Shore

To lie in the grass
Under a sea full of stars,
And pluck one to adorn my eye.
Jasmine hair and a velvet white,
Barefooted on a half moon night
Me and you, and the fireflies.

To lock our hands
And slide to the shore,
Catch some waves and dance on our toes.
Sandcastles in salty hides
Built and drowned in mighty tides,
A dreamy home, and the cozy vibe.

To weave a tale
In a fairyland…
Keep it safe, then pop the plan!
Foggy bubbles and magic high-
Daydreams washed in chuckles and sighs,
A jobless mind’s got so much to pry.

Quote of the Month #5

Blogophobia: A person affected by Blogophobia always lives under the fear of a possibility where they never get to blog again. They might have a hundred ideas in their head, and may even have sudden writing urges. No matter what, they never manage to have a single complete post. Not to mention, they are really bad at meeting commitments.

They might put out a quote a month, but that’s about it.

The Greatest Song ever!

If you don’t know already, I really love music. And I love good music.

And the song I’m talking about here, is one of my all time favourites. And I think you might have heard it (and loved it) too!

It recently got added to the UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and it gave me a reason to plug it in my earphones again.

Its soulful melody has been enchanting us since a long time, and helped some of us in our difficult times, as it did for me.

It’s a really special song, and today I want to dedicate it to each person reading this ❤.

Here’s the song.

Quote of the Month #4

You never know how tough a job is, until you do it yourself.

Did you know, that writing quotes is such a tough job that I skipped writing Quote of the Month #3 entirely?

February Story: The Cave on The Mountain

As the morning rays from the mountains poured in through the window, little Geet sat on the floor dressed up for school as her mother braided her hair, and she ran her hands through her doll’s hair.

“So… no one goes there?” she began with her usual questioning routine.

“In the cave? No,” her mother answered.

“But you haven’t actually seen the demon, have you?”

“No, I haven’t. But-“

“Your Ma told you there’s a demon. And her Ma told her that.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Why do you believe it? Maybe it was just someone crafting tales?”

Her mother smiled. She had seen this before.

“Do you really think there is a demon in the cave? Maybe it was just a tale,” little Chutki would say.

“It’s been passed down through generations. No one’s ever questioned it,” her mother would then say, very sweetly.

“It’s a folk tale, been going around for generations,” answered Geet’s mother.

“So?”

“You don’t question folk tales,” she said.

“Maybe they were too scared to ask questions. Or too dumb. I’m neither,” Chutki would say.

“Whoever said that, was either really dumb or a coward.”

“And you are neither?”

“Exactly.”

Her mother would laugh. “I know. But there are some things you shouldn’t mess with.”

“Well, some things are just not to be messed with.”

The room went silent then as Geet braided the last few strands of her doll’s hair, and hurried out of the room for school.

“I hope you’re not cooking any plans in your head,” Chutki’s mother had said that day, a little sternly.

“You aren’t thinking of actually going there, are you?,” her mother asked as she buckled up her shoes.

“No, of course not,” said Geet.

“No, of course not,” said Chutki.

***

The sky had started to turn pink, but there were no signs of Geet in the house.

Chutki, too, had taken longer than usual to come home that day.

“Have you seen Geet? She isn’t home yet,” her mother asked the girls playing outside.

“She was with me when school ended,” one of them said. “Then she left for Golu’s shop, I think.”

More time passed than would have taken her to return from the shop.

Chutki’s best friend had betrayed her that day. She had entrusted her with all her secrets. How difficult would it have been to keep it from her mother?

There was just one person then who would’ve known Geet’s whereabouts.

“Sh-she l-left for the m-m-mountain, I think,” said Palli.

Geet’s mother took a lantern and left for the crooked road that led to the mountain. It was a chilly evening, but she was sweating.

Chutki had never seen her mother so worried. She had been sweating, despite the cold air that blew through the mountains. She had carried a lantern, whose glow had washed Chutki in relief.

She was halfway up the mountain when she saw a tiny figure running towards her.

“Geet? Is that you?”

She increased her pace and looked searchingly at the figure with the lantern. It was indeed Geet.

“Ma?”

“Ma!” Chutki had said and had leapt into her mother’s arms. She had sobbed and sobbed and her mother had said nothing but calmed her.

She hugged Geet the tightest she ever had.

“They had g-guns. A-and knives.” Chutki had said when she had finally stopped crying.

“Did they hurt you?” her mother said as she scanned through her body for a possible wound.

“Ouch, Ma! It hurts!”

“Where? Where did they hurt you?”

“What? No one hurt me. It’s your hug!”

“Oh,” she said and quickly let go of Geet.

“You know, I went into the cave! And do you know what I saw there?” she said excitedly.

Chutki could never forget what she had seen that day.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Geet’s mother said suddenly. She caught hold of Geet’s hand and started descending the mountain.

“But Ma! There weren’t any demons in the cave!” Geet said, while struggling to keep up with her mother’s pace.

Chutki didn’t see any demons that day. They were humans, but much worse than the demons she could imagine. They were huge, with scary faces. And with hundreds of weapons.

“That’s enough. Let me get you home first.”

But that wasn’t what had scared Chutki. It was what she had seen.

“But Ma! You won’t believe what I saw there! It was such a different place, and it had lots of-“

“Enough, I said,” her mother said, a little sternly this time.

Skeletons. Many more than she could have counted. She was lucky, just escaping in the nick of time, and being passed as a rat.

“But I even brought something for you!”

Geet’s mother froze in her tracks.

“Look here,” she said to Geet, kneeling down and grabbing her by the shoulders. “I believe you, alright? There is no demon in the cave.”

“But-“

“It’s ok. You don’t have to tell me anything. Whatever you have brought, just leave it here.”

“But Ma-“

“I know what you must have been through, and it’s all my fault…”

“No-“

“… I should’ve just answered your questions. Poor girl, you must be so scared…”

“No, I’m not-“

“… but don’t worry, you’re safe now ok?” And she gave Geet a calming hug, but it felt more like she was trying to calm herself.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Ma, but-“

“We can talk when we get home. Just throw those things away and let’s go.”

“But Ma-“

“No buts. please. We can talk when we get home.”

“But I brought these flowers-“

“Throw them I said!” she shouted. “I’m telling you throw them and- wait. What?”

“F-flowers. I brought these flowers for you,” Geet said, pulling out handfuls of bright little sparkling things from her pocket.

Her mother stared at her in disbelief.

“Flowers?” she said in a blank shaky voice.

“Yeah. There were lots of flowers in the cave. I picked some for you.”

“Just flowers?”

“Yeah. No demons.”

She broke into tears and laughter at the same time. She dropped to her knees and hugged Geet once more.

“What is it, Ma?”

“Nothing,” she said, as she sighed in relief – as Chutki, sighed in relief.

---

This was my first story for the 2022 Short Story Challenge by Katie! (It ought to have been out in January, but a little late is better than never.) This year’s theme is ‘Folklore’ – very exciting and you’re always welcome to join in the fun!

Quote of the Month #2

It’s just too easy to offend people these days.

By the way, I think Justin Bieber’s too overrated.

Quote of the Month #1

Common sense is the most basic, yet complex, science.

Also, when you hold your breath for 3 seconds, the third toe of your right foot starts appearing just a tiny bit longer.

2021: A Lookback at the Year that went by just too quick

Here’s the thing. We survived 2020 hoping for a miracle in 2021, and we counted off the days in 2021 waiting for that miracle. Neither did it come, nor did Charlie Puth’s album, but we’ll talk about that later.

Doesn’t it feel like we just jumped from 2020 into 2022? Like, hasn’t 2021 just started? I certainly do feel like it, given that I was reminded about New Year’s Eve by an email (thanks!).

