not like normal glass which breaks in sharp shards, it cut like it was iron, grainy.
The discovery of glass had generated much excitement. The properties of glass resembled the properties of diamond and so would the cost. Special ceramic testing machines were installed. Special Indian government officials were now constantly present on the camp. A decision was taken by them to extract the glass. It was a scientifically tough decision to make. The glass would have to be taken out as oil is extracted from the ground but because of the viscosity, it might not come up with suction. But where there is greed there is a way. Cryogenic suction pumps were installed, correct medium pipe size was selected, drilling began again but this time on a large scale and out of the Death Zone. The plan was to drill to the bottom of the glass reserve from the side and start extracting the glass from the side so that the inherent pressure of the glass mass helps in oozing out of the liquid. Matt on the other hand was concerned about the various questions that the discovery threw at them. Where and how did the glass come there if it wasn't present there before? What the hell was that earthquake about? And how these extraordinary events were happening in this 2 Km square area of ground only?
Matt had crawled for about a hundred meters, for he had no energy to walk. There in front of him was flowing a very tiny stream of water. His heart leaped at the sight of water. This gave him all the energy to stand up and walk up to the stream. The water was cold, initially it burned in his mouth. Once he got used to it, he drank to his fulfillment. Matt felt as if blood that was earlier frozen, had started to flow in his veins again. There was some magic in water. After drinking it, Matt felt as if he had a meal after a long time, he felt energetic. Little did he know about how messages traveled over in that land. Matt started walking again. He was lost and he needed to leave the forest. He could devise only one way of getting out, that is to travel in the direction where the trees grew least and it actually worked for him. The trees were starting to thin out, the forest cover was lessening. Now, the memory was all clear in his mind except the last part.
Drilling into the ground to extract the glass triggered something nasty. On the twelfth day since the drilling had started, the drilling was almost complete, the suctions pipes were simultaneously being lowered in. After everything was complete, the suction process were started. The pumps, powered by same technology as the jet engines, started rolling, creating a storm in the forest. Ten minutes after that, the ground started to shake vigorously It was unlike anything Matt had experienced before, the vibrations were huge and pulsating. Rocks started to rip out of the ground and fly in the air. Matt was right in the middle of the zone as his experiments were with the change in soil properties. He couldn't stand on the ground. All around him the ground was pulsing, there were strong waves that were generated from the ground which was sending everything upwards. This time the sky turned dark. Matt was caught in the eye of the storm, if he would have moved an inch he would have been tossed off by the pulses that were coming from the ground. Then there was a roar in the sky, and light tore through it. The light was violet and excruciating to the eyes, Matt could no longer keep them open. The next time he opened them was in the forest on the bed of bones. Matt knew that his memory was not yet complete, something very horrible had happened after that, but was like a forgotten dream or more like a nightmare.
Matt came out of the forest at the sunset. Before him lay plains full of greens and he was struck with the feeling that he was now not at the same place as he should have been. There seemed to be no one around for miles upon miles. He kept on walking. All the energy that water had given him was now spent. He was very tired and looked for a shelter to spend night in. He found a small ditch where he would be well hidden from the cold winds that were now blowing. He had lived in forests before and knew how to kindle a fire and dry wood was available in plenty. He lied down and fell asleep almost immediately. His dreams were disturbing, there was a huge roar and the ground kept on jumping. There was sounds of people screaming, running away from him. Many were tossed up and fell away with a crashing thud. There were stars in the sky, the stars appeared a lot big, there was no ground in sight now, he was lost in stars and there was no air to breathe. He woke up with a start. A hand was covering his mouth. There were many men standing above him, there faces were covered in black cloth, only eyes were visible. The man that covered his mouth let go of his mouth and pinned his arms and legs to the ground, he was strong, very strong. He was saying something to Matt, but Matt didn't understand the language. All the men around him, looking golden in the light of the fire, had some kind of armor covering them. The armor was shinning in the fire light but it was no metal. The armor was transparent. The man said something to another ferocious looking man. A command was delivered from him, and Matt's head exploded with pain and darkness took over him.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Unstrange - Chapter 3
Links to previous chapters (reading in order necessary):
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html
Chapter 2: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-2.html
The night was dark and thunderous. Every now and then the voluminous void of the darkness was broken by the blue and purple lightening and revealed a vision that made Kara feel like a speck of dust in the forest with thickest and tallest of trees. The dark clouds were like black fire, thundering with such ferocity that made Kara feel that the dark flames were going engulf the whole world. There was a bird flying through the storm where no normal bird would dare to fly, and Kara was sitting in it. Just a few minutes back the pilot had announced that they would be facing a lot of turbulence as it was the monsoon season. Mary was sitting beside Kara, her face was white and she was clutching the side rests of the seats very tightly, she didn't like thunderstorms and specially when she was in air. Kara on the other hand intended to look out through the length of the storm. She always loved watching anything nature had to offer. This was the first time she was flying through the thunderstorm. Gazing out she saw, far away in the sky, there was a small cloud which was shinning a little, or was it a cloud? She was trying to focus on the point, but it was far away and dark. Just then the sky was illuminated with lightening and she saw, to her amazement, what looked like a man. Just then Mary grabbed her arm and said,
"Will you shut that window? It's killing me!"
Kara turned back to look out, searching for the same spot, but it was gone. Nothing else was to been seen, except the dark grey clouds and shimmering lightening. She lowered the window shade. Obviously, her mind was playing tricks on her. Last two days had been full of hectic packing and running. Their camp was bundled away and sent to the US, since now they wouldn't need the equipment, while the essentials were kept. Peter had briefed her about the her next assignment and it was not much. He had told her that she had to go to India for a top secret project called Ayaan. This was the same project that her previous partner and mentor had worked on, during which he had died in an accident. He also informed her about the curious message she had received and its negative frequency. He said that they are looking up that negative frequency message is even possible or not and how only her Sat phone caught it. There was a third set of information, which Peter was in two minds to share or not, it was regarding the location of the origin of the message which was a place in North India only. He had given her the coordinates. Peter had given her a task, he wanted her to investigate about this place and also told her that it might be related to project Ayaan. He then told Kara to pack everything and send the laboratory to the USGS, as all the equipment would be provided to her by the project officials in India only. She had to take a flight next day from Melbourne, Australia to Kolkata, India.
Kara was now pretty sure that she had imagined the voice on the phone to be Matt's as she had imagined the man in the sky. Peter had sent her anyway to the source of the message because there was a requirement and it served many purposes. It was an emotional moment for Kara because now she would be working with the ghost of Matt as she would inherit all the research that Matt had done and continue on the yet unknown job. Also, her mind was on that phone call all the time. If it was not Matt then who from India knew her name, and would call for help. She had never been to India before. She longed for answers.
Mary had decided to accompany her, although, Indians didn't want her but Peter had insisted that she would be allowed to accompany Kara for the last man he sent died on the project and India doesn't have a good record for women's safety. Indians had reluctantly agreed.
They landed in Kolkata about an hour later. There was a crowd outside the airport for reception of arrivals. Kara and Mary had to wait for some time, for a fight had been started between taxi drivers which was resolved when few policemen came and diffused the situation. Then there it was, there was a man in whites, standing at the end of the row, holding a board which had Kara's name on it. "Welcome to India, madam" he said to both Kara and Mary, repeating it twice. They were escorted to a white Ambassador, which had "Government of India" written on a red plaque.
"Where will you be taking us?" Kara asked the driver.
"A short way madam, just to the nearby defense airfield." the driver answered.
"Looks like we are flying again. And I don't like it." said Mary.
The short way, took about an hour, for there was a massive traffic jam on the roads of Kolkata. "This is normal madam, it is still not the peak hour." Her driver mentioned when the guests looked irritated. Finally they reached their destination. There was a man standing near the airfield, dressed in a blue suit. His features were sharp, he sported a mustache, he must have been around 35 years old.
"Welcome to India Ms. Johnathan, Ms. Clark. I am Ravi Kumar from Ministry of Science and Technology, India. I hope your journey was pleasant. (Mary had something to mutter here). Forgive me for being rude, but we must at once go to our charted plane as it is going to rain soon." With that he turned and headed straight for the nearby hangar, there a small aircraft was waiting for them. They entered it, Kara was surprised by the richness of interiors and was quite impressed. As soon as they got seated, the plane started to move.
"Now tell me Mr. Kumar, tell me everything about the project." said Kara.
"Well your dedication is commendable Ms. Johnathan--"
"Call me Kara." interrupted Kara.
"Kara, but it is considered rude in India to discuss matters of import until and unless the guests are well fed and comfortable. You have had a long journey Ms- Kara, once we are in air and you are well fed, I will tell you the things I am sent here to tell you. For it will be good to know for you that we are going to Silchar in Assam, that is the nearest place to our work site where we can land this plane. For Now you can put your mind to rest." said Kumar, with a smile on his face. His baritone made the words look menacing.
