The Phone Call - Part - 1

The Nokia ring tone rang on his phone. An unknown landline number flashed on the screen. He pressed the receive button.

“Hello.”

“Ajay! Ajay this is me.” A female voice said from the other side. “Ajay, four people… in a van… out of the office, they drugged me… like a huge warehouse… sea outside.” The female voice continued to speak in between sobs and moans.

“But listen…” he tried to say something.

“Ajay… hands legs tied… don’t know what… someone’s coming…”

“Hello, hello!”

The phone clicked on the other side leaving behind a constant beeping noise.

He pressed the call back button, the line connected and the phone started to ring. It rang for exactly one minute and disconnected.

“What the fff…”

He dialed again. The phone rang for a minute and then died in to a beep.

‘What if the men who had kidnapped the lady had heard the phone ring and killed her? No that can’t be if they were there they should have picked up the call.’

He checked the phone screen the time was 8:36. He dialed a number. The phone rang twice.

“Yeah”, the voice from the other side said.

“Ravi, I just received a call from this unknown number.” He told Ravi everything about the phone call.

“Call the police and tell them about it man, it’s that simple.” Ravi replied.

“What if they try to hurt the woman?”

“They probably don’t even know she called someone, just tell the cops and let them handle it.”

“Ok, I will call the police. Bye.”

The line died.

He opened his twitter profile on the phone and typed.

“Anybody knows any website where I can track the location of a Mumbai landline number? Pls RT.”

He dialed a number. It connected.

“MIDC police station.” A deep voice said from the other side.

He narrated his conversation on the phone with the woman, to the constable.

“So Mr. Ajay, what is your full name and what is the name of your wife who has been kidnapped?” The constable asked as he scribbled on a battered register.

“Sir, my name is not Ajay. My name is Kumar.”

“Then why would your wife call you Ajay?” The constable asked, speaking as if his mouth was stuffed with paan.

“Sir that was not my wife, most probably it was a wrong number she had dialed and it connected to me.”

“Most probably… hmmm… so you are not sure whether it was a wrong number?”

Kumar was now losing his head.

“Sir, it was a wrong number can you please lodge a complaint?”

“How long has she been gone?”

“How would I know? I don’t know that woman. She said she had come out of the office when she was kidnapped so must have been at around 6 in the evening so must have been 2 hours back.” Kumar replied.

“What place did she say she was calling from?”

“She did not tell me the name of the place.”

“When you don’t know anything then why are you calling us? Next time when she calls take all the details and then call us.” The line went dead before Kumar could respond.

‘What the fff…!!! What should I do now? May be she called again and got through the correct number and spoke to Ajay whoever he was? May be police was already on their way to rescue her along with Ajay.’

Thoughts raced his mind as he starred at the television set which was showing a movie but the sound was muted. He checked the phone for his twitter updates. Someone had posted a link in his mentions section which could help him track the locality of the land line numbers.

He keyed in the number into the search box of the website. The window opened a Google Maps section showing a pin on a location near Hinduja Hospital.

‘She had said she could hear the sea outside.’

He dialed a number.

“Yeah”

“Ravi, I’ve found her location.”

“What? Who’s location?”

“The woman who had called, she had called from a number in Matunga near Hinduja Hospital.”

“Did she call you again? Did she tell you? Did you call the police?” Ravi fired without giving Kumar a chance to speak.

“No she did not tell me, I Googled the number. And the police said they will not take the complaint as I don’t know her.”

“Call the police and tell them that you think the location is in Matunga.” Ravi said.

“I don’t think I am sure its Matunga but that’s what this site says. And I don’t want to call the police. I don’t think they are interested.”

“Then go to sleep. By now she must have called up the real Ajay and she might have been rescued by now.”

“I think we should go and investigate.”

“What at this time? It’s already nine. And what the fuck do you mean we? You got the call, you go if you want to. I am not coming.” Ravi replied and disconnected the call.

Kumar dialed again.

“Ravi, let’s go man. Somebody might be in the need of our help. I will take my bike, we will investigate the place from outside and if we see anything fishy we will report to the police. That’s it.”

“Okay but we will stay there for just five minutes and then we will leave no matter what.” Ravi replied in submission.

Kumar arrived at Ravi’s place in Dadar on his bike. They both rode to Hinduja Hospital. The Hospital looked deserted. They drove slowly along the road and looked around for a place which might look like a warehouse. They saw a big house surrounded by broken boundary walls. The gate, two huge sheets of rusty tin and iron hung limp from its hinges on the boundary wall. There was no light inside or outside the house.