Well, I did some good things on my blog this year, and consistency couldn’t make it to the list (if you haven’t noticed already).

Here’s a lookback at the things I’m most proud of doing this year:

• Challenging myself to Katie’s 2021 Short Story Challenge. That was one of the most exciting parts of 2021! I really enjoyed it a lot, and I grew with it. (Actually, I wrote just 6 stories – half of what I should have written. Nope, not proud of that part.)
• Expressing more of myself through poetry. If I look back at it, my this year’s poems were a lot different from last year’s. I felt them flowing more freely with time.
• Trying my hand at life hacks. Ah, how can I forget these! It was something I just did for once. But the overwhelming response I got to these, just kept pushing me forward. (And trust me, it’s not the end!)
• Achieving tiny feats. Got 200 total likes. Crossed the 50 posts milestone. Completed a whole year in the blogosphere. Crossed 100 follows. Did I say 200 likes? Whoops, make it 1000.

And here are the things that got the most love this year!

• Myth
• Life Hacks 101: How to get rich quick
• Breezy
• Noda
• The Winterland
• Of Unicorns and Mermaids
• Darkness
• July Story: Crackpot

And that was the last of 2021 from my side.

Wish you all a happy and safe New Year’s Eve, wherever you are! See you in ’22!

Winds

If life was a book,
Its pages flipped a bit today
And stopped at a chapter
That wasn’t so pleasant to read.

Well I was just a kid,
And I was just fooling around,
And hurting someone emotionally
Wasn’t something I understood well.

And I think I asked her at a point
If she was okay.
And she said she was,
But her diary said otherwise.

Unintentional as it was,
And foolish as I was,
Someone had been hurt;
And sorrys couldn’t heal the past.

My pages turned,
As did the wheel of karma,
And I stood at a point
Where she had once.

A part of it I deserved,
The others I didn’t,
But who am I to decide
The fair and the unfair.

I did my share of the why’s and how’s,
And reached what I thought was the (not so) happy end.
But life had been intending to teach
A different lesson altogether.

Something I learnt more pages later,
Was one of the harder lessons;
And I definitely didn’t learn it
The easy way.

It had been intertwined in all these pages
And yet I had been blind enough not to notice,
Trusting the wrong people all along
And adorning my head with a crown of arrogance.

When you drift on the wrong path,
There are people who leave you stranded.
They have their own good reasons,
But they can’t ever be good companions.

The wind flipped over a couple pages more
And came to the one where I met a little star,
Who made so little of its presence
Amidst the dully overcrowded sky.

It shone in such light
That it took my blindfold away;
And I changed my lenses,
Viewing the world a different way.

And delivered a message I could never say out loud
But oh that’s a story for another day.
It’s time to close the windows,
The winds are really making a mess!

Trust: Six Word Story

She trusted humans. How dare she?

Mother Nature was brave enough to entrust her creation to us, ain’t it?

Written for Saturday Six Word Story Prompt.

Photo by Leonid Danilov on Pexels.com

A Thousand of Them!

A little progress every day, adds up to big results!

Starry

Gazing in the night

Deep into the darkest folds

Where shining lie stars

Lost in their own lives, and worlds,

And I, lost in mine.

This was my first attempt at writing a Tanka! Written for: November 2021 Poetry Challenge! Inspired for the challenge by Katie’s post, which is so wonderful!

Midnight Snack

Dark night.

The street lights

all blacked out,

It’s a new moon night;

Perfect for when

they hunt.

No one hears a sound

as they go about

doing their ‘job’

in total silence.

They’ve got wings

that light up

like a neon fire,

But only those can see

whose time’s near…

Petty little humans

get attracted

like iron scraps to a magnet,

And then they dig

deep into the flesh.

Meoww!

Then the lights come on

and everything’s seen.

Sirens blow,

People rush;

A body lies

in the centre of the square

and no one knows

who did the crime.

Curious humans

surround the scene,

and among them

stands the one

with blood on its fangs.

Disconnected

Ever wondered how it would be to just step into a dystopian sci-fi novel where aliens disrupt all lines of communication and there’s just a group of helpless people left wandering about? Well, that’s exactly how I feel right now.

But of course, before getting further, I ought to say this: yep, I still exist. In case you were wondering if my time in the blogosphere (or the earth-o-sphere) was up, well you were wrong. As to the reason for my absence, that’s a story for another day.

Back to now. I was supposed to receive something important on my Whatsapp that was scheduled for 9:30 p.m., which is like, almost an hour ago. I was setting up my devices when, at 9:27, I realised that perhaps the network was down. I connected to a different network, but still wasn’t receiving any messages. After 6 more minutes of a mini-upheaval, I finally realised that the net was fine. and something was wrong with Whatsapp. I googled and found out that.. well, you know it.

The immediate next thought was to Whatsapp a friend, to ask, or to inform, about the mishap, and then remembered I couldn’t do it. And since then, I’ve had about hundred thoughts in the last thirty minutes about Whatsapp’ing someone a news article, or a meme, or just a gossip, uh.

That’s like my only way of communicating since I-don’t-even-remember-when. Calling someone this late doesn’t seem like a very sparkling idea, although I might have done it if whatsapp didn’t exist.

That just made me wonder. Just imagine what would happen if aliens did really strike and disrupt the internet? Well, that would be a smart tactic for the aliens. If they just disrupted the internet before actually landing here, we’ll make the job easier for them by perishing even before they attack. Just hope that the aliens don’t read this. Or it isn’t the aliens who have caused the outage.

In case you have no company right now, and are wondering what to do next, just go to sleep. And if it is morning and you’ve just woken up, go back to sleep again. I bet you won’t be able to do so once those green and blue icons come back to action.

If you are still not sleepy yet, do some work. Once they are back, those evil little things won’t let you do that too.

And chill. Your beloved social media would be back soon. It isn’t the end of the world. Yet.

Life hacks 101: How not to pay bills (Guest Post!)

Congratulations! Also, you’re welcome. Only a few people will ever get to read this, and you’re one of them. No, no, don’t get out your chequebooks and/or credit cards, it’s free! Trust, if you read this right, it’ll be the last time you ever use any of those to pay those annoying bills.

Are you currently worried about how to pay those overdue bills? Are you broke? You are? You are.

Well, never fear, the Life Hacks fam is here for you.

How not to pay bills

Don’t get born

Come. Come here. Do you really think that out of all those sperm cells, you were the fastest? Or, are you just the only one that didn’t get the memo that ONLY ALIVE PEOPLE PAY BILLS. Unfortunately, if you’re reading this, you already fell for that scam. Boo-hoo for you. Don’t be too downcast though, I have other hacks for you.

Self-identify as an animal

ANIMALS DON’T PAY BILLS. That’s pretty self-explanatory.

Don’t pay ‘em

Do none of the previous hacks work for you? Screw ‘em. Did you get bills you can’t pay? Yes? Wrong answer. The correct answer is NO, you didn’t get those bills. CAN’T PAY BILLS YOU NEVER GOT.

Again, you’re welcome. Of course, there are other ways like working hard, being diligent, being prudent blah blah blah, but those are for noobs. We are the cool gen, and we believe in life hacks 😎.

The amazing (and super helpful 🙂) life hacks you went through right now, were written by my friend, Joshua Pregbaha! He is a cute weirdo who enjoys writing. He loves Jesus and he has an uncle that lives on the sun (feel free to go visit). If you enjoyed this, feel free to check out the blog he writes for https://ofaweirdo.wordpress.com

(Also, this is the first guest post on my blog! If you have any crazy life hacks that you might want to share, or if you have any other ideas that you think we could collaborate on, my contact page is all yours! And, don’t forget to check out Joshua’s blog! I’m sure you’ll love it!)