After that Kumar asked them about their journey, for which an exciting description was given by Mary, who obviously didn't seem to be afraid now for she told everything about the thunderstorm. After that, when they were in air, they were served with food which was good.
"Now that you have eaten, we must discuss some things Kara. As you know, you will be working on project Ayaan. Now, as stated in your agreement it is a top secret project, you cannot disclose any information to anyone outside your team, not even to your family. So I must warn you, that any disclosure will lead to your termination for this project and as well as your agency and you will be blacklisted. Is this clear?" inquired Kumar, with a stern expression.
"Pretty much" answered Kara back, as all these things were clarified to her by Peter earlier.
"Very well. Now, 25 years ago, we located a place called Jatinga which is located in Assam. A peculiar thing happened there, every monsoon, a lot of birds would die. There were some explanations given by scientists over a possible cause for this, but nothing was concrete. Then three years ago, an even peculiar thing happened. A small area of the forest just lit up, in the middle of the night. It was day on a 2 square kilometers area and pitch dark in the rest of the forest."
Kara and Mary were blown away by this. There were a several questions asked by them about the possibility of such and event, but Kumar won't tell then anything.
"I am not the right person to tell you all about this Ms. Clark, but I appreciate your curiosity. This is just an initial brief, you would come to know the details at the site itself, where we are heading right now. Now, this event has happened 3 times after that. So, your task would be to assist the team led by Dr. Vinay Malhotra in uncovering the truth about this "Death Zone", as we call it. All your questions will be answered by Dr. Malhotra himself." said Kumar, finishing his brief. It was also implied that he would say no more and his part, for now, was complete.
They landed in Silchar 15 minutes later. It was pouring. They were shifted to mini jeep which was covered. It was an hour's drive from Silchar and the scenery was amazing. The fields were full of greenery and the small mountains were covered with layers of green. After all it was the evergreen part of India. The forest was full of trees which were lined along the road. The road turned to a muddy one 40 minutes into the journey. Now the forest was even more prominent and felt untouched, except for the muddy road. The rain had stopped. The arrival included issuing of a pass to both Kara and Mary so that they were authorized to perform their duties without any restrictions. Then they saw the most amazing thing, there was a very high glass wall erected around a huge area of about 2 sq. kms. in shape of a cylinder. Dr. Vinay Malhotra was there to receive them. "Welcome to the Death Zone" he said smiling, ironically.
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html
Chapter 2: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-2.html
The night was dark and thunderous. Every now and then the voluminous void of the darkness was broken by the blue and purple lightening and revealed a vision that made Kara feel like a speck of dust in the forest with thickest and tallest of trees. The dark clouds were like black fire, thundering with such ferocity that made Kara feel that the dark flames were going engulf the whole world. There was a bird flying through the storm where no normal bird would dare to fly, and Kara was sitting in it. Just a few minutes back the pilot had announced that they would be facing a lot of turbulence as it was the monsoon season. Mary was sitting beside Kara, her face was white and she was clutching the side rests of the seats very tightly, she didn't like thunderstorms and specially when she was in air. Kara on the other hand intended to look out through the length of the storm. She always loved watching anything nature had to offer. This was the first time she was flying through the thunderstorm. Gazing out she saw, far away in the sky, there was a small cloud which was shinning a little, or was it a cloud? She was trying to focus on the point, but it was far away and dark. Just then the sky was illuminated with lightening and she saw, to her amazement, what looked like a man. Just then Mary grabbed her arm and said,
"Will you shut that window? It's killing me!"
Kara turned back to look out, searching for the same spot, but it was gone. Nothing else was to been seen, except the dark grey clouds and shimmering lightening. She lowered the window shade. Obviously, her mind was playing tricks on her. Last two days had been full of hectic packing and running. Their camp was bundled away and sent to the US, since now they wouldn't need the equipment, while the essentials were kept. Peter had briefed her about the her next assignment and it was not much. He had told her that she had to go to India for a top secret project called Ayaan. This was the same project that her previous partner and mentor had worked on, during which he had died in an accident. He also informed her about the curious message she had received and its negative frequency. He said that they are looking up that negative frequency message is even possible or not and how only her Sat phone caught it. There was a third set of information, which Peter was in two minds to share or not, it was regarding the location of the origin of the message which was a place in North India only. He had given her the coordinates. Peter had given her a task, he wanted her to investigate about this place and also told her that it might be related to project Ayaan. He then told Kara to pack everything and send the laboratory to the USGS, as all the equipment would be provided to her by the project officials in India only. She had to take a flight next day from Melbourne, Australia to Kolkata, India.
Kara was now pretty sure that she had imagined the voice on the phone to be Matt's as she had imagined the man in the sky. Peter had sent her anyway to the source of the message because there was a requirement and it served many purposes. It was an emotional moment for Kara because now she would be working with the ghost of Matt as she would inherit all the research that Matt had done and continue on the yet unknown job. Also, her mind was on that phone call all the time. If it was not Matt then who from India knew her name, and would call for help. She had never been to India before. She longed for answers.
Mary had decided to accompany her, although, Indians didn't want her but Peter had insisted that she would be allowed to accompany Kara for the last man he sent died on the project and India doesn't have a good record for women's safety. Indians had reluctantly agreed.
They landed in Kolkata about an hour later. There was a crowd outside the airport for reception of arrivals. Kara and Mary had to wait for some time, for a fight had been started between taxi drivers which was resolved when few policemen came and diffused the situation. Then there it was, there was a man in whites, standing at the end of the row, holding a board which had Kara's name on it. "Welcome to India, madam" he said to both Kara and Mary, repeating it twice. They were escorted to a white Ambassador, which had "Government of India" written on a red plaque.
"Where will you be taking us?" Kara asked the driver.
"A short way madam, just to the nearby defense airfield." the driver answered.
"Looks like we are flying again. And I don't like it." said Mary.
The short way, took about an hour, for there was a massive traffic jam on the roads of Kolkata. "This is normal madam, it is still not the peak hour." Her driver mentioned when the guests looked irritated. Finally they reached their destination. There was a man standing near the airfield, dressed in a blue suit. His features were sharp, he sported a mustache, he must have been around 35 years old.
"Welcome to India Ms. Johnathan, Ms. Clark. I am Ravi Kumar from Ministry of Science and Technology, India. I hope your journey was pleasant. (Mary had something to mutter here). Forgive me for being rude, but we must at once go to our charted plane as it is going to rain soon." With that he turned and headed straight for the nearby hangar, there a small aircraft was waiting for them. They entered it, Kara was surprised by the richness of interiors and was quite impressed. As soon as they got seated, the plane started to move.
"Now tell me Mr. Kumar, tell me everything about the project." said Kara.
"Well your dedication is commendable Ms. Johnathan--"
"Call me Kara." interrupted Kara.
"Kara, but it is considered rude in India to discuss matters of import until and unless the guests are well fed and comfortable. You have had a long journey Ms- Kara, once we are in air and you are well fed, I will tell you the things I am sent here to tell you. For it will be good to know for you that we are going to Silchar in Assam, that is the nearest place to our work site where we can land this plane. For Now you can put your mind to rest." said Kumar, with a smile on his face. His baritone made the words look menacing.
After that Kumar asked them about their journey, for which an exciting description was given by Mary, who obviously didn't seem to be afraid now for she told everything about the thunderstorm. After that, when they were in air, they were served with food which was good.
"Now that you have eaten, we must discuss some things Kara. As you know, you will be working on project Ayaan. Now, as stated in your agreement it is a top secret project, you cannot disclose any information to anyone outside your team, not even to your family. So I must warn you, that any disclosure will lead to your termination for this project and as well as your agency and you will be blacklisted. Is this clear?" inquired Kumar, with a stern expression.
"Pretty much" answered Kara back, as all these things were clarified to her by Peter earlier.
"Very well. Now, 25 years ago, we located a place called Jatinga which is located in Assam. A peculiar thing happened there, every monsoon, a lot of birds would die. There were some explanations given by scientists over a possible cause for this, but nothing was concrete. Then three years ago, an even peculiar thing happened. A small area of the forest just lit up, in the middle of the night. It was day on a 2 square kilometers area and pitch dark in the rest of the forest."
Kara and Mary were blown away by this. There were a several questions asked by them about the possibility of such and event, but Kumar won't tell then anything.
"I am not the right person to tell you all about this Ms. Clark, but I appreciate your curiosity. This is just an initial brief, you would come to know the details at the site itself, where we are heading right now. Now, this event has happened 3 times after that. So, your task would be to assist the team led by Dr. Vinay Malhotra in uncovering the truth about this "Death Zone", as we call it. All your questions will be answered by Dr. Malhotra himself." said Kumar, finishing his brief. It was also implied that he would say no more and his part, for now, was complete.