Ravi softly tapped Kumar’s shoulder. Kumar drove the bike some distance ahead of the house and parked it near a kiosk on the opposite side. They bought a cigarette each and lit it.

“Boss, is there a warehouse around this place?” Ravi asked the paan wala.

“Yes that used to be a warehouse till a few years back.” The paan wala pointed to the dilapidated house. “But no one uses it anymore.”

Ravi and Kumar exchanged glances.

‘If nobody uses the warehouse anymore it would make a perfect place to hide someone.’

“Have you seen anyone coming into or going out of the warehouse today or maybe yesterday?” Kumar asked.

“I told you no one comes here anymore. Are you the police? Why are you asking so many questions?”

Ravi and Kumar did not say anything they took a puff from their cigarette and crossed the street leaving the bike behind. They crossed the building, looking around and there was no sign of life. They found a dark alley at the end of the boundary wall of the building.

“This must lead to the back of the building.” Kumar said pulling Ravi’s arm. Ravi did not protest, he was already feeling like a sleuth.

The alley ended on the beach. The waves were trying to devour the shore thanks to a high tide and the clouds building above. Still there was no light or any sign of movement inside. The roaring of the waves was deafening.

The building was quite old and looked as if no one has been inside it for quite some time now. The building was double storied and the roof was made of tin or asbestos. Most of the glass panes on the bottom row of the windows had been smashed, during stone throwing competitions.

“Let’s go inside and take a closer look.” Kumar said pointing to a broken portion of the boundary wall.

“But you said we will examine it only from the outside.” Ravi protested.

“There’s no one around, don’t be afraid come on.”

“May be the police already came and cleared the place up.” Ravi speculated.

“If the police had been here there would have been a crowd outside and the paan wala would have known about it.” Kumar replied and pulled Ravi by his arms. Ravi followed Kumar reluctantly.

Once inside the boundary they ran keeping their bodies bent low. They hid themselves behind a bush underneath one of the windows. Kumar took out his mobile and dialed the number from which he had got the call. The phone started to ring. They looked at each other’s sweat ridden face. They could both hear the shrill ring coming from inside the building. Slowly Kumar rose on his legs and peaked inside. The phone continued to ring, nobody picked it up. The ring died.

“Can’t see anything, it’s too dark inside.” Kumar said to Ravi crouching back down beside him. “Let me see if I can open this window.”

Kumar got up again looked around and inserted his hand inside the window through the broken pane. He felt around for the bolt and pulled at it. The bolt was jammed. He pulled the window but it did not budge.

He crouched back again, looked around and started to move towards the next window. Once under the window he pulled it, the window opened with a loud creek. Shards of glass fell on the ground inside. Before Ravi could stop him Kumar was already scrambling to climb over into the building.

“Kumar don’t go in, there might be armed people inside.” Ravi shouted.

Kumar climbed the window and looked inside, it was pitch dark but there was no sign of life or any other movement. With a thud and crunch he fell onto the dark floor. Ravi looked around everything seemed to be dead still except the roar of the waves behind him. He jumped and held the ledge of the window and pulled his body up.

Inside, the building was eerily silent. The din of the waves outside was only a distant dull sound inside. Kumar was already up on his feet, as Ravi jumped in behind him. They looked around. Ravi took out his mobile phone it had a torch in it. It was a huge room. Wood, empty beer bottles and garbage lay strewn all around the floor.

At the other end of the room they saw a staircase. Kumar took the torch from Ravi’s hand and started to walk, trying to make as little noise as possible on the littered floor. The staircase was like a dark well. The light from the torch lit it to show a flight of wooden stairs in front of them.

“Let’s leave, this looks too easy, it might be a trap.” Ravi said pulling Kumar back by his arm. Kumar put a finger on his lips and waved his hand asking Ravi to follow him. They walked carefully on the stairs, it groaned with their combined weight. The stairs led them to a landing and a battered wooden door. Ravi and Kumar exchanged glances and switched the torch off. Ravi felt a drop of sweat trickle down his spine. Kumar breathed heavily and wiped the sweat off his brows.