Life Hacks 101: How to Lose Weight Quick

And… Ms. Life Hacker is back with more fantastic hacks to make your life awesome!

Let’s start with the present. The pandemic has made us all couch potatoes. But have you actually become a potato? Are you troubled about how you’ll fit in this world (or your favourite black outfit) with all that weight you’ve gained?

Well, no worries, because I’m here with some fantastic hacks to help you out!

How to Lose Weight Quick:

Settle on moon

Did you know that Moon has 1/6th the gravity on Earth? That means you’ll weigh six times less on the Moon. And so you’ll never have to worry about gaining weight again. Effectiveness: 10 on 10.

Go down, down, down…

For this next hack, all you need to do is find an elevator. Now jump into that elevator and go to the highest floor. And now, press the button to the lowest floor, and as soon as it starts moving, you’ll start feeling weightless!

Pro tip: In case the elevator cable breaks, you’ll be absolutely weightless. (In case you are wondering, yes I did attend my physics classes really well 🙂)

Puncture your tummy

All you need to do is pick up a pin and poke it into your tummy (like you do with a balloon), and all the air will escape out leaving you as thin as a sheet of paper! Also, this hack is tried and tested, by Cartoon Network.

Then of course there are other ways like eating healthy, working out, improving your lifestyle blah blah blah, but those are for noobs. We are the cool gen, and we believe in life hacks 😎

Noda

“Weekends are fun. We wake up really early, then me and Noda go for a walk..”

“Who’s Noda?” I asked him.

I rarely visited this corner of the country, where my grandparents’ house is. But since I was here now, our neighbour’s son had very kindly agreed to give me a tour of the place. We had stopped for coffee, and now we couldn’t stop talking.

“He’s my pet. We love each other very much.”

“Oh that’s sweet! I would love to see him.”

“You would?”

“Yeah, why not. I love animals. Hey, why don’t you take me to your house? I don’t have anything much to do here anyway.”

“Um, he doesn’t live in my house. I keep him.. somewhere else.”

“Why’s that?”

“My parents… they’re not very fond of him. In fact, no one around here really likes him.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I guess they are scared of him.”

“Oh, I see. Is he too big?”

“Yes, very much.”

“Hmm, maybe that’s the reason. But anyway, I’d love to meet him!”

“Are you sure? What if he scares you?”

“Not a chance.”

It was a long walk and a little hike. We stopped at a huge wooden shelter at the isolated outskirts.

“This place is too big,” I said.

“Yeah, he’s a bit claustrophobic.”

He threw open the door and I peeked inside. Funny. It was empty.

“He’s escaped!” he shrieked suddenly.

“Whoa.. where.. wait!” I called as he sprinted back towards the town.

I struggled to keep up with his pace. We had barely reached the main road when we started hearing shrieks and screams from the other side.

We rushed to the square and before I could catch someone to ask what the commotion was all about, I caught a glimpse of the scene in front of me, and froze.

“Wh-what’s that?” I whispered.

“Noda.”

Written for Sadje’s WDYS prompt.

Genie

He granted me three wishes; said I couldn’t get more wishes as a wish.

I asked for hundred more genies.

Written for Bulbul’s Twenty Words Tuesday prompt – Wish

July Story: Crackpot

“And then you put ‘x’ here in the equation and you get the value of the-” Mr. Math Teacher’s voice was interrupted by the last bell of the day.

“So that’s it for today. You can leave.”

I was the first one to get up from my seat, not before Ted, of course.

“You seem in a hurry today, Sherly,” said Mr. Math Teacher. That obviously wasn’t his real name, but who cares what his name was. I had more important things on my mind.

“Um, yeah, I’ve got some tasks scheduled,” I said picking my bag, as I looked around to make sure that Ted was still in my line of sight. I fumbled a bit, hitting a desk, as I rushed behind him, making a very poor effort of masking the fact that I was following him. I could hear voices from the back seats, making all sorts of assumptions about why I was stalking him. Him, of all. Him, who no one talked to. Him, who didn’t belong there. Him, the nutcase. As for Ted, he seemed completely oblivious to it all.

I didn’t have to hide behind trees or duck behind objects to hide myself from him. In fact he was so busy with himself, that he was barely paying attention to where was going. His mind was completely lost in a different world, like it usually was, and his legs were just leading him home as an obligation.

I put one hand inside my bag to make sure that I had my phone with me, and also a power bank. I wasn’t going to take any risks.

It took us five minutes to reach our destination by foot. He unlocked the door and stepped inside a large dark room. I followed. And just like always, he didn’t even turn back.

Completely unaware of my presence, he seated himself inside his cabin and set about fiddling with the switches and monitors on his large dashboard. I stood right beside the corner pillar.

“So, what are we gonna do today?” he said, like you do when you are thinking of a task to do. But the fact that he wasn’t saying this to himself, but in a tone that suggested he was talking to someone else.

Now I know that Ted is somewhat of a crackpot. No, complete crackpot. And that he keeps doing weird things, which is also a reason why people prefer to stay away from him. But when he does this thing of talking in a way like he’s talking to someone else in that dark room, it just creeps me out.

This was the time to execute my mission. I took out my phone and pressed the ON button. And pressed it again. And again.

I stared at it in disbelief. No way. This couldn’t happen again. I swear I charged my phone and the power bank that morning. How could it just get discharged?!

There was something really fishy going on in the room. This Ted wasn’t as stupid as he looked. I don’t know what he’d done, but there was something in that room… some kind of a force, or a field? I don’t know. But it happened every time. Every time I took out my phone in the room, it would get discharged. I tried a camera too. Didn’t work. And so I brought a power bank, but it too showed zero battery! How come!

And that wasn’t even the weirdest part. The weirdest part was that it would get charged again as soon as I stepped out of the room. Wonderful.

I shook my phone violently, though I knew it won’t help.

“Oh, come on, it won’t work,” he said. I froze. Was he talking to me?

He didn’t talk any further though, and after a few minutes, he got up and strolled towards the inner door like he always did. He placed his hand on the door’s handle, and just before he pushed it, he said, “Don’t you want to see what’s inside?”

I didn’t know to whom he asked this question everyday, but if it was me, I would have definitely said a yes. That’s the whole point of me being there!

I expected him to walk inside like everyday, but suddenly he turned back. “Are you really not curious?”

Well, this was something I hadn’t heard him say before.

“If I were you, I would have wanted to see it with my own eyes, not with my phone.”

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as they widened in shock. I crept closer to the pillar.

“I’ve always wondered how you managed to stay here this long with all your plans failing. I thought you would have eventually ran away or gone crazy thinking I’m a ghost or an alien.” He chuckled.

There was no point in hiding now. He was definitely talking to me.

“You knew I was here?” I asked stepping out.

“All along,” he said.

“So why didn’t you say anything?”

He shrugged. “You were a great company.”

“A great company? I was spying on you!”

“Well, at least you seemed to notice that I exist. Most people don’t.”

Ouch. I tried to divert the conversation. “So why did you talk to me today?”

“Today? I was talking to you everyday.”

“Yeah, right,” I mumbled.

“So… you wanna have a look inside?”

“You’re inviting me in?”

“I thought it was obvious.”

“No, I mean, aren’t you scared that I’ll spill your secrets to the world, or report you to the police if there’s anything fishy inside?”

He laughed. “No, I’m sure you won’t do any of that.”

“What makes you so sure of it?”

“If you had to do anything of that sort, you would have done it already. And besides, you’re a great friend.”

“I’m not quite sure about that last part. We’ve barely talked.”

“You are talking to me right now. And you’ve come to see me every evening since the last week. That’s the least a friend can mean to me. So, are we friends?”

