The Elusive

She rises with foam, they say
In her beauty, your heart would sway

Lust for all and flesh to elite

Never once, she settled for the petite


In the battle of wisdom, love and fidelity

She stole the show, ah! She Ravishing beauty

In tandem dawned the Trojan, by and for love

Little did Paris know what was hanging above

Immortal she is, her beauty would never fray

For those who crave, her song would play

With no control on what your hormones expedite

If you haven’t got it yet, her name is Aphrodite

Be it Helen of the Mycenaean age

Or a mere goon with haphazard rage

With love she would forever play

Enticed, you will plead her to stay

But with foam she raises they say

Like foam she would vanish to your dismay.

----------------------------------------------------

"This post has been published by Sriram Acharya as a part of IBL; the Battle of Blogs, sponsored byWriteupCafe. Join us at our Official Website and Facebook page"

You can vote for Sriram HERE

Sriram's Blog : My Paradoxical Paradise

Victim

The woman waited in the car. Her gleaming crimson lipstick provided a perfect contrast to the teeth that dazzled in the headlights of the cars coming the other way. Her skin, fair to an extent that it could almost be called pale, somehow made her look more sensuous in a surreal sort of way.

She could see the two men, through with their dinner but immersed in a conversation of sorts; they were still inside the restaurant, but were standing next to the window. She had twenty-twenty vision anyway. Her ample bosom heaved as she took deep breaths. She could not afford to show her impatience.

***

They worked as a pair. One of the two chatted up the victim till late; the other drove past the bar or restaurant or whatever it was. Then, between them, they usually rounded off the victim the way a tiger on a diet does to a barking chihuahua.

Life has not been easy for them. They had tried to seek jobs in Transylvania, but could not break through the paperwork. Transylvanian apartheid is at its peak these days, and being Indians, they did not have a chance.

Then they met each other. It was bloody love at first sight. Their teeth snarled, their innards craved for each other, and when they kissed, they knew it was perfect.

Dejected by the lack of opportunity they decided to come back to India – and take refuge in the innocuous city of Kolkata. Getting day jobs was easier here: nobody would even guess that Indian vampires existed. Sure enough, they ended up finding decent-paying jobs. They typically surprised their colleagues by often turning up before daybreak, but their workplaces were different, meant that they did not arouse suspicion.

After days of living on canned magpie-blood and sucking on to stale pigeon-blood lozenges just for the sake of variety, they finally found access to fresh food: they bought a goat, killed it inside their bedroom, and had their fill. The carcass was thrown to the dogs.

The dogs were grateful to them for their gifts, every now-and-then. After they could save some money, the vampires eventually invested in a double-bed mahogany coffin; the passion became more intense as they licked blood off each others’ lips and mouths, and their flesh merged seamlessly into each other’s nakedness.

Several weeks passed before they realised that animal blood was never good enough to satiate them. They needed the real thing, which was not easy in a big city like Kolkata. They kept to a plan: they would sneak in to a pub, keeping a distance from each other, and make an attempt at wooing the singles. Obviously, they acted depending on the gender of their victims, and texted the partner the moment they managed to coax the victim to visit somewhere.

Once that was achieved, the unsuspecting victim was taken to their dark abode. The victim was never a match for the strong wrists or forearms of the vampires, and was immediately tied to manacles – and kept hanging till the other vampire returned.

Then they went into business, and threw the insipid, bloodless, naked body to the dogs – the dogs that usually stayed up in anticipation – in the middle of the night. Nobody cared to check whether the bits of stray bones on the street were human.

They often laughed among themselves at the policeman who tried to track them down the day he found a stray human ear in the gutter. They had kept his ears as souvenirs since then, inside their coffin, having the occasional giggle once they cuddled up to each other inside it.

Boredom crept in, though: the victims were being acquired too easily. Vampires love challenges, just like scuba-divers or bungee-jumpers. So they lied down in their coffin, cleaned each other’s fingers dry of the teenager’s last liquid remnants, and found a plan after a night’s conversation punctuated by the telltale moans.

It involved a car. They invested in a suave-looking SUV. Obtaining a loan was not difficult, and they had obtained enough money since they never had to spend a farthing on grocery or furniture.

They now decided to pick out people one at a time: one of them would go inside one of the new dining spots, strike a conversation with a person of the same sex, sit on the foyer till it was very late – and when the other person would come along in the car, they would ask for a lift. There were a couple of suspicious security-guards, but a thousand rupees a month was always sufficient.

This was challenging. This involved making people of the same sex stay back only with one’s conversational skills, followed by convincing them to hitch a lift to exactly the same desired car. The outcome was the same – the only difference being the fact that the process was more challenging.

***

It was his turn tonight, though: he was prepared for the occasion. The restaurant was surprisingly empty given that it was a weekend. “This is what happens if you come to the new ones”, he thought with a disappointed face. He looked around, and could not find anyone single – until his eyes fell on a dark, remote corner.

He walked up and put his most innocent smile on display. He knew that with those eyes and that smile, nobody could turn him down. Nobody ever has.

He met the man’s eyes. “May I join you?”

The man grunted. He had a savage, burly look about himself. His frame was huge; the shoulders were broad; the forearms strong; and the biceps bulging under the ancient shirt that was in vogue about seven decades ago. He had blood-red eyes, a tawny mane for a beard that had almost certainly never met a razor, and a bag on his shoulder that definitely contained something like a guitar.

“A musician, eh? I used to play the cello in school,” the vampire lied.

The man grunted again.

This conversation isn’t getting anywhere, the vampire thought. I have to bring up a topic; fashion is certainly not his forte; he doesn’t look too athletic either, and isn’t really interested to discuss music. Let’s try something else for a change.

“You know something – I have acquired something lately. I think it’s real – they claim it’s an original Hussain”.

No luck. More small talk.

“Oh, did I tell you I also own The Mahabharat in Sanskrit – and it’s also written in palm leaves? I mean, it’s the real thing. It’s a collector’s edition.” The vampire lied again.

The eyes lit up, finally.