Ravi put his left ear on the door and tried to listen. The only sound he could hear was the dull noise of the waves breaking on the shore. Ravi looked at Kumar. Kumar gave the door a slight nudge. It was jammed. He pushed it a bit more. The door dragged on the floor and opened a bit. They pulled themselves back and hid in the darkness. They breathed slowly and waited for someone to move, nothing happened.

Ravi peeped inside. There was no one. No movement. Kumar pushed the door a bit more. There was enough space for him to slide in. Ravi followed. Kumar switched the torch back on. The room was of the same size as the room below, but it had a few pieces of broken furniture scattered around. It had a few wooden cabinets standing against the wall at the far end. The cabinets seemed to be full of long forgotten files and papers.

Kumar moved the light of the torch around the room. The rays crossed something, which caught their attention. On a wooden desk lay a telephone. They went up to the desk. The telephone was a very old model of the instrument, black in color with a round white dial. There was a thick cover of dust on everything including the desk and the phone.

“I don’t think, anyone has been to this place for ages leave aside this evening.” Ravi said looking around suspiciously.

Kumar took out his mobile and dialed the number. A shrill ring jolted them out of their skin. Kumar immediately disconnected the call. They trembled as if an electric shock had run through their spine.

“What the fff…” Kumar examined the dust on the phone closely, no finger prints, the layer was smooth.

His eyes caught something. Under the phone lay a slip of paper. Kumar carefully pulled the paper out. It was crumpled with moisture and covered with dust. There was something scrawled on it. He shook the dust off and pointed the torch on to it. Ravi poked his head in to take a better look.

“9, 7, 0, 2…..”

“What the fuck dude? That’s your cell number!” 

Click here to read the 2nd part of this story The Phone Call - Part - 2

A Blast from the Past

I don’t remember the exact date but it must surely have been some day between 8^th and 12^th of December 1992. The Babri Masjid had been demolished in Ayodhya, and riots had broken out in various parts of the country. Some riots had broken out in the outskirts of our town, Jamshedpur and hence a curfew was imposed. That was some excitement the people got in the then sleepy town. The roads were deserted and during the relaxation in curfew at certain times of the day we would play cricket in empty streets.

Me, my two sisters, my younger brother, and two kids from the neighborhood, all we did the whole day was either play in our garden or on the streets. No schools, no home works. It was like an extended winter vacation for us. We used to live in a house which right across the street from the police staff quarters and the police station.

That day, at around 3 in the afternoon we were as usual playing in the garden. The curfew had been relaxed till the evening. Our neighbor, a man who must have been in his early 20s and used to occasionally play cricket with us, came up to us and showed us a huge sutli bomb that he had saved from Diwali.

He told us he would show us a technique of making time bomb. Being a bunch of kids who were used to watching movies like Tridev and Ram Lakhan etc on VCRs, we were excited by the idea of making a time bomb. He took an incense stick and tied it to the fuse of the bomb.

“Look now,” he said “after the incense stick has burnt for sometime it will reach the point where the fuse is and it will ignite it. So if we know how long exactly an incense stick burns we will be able to set the exact time when the bomb goes off.”

He placed the bomb on the boundary wall outside our garage and lighted the incense stick.  We were super thrilled. We all ran to the verandah and huddled together patiently waiting for the bomb to go off.

As the moments ticked by we realized that this was going to take longer than we had thought. The neighbor said he will go inside and comeback to check on the bomb later. The two kids decided to watch the bomb go off from their respective houses. My brother and sisters went inside never realizing what was going to happen. I being the eldest had a faint idea about the consequences. My father and my grandfather were both at home and were taking their afternoon siesta.

I stood in the verandah watching the incense stick getting shorter by the second. Now it seemed that the burning end of the stick was approaching the fuse faster than I had thought. Suddenly the fuse flared up and started to burn with a hiss. I ran inside the house with my fingers in the ears and threw myself on the sofa in the living room.

And then…… BOOM.

The bomb went off, it was a huge one. There were no decibel limitations in those days, so one can only imagine the noise today. Due to the curfew the town was almost dead silent before the blast so its effect doubled. The noise ripped through the silence and echoed for a few moments. Then everything around me seemed to come to a standstill. I got up, came out in the verandah and saw smoke rising from the boundary wall where the bomb had been kept.

Suddenly I was aware that I was not the only spectator of the scene of crime. Policemen armed with lathis and rifles had come out of the staff quarters. Some were still in their shorts and vests.