They landed in Silchar 15 minutes later. It was pouring. They were shifted to mini jeep which was covered. It was an hour's drive from Silchar and the scenery was amazing. The fields were full of greenery and the small mountains were covered with layers of green. After all it was the evergreen part of India. The forest was full of trees which were lined along the road. The road turned to a muddy one 40 minutes into the journey. Now the forest was even more prominent and felt untouched, except for the muddy road. The rain had stopped. The arrival included issuing of a pass to both Kara and Mary so that they were authorized to perform their duties without any restrictions. Then they saw the most amazing thing, there was a very high glass wall erected around a huge area of about 2 sq. kms. in shape of a cylinder. Dr. Vinay Malhotra was there to receive them. "Welcome to the Death Zone" he said smiling, ironically.
Monday, September 3, 2012
The Unstrange - Chapter 2
Links to previous chapters (reading in order necessary):
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html
Kara's body went numb. She could not believe what she just heard. "There has to be some mistake! This is not possible." she said, her face white.
Mary on the other hand was confused. "What is it? Who's voice was that? Why do you look like that some monster lizard just bit you?", she threw questions at her boss, worried herself.
Kara was not listening. She was thinking of various possibilities that could exist. The message she received could have been old, right before Matt died. But how did it reach Australia at the same location as she was present right now? The voice on the phone could have been of someone other than Matt. After all it was only two words that came through. But Kara's heart said that they were Matt's. She needed help on this matter. The only thing she was worried about is that nobody would believe her. She needed someone she could trust. "Call Dr. Peter, Mary, quick. I will explain you all of it once I have talked with him."
He thought he had known his world very well, thought Dr. Peter Fischer, head of operations, USGS. But the last 12 hours had turned his world upside down. Several extraordinary things had happened.
"There was an incident in eastern part of India last evening sir. I am not sure how to explain it but there was an earthquake of recorded intensity of 11.8 on the Richter scale. We thought there was something wrong with our measurements, so we contacted the local authorities in India. Such and earthquake would have ripped apart half the country but, Indian Meteorological Department reported that there was no such earthquake. Considering this, the information has not been released on the website." reported Peter's secretary a few hours ago. His life had been thrown out of gear then. He knew very well what had happened but he was bound by law not to tell it to anyone except to his single confidant, who was dead now. He had kept the matter as classified and told his secretary to public that the reading was a technical glitch. This was done after he had called India and verified the information.
Peter remembered the first meeting, with the officials from both America and India, on the top secret project called Ayaan. The officials had shown interest in Dr. Mathew Harrington. They wanted to hire him for Project Ayaan, which was going to be huge scale cooperative science project between India and America. Apart from this, the officials were willing to give no information. Peter had argued, that how can he appoint his best man without knowing the details of the work that was involved. An Indian official answered, "Dr. Peter, this information is very dangerous. The repercussions of sharing any amount of information on Project Ayaan could lead to worldwide hysteria. It can generate panic as well as curiosity, which neither we desire nor can we handle". With that he handed him a paper. "This is a written order from your president." The order was clear on sharing resources with the Indian government "without objecting and questioning". Peter was not at all happy to let Matt go.
Matt on the other hand was quite positive, as he was going to work on an international project for the first time. He had an understanding with the officials that nothing will be let out. Then there was the accident. Peter was shocked beyond belief. He was angry too, firstly because after the accident, the details provided to him about the accident were very unclear and narrow. The cause of the accident and the location where it happened were not clear. Secondly, a memo came to his office to provide a replacement for Matt. He was certainly not going to put any of his employee in such danger again but he could also not say no. After much though he finally decided to put it on hold. The plan worked well, although he was reminded by the Indians once in a while to which he would respond, that the process is going on to appoint someone, and that was it. But today all hell broke loose.
On the phone call after the earthquake, it was made plainly clear to him that the replacement had to be sent now or Peter would be responsible for the huge loss that his country is going to pay because of this. Then there came a call from his favorite scientist, Kara.
"Kara, look dear, I don't want to hurt you, but I will state it plainly. Matt is dead. I know what feelings you had for him, but this is a fact. You saw his body with your own eyes. It is all in your head. Forget about it. Although I will check that message and its origin and see who is playing with you." Later Peter's secretary came with the report of the message that Kara had got on her Sat Phone. He was flummoxed by the report, the frequency of the message was negative, unlike anything he had ever heard of. Also, amazingly the origin of the message was in India at the exact same coordinates where the earthquake had been recorded. Suddenly everything became clear to him and he called Kara immediately. "Kara leave for India immediately."
While a long time back, Mathew awoke. It was a dream or it wasn't. "Am I dead?" he will go on to say and "No" will be the answer he will get.
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html
Kara's body went numb. She could not believe what she just heard. "There has to be some mistake! This is not possible." she said, her face white.
Mary on the other hand was confused. "What is it? Who's voice was that? Why do you look like that some monster lizard just bit you?", she threw questions at her boss, worried herself.
Kara was not listening. She was thinking of various possibilities that could exist. The message she received could have been old, right before Matt died. But how did it reach Australia at the same location as she was present right now? The voice on the phone could have been of someone other than Matt. After all it was only two words that came through. But Kara's heart said that they were Matt's. She needed help on this matter. The only thing she was worried about is that nobody would believe her. She needed someone she could trust. "Call Dr. Peter, Mary, quick. I will explain you all of it once I have talked with him."
He thought he had known his world very well, thought Dr. Peter Fischer, head of operations, USGS. But the last 12 hours had turned his world upside down. Several extraordinary things had happened.
"There was an incident in eastern part of India last evening sir. I am not sure how to explain it but there was an earthquake of recorded intensity of 11.8 on the Richter scale. We thought there was something wrong with our measurements, so we contacted the local authorities in India. Such and earthquake would have ripped apart half the country but, Indian Meteorological Department reported that there was no such earthquake. Considering this, the information has not been released on the website." reported Peter's secretary a few hours ago. His life had been thrown out of gear then. He knew very well what had happened but he was bound by law not to tell it to anyone except to his single confidant, who was dead now. He had kept the matter as classified and told his secretary to public that the reading was a technical glitch. This was done after he had called India and verified the information.
Peter remembered the first meeting, with the officials from both America and India, on the top secret project called Ayaan. The officials had shown interest in Dr. Mathew Harrington. They wanted to hire him for Project Ayaan, which was going to be huge scale cooperative science project between India and America. Apart from this, the officials were willing to give no information. Peter had argued, that how can he appoint his best man without knowing the details of the work that was involved. An Indian official answered, "Dr. Peter, this information is very dangerous. The repercussions of sharing any amount of information on Project Ayaan could lead to worldwide hysteria. It can generate panic as well as curiosity, which neither we desire nor can we handle". With that he handed him a paper. "This is a written order from your president." The order was clear on sharing resources with the Indian government "without objecting and questioning". Peter was not at all happy to let Matt go.
Matt on the other hand was quite positive, as he was going to work on an international project for the first time. He had an understanding with the officials that nothing will be let out. Then there was the accident. Peter was shocked beyond belief. He was angry too, firstly because after the accident, the details provided to him about the accident were very unclear and narrow. The cause of the accident and the location where it happened were not clear. Secondly, a memo came to his office to provide a replacement for Matt. He was certainly not going to put any of his employee in such danger again but he could also not say no. After much though he finally decided to put it on hold. The plan worked well, although he was reminded by the Indians once in a while to which he would respond, that the process is going on to appoint someone, and that was it. But today all hell broke loose.
On the phone call after the earthquake, it was made plainly clear to him that the replacement had to be sent now or Peter would be responsible for the huge loss that his country is going to pay because of this. Then there came a call from his favorite scientist, Kara.
"Kara, look dear, I don't want to hurt you, but I will state it plainly. Matt is dead. I know what feelings you had for him, but this is a fact. You saw his body with your own eyes. It is all in your head. Forget about it. Although I will check that message and its origin and see who is playing with you." Later Peter's secretary came with the report of the message that Kara had got on her Sat Phone. He was flummoxed by the report, the frequency of the message was negative, unlike anything he had ever heard of. Also, amazingly the origin of the message was in India at the exact same coordinates where the earthquake had been recorded. Suddenly everything became clear to him and he called Kara immediately. "Kara leave for India immediately."
While a long time back, Mathew awoke. It was a dream or it wasn't. "Am I dead?" he will go on to say and "No" will be the answer he will get.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Hypocrite of a Nation
I write this post when my country is in shambles politically. I write this post also when I am reading Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. And I write this post just after our 65th Independence day. Each one of these things has a very big connection among themselves. Right now in India, we witnessed a peculiar sight, of thousands of people from north-eastern origin, living in cities like Bangaluru, Pune and Mumbai piling on, in trains to their respective states, running away due to threats that their life is in danger. On governance front, we received 3 reports from Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, directly accusing central government for scams worth several lakhs of crores. On economical front, we have policy paralysis and several hundreds of kilometers of red tape that is virtually killing the roaring monster that our economy had become. Among all this we have yoga cum spiritual cum religious gurus planning to bring social revolutions, chanting pre-independence hymns. Our so called civil society which is mostly surviving on the support of our divergent and tumultuous middle class, has now turned political society. Social movements have been stifled by infighting among the leaders of such movements. The opposition parties are surprisingly now sitting in parliament, accusing government of all the ill things such as corruption and policy matters, fail to provide a single concrete solution. Right from Gujarat to Bihar everyone wants to be the Prime Minister, but what after that? The absence of constructive opposition haunts us. In whose hands are we safe? Have we got no good parent? When would this child of a nation (yes, a child and that too in many ways, I will tell you how) grow up? This is where Midnight's Children makes its presence felt and makes me realize somethings.