I smiled. “Of course, we are.”

“Would you like to come inside then?”

He knew my answer and walked straight towards the door, leading my way. He clutched the handle, took a deep breath and twisted it. I had never seen him being so nervous.

“Welcome to my world,” he whispered as he threw the door open.

I could not believe what I saw before me. It wasn’t a giant workshop crowded with machines, or a lab filled with strange specimens. It wasn’t anything I could have ever imagined.

I had forgotten that I even needed to step inside, so he had to pull me in. I was still trying to comprehend what my eyes saw.

My brain struggled to put the scenery in words. I couldn’t give a name to it, because I had never seen anything like it before. One thing was sure, it wasn’t just a room. It was huge, like it extended to infinity.

The background was pitch dark. The space, the ground – everything. But you could see a glimmer of gold if you looked carefully. And then, in the foreground, were bright, neon, shimmering globes that floated all around. They were of all colours you could have ever imagined and of all sizes, huge and tiny. They were hollow like soap bubbles, but they had something magical to them. Some were webbed, some netted, some with exquisite designs, and some plain. You could look at it for hours, and still couldn’t get enough of it.

“What place is this?” I asked when I could finally breathe.

“My home.”

He extended his arm in the air, and a green globe came floating to his hand. As soon as it touched his hand, it started transforming. I watched in amusement as it slowly turned… into an apple!

He tossed it over to me and I held it very carefully, afraid that it might break.

“You can eat it,” he said.

I bit into it, wondering if it was right to eat such a magical thing. And whoa, it was the sweetest and juiciest apple ever!

He held out his hand again. This time, a red globe came floating. As soon as it touched his hand, he threw it up in the air, and it burst into colourful fireworks! I stared at it until every little spec of light dissolved in the darkness.

“You can catch one, too,” he said, and I realised he was talking about the globes.

I held my hand out like he had, but none of the globes floated towards me.

He laughed. “You have to think of what you want.”

Oh, that’s how it works. I thought for a long time, but couldn’t think of anything.

“You can just randomly pick one if you are confused. That’s fun too,” he said.

I looked around me. There were so many globes, so many different ones. It was so difficult to choose just one.

I finally caught a little yellow globe that was dancing in front of me. I watched in amazement as it changed its shape, and within a few seconds, there was a tiny butterfly fluttering in my hands!

It was like a game then. We would pick any globe at random and watch it transform. We made a rose bouquet, a box of chocolates, a sparrow, a pearl bracelet, a jasmine perfume, a bug, a glass of juice, a few trees, and even a cheese burst pizza! And oh, how can I forget the little red car!

We finally made a ground of fresh green grass and dropped on it, tired. It was all so fun. Ted held his hand out and called for a globe that transformed into a cool breeze. All the fun, the soft grass beneath, the cool breeze and the jasmine perfume, made me sleepy. I closed my eyes and was halfway asleep, when I suddenly remembered something. I had forgotten to ask the most important question.

“Um, Ted,” I began, not sure how to frame the question. “What is this place? I know you said it’s your home, but what exactly is it? I mean, what is it made up of? What are these globes? What world is this? Where are we?”

Okay, I ended up asking too many questions.

In return, he just smiled. I guess he saw it coming.

“Our universe is so big, isn’t it?” he said. “So many things, so much of magic. We’ve seen so much, that we think we’ve seen everything. We are so used to labelling everything and finding the logic behind everything, that we want everything to have a name, to have a reason. We’ve discovered so much, and yet nothing.”

I wasn’t sure I understood what he said, but it seemed good. To have Ted as a friend, seemed good. To be there, at his home seemed good.

And other than this, I was just sure about one thing. That Ted certainly wasn’t a crackpot.

Life Hacks 101: How to get rich quick

Since you loved my previous life hacks so much, and found them so SO useful, I thought why not give you more tips? Let’s dive right in!

How to get rich quick:

Sleep

You must have heard about people who gave up on their sleep to work hard and get rich. Well, that’s just rubbish. In fact, sleeping is the easiest and quickest way to get rich. All you need to do is grab the best pillow, fall asleep, and dream. Dream of all the riches you want – money, houses, cars, whatever.

Get extremely lucky

If sleeping is too tiring for you, don’t worry. This next tip doesn’t even require that much effort. Step one, go buy that lottery ticket that can win you 5 million dollars or something. Step two, get extremely lucky and win.

Dig out Aladdin’s Lamp

Does this even need more explanation? Bonus tip: Ask for an extra three wishes as the third wish (You don’t need to say it, I’m smart, I know.)

Kidnap Elon Musk

It’ll take a bit of effort but I bet that guy’s money can last you 7 lives. (Indians can head towards Antilia.)

Print Money

I’ve saved the best hack for the last 🙂. Print your money – easy peasy lemon squeezy. Why are you still here? Go get your hands on that money printing machine and get all the money you want! (Plus, you’ll never run out of it.)

I hope my really useful tips will get your life hacked, oops I mean they’ll make it easier. Of course there are other ways like getting a job, selling your art piece, publishing a book, but those are for noobs. We are the cool gen, and we believe in life hacks 😎

Life Hacks 101: If your key gets locked in the Car

I’ve been watching a lot of videos on Youtube these days, about what they call ‘Life Hacks’. And frankly, I’ve found much much easier ways to do things than what they say. So I thought why not share it with you guys so you can help yourself out if you get stuck in such a situation. Let’s start!

Has it ever happened to you that you left your car keys inside the car, then came out, locked the car and now you are stuck outside? If yes, here are some tips that can help you out!

How to avoid getting your key locked in the car:

Don’t drive a car

This is the easiest way out. If you don’t drive a car, then you won’t have a key, and it wouldn’t get locked in the car because you don’t have a car. Easy, right?

Don’t leave your key inside the car

Well if you chose to ignore the first tip and did buy a car, don’t worry. We have a way out here too. Don’t leave your key inside the car. So you won’t be stuck outside. Pretty simple.

Smash the window

So you did buy a car and did leave your key inside. What next? Don’t worry! We have a way out! All you need to do is take a nice big hammer and smash open the window, and then take your key out. Now what about the repairing cost, you’d ask? We’ve a solution to that too! You don’t need to get the window repaired! Because what if you lock your key inside again? You’d need to break the window again, right? So don’t get it repaired, easy.

Learn some magic

So you bought a car, left the key inside and now you don’t want to break your window (come on, why wouldn’t you want to smash your window!) No worries. Here’s what you’ve got to do: learn a really simple magic trick. You’ll just call your key out and it’d jump out! Really, no breaking or smashing is involved. All that needs is one magic mantra, a wand, and someone professional to teach you magic. I personally know some magicians myself. You can contact me through my contact page, and I’ll set you up.

I hope my really useful tips and tricks will help in not getting your keys locked in your car. Of course there are other ways like using a duplicate key, or using a scale to pick the lock, or calling a locksmith, but those are for noobs. We are the cool gen, and we believe in life hacks 😎.

The Winterland

I woke up in a Fairy Winterland,

Fluffy mounds of snow and rainbow bands,

Creamy skies and chocolate clouds

And the scent of magic in the air.

It had sliver trees and golden leaves,

Velvet flowers and birds in their sleeves,

And all you needed was a sniff in the air

To get the magic juices flowing in your blood.

And then a fairy came floating by,

She bounced and swirled and danced in the sky,

And she gave her wand a massive twirl

And bounds of snow came falling by.

There were little and big snowmen too,

Carrot noses and buttons for the eyes,

And then a strong wind started to blow

And all their hats dropped to the ground.

There were magic fruits with magic powers,

And sparkling water that smelled of a charm,

And every little beast in the wide snow town

Had powers that I could only dream of.