Ten or twelve of them, some dressed some semi dressed rushed towards the site of the blast, near our garage from where the smoke was still rising as if a gene was about to appear. They were followed by a throng of women and kids coming out of the police quarters.

“O Singhji bahar aaiye!” one of the hawaldars shouted from the gate.

My father came out followed by my grandfather, my mother and my siblings. I guess we were all confused which Singhji the hawaldar was calling to. Suddenly everyone was shouting, talking, looking. Somebody picked up and brought the charred remains of the bomb and showed it to my father. I stood at the back and looked at everything in horror.

“Who did this?” I heard my father asking me. 

I did not answer. The original culprit wasn’t in sight. His door was closed even after so much commotion right next door. I wasn’t surprised.

“Arey, it was your kid, he burst the bomb, I saw him lighting it.” Someone from the crowd said.

“No, no we don’t buy such crackers for our kids.” My mother retaliated.

Everyone started talking again. A lady who was from the police staff quarters and was also a friend of my mother took our side and tried to calm the crowd down.

A man wearing an inspector’s cap arrived at the scene. He came up to my grandfather and said something. Turned out he was an acquaintance of my grandfather. He brought the situation under control asking everyone to calm down.

“Arey bachchein log hain, khel rahe thein.” He said to everyone. “Jaiye aap log sab.”

The crowd slowly dispersed. My father thanked him for his co-operation. We all went inside and closed the door. My father asked me what happened. I told him everything. All hell broke loose. My father beat me black and blue. He was angry at me for not telling the police the truth. I had not lied either.

पुरानी किताब (An old book)

पुरानी किताब
तुम्हारी अलमारी में आज एक किताब मिली
काफी पुरानी
पन्नो को पलट कर देखा
एक अक्षर में तुम्हारा नाम था
काफी बार पढ़ी थी तुमने लगता है
पीले पन्ने सिलाई से निकल रहे थें
एक पन्ने का मुड़ा कोना बता रहा था
तुम पढ़ते पढ़ते शायद वहां पे सो गयी थी
एक पन्ने पे पानी की बूँद से बने दाग ने बताया
के तुम वहां पे रोई थी
मैं वो पन्ना ढूंढ़ रहा था जिसे पढ़ कर
मेरे बारे में सोच कर तुम शरमाई होगी
नहीं मिला
काफी पुरानी किताब थी शायद.

Independence Day. Really?

Independence Day. Really?, a photo by CellPhoneClicker on Flickr.

Just one day in the year we think about our nation, about the people who laid their lives for our freedom. And we celebrate the conquest of our freedom fighters by watching movies on TV, changing DPs on Twitter, Facebook or the more enthusiastic ones amongst us may stand and salute the tricolor at the flag hoisting ceremony taking place in their apartment complex.

Come 16th August and we are all the same again, cribbing about the politicians, the conditions of the road, the scams happening and the government doing nothing about everything. Why can't we celebrate Independence Day each day, just once each day?

Just once each day try to be a better citizen. I don’t think it’s much to ask for. While you are driving just don’t honk the horns of your vehicle unnecessarily or drive responsibly without jumping the lights or cutting the lanes. Just once each day, switch off the lights, fans and the water tap when not in use. Instead of pledging to fight corruption by signing online petitions, just once each day try to fight it by not paying the traffic hawaldar without any receipt, or not purchasing something without any proper receipt, or not paying the babu in sarkari daftar to forward your file.

Weren’t these things taught to us in our schools? Why did we forget them?

Remember the 80/20 principle, I don’t think more than 20% of our nation is corrupt, the rest 80% of us are good, indifferent to our situation but good. Just once each day, if each one of us took care of these small things our nation would not need a Lokpal Commission at all.

After 64 years this is our time, we are one of the strongest economy in the world today, the most powerful nations look towards us in the times of world crisis, let us not waste this opportunity. Let us all do our own one small part each day. As the equation of synergy goes the sum of parts is always greater than the whole.

The forbidden fruit

Maybe this world is another planet's Hell. - Aldous Huxley

--------

In the beginning the Creator created the heaven and the earth.

The earth had no form, and was void. The Spirit of the Creator moved upon the face of the waters.

And then the Creator created light, and divided the light from the darkness. And that was the first day.

On the second day the Creator divided the waters by a firmament and called the firmament the Heaven.

On the third day the Creator decided to create the Earth, with plants and creatures and man who would be in his own image. Even the creator had his own doubts while starting such a big venture. So before he started he thought he should practice a little.