“Can I see it?” The voice asked in a deep, distant, accented grumble. Did the eyes gleam for a moment?

He had never heard that accent before, but he smiled back with an expressionless face. “Of course you can.”

The dinner was polished off in no time. The man turned out a vegetarian. He did not like garlic, which suited the vampire. Both of them detested garlic, despite the fact that they had been given the required vaccination in their childhood. She prefers vegetarians, he thought as they stood up.



The man turned out to be stocky, but had an enviable physique. He could have passed as a wrestler or a weightlifter, thought the vampire. They struck up a conversation outside the restaurant, and the vampire was surprised at the other man’s vast knowledge of Indian mythology.

“found vctm. cmng out. cm sn”, he texted.

“m wtng outsd :)”, she texted back. “i cn c u”.

***

They walked outside. The man – the gullible one – was already willing to go to their place, so the vampire decided to introduce her as his wife. The Neanderthal grunted gutturally in acknowledgement, and made his way to the backseat with an audible thump.

They drove silently to their place, the vampires restless in anticipation. They cast glances at each other, and caught them licking their own lips, and smiled embarrassedly. It took them a few minutes to reach their place.

The man used his key to open the door, and the woman closed the door behind her when all three were inside. Then they pounced upon the stranger.

The stranger proved to be surprisingly strong. All of a sudden the clumsiness had disappeared. The fluent arm-movements sent the vampires reeling. And then, with surprising agility, he bent down, opened his bag, and brought out a battle-axe with a gleaming blade in one swift movement.

He had almost closed the door behind him after beheading the vampires when he heard the dogs bark. Disgusted, he kept the door ajar, and allowed them in as he disappeared into the night.

Fools, he thought. They never realised that I’m immortal, and I’m here to rid the world of all evil. Nobody messes with immortals.

His mission accomplished, Parashuram deleted the names and pictures of the vampires from his cell-phone, and set off for the rapist warlock in the suburbs.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"This post has been published by Abhishek Mukherjee as a part of IBL; the Battle of Blogs, sponsored byWriteupCafe. Join us at our Official Website and Facebook page"

You can vote for Abhishek HERE

Abhishek's Blog : Abhishek's Blog

A New Pup In Town

Second day in the new neighborhood, and my mum and dad still don't think it's safe for me to be let out on my own. Pity. Maybe I would just have to keep chewing my little teddy the whole day long. He's in tatters anyway.

Day before yesterday, before I went into a chemically-induced semi-hibernation, I was offered the sweetest biscuit I've ever tasted. I should've known something shifty was going on then as I immediately dozed off past that. I remember being carried by unknown people inside a cagey box. There was a moment when I panicked but then I saw dad's face. He had been there the whole time, giving careful instructions to the men who were carrying me and I knew whatever was being done was, maybe, necessary.

But I didn't know we were shifting to a new house! In an entirely new place! From what I've seen since yesterday, I now have a large garden to roam around. I can now be a little more carefree about hitting things with a single wag of my tail, as there seems to be more space for me to maneuver. I can no longer sense the stale, sickening smell of a lavender room freshener that used to be everywhere inside the last house.
Instead, here I can smell of some distant mangoes! The air is salty, and there is always a light breeze in the air. I like it inside the house, but I think it’s time I go exploring on the outside. I think I saw a cat giving me nasty looks last night; must check her out too.

Okay, hey I got to go now. I can hear dad coming - ‘Woof!’

…

Guess what, I got lucky. At last mum has asked dad to take me out!

As we got out of the gate, the road appeared inclined, and surprisingly empty. There were no speeding cars and hardly any people running about. From the hill side of the road, I heard some light soothing music, but the source did not come in sight. We started trotting down the hill, from where strong breeze blew on our faces. As we came to an end, full blast of blue, green, yellow and sunlight welcomed us. I inadvertently got happy, wagging my tail in excitement!

I didn’t know we had a beachfront nearby. That explains the salty smell. As dad took me for a stroll, we met three other people with pets. First one to pass was a fat old lady, dad made small-talk with while I drooled at the smoking hot poodle beside her. She didn’t pay much attention to me however. After the lady welcomed both of us into the neighborhood, we marched forward. Dad gave me a wink and let out a low whistle. Perhaps he read my mind, eh?

Next, while we met a few people who greeted my master, I came across an elderly Alsatian named Tyler. He appeared wise, and spoke less. Then I met a cheerful Lab of almost my age, who appeared larger than me. And my being a Golden Retriever, that’s saying something indeed. She welcomed me with a warm ‘Woof!’ as we immediately hit it off.

‘Firstly, you need to lose the stiffness in your walk, dear! You’re not in the city anymore. Here you’ve got plenty of places to roam around, plenty of room to run around and…’ she said with a wink, ‘plenty of poodles to hang around with. If you know what I mean?!’

My face must’ve visibly declared my happiness, so she continued with a wag in her tail, ‘You’ll get to meet the others soon. There’s Lennon, Jagger, Tyler, Harrison, Posh and me, Pink.’

‘What’s up with the names?’ I inquired.

‘We were all found and rescued as pups, by the local community church. You’ll find it up on the hill. The old Father of that church secretly seemed to like rock music back then, and so we were named accordingly. The nights used to be such fun, when we were little’ said Pink. ‘You’ll meet Goldie too, a poodle. She’s new to the locality. And between you and me, I think Tyler has got the hots for her!’

‘I think I already met her few minutes back, yes’ said I, without divulging any further piece of my mind. ‘Is there a cat around here too? I think I saw one giving me nasty looks last night.’

‘Ah yes, that’s Riddle. An old, disgruntled witch, she is! She guards the mango tree at the old bungalow on the other end of the hilly road, towards the beach. We’ll get there. That tree bears the sweetest mangoes we’ve ever had! We’ll take you there soon once you meet everybody…’

With a tug at our individual collars, we knew it was time to go. As we said our goodbyes, she promised to introduce me to the rest of the gang later. And then she sprinted away with her master.

