Fall from the Zenith : Episode1 - The Breakdown

"These days, the news is so unimportant. Specially the news which makes the headlines. "Oil spill, Environment in danger", "Nuclear peace deal reached between two countries", "Man robbed a bank, Caught". This is all so boring." said Robert while taking his usual morning walk with his best friend.

"Yes, i agree with you, man. There is not much thrill these days, like it used to be in the good old days. With technology coming in, there is no suspense left. The criminal gets caught within a week or a month at the most. I must say that the quality of crimes and criminals is getting lower day by day. I think this world expects a better quality of criminals." said Jonas, with fun on his face.

Laughing, Robert said, "I tell you Jonas, if our plans go right, this world will see terror, it has never seen before".

Laughing and discussing their plan, the two walked away. Occasionally meeting fellow morning joggers, who greeted them. The other morning wanderers didn't know that the two people they met everyday were about to commit something that would shake the very foundations of the known modern world.

******

Four Months Later

It was morning of 21st December 2012, President of USA woke up early. He thought he had heard some clicking noise. On looking around, he found nothing out of ordinary. He had an uneasy sleep. As it was holiday season, the workload was less. Yesterday he had met the leader of Mayan society, who had assured him that there would be no mass suicides in his country and that his country has moved on from the myth surrounding the date. He was very relieved of that meeting.

He looked around his room. The renovation had gone pretty well, he thought. There was it again, the clicking noise. Before he could turn around to see what it was, his world went blank. The revolutionary leader was down on the floor, dead. His last expression was still pasted on his face, of confusion.

******

CNN BREAKING NEWS: The President of United States of America is dead. He died this morning at 4:30 AM under superbly mysterious circumstances. The initial reports have suggested murder but, under such heavy security, it is currently not possible to determine how such an event could take place. We are getting reports that head of states of more than 60 countries have died overnight. Emergency protocols have been imposed in all these countries have been imposed to preserve law and order situation. These countries includes Russia, England, China, Asian Sub-Continent, European Countries, Australia, Middle-East. These events occur on much awaited and popular day of 21st December 2012. The question is, is the end of the world as we know it? It certainly looks like it. The authorities have requested people to remain calm and avoid any travel. It is ensured by them that they are in full control and the investigation is going on....

******

Chief of FBI Special Agent Larry Cox was on his way to FBI headquarters. His world has turned upside down when he got a call from headquarters about death of the president. "How on earth was that possible!", he thought. "Certainly an inside hand". But he knew, that even with an inside hand, it was near to impossible to kill the president.

On reaching FBI HQ, the second-in-command Agent Resse Walker briefed him about the turn of events.

"Sir the room has been wiped clean. There is no evidence of forced entry, neither any sign or any marks on president's body. Perhaps, it seems that he just died of shock. Medical team says that his brain just stopped working leading to heart failure. However, a slight melt of the floor marble." said Agent Walker.

"Melt on the floor? What do you mean? It could have been there before also.", remarked Cox.

"No Sir, forensics have determined that it is fresh and could have been made when president died. And sir, some additional details just coming in, head of states of about every country in the world is dead.", said Walker.

"I know Agent Walker but, our only priority now is POTUS. Others will have to deal with there country alone. Any possible leads on who the killer might be, or who might be involved?", asked Cox.

"Sir, the only lead is the head of Mayan Society. That too because of the date.", answered Walker.

"Then take him into custody and get him here. I want to interrogate him myself.", ordered Cox.

"But sir, the evidence against him is totally circumstantial and...", said Walker

"You listen to me Agent Walker," said Cox with stern look on his face, "the president of your country has been killed by some lunatic and this country when it wakes up will be in panic. To prevent that we have a limited time frame to catch the organization behind this. And nothing, I repeat, nothing leaves this. Is that all clear to you?".

"Yes sir".

"I want tag teams ready to strike, with all the senators and VVIP personnel. Lets go to the White House, I need to have a first hand look at the evidence. When the Mayan leader arrives, inform me. Lets go." said Special Agent Cox, ruthlessness on his face. He with his team left for White House.

Back in India, fear was crippling.

To be continued....

Long live our Earth

"I have dreamt of a future not of gloom, desperateness or cannibalism, but of accordance and harmony with the environment, giving back while taking from it" - Pranay Pasricha during a classroom presentation.

That is the quote that goes best with this week's topic that is Environment. This QW (Quote of the week), which I personally feel is one of the finest word I have ever spoken in public, perfectly explains the state of the environment presently and the future we want to see.

The present is very dark and gloomy. We are polluting mother earth at such rate that every hour we live, a year is decreased from the life of the earth which is about 5 billion years. This rate is so alarming that it makes my hair stand up. The main cause of this pollution is increased amount of automobiles on roads. 2008 Beijing Olympics highlighted this fact. Another fact I gathered that US carried out 1030 nuclear tests between 1945 to 1994. India has only carried out 2 namely, Pokhran I & II, and there is still a huge cry over that.

As they say "umeed par duniya kayam hai", there is still hope left and you will be surprised to read who are leading the way. This week the Earth Hour was observed by many across the world (I followed it sincerely). In Delhi alone we saved about 600 MW of energy. That means we added another day to our lives. Those who followed it, I thank you very much and those who didn't go and switch of those lights just now for an hour! This effort certainly cumilates to many days in our lives. Now the surprise element. Do you know there exists an Spanish island by the name of Al Hierro. You probably won't.
- This island has 98% self sufficiency to meet its energy demands.
- 80% of the island's energy comes from wind power.
- Cars run on hydrogen and air.
- There is a plan of completely banning oil on the island by the end of 2009.
- 20 years ago this island consumed oil about same amount as new york.

This small island has set an example for the world to follow and contemplate that it can be done. By this example we can expect "umeed se dugna". Hope 70 years from today, there is a cleaner and greener environment...

On the ending note I would ask you to do a favour. If you like this blog, then please invite your friends and family to view it once a week. I would also like to add that my exams are going to start so there will be lesser posts for about a month now (1 or 2 at max), but I assure you that I will be back with a bang. Dasvidaniya for now...