The Creator gathered some water under the heaven at one spot and let dry land appear. He called it, Earth ‘Beta’. The Creator then created a garden where he planted grass, herbs and plenty of banana trees. He also created a river which flew through the garden. He named the garden Eden ‘Beta’. Then he created the Sun ‘Beta’ for day, and Moon ‘Beta’ for the night.

Then the Creator decided to create man in his own image and let it dominate over the land and the waters, the grass, herbs and the trees. He named the man Adam ‘Beta’.

The creator checked his hour glass and saw that it was four Ether hours on the third day. He was pretty happy with the results of his trial the Earth ‘Beta’ looked good and Adam ‘Beta’ was happy in the gardens of Eden ‘Beta’.

The Creator then decided to take up the real task of creating the Earth and left Earth ‘Beta' and Adam'Beta' as they were and the rest as the cliche goes, was history.

Adam ‘Beta’ had plenty to eat, the weather was always that of spring and the grass made for a soft mattress for him to sleep. He woke up each morning, swam in the clean cool water of the river, ate all the bananas he wanted to and rested in the shade of the trees. Adam ‘Beta’ was never aware that the bananas always tasted the same or that he had nothing else to do,

he wasn’t even aware of the fact that he was naked. He lived happily forever on Earth ‘Beta’ until….

4.6 billion Man-years later…

God (that was what the man had named the Creator after the Earth was created), was not very happy with the way Earth had shaped up. Men became corrupt with desire and lust and were willing to kill each other for material wealth. This was not the way he had thought his Earth would be. One day as he was sitting deep in thought, saddened by an experiment which had gone wrong and out of his control, he remembered Earth ‘Beta’. He thought about Adam ‘Beta’. How was he, was he happy there? He thought of taking a look.

He saw that the Sun ‘Beta’ had just risen over Earth ‘Beta’. Adam ‘Beta’ woke up with a smile on his face looked around and went for a swim in the river. After a long swim he ate a few bananas from the trees and sat down in the shade to rest. All the time he had a pleasant smile

on his face. The Creator was very happy. But he also felt sad that Adam ‘Beta’ was alone. Then he remembered what had happened to Adam after he had created Eve, so he decided that he would let Adam ‘Beta’ be happy the way he was. A mischievous thought struck the creator’s mind and he whispered it in Adam ‘Beta’s’ head.

Adam ‘Beta’ got up and started collecting stones in a place. He made a large sphere with the stones, upon it he collected more stones and made a smaller sphere and above that he made another small round shape. He put two large white pebbles for eyes, a long twig in place of nose and a strip of banana skin in the shape of a smile. He put two thin branches on the sides of the round shape in the center.

Now it looked much like Adam ‘Beta’s’ own image that he had seen so many times in the clear water of the river. He was happy, he laughed and clapped and ran around the stone figure.

The Creator was happy to see this. Adam ‘Beta’ had not yet tasted the fruit of knowledge and hence he was not corrupt like Man had become on the Earth. The trial experiment that the Creator had started at the very beginning was still under his control unlike the Earth which was now a place of coincidences. But He was still sad. He wanted the Man on Earth to be happy.

Suddenly the Creator's face lit up with another idea, “What if Adam ‘Beta’ went to Earth. He might heal the Man and bring peace back. I would ultimately be successful in my experiment”. The only way of making things happen on the Earth was by chance. So the Creator decided that he would make a coincidence happen.

Earth: Man-year 2036

The leading news on newspapers on Earth:

NASA Discovers a Planet Inhabitable for the Human Race.

NASA has found a distant planet which looks exactly like the Earth and might be habitable for the human race. The discovered planet is 8 light years away from Earth.

When seen though the telescope, the planet looks blue in color and exactly the shape of Earth. NASA has named it, ‘Earth Beta’. With the help of some Indian scientists they have developed a fuel which could help them travel the distance of 8 light years in eight months straight. NASA is all set to launch an unmanned shuttle to the planet which would have robots to take pictures and samples of land and the atmosphere from the planet and come back to Earth.

“Arrgh! Now I don’t even have the control over the names man gives!” exclaimed God.