Back in the city, I had Bruno - the pug - as my solitary company. And we were never allowed to venture outside the compound we stayed in. Suddenly having all the free space around me, and all the new friends, all the anticipated adventure that lay ahead - I think I’m going to like this place!
…

Back in the city, I used to sit in front of what the people call the air-conditioning system and watch my ears flap around in the cool wind that came out of it. Here, however, the air in general is windy. Sometimes I just close my eyes and stand in the sun. Then I go chasing insects and butterflies in the garden. I never get tired of them, there’s always some activity out there, waiting for me.

It is evening now, and it is raining. I gazed out of the kitchen window.

The raindrops sound different. In the city, the raindrops only ‘sputtered’ on the concrete window shades. While here the drops fell upon so many varieties of surface - the wooden porch, mud, grass, leaves and even tin roofs. It was all such a hullabaloo. My senses were tingling everywhere! Never before have they been put to test in such enriched environment.

As the rain fell hard on the wooden porch, I mistook the sound for yet another visitor. We’ve had lots of them today, with baskets of housewarming gifts and food, and I’m really tired of barking all day long. The wind blew hard and rattled the windows. They brought the smell of mangoes with them. And as the trees rustled in the wind and rain, my eyes started drooping.

I almost had given up on my final attempt at trying to keep my eyelids open when I saw some movement on the garden fence. I sat up in total attention. My ears went up and my mind was sharp as I listened. But all I heard was rain. It was only after a while of adjusting my focus, that I suddenly noticed something move gracefully on the fence, then jump down to the ground, walk to the porch, lick its paw and look up.

Riddle the cat, was staring right at me from the porch.

‘Stay away from the mangoes, newbie…’ warned Riddle and left suddenly.

I don’t know whether it was my inherent, general loathing for cats or it was the sight of that particular cat, which had managed to push me off the edge, I started howling loudly. Mum and dad came running and tried to calm me down. They fed me some water, patted and caressed me till I stopped after about ten minutes.

They thought it was the rain and thunder that ticked me off. But someone please tell them in the language they understand, we’ve got a psycho cat in the neighborhood!

After an hour of leisurely lying on the drawing room floor, I again went to the kitchen window.

The rain had stopped, but there was a chilly wind in the air. The trees continued to rustle in the breeze. The cat was nowhere to be seen. Now, I am supposed to be let out from tomorrow. I even have my own kennel being built in the garden! It was all very exciting for a city-raised dog like me who, till now, has lived his life in an apartment on the 5thfloor.

The ambience was such a bliss that I slept off soon enough.

…

I heard dad come to get some water. He stood next to me and amusingly remarked ‘they say be alert like a dog?! As far as our dog goes, he sleeps like a log darling!’ Mum also seemed amused. I didn’t bother getting up. Instead I maintained my state of semi-consciousness as I heard him go back to bed.

-------------------------------------------------------

"This post has been published by Deeptiman Chatterjee as a part of IBL; the Battle of Blogs, sponsored by WriteupCafe. Join us at our Official Website and Facebook page"

You can vote for Deeptiman HERE

Deeptiman's Blog : The Shameless Blogger

The Birthday Gift (55-Fiction)

I lie trapped within a body which neither lets me die nor live.

Bedridden and immobile, I beseech my children to poison me.

“Let death be the perfect gift for my 70th birthday.”

My grandson trots over, climbs the bed and plants a kiss on my wilted cheek.

He gives me love. A better gift.

---------------------

"This post has been published by Ritesh Agarwal as a part of IBL; the Battle of Blogs, sponsored by WriteupCafe. Join us at our Official Website and Facebook page"

You can vote for Ritesh HERE

Ritesh's Blog : Some Bedtime Stories

2779 AD: Extinction

Adam Elevator Space Base | 62,137 miles above sea level | 2779 AD

Bruce sighed while waiting at the cargo bay for the elevator's arrival. He had been following the same schedule for last 10 years – collecting the cargo sent by his associates on Earth which usually included new test equipments and some belongings sent by his family and friends living below. A taut carbon nanotube composite ribbon was anchored to the platform. It continued a few thousand miles above into the space and finally hooked into a trapped asteroid which acted as a counterweight. He could sense the dampened vibrations of the approaching elevator. He was feeling a bit upset today as on this fateful day, five years back, his dear friend Luke had vanished mysteriously.

Tycho Crater | 100 miles from SpaceX Colony, Moon | 2774 AD

Luke drove his rover through the Lunar highlands covered with regolith, a mixture of fine dust and rocky debris, and reached the source of the strange signal he detected today. He slid down the gentle slope of the crater and started leaping towards its centre. After walking a few miles the dusty terrain started turning smooth and shiny like an ice-floor. He inserted his probe and started examining the floor closely. It turned out to be a super-cooled liquid glass.
“What is this glass lake doing in this crater?” He wondered.
He turned his head upwards and gazed at his home planet. It was looking serene and beautiful.
Suddenly a thought clicked in his mind.
He took his receiver and plugged it into his suit. He told Lina, the computer built into his spacesuit, to analyse the signal with respect to Vasin-Shcherbakov Equations.
After a few seconds.
“Luke. This signal encodes the current satellite image of Earth with an extraordinary resolution of one mile on Earth to one mile on the data transmitted.”
Luke was shocked- “How on Earth is this possible! This crater contains the most gigantic telescope, constantly keeping an eye on us and we never knew. How did we miss it? I must head to the colony and tell Bruce about this.”
As Luke started drifting swiftly towards the rover, he felt a strange presence, as if he was not alone. A dusty breeze blew through his airtight suit. He was shocked at the thought of something penetrating his suit.
The next moment his power-suit turned off.
He tripped.
Turned his head.
Saw a faint silver figure floating in air and never woke up.
The giant lunar telescope was not the first alien technology mankind ever came across. Something similar happened 800 years ago.

