Blast from the Future

It was Monday evening, an evening that I hate the most. I was sitting in my cubicle, with my eyes staring at the screen of my PC. The black background filled with green text, and a blinking cursor captured all my attention. Well, almost all, as there still was that Windows taskbar at the bottom of the screen, which is just enough to deviate the concentration from your usual work. A friend pinged me on the Office Communicator. And next to communicator icon was the PC clock, which incidentally grabbed my full attention at that very moment. And the next moment, a few questions crossed my mind:

Quest 1 - Will I, or any other mortal for that matter, ever have the capability to control this clock, and the role it plays in our lives?

Quest 2 - Will I ever be able to change all my weekdays into Saturdays or Sundays, so that I do not have to come to office ever again?

Quest 3 – Would anybody ever be able to create a time machine, which would enable us to travel from one era to another, just like the way they show in some of the super hit Hollywood movies and some of the super flop Bollywood movies?

A super hit Hollywood movie based on the concept of time travel

And a super flop Bollywood movie based on the concept of time travel. There are many more.

Quest 4 - And the most important question of them all – Would I miss my last bus home today ‘coz it is already 9:12PM, and the bus leaves at 9:15?

Out of all these questions, I had the answer only to the last one, which had a greater weightage over the others at that point of time. However, I am a long time MBA aspirant, and just like other members of my fraternity, I have that zeal within me to solve each of the un-attempted questions from the question paper, when I return home after the test. So I started pondering over questions 1 thru 3, and try to think if I have the answer to any of these. And here are my answers to these questions:

Answer 1 – No idea. None of the options selected from ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Zero marks.

Answer 2 – Again, no clue at all. But that would be a nice situation to have. None of the two options selected again. Zero marks.

Answer 3 – Cannot say with certainty. My answer would be ‘No’, because of plain logic – If somebody creates time machine in future, let us say 50 years from now, wouldn’t that person ever test it or further use it to travel into past? And by past in future, what I mean is present in present. Have we ever encountered or heard of any time travelers from future, who used their time machines to reach our present? Or have we ever read of time travelers in our history text books? Is there any real life Marty McFly who rode a DeLorean DMC-12 to reach his past, or our present? If there was one, a sudden appearance of him in public would definitely have made the headlines of all the newspapers. Mr McFly and his machine would have been on the cover of all the magazines, be it Discover or Autocar. Or the most common picture engraved on some of the caves discovered from stone-age would have been Mr McFly riding his car, instead of the primitive man using stone-made tools to hunt down a deer. Unfortunately, this is not the case. This only strengthens my belief that invention of time machine is impossible.

On second thoughts, could those UFOs encountered in recent past by several Americans, in actual, be the time machines? Do time machines look more like rotating flying disks, rather than sports car? And could those strange looking aliens actually be the humans from future whose bodies got deformed during time travel because of the combined action of gravity, centripetal acceleration, some yet to be discovered forces of nature and travel sickness. If the answer is yes, this would be big thumbs down to the theory that there is life outside the planet. And Americans would again go back to their old popular belief that life exists only on Earth in general and USA in particular.

A human deformed partly due to enormous forces and majorly due to nausea experienced during time travel

So, again I get zero marks, this time for marking both the options.

Answer 4 – Yes, I did miss the bus that day. So I had to wait until 11 o’ clock, when an evening shift colleague of mine dropped me home in his car.

A lonely Road

Heaven it is that all seek,

Through the hells, pass I must.

The road I walk is thorns and dust.

Though the destination seems bleak,

In pain I must neither creak,

Nor waver in carnal lust.

In tempest, those who rust,

Are the ones whose lives end meek.

His name to my lips seems glued

'til the end of road I reach,

Where awaiting me stands my reward.

My eyes see what they pursued,

Since eterne, what they did beseech

The beautiful sunset boulevard.

PS: This is my first attempt at writing an Italian sonnet.

Could it be Love?

He would wonder all along if love exists.

Does it make a man out of the wildest of beasts?

Can a stolen glance make someone's heart race?

Could one soul dance to music from another's silence?

If seven seas separate the so called lovers,

Would they die each moment? Or would they even bother?

And he thinks "World's full of wishful thinking,

But this ain't love, 'coz love ain't nothing."

So he saw her that day in his neighborhood.

A grace so pure, a beauty so crude.

"Oh! What an angel face?”, his eyes sighed.

Life tried to keep its pace, but his heart defied.

And two feet couldn't move, they stood their ground.

Was it beeper in his shirt or his heart's pound?

He thought, "It's the charm most mesmerizing,

But this ain't love, 'coz love ain't nothing."

Is there anything else that his eyes could do,

Than see her each night in a dream or two?

Could they ever return to sanity again?

In the book of poetry, they searched her name.

Oh yes! In every single word he would ever read.

Infatuation it was, or so he believed,

That turned his fall into most beautiful spring,

But this ain't love, 'coz love ain't nothing.

It took a li'l while before her eyes met his,

In him, she did find her eternal peace.

She longed all the time to hold his hands,

And dance a salsa until the world ends.

A fire scorched her heart, and he could feel the same.

He kissed her and let them burn in that raging flame,

Thinking it would die out like just another fling.

As this ain't love, 'coz love ain't nothing.

Today, he walks all alone on the lane he chose,

With shadows from his past, how she spoke her vows

To a man who ain't the one she loved.

It was love, while he thought his senses bluffed.

Why didn't he say to her all the right words?

And listened to what his heart always whispered -

"Mate! It may not be to the best of your liking,

But if this ain't love, then love ain't nothing."

Can you tie down a flame?

You may tie me down in an iron chain,

And pull its ends with all your strength.

You may use your brutal force again,

And hope that I would die in pain.

You may grind your knife's edge, if you'd like

To behead me, take away my life.

Or even put my neck in a noose.

Try killing me sir, the way you choose.

But haven't you heard of what they say.

This burning flame ain't a giveaway.

You tear me apart, I spread out.

You pierce my heart and I burn aloud.

More you poison me, nearer I reach my glory.

Your hands will burn trying to end my story.

And more and more you'll cry in anguish.

But you see, this old flame won't extinguish.

All fire and blaze, that’s not me.

Sir, you don’t know me in entirety.

Have you seen the lamp in that watchman’s shed?

How it guides him, while he earns his bread.

Or those candles, that stand before God in church?

If the virtues in me is what you search,

In the darkest of darks, you’ll see through my light.

I’ll burn myself to turn your dusks bright.