Earth ‘Beta’ Man-Year 2037

Adam ‘Beta’ was sleeping on the green grass; the night sky was dotted like a net with billions of twinkling stars, the half Moon ‘Beta’ shone on his happy face and a cool breeze blew from the direction of the river. Suddenly the sky was lit with an explosion as a ball of fire descended from above. Adam ‘Beta’ woke up, his eyes fixed on the ball of fire, the smile on his face was gone and his heart was filled with strange feelings that he had never felt in all these billions of years that he had lived. The fiery orb fell from the heaven and disappeared behind the hills, with a loud noise.

He was amazed, overjoyed and bewildered all at the same time for he had never experienced such a thing. The sky behind the hill was now crimson in color and black air rose from behind the hill. Adam ‘Beta’ was curious, he got up and started to walk towards the hill.

All this while the Creator watched Adam ‘Beta’ in amusement, and hoped that finally his Earth will no more be a rogue experiment.

By the time Adam ‘Beta’ reached the other side of the hill Sun ‘Beta’ was rising in the east. He saw that the object had landed on a field, he could not see any black air now neither could he see any fire coming out of the object. The object was standing on six legs firmly grounded in the grass. He went close and touched one leg of the object.

Suddenly there was movement, Adam ‘Beta’ moved back and craned his neck to see what was happening. One of the sides of the object slowly started to open with a loud rumbling noise. Adam ‘Beta’ was scared, this was the first time he had this feeling. He ran behind a banana tree and hid himself. When the noise stopped, a smaller object slowly emerged out of the bigger object and came to land on the ground. The small object started to make muffled sounds and move on the ground with its small circular legs. Adam ‘Beta’ was now very excited he had never seen anything move on the whole of Earth ‘Beta’.

The small object moved in circles and made various noises with each movement as if inviting him to come and play. Adam ‘Beta’ ran to it and hugged it. The object gave out a soft grunt and raised its neck. Adam ‘Beta’ was almost blinded by the flash of light that came from the objects face. The object continued to move around noisily and from time to time continued to emit flashes of light from its face. Adam ‘Beta’ watched everything in bewilderment.

The object stretched one of its arms, scooped some dirt from the ground and put it inside an opening in its back. It then picked up some rocks and pebbles with its two thin fingers and also put them inside its back. Adam ‘Beta’ went to a banana tree nearby, plucked a few bananas and gave it to the small object. The arm took it from Adam ‘Beta’ and put it inside its back. He craned his neck to see where the object had put the banana but couldn’t see anything. Adam ‘Beta’ brought some leaves and gave it to the object, the object again put them in its back. He kept giving the objects something or the other and the object continued to put all of them inside its back.

After sometime Adam ‘Beta’ got bored and started to investigate the bigger

object. He climbed one of its legs and stood on it looking at the opening. It was big enough for him to get in. There was a sloped platform which led to the inside. Adam ‘Beta’ climbed down the slope. He was surprised to see so many colored lights on the walls like the night sky dotted with stars. He touched the lights and examined them closely. He laughed and clapped because he had never seen anything like this.

He touched the lights again and the whole object started to groan and started trembling. All the lights started to blink and flash at a very rapid speed. The smaller object stopped moving around and started to climb the slope. Adam ‘Beta’ was scared. He hid himself in one of the corners. The small object climbed in and stopped. The slope started to raise itself and closed the opening with a loud clang. The inside became dark, only the wall on the other side was blinking with colored lights. The small object sat at one place and lay still. Adam ‘Beta’ came out of his hiding place and touched the small object but it did not respond.

With a loud rumbling sound, Adam ‘Beta’ felt the floor below him starting to rise slowly. At the same time he was pulled towards the ground by great force. The grinding sound grew louder and louder and the force continued to pull Adam ‘Beta’ to the ground with increasing pressure. Soon the pressure was so much that everything around Adam ‘Beta’ went black.

He did not know how long it was before he came to his senses. He was floating in mid air, his arms outstretched he bumped into the flashing tiny lights. In sometime he passed out again, and then after sometime he woke again, still floating in air and then passed out again. It happened several times for several days the smile still on his face whether he was awake and floating in the air or he was asleep and floating in the air.

The creator watched happily, Adam ‘Beta’ was on his way to heal the Earth.

Earth: Man-Year 2038

The morning sky was beginning to brighten up when NASA’s telescope caught the Finder ‘Beta’ enter the Earth’s atmosphere leaving a trail of smoke behind it. It kept falling, hurtling through the morning sky in a bright blaze. An automatic chute opened and slowed down its fall. The Finder ‘Beta’ slowly descended onto the sea surface and gave out an angry hiss. It continued to hiss for some time and then it cooled off and floated on the surface with the chute lying beside it. A flap on its top opened.