Groom Lake | Southern Nevada, U.S. | 1949 AD

The lake was shrinking season after season. Old Timothy Adams was having a dip in the lake when suddenly he felt something big under his feet. He informed the sheriff and soon they pulled out that saucer shaped object. Rumours of this strange object spread and this area was cordoned off quickly. They named it Area 51, a secretive military air force base.
After a few years, disruptive technologies started pouring out in US- Fibre optics, LASERs, Kevlar, Titanium fighter planes, Transistors (the birth of computers)– and some of these totally changed our world. Some technologies took centuries to reverse engineer, like the hydroxyGEN– which could split water vapour in air and provide us both Hydrogen fuel and pure Oxygen.
It still remains a well kept secret that the technologies we boast off today, had their origin in that one saucer which landed on Earth maybe centuries ago.

SpaceX Moon Colony | Maria Levita, Moon | 2779 AD

It was a peaceful lunar settlement, flocked with twenty families as a part of the SpaceX lunar experiment. The colony was a closed ecological system where all nutrients were recycled. It was self-sustainable requiring no Earthly support.
Bruce entered his house. Sam was eagerly waiting for his dad. He was wearing a strange skimpy suit covering his entire body except his head.
“Hey son, look what grandpa sent you.”
It was a slimy fish with orange scales. Swimming to and fro in the container. It looked beautiful.
“Dad, it belongs to which species?”
“I have no clue Sam. Try asking Ela.”
Sam moved his hand and positioned his palm facing the fish.
“Ela, tell me all details you find on this fish.”- He said it on his microphone.
Green rays came out of his palm and started scanning the fish. The rays stopped and Ela, his personal supercomputer, soon arrived at an answer.
“It is an Oranghy also known as the "slimehead". It is slimy and has orange scales, having a typical life expectancy of 150 years. It is found along the North Atlantic coast. It became extinct 50 years back due to overfishing.”
Sam looked at this cute fish and started feeling sorry. Man's inherent nature to dominate the entire planet never changed. As centuries passed, species extinction had continued at an alarming rate due to human activities.

Amazon Desert | Brazil | 2779 AD

What was once 2.1 million sq miles rainforest was now reduced to a desert with just a small patch of land covered with trees. Millions of species residing in those forest were now extinct. An automatic lumberjack came and started logging the final patch.
The moment the last tree touched ground, 2000 orbs left the Gioni Crater on Mars.

Adam Elevator Earth Base | On a Pacific Isle | 2779 AD

“Stephan, today around two thousand silver orbs destroyed all major cities around the globe. A high energy plasma beam emitted from a single orb wiped out an entire city, leaving behind just a rocky terrain. With all major government centres gone, the entire planet and its people are thrown into chaos."- Andy told me.

A day later, everyone, including me, enlisted in the army, in order to protect the Adam Earth Base as that was our last resort to escape this doomsday. It was our last hope.
We took our positions and surrounded the base.

Five hours later, three elevated figures appeared far away. The humanoids looked identical, shaped like an ideal human. We started shooting at them with our laser guns. It was a futile effort.
Their silver suits were made up of technology never seen before-
Nanotech? Biotech?
No.
It was nowhere near as simple as that. Its material was inserted with an integral DNA of living organisms. Customized artificial neurons were working in conjunction with their nervous system. Those metallic suits responded to their thoughts. It was an amalgam of biotechnology and mechatronics. They were controlling it perfectly. Our laser beams were easily blocked by their techno-organic armour which altered itself automatically to create a shield in order to obstruct the trajectory.
They were close. We were scared.
None of my shots were even close. I was just another scientist holding a gun and wearing a power-pack, stupefied by their alien technology. One of them was now floating in air facing me. I shot at him insanely, to no result. He extended his hand fully towards me, keeping his arms straight and locked. His palm a few feet away facing my head. Suddenly he turned and shot a spherical ball towards Andy. The ball appeared out of nowhere on his palm. As if lots of molecules on his palm assembled to form that sphere. As it reached Andy, the sphere disintegrated into the air. Andy's power-pack failed and then a few moments later Andy dropped dead.
I could predict that this superior race had already harnessed Technovores- Synthetic alloys and unknown biological entities that invade the system compromising power source and life out of the cells of the host. The silver Technovore shield was made entirely of nanobots. It had the ability to disassemble itself into a stream of nanites which carries a copy of the entire viral personality, and implying that the whole entity can reconstruct itself from a single unit. It absorbed technology into itself, adding the abilities of consumed technology into its physical being. It was a bio-tech warfare, probably the first and the last mankind would ever see.
The alien turned his head and looked directly into my cold eyes.

SpaceX Moon Colony | Maria Levita, Moon | 2779 AD

Bruce and Sam started running towards the escape pods kept at the edge of the colony. But when they reached it was already too late. The five pods were already carrying eight families. Bruce was holding Sam's hand standing in despair. They could see the SilverMen on the other side of the colony shield.
The pods launched.
SilverMen positioned their palms shooting hundreds of globules into space which disintegrated on contact with the surface of the pods. Three hundred feet above the ground those pods annihilated.
Sam could not bear the sight. He hugged his dad and started crying. Right now he felt just like the Oranghy – alone, entrapped and helpless.
“Dad, are we going to become extinct?”


______

"This post has been published by Ankit Mahato as a part of IBL; the Battle of Blogs, sponsored by WriteupCafe. Join us at our Official Website and Facebook page"

You can vote for Ankit HERE

Ankit's Blog : Aiming Beyond Infinity

A Future World Order

Topic : After World War III, the female survivors decide that, as men caused the war and did most of the fighting, it is simply too dangerous to allow them to be in control of the governments any longer. Men are banned from government and military service and, after a few years, banned from voting, having an education or having a job outside the home. A young boy, depressed by his limited prospects at home, decides to pose as a girl so he can join the navy.

This is a short story

****

‘Daddy I hate this, why can’t I go to school like Sara my sister to learn, play games and have friends?’

John was rolling out the pastry, but the pin instead of rolling on slipped away and disheveled it into a rugged lump. ‘Damn it’, he swore at it and lamented, ‘I will never make it right’.  It rung inside the big kitchen like an echo of his self-doubt that had been cram-ming into him for some time now, the doubt about himself as to how worth his life had become in the new dispensation.  In the previous dispensation-when the roosters ruled the world.- he was a police officer and had earned badges and accolades for keeping law and order in a big city immaculate. He held his both palms, over the rugged pastry lump and doubted, ‘how have they handled live ammunitions once, if they cannot use a silly rolling pin now?’