The first that dawns on me, not entirely by reading the book, is that our country never grew up. There were signs, like in any child's life, that it is growing up, when he or she says things that are noble, just out of innocence. Can we just say that the economic growth of the last 7 years was that period only? Just out of innocence this child did some things right and now again the country has settled back to its childish behavior. To create a fear of life in the mind of innocent and closely knit community that originate from a particular area in our country only having slightly different features than the rest of the country, so that they leave their only way to earn their daily bread and run away, is this not childish? Just as a bully creates a fear among its mates so that they fear them? Just as these bullies, do the same so as to cover its own insecurities, are these "terrorists" the same? Well, sadly this is not a new thing. These terrorizing stunts are played time to time in our country with the same shamelessness. Which makes me realize another thing that I will shortly tell you. These incidents happened just 1 day after our 65th Independence day, which is an irony in itself. Who is independent in this country? The people from north-east are surely not. The women are also not independent and they are often at the receiving end of the mischiefs of this child. They are unsafe when they are out till late in the night because of some germs that crawl on the body of this child. They are not independent and unsafe because of those pigs that shat day and night in the police stations, who later blame the women for violating the "culture" of India. The culture is surely to be blamed. It just couldn't prevent such impotent thugs from becoming its own protectors. The culture is surely to be blamed for letting itself get corrupted by the corrupted. Or rather the country has grown up but without any maturity. Would that be the case, then why is our culture so impotent? Lets settle on the child theory then. During the course of me writing this article, some latest developments have come suggesting that the threatening text messages came from Pakistan. This might be true or it might be the same secure cover that our government takes - "The Foreign Hand". Even if this is true, does that invalidates all that I have written? Surely no. And on the other hand, Pakistan is another child, a younger and much more mischievous one.
Most of us will cheer when some yogi baba yells from the podium that the situation has become the same as it was before independence, that too a day before independence (another irony). I say it is the complete opposite. The situation now reflects the phase just after independence. All of read what happened before independence in our history lessons in school. Only some of us know what was actual ground reality just after the independence. It was also unknown to me till I read the aforementioned book. Just our independence there was joy, just like the phase 2 years back when our economy was booming. People were dying in Kashmir and Punjab just like our farmers were dying in 2009 but there still was optimism. After all we were entitled to deceptive package called freedom. The deception became evident when people started language marches which eventually lead to formation of our states on the basis of language they spoke. Malyalis were given the state of Kerela, Kannadis the state of Karnataka, the state of Bombay was split into Gujarati and Marathi speaking populations by the name of Gujarat and Maharashtra after almost a year of riots by the language marchers. With this lots of regional parties came into picture like DMK, Communist Party etc just like now, the BSPs and the Trinamool Congresses. Slowly but surely the optimism left the people and it dawned on them that freedom could never be achieved in India. The situation in Assam where the riots took place a few days back were on the same lines, not religion but fanaticism. The insider versus outsider or so we are to believe. With this we also know that nothing outside-ish happens without some help from inside. There is fear among the north eastern society that resembles the fear in the minds of Muslims just after independence (which still exists).
I would be a nonconstructive opposition if I give no solution. And in my first metaphorically political article, I shall leave no stone unturned or it should be my aim. But I am unable to. The solution to the situation of India is as complex as the problem itself. One thing is for sure, we have to change the whole attitude towards each other or between different societies and genders, but how do we do that? We are covered in multitudes of filth that is like energy, cannot be destroyed or formed but transferred from one form to another! The solution is making that child grow up. How is the question that has been unanswered from 65 years. In Midnight's Children the protagonist is born on the midnight of 15th August 1947 and he is somehow connected to the nation. As, he grows up, the same way the nation grows. But at least in the book the nation grows up. All I can see here is retarded growth with serious disorders. Obviously ignoring the 3000 year old history of this nation, which is another irony.
The first that dawns on me, not entirely by reading the book, is that our country never grew up. There were signs, like in any child's life, that it is growing up, when he or she says things that are noble, just out of innocence. Can we just say that the economic growth of the last 7 years was that period only? Just out of innocence this child did some things right and now again the country has settled back to its childish behavior. To create a fear of life in the mind of innocent and closely knit community that originate from a particular area in our country only having slightly different features than the rest of the country, so that they leave their only way to earn their daily bread and run away, is this not childish? Just as a bully creates a fear among its mates so that they fear them? Just as these bullies, do the same so as to cover its own insecurities, are these "terrorists" the same? Well, sadly this is not a new thing. These terrorizing stunts are played time to time in our country with the same shamelessness. Which makes me realize another thing that I will shortly tell you. These incidents happened just 1 day after our 65th Independence day, which is an irony in itself. Who is independent in this country? The people from north-east are surely not. The women are also not independent and they are often at the receiving end of the mischiefs of this child. They are unsafe when they are out till late in the night because of some germs that crawl on the body of this child. They are not independent and unsafe because of those pigs that shat day and night in the police stations, who later blame the women for violating the "culture" of India. The culture is surely to be blamed. It just couldn't prevent such impotent thugs from becoming its own protectors. The culture is surely to be blamed for letting itself get corrupted by the corrupted. Or rather the country has grown up but without any maturity. Would that be the case, then why is our culture so impotent? Lets settle on the child theory then. During the course of me writing this article, some latest developments have come suggesting that the threatening text messages came from Pakistan. This might be true or it might be the same secure cover that our government takes - "The Foreign Hand". Even if this is true, does that invalidates all that I have written? Surely no. And on the other hand, Pakistan is another child, a younger and much more mischievous one.
Most of us will cheer when some yogi baba yells from the podium that the situation has become the same as it was before independence, that too a day before independence (another irony). I say it is the complete opposite. The situation now reflects the phase just after independence. All of read what happened before independence in our history lessons in school. Only some of us know what was actual ground reality just after the independence. It was also unknown to me till I read the aforementioned book. Just our independence there was joy, just like the phase 2 years back when our economy was booming. People were dying in Kashmir and Punjab just like our farmers were dying in 2009 but there still was optimism. After all we were entitled to deceptive package called freedom. The deception became evident when people started language marches which eventually lead to formation of our states on the basis of language they spoke. Malyalis were given the state of Kerela, Kannadis the state of Karnataka, the state of Bombay was split into Gujarati and Marathi speaking populations by the name of Gujarat and Maharashtra after almost a year of riots by the language marchers. With this lots of regional parties came into picture like DMK, Communist Party etc just like now, the BSPs and the Trinamool Congresses. Slowly but surely the optimism left the people and it dawned on them that freedom could never be achieved in India. The situation in Assam where the riots took place a few days back were on the same lines, not religion but fanaticism. The insider versus outsider or so we are to believe. With this we also know that nothing outside-ish happens without some help from inside. There is fear among the north eastern society that resembles the fear in the minds of Muslims just after independence (which still exists).
I would be a nonconstructive opposition if I give no solution. And in my first metaphorically political article, I shall leave no stone unturned or it should be my aim. But I am unable to. The solution to the situation of India is as complex as the problem itself. One thing is for sure, we have to change the whole attitude towards each other or between different societies and genders, but how do we do that? We are covered in multitudes of filth that is like energy, cannot be destroyed or formed but transferred from one form to another! The solution is making that child grow up. How is the question that has been unanswered from 65 years. In Midnight's Children the protagonist is born on the midnight of 15th August 1947 and he is somehow connected to the nation. As, he grows up, the same way the nation grows. But at least in the book the nation grows up. All I can see here is retarded growth with serious disorders. Obviously ignoring the 3000 year old history of this nation, which is another irony.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
The Unstrange - Chapter 1
Link to the previous chapter - The Unstrange - Prologue - http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Kara Johnathan was a shy girl. She had very little or no social life and a hectic job. She worked with US Geological Survey (USGS) as a Geophysicist. Her job involved traveling to different locations of the world to carry out experiments related to Earth and its environment. She had built upon a decent reputation in her department and that too at a young age of twenty seven. Her latest project was based in parched red deserts of Australia. It was investigating the geological properties of the land that attract the local monitor lizards called Goanna that can grow up to 6 feet long. Her camp was located in the middle of the desert 160 Km north of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
The base camp of USGS near Alice Springs could hardly be called a base camp because of its size. It was a tent for two really. The two people residing in it were Kara and her assistant Mary. Mary was straight out of college, working as an intern in USGS. It was her first project and she was really excited about it. Unlike Kara, Mary was an extrovert. The whole trip to the Australian desert was planned by Mary only and on the way, she had been of great help to Kara. Mary did everything on the back end so that Kara could concentrate just on her research. Only one thing that bothered Kara about Mary that Mary talked too much. Just last night she wouldn't stop talking about her last year in college and all the things she did with all the boys. But on other hand, after all that happened to her last year, Kara needed someone like Mary to concentrate and also to cheer up.