Adam ‘Beta’ was suddenly aware of the bright light right above him and cool wind coming in. He slowly climbed out of the object and dived into the sea. A couple of helicopters appeared on the horizon swiftly moving towards Finder ‘Beta’.

Adam ‘Beta’ started to swim swiftly towards a piece of land in front of him. He was aware of many moving creatures below him, every movement surprising and scaring him. He swam fast until he reached the land. Scared of the unknown surroundings he ran and hid himself behind a tree. The small object was picked up by other objects which had descended from the heaven and was taken away. Adam ‘Beta’ slowly began to relax and the smile returned to his face. Slowly all the commotion died down.

He started to explore the land around him. There were such trees which he had never seen. There were creatures which moved on the land, on the tree and which could raise themselves in air and rise into the heaven. He was overjoyed. He laughed and clapped and looked in amazement at the strange sites around him.

For a moment he thought a pair of eyes staring at him from behind a tree. The creature stepped out from behind the tree. Standing on its two legs, the creature had eyes, nose, mouth and ears just like him, but it was smaller than him. He smiled brightly at the creature and ran towards it to hold it.

The little girl upon seeing the naked man running towards her screamed and ran away from him laughing in amusement. She ran towards her house and hid behind the door. From there she saw the naked man was examining everything with delight and was laughing and clapping when the birds flew in the sky or when the little squirrels came up to him and kissed his legs. The little girl was happy to see the man so happy. Then she noticed his naked form, she went inside her house.

It all looked good and God was happy.

The little girl returned with a white bathrobe and two apples. The man stood at the other end of the field below a maple tree. She ran up to him and offered him the robe.

God watched everything, bit his fist and exclaimed, “oh no, not again!”

Adam ‘Beta’ was excited to see the little creature come back, he laughed and clapped. The little creature smiled at him and extended her hand to offer something. He took it in his hand, it felt soft. He took a closer look at it. The little creature said something and gestured but he didn’t notice. Adam ‘Beta’ went down on his knees and touched the little creature on the cheek. The little creature laughed. Adam ‘Beta’ laughed and clapped.

The Creator’s voice boomed in Adam ‘Beta’s’ head, “Whatever you do, you shall not eat the fruit of knowledge”.

Adam ‘Beta’ was confused. The little creature again extended its hand, it had a round object, and Adam ‘Beta’ took it.

“No no no don’t do it, not again, you fool”, thought the Creator and again he spoke inside Adam ‘Beta’s’ head, “Do not eat the fruit of knowledge”.

Adam ‘Beta’ looked confusedly at the apple and then at the little creature. The little creature had a similar object in its other hand and bit it with its mouth. Adam ‘Beta’ seeing this examined the round object in his hand and bit into it with his teeth.

And the Creator screamed “No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The little girl saw as soon as the man bit the apple he started to feel dizzy. She asked him what his name was, but he didn’t respond. She told him to wear the bathrobe but he didn’t do it. The man ate the apple and fell into a deep slumber. The girl put the robe over him and went inside the house again and let him sleep.

Adam ‘Beta’ woke up after sometime. It was still bright but the sun was approaching the horizon now. He felt very week and tired as if he had been walking for many days. He felt his face, his chin was covered with long hair. He felt his head and the hair on it was thin. He looked at his chest and hands the skin was sagging and wrinkled. His fingers were thin and there were wrinkles on them too.

Adam ‘Beta’ was suddenly aware that he was naked. He took the bathrobe and wrapped it around his waist. He tried to stand up but he felt too week. He held the trunk of the tree and stood up, but he was unable to stand straight. Every bone in his body ached. He picked up a stick to support himself. He took small, weak steps towards the stream which he could see nearby.

At the stream he looked at his reflection on the water. He saw an image which was very unlike him. He tried to smile but couldn’t do it anymore. His mouth only made a hollow frown without his white teeth. The hair on his face and head was grey and his eyes looked tired.

The little girl came out of her house again and saw an old man bent with age near the stream. The man had the robe wrapped around his waist the one she had given to the naked man. She looked for the naked man under the tree but he was not there.

The Creator was sad.

Adam ‘Beta’ was unable to understand what had happened to him. He turned and started to walk towards the horizon where the sun was now setting.