Mary had earlier messaged him, ‘John, please arrange lunch for two more people; they are my seniors and do not disappoint me this time’. Why can’t she take them to some fancy restaurants, he thought, she knew, I could only disappoint her. He was only doing what she had asked him to do, not on account of his preference, and there was no chance for he getting better at it. Since he received Mary’s message his head was pounding in a headache.

‘Dad, answer me, I want to know it now?’

Job has been asking that question for some time now. John felt pity for his son. Many a time he got himself ready to tell him everything but had retracted doubting whether Job would take them easily or had time come right.

‘Ok, I shall answer you Job, but after lunch; now, how about let me do this pastry. I am trying to make a special dish for lunch, your mummy messaged, there would be two guests for lunch’

‘Is it a promise Dad?’

‘Yes it is’.

John turned on to the pastry. When done with it, he spread an oilpaper over it, rolled it packed into a plastic bag and shoved into the fridge.

Then he opened the deep freezer and stared at the packets of vegetables and non-vegetables he himself had stored in. ‘How could I make that special dish that wouldn’t disappoint Mary?’ he had no idea. In the end he picked up a packet of red mince and thrust it into the microwave before pressing the defrost button.

‘Daddy, I am thinking about you as well, how come that you never get a chance to go outside like mummy? Are you happy here, to stay always in the kitchen and indoors?’

The question brought tears into Johns’ eyes, his son talks like a big man, he had only passed 17; using the apron towel he wiped the tears off his eyes. He wouldn’t show his pain to Job, he was already depressed.

‘You are right, sometimes it frustrates me too, but’

‘Have you tried to get out of here?’

‘No’

‘Why?’

‘That is a big story’

‘You can’t tell me. I am strong enough to hear your story’.

‘Ok, I will tell you everything after lunch’

Job looked happy. The Kitchen Maid by then had finished her round. He pulled open its handle, unloaded its contents -plates, dishes, spoons and glasswares –and stored them away into the designated places in the cupboards. Since the time the father and the son started managing the kitchen they had agreed to share the home chores between them.

He picked up the laundry baskets from the bathrooms, lifted them to the laundry room, sorted the linens according to their soil, loaded the first batch into the washing machine, added soap power and fabric softener, set the dials and switched it on.  Then he moved on to feed the pets- two Labradors and one Ceylon parakeet.  The Labradors wagged their tails and jumped around him while he dropped the pellet feed into their bowls.  The parakeet made a lot of undecipherable noises from its cage, when it saw him.

On normal days, when he was done with his chores and John with his coking, they two settle down with their learning and teaching session. John kept the session a secretive affair and had asked Job to keep it that way. Why should, it be so, Job had asked him many times; but he wouldn’t give a straight answer other than promising, one day he would disclose.

***

That day they did not sit down in the morning for learning, but after lunch.  Job was looking forward to hear that big secret from his father as he had promised when he entered into the learning place. He liked hearing stories.  He was seventeen, if he had gone to school, he would be in grade 10 or 11.

‘Ok dad the lunch was excellent’ Job told to boost up his spirit.

‘But your mommy was not impressed’

‘Why can’t then mummy cook for one day or at least show you how to cook better’

‘Um, she is busy’, Job thought his father said that to please him.

‘But she liked the dessert’.  John was pleased to say that.

When the two were settled, John started the long promised story.

‘It is not a story as such Job, it is the blatant history of our human race, a shameful one though, shameful for the majority of the male population that lived here and lives on, the majority among the lived are now dead and what they did forbids me even to mention their names’.  That was how he introduced it.

Then he carried on and a brief summary of what he told was like this:



In the beginning, there was the land and then came the people. They were modest, respectful, gentle, just, loving and caring. Humanity thrived in its every endeavour. There were good and bad among them; but the good always prevailed over the bad; and the bad bettered themselves or tried to be better.

Perhaps in the process of evolution the evil begot more powerful evil; the evil always wanted to bring calamity into the world.  For that, they created gods, devils and religions.  Gods and the religions ruled over the weak for them and the devils organised the strong and the powerful for them. In the past 3000 years, there happened an incredible increase in the god’s population and in the spread of religions; their secret roles in war and conquer, many haven’t grasped yet. But the nexus between religion and politics is not a secret. One of the lethal discovery of that nexus in the 19th century was racism; it classified humans into super, best, better, worst and useless objects, with females confined to the last.  Females fought against it, but in many cases they could not find success and so, gave up on it. (True many females joined their male counter parts in oppression) Theories of racism and oppression were made and justified, books were written to eulogize discrimination, deprivation and aggression.

According to the best of those theories, occupation and territorial aggression became the right of the civilized and the powerful that belonged to the so called ‘super races’; what evolved out of that was the most criminal human on human exploitation-colonisation. World Wars happened as a direct consequence to that. Already three WWs, I, II and III were fought and the last one started in 2030 and ended in 2032; it would have continued if the supply of trained men hadn’t stopped.

One notable thing was that all the three WWs and the situations leading to them had happened under the leadership of men. All organisations and institutions that directly or indirectly involved in carrying out and supporting the wars were men or women who thought like men.

So when the WW III ended, the majority females all over the world got united and decided to take over the world leadership on condition that men were banished from all positions of leadership and responsibility; meant they were banned from all public places and offices.

Now, 13 years have passed after the banning was finally ratified into orders and in the meantime, females have made remarkable improvement if not turned this world into a perfect one. The most important of their reformation was to banish all world leaders including heads of states, into distant islands where they were asked to settle down with the farming under female supervision.  Another excellent action from their side was the banning of all religions and of the god men and the women, the leeches that thrived on fabricated lies like human sins, otherworld, heaven and hell and the destructive constructions like holly rituals, holly cross, holy war, terrorism, etc were also packed away into the farmlands.  As a result, now the food-shortages and poverty have become a thing of the past.