Three years ago, Kara was just like Mary, working as an intern in the USGS, fresh out of her post graduation. She had amazing grades and her research on the relationship between the physics of the geographical area and the inherent behavior of that area was termed as "neo-dimensional" in the field of geophysics. She was immediately sent of to Alaska to assist another young scientist, Dr. Mathew Harrington. Mathew was just 28 then and was leading a team of five on the exploration of glacial properties of the Kuskokwim Mountains. The worst thing about that trip was that Kara was afraid of heights. The fear was not that much but, on the mountains it was exemplified.
"You look so white." was the first thing that Mathew said to Kara, after their formal introduction. "Sit down. I will make you some hot chocolate. Well its not that cold really. What is the matter?"
"Acrophobia" said Kara, a bit under the sun, and that was it, everything was settled.
Mathew was small, maybe 5 feet 7 inches. He had lovely eyes though, color of the sky, such that when he would stand in the glaring sun with clear sky and just pure white snow in the background, his eyes would mix with the sky. His features were sharp though, of square jaw, a perfect nose and thin lips. He maintained his calm under all situations. He was a good leader too. Kara never felt any kind of pressure under him, except when standing near a cliff. Matt was good to her at all times. Kara had gained a special kind of respect for him. After working for a year under Matt, Kara got a promotion. Matt recommended that for the extraordinary field work. Now, rather than being an assistant to Matt, Kara became his partner. Half a year later, Kara and Matt published a path breaking paper on revision of Deterministic Non-periodic Flow, applying butterfly effect to earthquakes. About this time, the professional relationship developed into a personal one. Kara fell in love with Matt. She realized this when Matt was away on an exploration to India. This was their first project in which they were not together after almost two years. Kara decided that she would propose after Matt returns from India so as not to distract him from the most important project in his life.
The project on which Matt was working on was highly confidential. He had told nothing about it to Kara except that is was for the government of India and they were paying him a huge amount for it. He was sworn to secrecy and was not allowed to talk about the project to anyone or disclose his location to anyone. The duration of project was tentatively 2 months. It was 4 months now and there had been no contact from him whatsoever. Kara tried to contact him but his mobile phone was unreachable. She tried calling in the USGS office in New Delhi, but they wouldn't reveal the details. His family was worried. They finally got a call from Matt after he got the news that they had been checking in. He tried to explain the secrecy situation to them and said that he couldn't come back home any time sooner. He also said that the work there was extraordinary. What he meant, nobody could guess. After 3 days from this call, Matt's family got another call from India, this time from the Indian government officials notifying that their son was killed in a car accident in the high regions of Himalayas.
Kara was shocked and devastated as were Matt's family members. Kara had not loved another man ever in her life. The amount sadness that incident caused to her was unbearable for her. The details of the accident were kept secret by the Indian authorities as it might disclose what Matt was working on. This was a shock for both Kara and Matt's family. Although an explanation from Indian government was issued that the car fell from a cliff into a river in the Uttarakhand region of India. The body was recovered from the banks of the river and was not in a good shape. The face was swollen and was barely recognizable but the body was wearing the same clothes and had same belongings as Dr. Harrington. In the subsequent days body was returned to the family.
Kara and Mary were returning to their camp from a hard day's work in the desert. This was when Mary's Sat Phone started beeping.
"I am getting a call from an unknown frequency. I don't know whether I am supposed to pick this up or not." said Mary, utter confusion on her face.
"Pick it up, it might be from USGS's hidden frequencies. Put it on speaker, it might be for me." said Kara.
"This is team Kappa from Alice Springs, who might this be?" answered Mary attending the call.
"Kara help--" was the only voice that came through before the call got disconnected. It was enough for Kara though, who stood there, hands on her face, mouth wide open. It was the voice of Matt Harrington.
Kara Johnathan was a shy girl. She had very little or no social life and a hectic job. She worked with US Geological Survey (USGS) as a Geophysicist. Her job involved traveling to different locations of the world to carry out experiments related to Earth and its environment. She had built upon a decent reputation in her department and that too at a young age of twenty seven. Her latest project was based in parched red deserts of Australia. It was investigating the geological properties of the land that attract the local monitor lizards called Goanna that can grow up to 6 feet long. Her camp was located in the middle of the desert 160 Km north of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
The base camp of USGS near Alice Springs could hardly be called a base camp because of its size. It was a tent for two really. The two people residing in it were Kara and her assistant Mary. Mary was straight out of college, working as an intern in USGS. It was her first project and she was really excited about it. Unlike Kara, Mary was an extrovert. The whole trip to the Australian desert was planned by Mary only and on the way, she had been of great help to Kara. Mary did everything on the back end so that Kara could concentrate just on her research. Only one thing that bothered Kara about Mary that Mary talked too much. Just last night she wouldn't stop talking about her last year in college and all the things she did with all the boys. But on other hand, after all that happened to her last year, Kara needed someone like Mary to concentrate and also to cheer up.
Three years ago, Kara was just like Mary, working as an intern in the USGS, fresh out of her post graduation. She had amazing grades and her research on the relationship between the physics of the geographical area and the inherent behavior of that area was termed as "neo-dimensional" in the field of geophysics. She was immediately sent of to Alaska to assist another young scientist, Dr. Mathew Harrington. Mathew was just 28 then and was leading a team of five on the exploration of glacial properties of the Kuskokwim Mountains. The worst thing about that trip was that Kara was afraid of heights. The fear was not that much but, on the mountains it was exemplified.
"You look so white." was the first thing that Mathew said to Kara, after their formal introduction. "Sit down. I will make you some hot chocolate. Well its not that cold really. What is the matter?"
"Acrophobia" said Kara, a bit under the sun, and that was it, everything was settled.
Mathew was small, maybe 5 feet 7 inches. He had lovely eyes though, color of the sky, such that when he would stand in the glaring sun with clear sky and just pure white snow in the background, his eyes would mix with the sky. His features were sharp though, of square jaw, a perfect nose and thin lips. He maintained his calm under all situations. He was a good leader too. Kara never felt any kind of pressure under him, except when standing near a cliff. Matt was good to her at all times. Kara had gained a special kind of respect for him. After working for a year under Matt, Kara got a promotion. Matt recommended that for the extraordinary field work. Now, rather than being an assistant to Matt, Kara became his partner. Half a year later, Kara and Matt published a path breaking paper on revision of Deterministic Non-periodic Flow, applying butterfly effect to earthquakes. About this time, the professional relationship developed into a personal one. Kara fell in love with Matt. She realized this when Matt was away on an exploration to India. This was their first project in which they were not together after almost two years. Kara decided that she would propose after Matt returns from India so as not to distract him from the most important project in his life.
The project on which Matt was working on was highly confidential. He had told nothing about it to Kara except that is was for the government of India and they were paying him a huge amount for it. He was sworn to secrecy and was not allowed to talk about the project to anyone or disclose his location to anyone. The duration of project was tentatively 2 months. It was 4 months now and there had been no contact from him whatsoever. Kara tried to contact him but his mobile phone was unreachable. She tried calling in the USGS office in New Delhi, but they wouldn't reveal the details. His family was worried. They finally got a call from Matt after he got the news that they had been checking in. He tried to explain the secrecy situation to them and said that he couldn't come back home any time sooner. He also said that the work there was extraordinary. What he meant, nobody could guess. After 3 days from this call, Matt's family got another call from India, this time from the Indian government officials notifying that their son was killed in a car accident in the high regions of Himalayas.
Kara was shocked and devastated as were Matt's family members. Kara had not loved another man ever in her life. The amount sadness that incident caused to her was unbearable for her. The details of the accident were kept secret by the Indian authorities as it might disclose what Matt was working on. This was a shock for both Kara and Matt's family. Although an explanation from Indian government was issued that the car fell from a cliff into a river in the Uttarakhand region of India. The body was recovered from the banks of the river and was not in a good shape. The face was swollen and was barely recognizable but the body was wearing the same clothes and had same belongings as Dr. Harrington. In the subsequent days body was returned to the family.
Kara and Mary were returning to their camp from a hard day's work in the desert. This was when Mary's Sat Phone started beeping.
"I am getting a call from an unknown frequency. I don't know whether I am supposed to pick this up or not." said Mary, utter confusion on her face.
"Pick it up, it might be from USGS's hidden frequencies. Put it on speaker, it might be for me." said Kara.
"This is team Kappa from Alice Springs, who might this be?" answered Mary attending the call.