There were musical bells and violin tunes,

Sweet melodies in their voices too,

And when you needed a ride around,

There’d be a hundred to help you out.

I woke up in the Fairy Winterland,

With no hint of how I ended up there,

Perhaps a fairy picked me up from my bed

And carried me to the magic winterland.

Myth

Eerie night, no company in sight,

What a place, oh so quiet.

No moon in the sky, chilly winds all through,

It’s on nights like these that myths come true.

She came to him in the middle of the night,

Pounced upon him and gave a hard cold bite.

Pain shot up and sprang through his veins,

Drummed in his ears a thousand mighty trains.

Bitter was the truth, harsher than a knife,

He was tethered to her for life.

Written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt

Writing for a prompt is so fun!

Another tiny feat!

So the anniversary celebrations weren’t even over yet… and I received this notification! We’re now a fam of hundred!!

A big thanks to all of you who’ve been a part of this and supported me all along! And to those who have just joined: I hope you enjoy the ride!

Cheers fam!

June Story: Paper Boats

Being in Mr. K’s office was never too fun, but a dark rainy day only made it worse. Sanya’s eyes drifted lazily towards the window as she tried to decide which one was gloomier – the hazy cloudy sky outside, or the atmosphere inside the office.

Mr. K was a grumpy businessman, somewhere in his fifties. He was rich, his personality boasted it. No one knew much about him, he wasn’t anywhere near chatty and no one dared to go ask him about his personal life. His face was almost always twisted in a scowl. His company was making profits, which was the only reason people worked with him, and under him. If you were lucky, you could go a whole day without having him scream on you and throw tantrums. That is, if you were lucky – lucky enough to get to see the sun rising from the west.

He’d never had a personal assistant who lasted more than a year in his office. Sanya, though, was an exception. She was going to complete five years as his PA. It was a real feat. People said she was extraordinary. She, on the other hand, was only here because she couldn’t get a better job. The moment she found a better paying job, she would slam down her resignation.

“I’VE TOLD YOU A HUNDRED TIMES TO SERVE ME BETTER COFFEE!” Mr. K’s booming voice broke Sanya’s train of thoughts. She rushed into his cabin to find him screaming on the peon. She indicated him to leave and tried to change Mr. K’s mood.

“Shall I open the curtains sir? It’s too dark in here.”

He glared at her as if he would eat her up. She ignored him and pulled the curtains away. The tiny amount of light that poured through the clouds into the room seemed to lift the mood up a bit. The rain had stopped by now and there were puddles all over the road.

“We have to leave for the meeting, sir,” she reminded him. “The new deal, at the hotel,” she added when she realised he was so angry that he had no idea what she was talking about. He nodded, still fuming, and stomped out as she followed.

They stepped out of the magnificent office and started to cross the road to the other side where his car waited for him. By now, boys from the neighbourhood had gathered around to jump in the puddles left by the rain. Some also carried papers with them and sat down at the edge of the road as they carefully folded out colourful boats.

Mr. K avoided them carefully as he made his way to the other side of the road. He threw them a look of disgust each time his eyes met any of theirs. He had almost crossed the dreaded road when he paused to receive his ringing phone. It was just a second before a boy jumped into a puddle next to him and splashed the muddy water on his shiny black clothes.

Sanya froze in place as Mr. K dropped his phone back into his pocket and glared at the child, like an eagle looking at its prey. The child smiled apologetically, unaware of what was going to happen next. Before Sanya could blink, Mr. K reached out towards the boy in one leap with his hand stretched forward, but stopped just a few millimetres from him. Something else had caught his eye.

He was looking at something behind the boy. Sanya followed his gaze to find a few boys huddled around a big puddle, racing their paper boats. Mr. K slowly crept towards the tiny group. Sanya tried to read his expression – it wasn’t of anger, no, it was a bit like curiosity. He reached upto them and leaned over to study the boats.

He watched as a tiny boy, grinning through his missing teeth, dropped a pink little boat into the water. It sent ripples through the water; ripples that rang through Mr. K’s mind and hit a spot that was long buried deep into his heart.

The ripples. Ripples that were born when little Kumaran made tiny colourful boats and floated them on the rain puddles.

“Kumar!” his mother would then call, her voice sweeter than the essence of rain.

And he would run to his little cottage in the middle of the village. His home. His very own and only home.

He would hug his mother and seat himself in her lap, never getting off till she fed him food with her own hands.

And then they would go out in the rain, on the tiny swing that his mother had tied for him between two trees in the village.

“Higher!” he would say, and his mother would swing him till he was all drenched in rain and laughter.

And she would dress him like Kanha for Krishna Janmashtmi and feed him butter and say that he was the most beautiful child in the world.

All would be fun and good… until the sunset.

The sunset. Darkness would fall and he would return. He who was the only pain in his life. He who was the face of monstrosity for him. He who snatched away all his happiness. His father.

How could little Kumaran forget that night. When he smiled his last smile.

It was a dark monsoon night. Kumaran had played outside the whole day, making paper boats. He was really tired. He hugged his mother and lay on his bed, and his eyes closed involuntarily.

He didn’t know what happened after he fell asleep, but the next time he opened his eyes, he could hear voices from the other room. No, not voices, screams. His mother’s screams.

He rushed to the door, but it was locked from the other side. He cried for help, but there was no one to help him in the middle of the night.

He somehow managed to break open a window, but it was impossible for his brain to comprehend what his eyes saw.

He ran away the next day after they took away his mother’s body. It was a decision taken in anger. An anger he felt for the first time in his life, and something that never left his side again. He had wanted to run away from the man that ruined everything, but he was also running away from all the good memories of his mother, of his home. His very own home.

Sanya watched as a dozen expressions crossed his face – a sudden realisation, nostalgia, sadness, anger and back to another realisation via a bunch of emotions that she couldn’t understand. And then, for the first time in her life, she saw him smile.

She didn’t understand, and never would, and neither would anyone else. For what was happening was only known to Mr. K and his heart.

A whole freaking year!!

Can you believe it’s been a whole year since I made my first ever blog post?! I can’t!

It’s been a roller coaster journey, full of ups and downs, highs and lows. There’s a dozen emotions you’re going through while you’re up on the coaster (of course I won’t know because I’m too much of a scaredy cat to actually go up on the ride.) But when the journey ends, you just feel exhilarating – which is exactly what I’m feeling right now.

But of course this isn’t the end! It’s just the start of a bigger journey!

Now before I flow too much into emotions and deliver a big fat Bollywood-style speech, I’ll stop right there and save some words for future anniversaries.

What’s a party without pudding??

Here are some highlights of the year…

My silly little first post: Spooks, the Ghost

The first part of the Fourth Dimension: The Mission

The journey really started from here… it opened a whole new world for me!

The first time I wrote something on demand: A trip to Egypt

It was honestly so fun to write!

My first award post! The Liebster Award

The first time I was out of ideas for the story and decided to do something new: Inverted

The first time I posted a non-silly poem (and I’m so glad I did that!): Shine O Moon

My first story for the 2021 Short Story Challenge: Home Away From Home

I’m learning new things each day!

Star Posts:

The Earth Day post

The Game Post

Most talked about: Please Help!

Most loved: Breezy

Thank you for riding with me!!

Darkness

When darkness lingers all around,

And you see not a single ray of sun,

And it seems the clouds are after you,

Ready to engulf you in their stormy rage…

All you want is to run

And run till you leave the dark behind,

But you can’t, because it’s too dark

to see the path ahead.

And then you call for help

And someone comes to rescue-

A friend,

Someone who’s always pulled you out

of the darkest of tunnels.

“Hand me a torch,” you say;

“Why?” they ask;

“Because it’s dark!” you say.