***

Job gave a big sigh when John had finished the narration.

‘So Dad, are you saying that this is a fair dispensation’

‘It is, son; if the men had continued ruling this world, it would have become a lost land by now’

‘But what have I done, dad, why am I banned from having an education?’

‘You are right. They are unfair on you and many like you. So I have a made plan for you’

‘What plan dad?’

John unveiled his plan before Job.  A week ago, he watched on the TV that a girl’s navy recruitment team was visiting a nearby place, in the coming week.  He wanted Job to appear for the recruitment.

‘But how could I, I am a boy’

‘Listen you become a girl’

‘How?’

‘You can be Sara, your sister. Look at this’, he pulled out of his apron pocket, Saras’ ID book, opened its font page; there was a photograph of Sara.  ‘If you change your hair style a bit, you are Sara’.

Job looked at Saras’ photograph, Sara was 15 when she took that photograph; she looked like a boy in it because there was no make up on her face. It showed she was in a tea-shirt.

‘But what would Sara do?’

‘She can report to the police that her ID is lost, when she finds it out, and once the police had established that it was lost she could apply for another one’

‘This is the only chance for you, you have to make it good’

Job thought, his father was right.

‘This is Sara’s old cell phone’. Job took the phone in his hand and turned it around; so far he was not allowed to use a cell phone.

‘From today on, you are Sara, you have to mentally and physically accept that, is that ok’

Job agreed.

‘So next week, I am leaving you Dad?’ his words got chocked at his throat.

He moved towards John and hugged him. The separation was unbearable to both.

‘Who is going to help you once I am gone, dad?’; he was sobbing.

‘I will manage; Job and you too will manage. You are a brave boy’

‘And when I am gone, what would you tell mom’

‘Don’t worry; I will tell her something, what, I have to find out. But you get ready for the recruitment’.

***

At the Navy recruitment centre a week later:

There were more than 10 applicants. They were asked to take seats in a hall and were given application forms to fill in their personal details. Job filled in all his details searching through Sara’s ID book.

Once they had filled in the application forms, each had to face an informal interview. After the interview they were seated back in the hall and in a short while the result was announced. Sara Johnson Smith was one among the new recruits.

____________
Written By : Prasanna Raghavan
Original Post at : India Blooming

Jon 'n' Snow: Trippin' Together!

The constant murmur of her voice startled him. He looked sideways. There she was- in dazzling red and black clothing, her eyes only staring at him, longing, waiting. "I am coming for you my louuuuuuuvvve!" he started running towards her , arms wide-spread, as everything around him started swirling in slow-motion. It appeared as if she was moving away from him."no..No...don't go, don't go!!" he started panting, and ran faster. "Babyyyyyyyyy!!!" he cried out loud. And she stopped moving away from him, and in that moment, he forgot everything about himself. Soon, he could feel her heavy breath falling on his face, and as soon as he advanced to kiss the love of his life, she purred.

"meowww"

"Err..babe?" he was shocked. "MEOWWWWWWWW" she purred a bit more and slowly started pawing his face. Now it was his turn to run.

Miles away from this love-story, a man in his undies was drooling on his new-found bed, with his cat pawing him. The cat was probably famished. And the man-well, he was in his own world , dreaming about his love again. The cat gave one final blow and almost managed to make a D on the man's forehead, and that was enough for him to wake up.

"WHADDA--"

Jon hurled his feline in a fit. It went flying across the bed yet it still managed to land on its limbs. In style. 'A cat has nine lives' Snow purred to himself. "Why do you always have to mess my face of all the other parts of my body?" Jon screamed. "Yea right, feed me or next time I will mess with the appropriate parts of your body you useless scum!" Snow purred. Jon sighed , while trying to rub off the D. "I know buddy, I am of no good. Not in a place like this, where everything is so different....IWANNAGOHOMMMMMMMMMMME!" Jon sobbed.

                                                    *                     *                        *

Things were not this different for Jon & Snow. They too had a great life to live-girls, booze, TV , their Wii and most importantly, the huge farmhouse their eccentric uncle had left for them. Eccentric to the world, but a genius to Jon. He worshiped the man. "One day, I will take you to places where you will be the King!" he would tell young Jon. Jon did not know that his uncle was up to something similar-for real.

It was Saturday night. Jon's buddies went off to catch the latest adult movie that was a rage in town-Wife of Pi. They say it has got the never-seen-before scenes with a Tigress in water and what not. Damn tempting isn't it? But Jon decided to stay back with Snow and do certain stuffs that he always enjoyed doing when he was alone. It required skillful use of both of his hands, some screwing-unscrewing and the likes. Yes you got it right, he would 'smoke up' 2-3 joints with Snow. And Snow would just stare at him, unable to decipher what would follow-a night full of wacky philosophies , a night devoted to ruthless gorging.
    But that night , Jon had other plans as well. Ever since they moved to uncle's farmhouse, they had not really explored the place properly. His uncle went off to an expedition and had never returned. Soon afterwards he was declared dead. He couldn't quite make it to the funeral, but wished he could see him off one last time. "Remember Jonny boy! The world is ruthless, the world is crazy! They call me mad, you know why? Because I am doing exactly what will make them run for their money."
Jon's uncle was an Experimental Physicist who would also wrote a cool sci-fi blog. "One day, Jonny boy, you'll see! You will be the King!"

So where were we? Ah yes Saturday night. As Jon had moved to this new place, he learned that the place is a child's dream. There were so many stuffs- gadgets, books, instruments, more books, and the likes. Jon was intrigued by the fact that his uncle managed to put all this up together. He was a bit proud as well. Ever since his parents died, his uncle was the only family he had.

That morning, Jon was checking out the place. The place was huge- it was enough for at least 20 people to live together. Snow would as usual play with his ball of wool. Jon did not really worry much about Snow. To him , he was quite a smart cat. "What is this room?" Jon exclaimed as he came across an entrance, hideously covered with a drape.