"Kara help--" was the only voice that came through before the call got disconnected. It was enough for Kara though, who stood there, hands on her face, mouth wide open. It was the voice of Matt Harrington.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
The Unstrange - Prologue
Dr. Vinay Malhotra, was very tensed and curious as he drove quickly from his hotel to the base camp in Jatinga, a forest situated in the north eastern Indian state Assam. It was difficult to drive as the roads were all washed away by the monsoon rains and it was pitch dark, a moonless night. Earlier that night, Dr. Vinay had got a call from his colleague, Dr Pathak who had given him a strange message.
Jatinga, in Assam is a mysterious place where lots of migratory birds die every year. At the end of monsoon months, this mysterious behavior of birds takes place. During moonless and foggy dark nights between 6 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., flying birds come crashing to the ground with no prior warning whatsoever. The local tribes first took this natural phenomenon to be spirits flying from the sky to terrorize them. Earlier studies indicate that weather conditions make changes in the magnetic qualities of the underground water in this area. These changes disturb the physiological rhythm of the local birds and they start behaving abnormally towards the sources of light. During these foggy moonless nights when the wind blows from the south to north, the birds in this place remain dazed and inactive. The birds disheveled and dazed do not try to fly as if they are half dead. May be all these birds behave peculiarly because of the shock they get due to the peculiar weather conditions of this period in Jatinga. This phenomenon is not confined to a single species but occurred among the hundreds of species of birds which are found and die here are some of the rare species like Pond Heron, Kingfishers, Tiger Bittern, Black Bittern, Little Egret etc.
Jatinga, in Assam is a mysterious place where lots of migratory birds die every year. At the end of monsoon months, this mysterious behavior of birds takes place. During moonless and foggy dark nights between 6 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., flying birds come crashing to the ground with no prior warning whatsoever. The local tribes first took this natural phenomenon to be spirits flying from the sky to terrorize them. Earlier studies indicate that weather conditions make changes in the magnetic qualities of the underground water in this area. These changes disturb the physiological rhythm of the local birds and they start behaving abnormally towards the sources of light. During these foggy moonless nights when the wind blows from the south to north, the birds in this place remain dazed and inactive. The birds disheveled and dazed do not try to fly as if they are half dead. May be all these birds behave peculiarly because of the shock they get due to the peculiar weather conditions of this period in Jatinga. This phenomenon is not confined to a single species but occurred among the hundreds of species of birds which are found and die here are some of the rare species like Pond Heron, Kingfishers, Tiger Bittern, Black Bittern, Little Egret etc.
Last year, Dr. Vinay and his team had discovered that the reason for the Jatinga - phenomenon could be something different. After several tests, held over the period of two years, it had been found that the 2 sq. km. of the forest, named as "Death Zone", had recorded the maximum number of bird deaths. This year, not 2 months ago, Dr. Vinay had himself observed that there was something wrong at that place. All the leaves had different color as compared to the rest of the forest. He conducted a simple test, took a ₹1 coin from his pocket, tossed it 10 times. The results were shocking, all ten times he had got a head. To confirm, he performed the test again. The results were same. He concluded that laws of physics were not working there. He immediately ordered his team to start taking radioactivity readings. The tests resulted in high amounts of radioactivity readings. Since then, the focus of the team was to find the source of radioactivity. Surely, they had discovered the cause of bird deaths.
The source of radioactivity had not been found yet. The Death Zone was exhibiting a peculiar behavior. The amounts of radioactivity recorded was same everywhere in that 2 sq. km. zone, ruling out the chances of a single radioactive source. So what was it?
Dr. Pathak had just said "Come here, you have got to see this." and he hung up. Dr. Vinay was almost there. He was amazed. Even his scientific mind could not find an explanation for what he was witnessing. For the part till the road entered the buffer zone, it was pitch dark, but after that, it was daylight. He traveled on foot to the camp,as the vehicles were not allowed inside, simply gazing at the sky, there was no sun and it was like a hazy foggy morning, when suddenly he bumped into someone.
"Have we time traveled?" he said to Dr. Pathak with an anxiety like that of a child.
"I have no idea. This happened just an hour ago. There was darkness first, but just as it is, it was dawn. You should look at the radioactivity readings, they are hiking to dangerous levels. And just look there." Pathak pointed towards a point in the sky.
"Oh my god." whispered Dr. Vinay.
It was a bird, alive and flying.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
College - Happiness achieved!
My under grad college just ended. So it is customary that i write
something. Well, people across all streams are posting photos, hundreds
of them, of the last college days. These photos are something that will
make you cry, definitely. when you see them after 40 years maybe or
earlier than that. That will happen when you see your kids doing the
same thing in their colleges, or maybe in a moment of grief when you are
sad and miss some old friend or maybe when someone dies. Yes, people
will die. Well, my point not being this but what is it that will make
you cry, or at least miss these days? Lets enjoy somethings that
happened over the last 4 years.
For the sake of chronology, let us start with the 1st year. What usually goes into your head before going into new class, you are obviously tensed, because being humans you are not accustomed to change. You wish you would find new friends, but they obviously can't replace your old friends who were the best. You wish to find professors, old crags, highly noble and intelligent. That's how college is supposed to be, is it not? Well what you get are other tensed people like you, eager to ask questions that irritate you like "what was you rank?" "Where do u put up?" And some are not so happy to come to this place would say "This college sucks!" "Isse acha to mera school hi tha" and blah blah. End of the 4th year the same people would say "I love this college so much!! I would miss it so much!!". You never know what happens. You start making friends, but then you are rooted out of the place and put into some other place by a wonder called second counseling. "This college sucks!" "Where do u put up?" "Phone number dio yaar apna" happens all over again. Instead of highly noble professors you get teachers who are willing to hit you on your head with humongous text books until you crack. Some of them are good too, infact superb, not taking anything away Tanuja maam. But, irony of the situation, you are so cracked by the end of 12th class, you can't crack more. So, you start to enjoy or i may say heal. You begin your college life.
Friends the most important part of this note and college life begin to emerge slowly. Mostly, you start your gang with the people with you sit on the first days itself. Sometimes, you find amazing people, sometimes you are not so lucky and are stuck! Yes, you are stuck and long to join another group that is more happening. Well, I remember that people I got along with a few guys before my 2nd counseling, Ankit and Prakhar. 15 days were enough to become friends but, now they are my distant friends, on the fringes because we got pulled away! There were 2 more girls, snickering and giggling behind you seat, more on them later. Then I entered my final destination after 2nd counseling, considering myself lucky to go into my dream branch..1...2....3...CSE!! Yay! Things happened very fast here, there were tutorials, assignments exams, exams and exams. Next semester there are more exams, MAN WHERE HAVE I LANDED!
Between exams, you get to know your to-be-friends. In case of to-be-friends, if someone says to you that "first impression is the last impression", smack him/her in the face with an iron rod. First impression is generally wrong, and there is no last impression because it keeps on changing. People you hate become closest of friends and closest of friends become people you hate. This flip flop happens on an average 5-6 times in males and 20-25 times in females. Well, things do normalize when you enter your 2nd year (HAHAHA! No way!).
With my 2nd year, entered the season of b'days and emerged facebook. The workload became a little less and you start caring even more less. This leaves you with a room for enjoyment. And man, we enjoyed. B'day after b'day, parties after parties, malls after malls, cakes after cakes, you celebrate, enjoy madly, crack weird jokes, do weirder things, this was freedom guys! Freedom you longed for. Archit, kushagra, rahul, chirag, ankit, nitin, divya, neeha, ankita, srishti and megha! HURRAH! Of course, pics were clicked and uploaded of facebook. Then you were tagged, in awesomest of poses. DP bhai DP! People would like these DPs and comment on them. Some of them would say, "Yar ye pic delete karde", "Awsm pic!" etc. Talking of facebook, some people became friends on facebook only, not in class, because more often then not they would be sitting in one corner of the class in a closely knitted group that would churn out toppers. Enter Rekha and Radhika. Enter knowing each other. Enter changing of impressions (again maybe).
4th semester is when things really start to flourish. You are now in full blown strong groups (which are about to break), you develop your own identity and style like Rahul's full blown PJs, Ankit's mannerisms, Chirag's questions etc, you really start to think that you are doing engineering mainly because subjects you like are introduced and not freaking maths (I hate maths)! You realize that you have to work out and reduce fat. :P. Now your friends are good friends and there is more masti and more enjoyment. However, sometimes the result strikes and it strikes you hard. Some of us, of one particular gender reach peak of dirty watching girls. ;) Enter bitching. Enter fashion parades. Enter Mrinal. Mrinal, you have been the most consistent character in this show, anyone disagree? Enter spinning phone in your right hand. Enter spinning keys in your left hand. Enter trendsetting!