Isn’t that obvious?!

They look at you

And burst into a laugh,

And laugh and laugh

till they turn red.

“Why do you think it’s dark?” they ask.

“Because there’s clouds all around!” you say.

They look at you and laugh again,

And laugh till there’s tears in their eyes.

And before you could ask what’s funny,

They reach up and pull away the sunglasses from your face,

And laugh while you wonder

How the clouds vanished so fast 🙂

Sometimes, it isn’t the situations that are dark,

It’s us who shield ourselves from seeing the right path.

Make sure to keep someone around to snatch away your sunglasses 😉

What is it?

Artificially brewed,

Carefully dyed,

Evenly frozen,

Gargled, heated,

Instantly juiced,

Knotted loosely,

Marinated next,

Organic pineapple quarters

roughly scooped,

Tossed up vigorously

with xanthophyllous yellow zucchini.

And that’s the recipe. Only thing I don’t know… is what it is for.

What did I just cook?? Can you tell?

Of Unicorns and Mermaids

Magic and marvel –

Oh yes, they exist!

Not in your eyes,

perhaps no,

But surely in mine,

even if closed!

It’s there, just there,

right there in my dreams,

Oh what a magical place,

With unicorns and mermaids!

Oh, they’re there in yours too?

Maybe they are,

But surely not as they’re in mine!

Coz I have unicorns that dive,

Oh yes they dive!

Deep, deep into the blue sea,

And swim far and wide

With all the fishes, red and gold,

And wash the waves with their sparkly light!

And mermaids that fly,

Oh yes they fly!

High, high above the fluffy clouds,

And soar through the sky

With flocks of birds, chirpy and brown,

And light the whole sky with their magical trails!

Don’t lose hope if you don’t find them in yours,

Reality is more unpredictable than dreams,

Maybe you’ll wake up some day

To find horses in your aquarium

And fishes in the skies!

May Story: Good or Bad?

Goodness sprouts in the most unexpected of places. When the city life bustled with greed and deceit, a tiny bit of innocence was born in the slum outskirts of the city, in the form of eight year old Biju.

Biju’s family barely managed to survive on their meagre resources. They lived in a tiny ‘house’, if it could be called so, with a tin roof. His lived with his parents, an elder brother and a little sister who hadn’t yet turned one. The whole family contributed in making money for the house. But Biju wasn’t really happy with their ways.

His parents were pickpockets. Often, it started with an act of begging, and his mother would use his baby sister as a way to invite pity. And then they would steal someone’s wallet or snatch away jewellery. His father was fired from the factory he worked in once, and since then he hadn’t been able to find a job, and found it easier to steal, since it required no qualification. They had expected their kids to do the same. And so they did, at least his brother, but Biju was a rebel. He wasn’t going to do all of that.

His parents would force him to go out in the streets, and he would, but never steal. But in the evening, he would present the family with quite a humble sum of money, surely not a lot, but some. Where did he get this money from?

Well, it seems God had gifted him with both morality and creativity. He would roam around the streets and collect any small pieces of plastic, bottle caps, and bits of metal that he could find. He would then settle near the lake and join those bits and pieces together to create toys – yes, toys – small, dynamic toys. He once created a tiny car that actually ran, and a monkey that jumped and a little drum that banged itself when it was spun. He made all sorts of toys, all different. He then sold those for a sum of five or ten Rupees each.

One night, he returned home to find himself in a quarrel that took place almost every few days.

“I don’t like what you do,” he would say.

“Then you don’t have to live here,” his father would say.

“Please, he’s just a kid,” his mother would say.

“It’s alright Ma, you all will never understand,” he would say, and go to bed hungry. It was like a routine, but Biju was now fed up with it.

The next day he woke up fully determined to do something big. He worked twice as hard to collect all the stuff that he could and went by the lake to build something. Surprisingly, he couldn’t think of any ideas today. It was getting late, so he picked his stuff and went by the road to sell the toys he had made the other day.

He got a few customers, most of whom were accompanied by stubborn little kids who just wanted that one toy. Others were people who admired his skills.

Evening had fallen. He hadn’t made a really good business today. Just as much as he earned every other day, perhaps a bit less. He had started to pack his stuff when suddenly a black car stopped in front of him. He looked up at the car and it’s passengers curiously. It was obvious that they had come to buy his toys, but he wasn’t really sure, since it wasn’t the usual type of vehicle that came to buy his stuff. It was much, much bigger.

A man in a black suit stepped out of the car. He bent down, removed his glasses and studied Biju’s toys intently.

“Are you Biju?” he asked.

“Y-yes, sir,” Biju replied, surprised that someone just called him by his name.

“Did you make these toys yourself?” he asked again.

“Yes sir, all of them.”

“Where did you get these designs? Did you copy them off from somewhere?”

“No, sir. They are all my own.”

The man studied the toys once again.

“How much do you earn in a day?”

“About 80 to 100 rupees.”

“You are a really talented boy. I want you to come with me,” the man finally said. “You make these toys and I’ll sell them. I have a very big company. We’ll earn a lot together.”

“Really?” Biju asked in surprise, hopes rising to the sky. “How much money will I get?”

“Enough for you to live like a king. You’ll have a very big room, all to yourself, and new clothes and good food. You can even go to school if you want.”

“And my family?”

“You’re coming alone. This offer is just for you. You have the talent. And only talent sells. Now tell me, will you come with me?”

Biju ran the things over in his mind. Go with him, a voice said. It’s all for your own good, away from poverty, away from all struggle, away from all evil. That’s right, he thought. Good food, good clothes, education… and money, all from his own talent.

But what will he do with the money? Who’ll he earn the money for if his family’s not with him? Don’t go, a second voice said. You can’t just leave your family alone.

What will he do then? the first voice said. Go back into all the evil? Live with a family of crooks? Of course not! He’s got a whole life ahead of him.

Biju heard the two voices in silence, the voices of his conscience. Going back home was what he should do. But wouldn’t he be supporting the bad by doing that? So obviously it was better to go with the man and live a life of honesty. But wouldn’t it be bad to leave his family all alone and enjoy all the luxury alone? What was good, what was bad?

It’s not about good or bad, a third voice said, calmer and firmer than the first two. It’s about love. Good doesn’t always win, bad never should. But love always must.

***

It was 10:30 in the night. But Biju hadn’t yet returned home. His parents were pacing through the house, half angry, half worried. His brother was out looking for him in the streets. He couldn’t find him anywhere.

A while later, there was a knock on the door and Biju entered the house. His father burst on him instantly. He screamed and screamed, but Biju didn’t say a word. After he left, Biju ran to his mother and hugged her tight.

“Why didn’t you go?” she asked.

“How do you know about it?”

“Perhaps I can read your mind. Because I love you.”

“Which is why I didn’t go.”

Breezy

Fluffy ice cream clouds,

The cherry of a red sun,

A swing bed underneath

And breeze through my hair.

An endless sky of things and thoughts,

Hues of orange, of pink and blue,

Wild birds up and above

And a flowery scent throughout.

A golden light intertwined

With the mad shadowy shapes,

Salty waters in my sight

And seashells buried in the sand.

No it isn’t a heaven,

(but maybe more than that)

It’s just I haven’t been on a vacation…

Can I get a beach home-delivered?

A hiatus.. is that what I need?

For quite some days now, creativity seems to have chosen to part ways with me. Yep, we broke up. Me and creativity.

I would sit to write a few lines, maybe a poem or something, and end up with a completely blank screen hours later. I don’t know what’s happening. Maybe all my ideas are exhausted and I won’t be writing ever again? Or maybe my brain just needs a break? I think the second one.