At the top of the door, there was a sign that looked suspiciously  similar to his favorite hand gesture. Yes you guessed it right again- it looked like a namaste . "Wonder when did uncle take fancy on Indian mannerisms huh!!?" he thought. He figured that the door was locked. He started jamming the lock and it wasn't giving away. It gave him aplenty of dirt on his tee, though.

Irritated, he went back a few feet and with his left forearm nudged forward, he started running towards the door. Only this time as he was about to hit the shackles of the door, Snow, his so-called 'smart cat' pounced on him from one side, and off they went  crashing on the door as it surprisingly opened normally. Jon had heard a brief *beep* sound while they crashed the door.

"Snow you stupid creature! Owww my back hurts badly."
Jon managed to sit up and took a look at his surroundings. It was full of shady posters of movies he did not watch. Chicks in skimpy clothes, fat women with guns on them, hooligans groping  women- they all were there. "What the hell are these movies?" he wondered. A typical poster of a man in disco suits caught his eyes. "Disco Dancer..hmm..who is this actor?" he thought. Suddenly, a voice came cracking from the ceiling.

"HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!"

It was his uncle's voice. Jon was startled.

"JONNY BOY! YOU MADE IT IN HERE!" the voice screamed.

"If you are hearing this recording, then it means I have left this world for the place beyond the imagination of the people of this world! Yes my boy you are right! I have found the place- the place where you will be the king and I will be your guardian! WE WILL RULE THE LAND TOGETHER! HA HA HA HA!"

Jon looked at Snow. "Tell me Snow," he asked. " Are my eyes red?"

"purrr..."

"Am I high?!!"

"purrr...."

"I am asking questions to my cat. I am definitely high." Jon sighed. "But I don't remember smoking up! When did--" he was cut short by the recording.

" Time to join me, Jonny Boy! 3! 2! 1!"

And suddenly, Jon saw the walls of his room begin to rattle. They started folding up like window blinds and the shady movie posters started mixing up to ghastly red hues everywhere. "Whadda--?" he exclaimed, and before he knew it, he felt a massive push on his shoulders and he went flying towards the wall with that 'Disco Dancer' poster. He could hear Snow purring madly alongside him and in the next moment , the poster in from of him vanished to nothingness. It was replaced by darkness ahead, as they kept getting pushed in the forward direction. Suddenly the force behind them stopped pushing. Jon panicked. He was panting heavily and looked at his cat.

"Mew.."

Snow's pointy whiskers indicated he was scared to death. And just then, the ceiling below them gave way and they started falling.



"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Jon was laughing, crying, puking, and sweating at the same time. He even farted a little. Snow was vigorously  throwing his limbs in every direction it could. Suddenly they landed on a base full of trash- in conveniently slow motion.

They woke up after a few hours. Jon got up , shocked. He looked around. It was night time. The place  looked funny. The littered roads, the smelly alleys- there was a strange harmony of filth in the air. He could not locate Snow anywhere. He started getting up and walking towards what seemed like a bar nearby.

The bar was shadier than he had expected. It seemed to be full of dopeheads. 'I am a disco dancer!' was playing in full volume, though he couldn't figure out the rest of the lyrics. And then he saw something that blew his balls away.

Snow was sitting on a high dais on what seemed to be like a richly decorated throne. There were a gazillions of attendants around him  , taking care of his whiskers like a newly crowned king. All of a sudden, Snow's attention went towards Jon. "Mew!!!" it shrieked and started moving its paws in Jon's direction.Everyone suddenly looked at Jon.

"OUR KING HAS DESCENDED!" they all cried in unison. They all got hold of Jon , took him up on their shoulders and placed him on an even bigger throne next to Snow. Jon got confused. But then he saw two pretty ladies who were apparently the king's official escorts, and all his confusion went away.

"Welcome to Merrytopia O King! I am BS,your humble Prime Minister" a middle-aged man came forward from among the crowd.

"Err..Hello BS.." Jon was finding it hard to control his laughter. "H-how are you?"
"Finest as an old wine, your Majesty!"
"Good good. Er..do you know anything about my uncle?"
"I do, your Majesty!"
"Well then take me to him!"
"I would your Majesty. But first I must lay down the rules of this land that a King must follow."

BS took out a scroll, opened it, took a USB drive out , dropped the scroll on the ground, took out his tablet from his robe, and plugged the USB in.

"(ahem).. O King of Merrytopia,
Live Long and Prosper! (brief applause follows)
For the sake of taking over as the King of this land, a king must follow the Golden Rule: Impose one law on this land. Only after that will he be able to rule as a king."

"And what if I don't follow the orders?" Jon quipped.
"You cannot do that O King.." BS said calmly.
"Why not? I can just refuse to do this! Coming here was not my choice at the first place!" Jon protested.

"What's done is done. You must follow the rules. That's how Merrytopia works. If you fail to do so, you shall be put to the dungeons where you would be made to watch Ram Gopal Verma movies."
"Who the hell is Ram Gopal Verma?"
The whole crowd gasped in unison on hearing this.
"You don't know RGV? You don't know nothing about Bollywood?!!!"
"Err..I know Hollywood..where is Bollywood?"
The whole crowd gasped in unison once again.

"Bollywood! The Hindi Film Industry! That's in India! They make the coolest of movies! We survive on their songs, their dances are our folk dances, their tragedies is the reason for our grief..BOLLYWOOD IS THE WAY OF OUR LIVES!" BS was almost choking with emotions.

"Ha ha. What crap.." Jon murmured.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY YOUR MAJESTY?!!"
"I said we should CLAP!" Jon was beginning to understand those shady posters at his uncle's room now. He saw that playing along was the only way out.

"Alright, if I must follow the rule, then very well."
The crowd became expectant.
"So tell me O Wise King, what law would you impose on us?" BS was excited.

Jon cleared his throat, looked around, and smiled.
"The law that I shall pass is: Legalize Marijuana!"

The crowd was puzzled. Snow gave a brief "mew" while looking at Jon with disbelief.