The 3rd year makes you realize that half of your engineering is done but your better half is still missing. Half of your friendships change. Suddenly you have an orgy of changing impressions. 3rd year also marks as the year of planning and plotting, the year of FNORD! Much and much happened. The old alliances were broken, new alliances were formed because it was war! This year was also the toughest on the study front. This year started with Linux training for some and Java training for others. This was the time when we actually had fun studying. And when you get teachers like Rohan sir and Vachan sir, then its ultimate fun. This phase marked the beginning of my organizing career, all thanks to Rima, nidhi and karishma (snickering gals!!). IRIS came into being. It was something that was going to blow the minds away! Instead our first event ended up blowing our pockets away! But, i must say what fun it was. Running here and there in search of music system. Working with that god forsaken HOD. Working as a team. Oh i am going to cry! But why would I cry, this shit ate up my mind more than a dozen times after this. It was good shit. After this it kinda fizzled out only to return back with FNORD 2011 and it returned with a bang. The amount of scheming and plotting witnessed during this period was comparable to the sopranos or the rome. We lost the presentation! We won the FNORD! And we were fighting like kids. Hi vriti! I know chirag would love to hear this and not you but AWAAZ NEECHE! :D The most frustrated people in this period were Tanuja maam and Garima maam. They almost wanted to blow our skulls with shotguns but hats off to your patience maam. After lot of scheming and marauding things were set into motion. Pre-FNORD was the most beautiful phase of my life (read Radhika). Will write a separate note on this sometime :P
Here I met some wonderful people from other branches. FNORD Tech team! AHOY!
Man how can I forget about CWG 2010! Most wonderful event you could have ever experienced. Correct fellow volunteers? Man I am crying now, i am really crying now.
Next part was the part from which i was absent from the scene. Nothing much was happening as i went through MBA coaching and trauma. Well, you feel what u r meant to do and you can't succeed in it. Not a wee bit, then you get mad and sad, it wears off. You return to normal just in time. Just in time to enjoy the big full stop. The end.
The end included many things. The conclusion of IRIS events under our watch in our college. The major project. The no study time. The writing of messages on shirts. The clicking of crores of pics. The partying. The Farewell. The ladayiyan. The misunderstandings. The handshakes. The goodbyes.
I got to say something about you guys. Chirag, you have the purest of hearts, never corrupt it, never shield it. Bohot log change ho jate hain, tu mat hoio. Last 3 years me tune jitna call kia hai, mujhe usse triple calls kario next 3 years me. Job me logo ko ache se pareshaan kario, and questions poochte rhio. Because Einstein has said "never stop asking questions.
Ankit dude, now how would I describe our friendship, its difficult, in a good sense obviously. I love the verbal volleys that we throw at each other. I hope I don't have to miss these. To party is to you, to stay at home is also to be you. I would love if you have an "explore India" trip. Realities of life are very complicated and you know it. Be positive. Don't stop bitching!
Rahul bhai just ride the world on the right current. Don't stop being happy and dont stop your jokes. Life is full of disappointments, but life is equally full of opportunities. This is something that I have learnt from you. You have a great mind. Keep manifesting. Nitin be confident and kill it! Can't have a nicer guy around than you.
Rima I have realized that the more extravagant that you seem to be, the more simple you are. Simple at heart. You are very strong both by mind and by heart. There is obviously the speeding factor that you need to look out for. Aajkal speeding ke chalan bohot katt rhe hain and the penalty is very high! If you can understand what I mean to say. Always invest in the right person, not simply right according to the need, but according to the consequences. Karishma, you will always know that what is the right thing for you, its just that you need to find it. Don't let the ghost of past haunt you in the future. Be flamboyant as you have always been. Nidhi, follow your heart and tell your heart to follow something. You are very nice, stay nice. What does a drunk person with no worries do? It sits quietly! ;) So no worries, just enjoy!
Samit, I know everyone has written on your shirt that you are so smart and intelligent. I hope that you are not frustrated by these because all of it is true. My observation about the world, care about the world and it cares about you. Vriti, tu to mast hai bhai! :D One question, when you are going to say something, how many simultaneous thoughts are running in your mind? You qualify for living in multiple universes! Only a highly developed mind can do that. Well, enough of BS, the most important quality is your clear conscience and immaculateness. Preserve these things.
Divya, the smiling assassin! God bless you! Reunion par sabne apne bachon ke sath ana to hai hi! :D Anurag dude now you are senior to us. Keep in touch. Kushagra, dude had one of the most amazing time with you in all these 4 years. You are fun! Abhimanyu, man amazing orating skills, I hope to find you hosting Oscars sometime in the future. Life is a joke, fart it away! Live life king size! Preeti Stay innocent and become cunning! Deepti The most dedicated person, you can do with some hefty enjoyment. Let loose and enjoy, life is too short, live it. But don't loose the dedication that you show.
Man I can keep writing about the whole class and even college, I wont tire of it, but I don't know if people want to read a 200 page book or not. I am not writing about some people I really want to, for obvious reasons. No hard feelings guys. So, I will write about the most important person at last, but definitely not the least, Radhika. Lot of people here don't know that you hated me at the beginning for not telling you the viva questions! But, how things change. How is it like when someone steals your thoughts and put them in front of you like mere statements? How is it that someone has mostly same opinions as you do? You realize that you have an imposter of you roaming around with a bunch of people, speaking a little less. In purely scientific terms, frequencies match. Can't imagine how college would have been without you. Its amazing guys when there someone to actually solve your dilemmas, to support you in every decision, to have a partner that is your alter ego.
Ah, conclusion. I was thinking that how can someone describe such a hefty thing in one paragraph. College life is most significant then any other part of your life, in more ways than you can imagine. I just can't stop writing. I really don't think I will have the time or the memories to write something like this in the future. We are all going to move on to our real lives now. Real life is synonymous with tensions and all kinds of shit. There will be happiness but can there be a happiness of this magnitude. We crib about all the failures all the time but, we fail to see the happiness surrounding sadness in tiny specks. When you gather these tiny specks you will see that happiness outweighs sadness by a huge margin. The source of this happiness are you guys. For one shot of pain each day, you guys inject me with 100 shots of happiness. I will miss you, is an understatement. I really hope that I don't have to miss you. But, where will be the happiness when you will be sitting in your cubicle from 10 to 8 and doing the most boring work any office can give you. You would feel that writing assignments and practicals was such fun. You will attend lavish b'day parties where you would have to behave like professionals, where would be the fun of the college b'day parties, surely you won't make faces like Rahul does now then. You won't get time to bitch about other people on facebook, you might even not open your facebook account for days, because it won't matter. Only thing that will matter is money. You eat, drink, sleep money and you will loose happiness equal amounts. Weren't these days precious, were they not precious than money ever can be. A single smile that spreads across my face when Ankit says something funny is more precious then many diamonds. A single frown that is actually a smile that crosses Chirag's face when Vriti says wrong hindi is definitely more precious than most things they will do in their future. The excited shake of the head that Rima gives when she likes some idea, the bike action Ankit did when I bought my new bike, Radhika's face when I snatch her clutcher and run away, it is only human that I shed some tears looking back at those days, looking back at all the pics that are being posted right now. Don't any of you sign off, stay logged in my life.
For the sake of chronology, let us start with the 1st year. What usually goes into your head before going into new class, you are obviously tensed, because being humans you are not accustomed to change. You wish you would find new friends, but they obviously can't replace your old friends who were the best. You wish to find professors, old crags, highly noble and intelligent. That's how college is supposed to be, is it not? Well what you get are other tensed people like you, eager to ask questions that irritate you like "what was you rank?" "Where do u put up?" And some are not so happy to come to this place would say "This college sucks!" "Isse acha to mera school hi tha" and blah blah. End of the 4th year the same people would say "I love this college so much!! I would miss it so much!!". You never know what happens. You start making friends, but then you are rooted out of the place and put into some other place by a wonder called second counseling. "This college sucks!" "Where do u put up?" "Phone number dio yaar apna" happens all over again. Instead of highly noble professors you get teachers who are willing to hit you on your head with humongous text books until you crack. Some of them are good too, infact superb, not taking anything away Tanuja maam. But, irony of the situation, you are so cracked by the end of 12th class, you can't crack more. So, you start to enjoy or i may say heal. You begin your college life.
Friends the most important part of this note and college life begin to emerge slowly. Mostly, you start your gang with the people with you sit on the first days itself. Sometimes, you find amazing people, sometimes you are not so lucky and are stuck! Yes, you are stuck and long to join another group that is more happening. Well, I remember that people I got along with a few guys before my 2nd counseling, Ankit and Prakhar. 15 days were enough to become friends but, now they are my distant friends, on the fringes because we got pulled away! There were 2 more girls, snickering and giggling behind you seat, more on them later. Then I entered my final destination after 2nd counseling, considering myself lucky to go into my dream branch..1...2....3...CSE!! Yay! Things happened very fast here, there were tutorials, assignments exams, exams and exams. Next semester there are more exams, MAN WHERE HAVE I LANDED!
Between exams, you get to know your to-be-friends. In case of to-be-friends, if someone says to you that "first impression is the last impression", smack him/her in the face with an iron rod. First impression is generally wrong, and there is no last impression because it keeps on changing. People you hate become closest of friends and closest of friends become people you hate. This flip flop happens on an average 5-6 times in males and 20-25 times in females. Well, things do normalize when you enter your 2nd year (HAHAHA! No way!).