So yeah, I think I’ll take a little break from writing, although it’s already been a lot of days. I’ll use the time to patch up our differences, and then maybe she’ll pity me and come back. Creativity, of course.

I’ll go then. See you soon.

(Does it sound like I’ll never come back? Uh uh, let me change it.)

See you very very soon!

April Story: The Tree House

And this morning I fed the squirrels the remaining nuts. And then I returned to my tree house in the middle of the jungle. It’s the best home I could ever have.

It doesn’t look big from the outside, but inside, it’s a complete heaven! And did I tell you about Poinky? He’s my pet monkey and my best friend. He loves me a lot! He always stays with me, never leaves me alone. He even talks to me. He’s my only family…

Family. Where’s my real family? I don’t know. I have no mum, no dad. But it doesn’t matter, does it? I have the whole jungle to myself. And that just reminded me of the Happy Tree!

Yes, the Happy Tree. I named it so because it always makes me happy. Whenever I feel sad, I just go sit under that tree. The cool air that blows through it always makes me smile. And then I climb on it and pluck the fruits that grow on it, and then I enjoy those fruits while watching the sunlight pour through the leaves of the Happy Tree and make funny patterns on the ground.

Then sometimes Poinky and I race to the Mirror Lake. The water in it is so cool and sweet and so clear! Just like a mirror. I can even see my face in it. And there are butterflies all around it.

It’s also so much fun riding Roarey’s back. The way he sprints all through the jungle, around the lake and through the trees.. it’s amazing! You don’t know Roarey? He’s a tiger. Scared? Haha, don’t worry, he’s my friend. If you ever come to visit me, I’ll let you have a ride too.

And then in the evening I go to the Happy Tree again. There’re hundreds of birds up there. But only in the evening. And they all sing together in such a melodious voice.. oh! And when I whistle to them, they all circle me and even do a little dance!

And you know, when you climb on my tree house’s roof at night, you can see thousands of stars in the dark sky. They are always in so many different shapes and you can spend the entire night watching them. Such a lovely home I have…

But then sometimes I slip into a dream. I feel like I get trapped in it. I don’t live in my tree house in the dream. I live in some apartment at almost the same height as my tree house, but in a tall building.. skyscraper, they call it.

And there are people all around me. I feel very scared when anyone’s near me. And then two humans call themselves my ‘parents’, my ‘family’. How could that be possible! I say they are lying, I try so much to keep them away. But they don’t listen to me. I don’t care much, it’s just a dream anyway, right?

And you know, even Poinky doesn’t talk to me in the dream! And that’s the worst part of it. He just sits there. Doesn’t blink, doesn’t move, doesn’t eat, doesn’t breathe. I hate when that happens. And when I tell those ‘parents’ of mine that Poinky isn’t eating something, they tell me he can’t eat or move! But he can, right?

And there are more people there than I’ve ever seen anywhere. They come to me, talk to me, and when I tell them anything about my tree house, they see me like there’s something wrong with me! I feel like crying, like running away from there. They don’t believe anything I say. No one does. But you do, right?

And they all talk behind my back. They think that I don’t know anything, but I hear everything they say. Just last week I heard them saying that I was ‘diagnosed with schizophrenia’. I don’t even know what that means. Is it like a bad word? Are they cursing me? I’ll tell Roarey about it, he’ll teach them a lesson. These people, they say that the jungle isn’t real! That my tree house doesn’t exist! But I’ve seen it! I live in it! It’s my home!

It’s real, right? My home, the jungle, it’s all real, right? Right?

***

And with yesterday’s post, I completed a total of 50 posts on this blog! It’s been an incredible journey till here… cheers to the many more miles to come!

© 2021 Oddball Thinks

The Game of Fours and Eights

The virus has been around for more than a year now, and we still see no signs of a farewell. While it has locked us all in our homes and put a halt to all social events, it has certainly brought us closer to our families and opened doors to more fun activites.

And just the other day, I was playing a really fun board game with my family. I’ve been playing it with my grandparents since I were a kid. We call it Changa-Ashta, which translates to ‘Fours and Eights’.

Digging into a bit of history, the game derives its origins from the ancient Indian game of Pacchisi or Chaupar, which is also referenced in the epic Mahabharata. It is slightly similar to Ludo, which too originated from Chaupar. It is popular in different regions of India, although it is known by different names and has dozens of regional variations.

It’s easy to learn and really very fun to play. You don’t need to purchase anything from the market for the game, all of its components can be easily found at home.

And since the virus doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon, I thought I could share about the game with you all so that you could have hours of fun while you’re locked in your homes!

The Game

The game can be played by 2 to 4 players. More the players, more the fun. The players take turns to move their playing pieces forward till the finish box by the throw of cowries (more about it later). Also, you’ll learn the game real quick if you’ve ever played a game like Ludo.

The Board

The playing board can be easily sketched out on a piece of cardboard or chart paper or drawing sheet using a pen, crayon or brush. It is a 5×5 grid with crosses marked in the middle squares of the rows adjoining the edges and the very centre square, as you can see below.

My board. I made it on a piece of hard board using a white crayon.

The Die

Cowrie shells (or kaudi, in Hindi)

In this game, cowries are used as die. Four cowries are used. They are shuffled in hand and thrown, just like a normal dice. The number of inverted cowries determines the number of blocks to be moved by a player’s playing piece.

• 

  One inverted cowrie: 1 block

• 

  Two inverted cowries: 2 blocks

• 

  Three inverted cowries: 3 blocks

• 

  None inverted: 4 blocks

• 

  All inverted: 8 blocks

(If you are not able to find cowries in or near your house, you can also use pistachio shells as a substitute.)

The playing pieces

Playing pieces are a fun element of the game. You can use different types of grains, seeds, seashells, nut shells, coloured pieces of bangles, handmade tokens or basically anything you find around the house as playing pieces. You can also use plastic tokens that are used in other board games. The more creative, the better 😉. Each player will require four playing pieces.

Different playing pieces I’ve collected over the years- kidney beans, tamarind seeds, seashells, pieces of bangles

The Rules

Each player starts by placing his/her playing pieces in one of the cross marked boxes at the edges of the board, which becomes his/her ‘Home Square’.

The Home Squares

A player would have to race all four of his playing pieces to the ‘Winning Square’, which is the cross marked box in the centre, to win.

The Winning Square

The players have to follow a certain path to reach the Winning Square from their Home Square. They start from their Home Square and move in the right hand side direction, along the edge of the board. They finish a full path along the edges in an anticlockwise direction, till the square which is in the immediate left of their Home Square. Then they go straight into the Inner Ring and go in the clockwise direction till the square which is just above their Home Square. Then they go straight into the Winning Box. It might sound a bit complicated here, so I’ve illustrated the path below.

The path a player follows when he starts from the blue box as his Home Square

The players take turns to throw the cowries and move their pieces accordingly. You get an extra chance to throw cowries when you get a 4 or 8 (and hence the name), or when one of your playing pieces reaches the winning box.

Killing

If your piece lands on another player’s piece, you ‘kill’ the other player’s piece. The killed piece then goes back to the home square and starts over. And you get an extra chance. However, the playing pieces can’t be killed when they are in any of the cross marked boxes.

Grouping

You can also ‘group’ your playing pieces. For example, if two of your own playing pieces land in the same square, you can group them together, although it’s optional. Thereby, the grouped pair would only move in factors of two. For instance, if the cowries show a 2, the grouped pair would only move 1 box (since there are two pieces). If it shows 4, the pair would move two boxes. Similarly, you can also group 3 or 4 playing pieces and move them accordingly.

You can break the groups at any time you want. You can also add pieces to or subtract pieces from the group. Another advantage you get by grouping your pieces is that a single piece cannot kill grouped pieces and vice versa. Nor can grouped pieces kill other grouped pieces. Only single pieces can kill single pieces.

