Saturday, June 16, 2007

Evolution

It was dark and lonely. Above, the sky was cloudy and it was blocking the rays of the sun. Was it night or was it day? Nothing knew. With a slight shiver, a twist and a turn, 'it' started moving. Surrounded by water, deep and away from anything it ever knew 'it' started moving. The journey had begun. The destiny was unknown. All it was doing was moving, floating along to wherever the current of the oceans would take it.

Aeons passed. ‘It’ had changed its shape. It was bigger broader and fiercer; could swim; change directions; search for others; hunt; and eat. It had transformed into many other forms too. One day, it saw something far near the horizon. Nearing it, ‘it’ understood that it was not water. Something hard; something different; colours were all over this new thing. So one day, 'it' slowly with much ado about nothing changed its form and slowly crawled onto this new realm. But certain other ‘its’ chose to remain in the ocean. Over land again ‘it’ started ruling. Started living like how it lived ruling the waves and everything beneath. After some time ‘it’ started feeling that bearing the same shadow and same figure everyday was no fun. So 'it' started to change, into big and into small. It started walking on four, while certain others started balancing themselves on two. ‘It’ had by then multiplied into ‘They’. They all started walking.

Ages passed, the sun still rose in the east and kept on setting on, in the west. Monkeys shed their furry dress and named themselves ‘human’. Someone amongst them called themselves ‘man’ and they decided to rule the earth. Someone amongst them saw that a spark could grow, it could make you feel comfortable, it could cook food; Fire was born! Something rolled, and someone christened it The Wheel. No one questioned. Scars upon the land started to appear and humans started to call it roads. Someone found out that others would give them something if they gave something. ‘Trade’ was born. Someone called themselves Harappans and before long perished to some unknown danger. The sphinx rose in the Egyptian desert and people bowed at it in respect. Caesar was stabbed and Mark Anthony delivered a captivating speech. Joan of Arc was flayed alive and Shakespeare wrote books. There was a whir here and a whir there. Industrial revolution was taking place. Bullets started whizzing past and the Fuehrer shot himself to death. Pearl harbour was burnt and Japan saw the mushroom cloud. America started to be everything, while the Gandhi was on a Non Cooperative Movement with the British Rule. Monroe committed suicide and Kennedy was assassinated. America withdrew in humiliation from Vietnam. Peace was starting to grow.

And finally on a Thursday, the last day of the calendar year 1981, a boy was born. Twenty eight days later he was named. He was petted and coaxed and cajoled over by a whole lot of people. He grew up in joy. Everyday was as sweet as the toffees and chocolates he used to receive. He started going to school. He started to hate school. His teacher was suffering from the loss of her husband because the train he was traveling for work took a plunge down into a deep lake. He started to hate her more and more day by day, and she reciprocated the same. She couldn’t control herself from getting irritated at him. He started forging signatures to cover information sent to his parents. He started being rebellious in his approach to schooling and studies. He failed in his studies. He was asked to continue in the same grade as a ‘disciplinary action’. He studied once again, the whole year, the same texts. He was wondering why. Same teachers, same classroom, same desk and seat, but different friends. He did not cry. He felt humiliated though. He was just in the 4th grade. A year later he changed school. He started loving the new atmosphere. The new community welcomed him with respect. He started to be proficient in academics. After two years, he changed his school to a new one in a new locality. Here too, he passed on with brilliant grades. But, high school was a flop. The natural ambiguous thoughts and conceptions of the teenage years were driving him haywire. He was miserable in the subsequent academic examinations, but surprisingly showed brilliance for the further admission tests. Joined for a totally deviant academic line. Got manhandled by his college mates. Changed course. Enjoyed the new college, though was always short of stipulated attendance. Made a lot of friends. Bunked classes and drunk and boozed to stay high. Fell in love; a damsel so pious but a limb one less. He was 23.

One day, he drove a friend to his death. Got disfigured; lost memories and woke up a fortnight later to find that his clock had rewound 18 years into the past. He had forgotten every second of the past 23 years of life he had led till then. Spoke and acted like a toddler. He recognized none. His mother was just another woman called 'mom'. His dad was just another man called 'dad'. Did he ever fall in love? He never remembered. He started seeing someone differently. She became everything to him, mom, dad, friend, lover and what not. She was only 20, 3 years younger, his sister. She nursed him back to life. She fed him, she sung lullabies, and when he was afraid of a lot of things she watched each step he took. Finally one day he read the headline of a September 2004 newspaper. Two students met with an accident and one died! The other is hospitalized in a critical condition. And suddenly a new man was born. Got disfigured in that accident. Lost memories. Still bears scars upon my face. Still, I remain Ajay. This is the story of Evolution, My Evolution.

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