With my 2nd year, entered the season of b'days and emerged facebook. The workload became a little less and you start caring even more less. This leaves you with a room for enjoyment. And man, we enjoyed. B'day after b'day, parties after parties, malls after malls, cakes after cakes, you celebrate, enjoy madly, crack weird jokes, do weirder things, this was freedom guys! Freedom you longed for. Archit, kushagra, rahul, chirag, ankit, nitin, divya, neeha, ankita, srishti and megha! HURRAH! Of course, pics were clicked and uploaded of facebook. Then you were tagged, in awesomest of poses. DP bhai DP! People would like these DPs and comment on them. Some of them would say, "Yar ye pic delete karde", "Awsm pic!" etc. Talking of facebook, some people became friends on facebook only, not in class, because more often then not they would be sitting in one corner of the class in a closely knitted group that would churn out toppers. Enter Rekha and Radhika. Enter knowing each other. Enter changing of impressions (again maybe).
4th semester is when things really start to flourish. You are now in full blown strong groups (which are about to break), you develop your own identity and style like Rahul's full blown PJs, Ankit's mannerisms, Chirag's questions etc, you really start to think that you are doing engineering mainly because subjects you like are introduced and not freaking maths (I hate maths)! You realize that you have to work out and reduce fat. :P. Now your friends are good friends and there is more masti and more enjoyment. However, sometimes the result strikes and it strikes you hard. Some of us, of one particular gender reach peak of dirty watching girls. ;) Enter bitching. Enter fashion parades. Enter Mrinal. Mrinal, you have been the most consistent character in this show, anyone disagree? Enter spinning phone in your right hand. Enter spinning keys in your left hand. Enter trendsetting!
The 3rd year makes you realize that half of your engineering is done but your better half is still missing. Half of your friendships change. Suddenly you have an orgy of changing impressions. 3rd year also marks as the year of planning and plotting, the year of FNORD! Much and much happened. The old alliances were broken, new alliances were formed because it was war! This year was also the toughest on the study front. This year started with Linux training for some and Java training for others. This was the time when we actually had fun studying. And when you get teachers like Rohan sir and Vachan sir, then its ultimate fun. This phase marked the beginning of my organizing career, all thanks to Rima, nidhi and karishma (snickering gals!!). IRIS came into being. It was something that was going to blow the minds away! Instead our first event ended up blowing our pockets away! But, i must say what fun it was. Running here and there in search of music system. Working with that god forsaken HOD. Working as a team. Oh i am going to cry! But why would I cry, this shit ate up my mind more than a dozen times after this. It was good shit. After this it kinda fizzled out only to return back with FNORD 2011 and it returned with a bang. The amount of scheming and plotting witnessed during this period was comparable to the sopranos or the rome. We lost the presentation! We won the FNORD! And we were fighting like kids. Hi vriti! I know chirag would love to hear this and not you but AWAAZ NEECHE! :D The most frustrated people in this period were Tanuja maam and Garima maam. They almost wanted to blow our skulls with shotguns but hats off to your patience maam. After lot of scheming and marauding things were set into motion. Pre-FNORD was the most beautiful phase of my life (read Radhika). Will write a separate note on this sometime :P
Here I met some wonderful people from other branches. FNORD Tech team! AHOY!
Man how can I forget about CWG 2010! Most wonderful event you could have ever experienced. Correct fellow volunteers? Man I am crying now, i am really crying now.
Next part was the part from which i was absent from the scene. Nothing much was happening as i went through MBA coaching and trauma. Well, you feel what u r meant to do and you can't succeed in it. Not a wee bit, then you get mad and sad, it wears off. You return to normal just in time. Just in time to enjoy the big full stop. The end.
The end included many things. The conclusion of IRIS events under our watch in our college. The major project. The no study time. The writing of messages on shirts. The clicking of crores of pics. The partying. The Farewell. The ladayiyan. The misunderstandings. The handshakes. The goodbyes.
I got to say something about you guys. Chirag, you have the purest of hearts, never corrupt it, never shield it. Bohot log change ho jate hain, tu mat hoio. Last 3 years me tune jitna call kia hai, mujhe usse triple calls kario next 3 years me. Job me logo ko ache se pareshaan kario, and questions poochte rhio. Because Einstein has said "never stop asking questions.
Ankit dude, now how would I describe our friendship, its difficult, in a good sense obviously. I love the verbal volleys that we throw at each other. I hope I don't have to miss these. To party is to you, to stay at home is also to be you. I would love if you have an "explore India" trip. Realities of life are very complicated and you know it. Be positive. Don't stop bitching!
Rahul bhai just ride the world on the right current. Don't stop being happy and dont stop your jokes. Life is full of disappointments, but life is equally full of opportunities. This is something that I have learnt from you. You have a great mind. Keep manifesting. Nitin be confident and kill it! Can't have a nicer guy around than you.
Rima I have realized that the more extravagant that you seem to be, the more simple you are. Simple at heart. You are very strong both by mind and by heart. There is obviously the speeding factor that you need to look out for. Aajkal speeding ke chalan bohot katt rhe hain and the penalty is very high! If you can understand what I mean to say. Always invest in the right person, not simply right according to the need, but according to the consequences. Karishma, you will always know that what is the right thing for you, its just that you need to find it. Don't let the ghost of past haunt you in the future. Be flamboyant as you have always been. Nidhi, follow your heart and tell your heart to follow something. You are very nice, stay nice. What does a drunk person with no worries do? It sits quietly! ;) So no worries, just enjoy!
Samit, I know everyone has written on your shirt that you are so smart and intelligent. I hope that you are not frustrated by these because all of it is true. My observation about the world, care about the world and it cares about you. Vriti, tu to mast hai bhai! :D One question, when you are going to say something, how many simultaneous thoughts are running in your mind? You qualify for living in multiple universes! Only a highly developed mind can do that. Well, enough of BS, the most important quality is your clear conscience and immaculateness. Preserve these things.
Divya, the smiling assassin! God bless you! Reunion par sabne apne bachon ke sath ana to hai hi! :D Anurag dude now you are senior to us. Keep in touch. Kushagra, dude had one of the most amazing time with you in all these 4 years. You are fun! Abhimanyu, man amazing orating skills, I hope to find you hosting Oscars sometime in the future. Life is a joke, fart it away! Live life king size! Preeti Stay innocent and become cunning! Deepti The most dedicated person, you can do with some hefty enjoyment. Let loose and enjoy, life is too short, live it. But don't loose the dedication that you show.
Man I can keep writing about the whole class and even college, I wont tire of it, but I don't know if people want to read a 200 page book or not. I am not writing about some people I really want to, for obvious reasons. No hard feelings guys. So, I will write about the most important person at last, but definitely not the least, Radhika. Lot of people here don't know that you hated me at the beginning for not telling you the viva questions! But, how things change. How is it like when someone steals your thoughts and put them in front of you like mere statements? How is it that someone has mostly same opinions as you do? You realize that you have an imposter of you roaming around with a bunch of people, speaking a little less. In purely scientific terms, frequencies match. Can't imagine how college would have been without you. Its amazing guys when there someone to actually solve your dilemmas, to support you in every decision, to have a partner that is your alter ego.
Ah, conclusion. I was thinking that how can someone describe such a hefty thing in one paragraph. College life is most significant then any other part of your life, in more ways than you can imagine. I just can't stop writing. I really don't think I will have the time or the memories to write something like this in the future. We are all going to move on to our real lives now. Real life is synonymous with tensions and all kinds of shit. There will be happiness but can there be a happiness of this magnitude. We crib about all the failures all the time but, we fail to see the happiness surrounding sadness in tiny specks. When you gather these tiny specks you will see that happiness outweighs sadness by a huge margin. The source of this happiness are you guys. For one shot of pain each day, you guys inject me with 100 shots of happiness. I will miss you, is an understatement. I really hope that I don't have to miss you. But, where will be the happiness when you will be sitting in your cubicle from 10 to 8 and doing the most boring work any office can give you. You would feel that writing assignments and practicals was such fun. You will attend lavish b'day parties where you would have to behave like professionals, where would be the fun of the college b'day parties, surely you won't make faces like Rahul does now then. You won't get time to bitch about other people on facebook, you might even not open your facebook account for days, because it won't matter. Only thing that will matter is money. You eat, drink, sleep money and you will loose happiness equal amounts. Weren't these days precious, were they not precious than money ever can be. A single smile that spreads across my face when Ankit says something funny is more precious then many diamonds. A single frown that is actually a smile that crosses Chirag's face when Vriti says wrong hindi is definitely more precious than most things they will do in their future. The excited shake of the head that Rima gives when she likes some idea, the bike action Ankit did when I bought my new bike, Radhika's face when I snatch her clutcher and run away, it is only human that I shed some tears looking back at those days, looking back at all the pics that are being posted right now. Don't any of you sign off, stay logged in my life.
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