                                                        *                     *                        *

Weeks passed. The people embraced the new law. Now what happened is that people started getting high all the time. They stopped giving a shit about anything in their world except arranging for and rolling the joints. Philosophical opinions started flooding everywhere. Some would agree on to an opinion and the next moment an outsider would come and oppose, and suddenly everyone would start opposing the theories.

Jon observed that administration was getting out of hand. Even BS would now talk nothing but BS. Jon couldn't believe that even Snow would show up with red eyes at times. Weed used to be Jon's way of life but now, it seemed that his law was not fully accurate. He needed to do something about it.

"I want to change the law."  he called BS for a counsel one day.
"You..haha how do I put it..heeh..cannot!" BS had already stopped adding 'Your Majesty' a few days back.
"Are you high, as we speak?"
"No no Jonny Boy I am not!"
"Then why would you-- wait what did you call me?!"

"Jonny Boy!"

Jon was surprised and confused. He had his doubts initially about BS but power and freedom had blinded him. BS gave out a crackle of laughter, a loud and wide laughter. A familiar laughter.

"This is why I had to create this world of mine! Our world would not take me, so I wanted to escape!" BS began his tale , which you all must be dying to know by now.

"On my journey with my experiments, I had finally found a way to a parallel universe. Only that it was in ruins, as if it was abandoned by its people. I was happy to find the resources of this world-all at my disposal, but after a while, I started getting bored. Bored because, I missed conversations with another human being. I was upset about this, and realized something should be done! Then I thought , why not get some people from our world, who wanted to escape , to break free, and to live as equals, without caring much for survival.

 And I knew just the people to pick. I took up all the slum-dwellers of every populated countries of the world. This might sound outrageous , Jonny Boy, but trust me, nobody cares if a certain amount of these low lives suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth! So the plan was perfect- I was to give these people a new place to live, a new world where they would face no limitations, and of course I planned to rule this world, along with you."

Jon did not know what to say. Snow purred a little.

"Why do you look so startled? Did you not always wanted to live in a place like this?!!!"

"NO Uncle! I have my friends back home! I have a life that's full of excitement!"
"Oh c'mon, your life blows. I have seen how you live- borrowing cash from your friends, roaming here n there, trying to score a chick but ending up with your Cat at the end of the day. You call that an exciting life?!"
"I don't care! However bad it is, it is MY life! So I can choose how to lead it!"
"Well, now that you are here, you cannot go back. Because I haven't yet designed a way to get back to the other side..."
Jon wanted to punch his uncle on his throat.
".... and since you have revolted, it is important that you are put away somewhere, where you cannot create any problems..." BS smirked.
" You cannot do that! And wait a minute, why could I not recognize you all this while? Why not on the day I came here?"
BS smiled.
"Because, I had mixed a 'synthesized' form of weed in the air of my farmhouse by the vents. You see I got inspired from that 'Balam Pichkari' song from that  latest Bollywood movie. So anyone who entered that place would unknowingly get high and stay that way. I had developed the specimen in such a way that it would not interfere with your day-to-day functioning, but if you encountered any illusion , your mind would go on a trip , getting you high. So the illusion would work as a trigger to get you high. Hence I had those illusions put in place when you had entered the 'Portal Room' . Those Bollywood movie posters, they have immense effect on getting you high, you see!"

"Whadda-- and stop with your Bollywood references already!" Jon was angered. Suddenly, he saw Snow pouncing towards his uncle. This is it. He had to make a run for it. As BS fell on the ground, Jon grabbed Snow under his arm and ran away from the bar that now masqueraded as a fully functional Palace.

Now you'd wonder, 'Dude! That's bullcrap! How could he run away so easily? Why would BS not do something to make it difficult for them? What BS are you feeding us!!'  well you see, weed was legal in that land. And when that happens...need I say more?

So Jon & Snow ran . They tried to hide, to stay in disguise for days. They begged , borrowed, stole, and tried doing whatever they could from getting caught. This is how they landed in this single-room apartment.

*back to the present*

 "...IWANNAGOHOMMMMMMMMMMME!" Jon sobbed. He knew his efforts were futile. The only thing that he failed to understand is that his uncle had elaborated everything in detail, except for the Portal Room. Could it be because it was a weak link? The Achilles' Heel of his uncle's plan? "What a madman.." he murmured. Suddenly he realized, he wasn't high anymore. He checked Snow's eyes. He wasn't high as well. This actually gave him some motivation. "Perhaps the hunger...wears off the effects ?" he wondered. " I don't believe the fact that uncle did not develop a way back to our world. He is crazy but he is not impractical for all I know, Snow."

"purrr.."

"And so, the portal to the other side has to be here somewhere! THAT'S IT! We have to find the portal Snow!"

"purrr.."

"Yeah I know I  am in my undies. Let's get covered up and start searching!" Jon was determined. And in few minutes, they took off.

Jon roamed in the streets of Merrytopia. The streets looked highly under-developed. Obviously, the people here did not care how they lived, where they lived. They just wanted to live as equals, get their hands on day-to-day resources and stay merry. Also, the whole city looked extremely bland, except the bar-cum-palace areas. They looked -how to put it- very colorful. Almost like those posters that he had seen earlier.

And he failed to understand when did his uncle pick up this liking for Bollywood movies. "Could be when he went to Asia to collect people.." he kept wondering as it suddenly struck him. He had seen a poster of Disco Dancer, the one similar to the poster in the Portal Room. Only that this poster was there at a public theater- which would remain jam-packed day and night.  " They screen the same movie everyday, yet these weirdos keep visiting the place like pilgrims. " He tried to test his theory. With a convincing disguise( he did not need much work as the guards were stoned) , he entered the movie theater premises. Snow was tucked inside his robes, and he pushed the swarm of dopeheads as he inched nearer to the poster. He was blinded with hope so much so that he failed to notice that it is getting too easy for him and Snow to escape.

Back in our world, in the farmhouse, Jon's friends were trying hard to get Jon back from the 'trip' .

________

Written By : Soumya Mukherjee

Original Post : The Placid Rambler