Inner Ring

When you are in the Inner Ring and you see another piece approaching and you think that your piece could be killed, then you have the option of going around the Inner Ring again. This means that if you are waiting for a favourable number on the cowries so that you can go into the Winning Box and there’s an opponent piece coming to kill you, and you get a number that exceeds the winning number, then you can go round the Inner Ring again. You can do this as many times as you want before entering the Winning Square. However you can only enter the Winning Square through the box above your Home Square (as illustrated in the path diagram).

Conclusion

And that was it. That’s what the game’s all about. I hope I was able to get it across to you the right way. C’mon now! Don’t just sit there. At least try to draw a board. Search for some material. Maybe it isn’t as difficult as you think it is. No, this post wasn’t just for reading. It was for you to try something out, something new. Spend time with your family. This time isn’t coming back. You’ve got it in you! Try it out, play with your friends or family… and tell me if you had fun!

(P.S.: Have you ever played this game before? Or some variation of it? If you have, do tell me!)

© 2021 Oddball Thinks

The Earth Day Melody!

Happy Earth Day, earthlings!

Let’s take a moment to appreciate and thank Mother Earth for the things she gives us – from shelter to food to oxygen to the colourful nature.

Another moment, to apologise for the troubles we have caused her, knowingly or unknowingly – from pollution to wars to deforestation to poaching to littering.

And yet another moment to think of what possible help we could provide her – from planting trees to cleaning our surroundings to using eco friendly materials to being kind to our fellow earthlings to encouraging others to do the same.

And of course it doesn’t stop here! We’ll have to put it all (and much more) into practice as well!

With that said, it’s time for a little celebration!

Here I present a wonderful song on cleanliness written and sang in her enchanting voice by my friend, Prasansha Kumari. She is an avid nature lover herself and often spends her free time on her rooftop – sometimes at sunrise with all the birds or maybe at night with the moon. This song itself was recorded amidst the colourful birds that come to visit her in the morning. Hope you enjoy this melodious piece!

Click here to watch

Lyrics:

धरती माँ को फिर से सजाये

एक समय 
कुछ ऐसा था 
प्रकृति हमारी 
बड़ी खुश थी।

अंजान थी वो
इस बात से कि
एक समय 
कुछ ऐसा होगा– 
जब बच्चे उनके 
भूल जाएँगे उन्हें 
उन्हें मैला कर
फिर ना साफ करेंगे;
माँ हमारी 
नाराज़ होकर
फिर यूँ देंगी 
हमें सज़ा।

तो चलो आओ मिलकर 
हम हाथ मिलाए
घर से शुरुआत कर
धरती माँ को फिर से 
सजाये...

स्वच्छता ही सपना है 
सपना ये हमारा है।
करना अब इसे पूरा 
ईरादा ये हमारा है।
हरी चादर ओढ़ाकर 
इसका ज़ेब बढ़ाना है।
कूड़ेदान को
हर जगह लगाकर 
कचरा ना अब इधर–उधर फैलाना है ।

तो चलो आओ मिलकर 
हम हाथ मिलाए
घर से शुरुआत कर
धरती माँ को फिर से 
सजाये...

English translation:

Let's make Mother Earth clean and green again

There was once a time
When 
Mother Earth 
Was extremely joyous

Unaware she was
of the fact that
There would be a time
when 
her children
would forget all about her...
They would savage her
And won't sanctify again;
Our Mother would 
Be so upset
That she would then
Punish us all.

So come let us all
join our hands
Let's start from our homes
And make Mother Earth 
clean and green again...

Cleanliness is the vision,
This dream is ours.
To do it now
is our only purpose.
Covering it with a blanket of greenery,
We have to add glory to its beauty.
Installing bins
In every corner,
We have to stop littering refuse.

So come let us all
join our hands
Let's start from our homes
And make Mother Earth 
clean and green again...

***

Let us pledge to bring back Mother Earth’s glory before we suffer her wrath… it’s never too late to begin 😃

© 2021 Oddball Thinks

Cascade

I find my mind

Tangled

In a cascade of thoughts

Overthinking,

Working harder than it really should;

In the darkest of nights

I’m exploring the void,

From where my thoughts come

And where I expect them to go;

Sometimes they are just blurry pasts,

Or maybe some future hopes,

Rarely about the present;

They come like a whirr of trains

Overspeeding

Often crashing

I’m afraid

They might derail,

As perhaps they have many times before;

I think of all the things I shouldn’t,

I try to detach myself

Losing my true self in the process

And become someone who I really don’t know;

And in the midst of all this,

I’m caught again

In a cascade of infinite thoughts.

Déjà vu! (and exams cancelled?!)

Time seems to repeat itself. Once again we are back to where we started from. It’s 2021… but voila! Doesn’t it all seem like 2020? Like it’s all happened before.

To me, it does. Just like the April of 2020, the virus is going bananas again (and even more). And just like that time, lockdown is back too. And it all seems like a repeat telecast.

This morning, once again we helped my mom set up cameras and papers for teaching (she’s a Chemistry teacher, and a rather good one) like we had done the last time. Once again we had to struggle with Wi-Fi and microphone cords and phone orientations. Once again we had to keep our voices low because “shhh, mum’s in a class!”. Once again, I couldn’t help but admire her teaching skills. Once again it seemed like we were back in 2020.

And then yesterday, the worst thing in the world happened. They cancelled the exams! And not just any exam – the grade 10th Board exams!! How could they do that?! 😠😠

For those of you who are unaware, the 10th standard exams hold an “immense” value here in India. They are conducted by the Education Board and the results are really valuable, whatever.

The thing is that I had been studying for it since I-don’t-exactly-remember-when (they were scheduled in May). But I was studying at least! And then a few nincompoops started the demand of cancelling the exams. I mean you can go to parties and weddings and to the mall and for shopping and to the movies, but you can’t give the exam… why? Because there’s a virus out there, oh! Wow.

The unfortunate news came out yesterday evening, which I celebrated with a bout of vomiting. Though I know for sure that there are hundreds of students out there who are actually partying. Yes, these are the same people who didn’t pick up their books the whole year and had the exams cancelled in the name of a virus.

I know there is a virus out there, and I know that we need to be concerned about it. And I am as worried about it as everybody else. And I am also well aware that there are some students who were really concerned about their safety during the exams, but there are just a handful of those. Although, if the conditions are so adverse, I really can’t understand how they could carry out election rallies and the Kumbh Mela in such situations when they can’t even conduct our exams.

Anyway, it wasn’t easy for my brain to adjust to this new reality where I was suddenly aimless (at least temporarily). And so, after a grumpy morning and a dose of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and a long afternoon nap, and of course this post, I finally feel better.

And one more thing! I couldn’t post the March story for the 2021 Short Story Challenge, since I fell ill then. I’ll continue with it from this month 🙂

Stay safe ✌

Please help!

This post is a bit odd, please be patient and read till the end. There is something I need serious help with, and I think you need to know the background of it. While you read this, there might be several instances where you feel that it’s impossible or impractical or illogical for such things to happen. But I have experienced it – all of it. I haven’t told anyone about it yet. But I have to. It all started with a pen.

I found it last month on my study table. I still have no idea how it got there. I thought it belonged to Mum so I put it on her table. Strangely enough, I found it again on my table the next day. I thought mum must have meant to give it to me, so I kept it. Even now, as I think of the moment I picked that pen up, I can feel my pulse rising. Why did I have to do that?

I rarely used the pen for writing, since I had a dozen other pens. But there was something about this pen that really intrigued me. Some sort of strange vibes. And then slowly I realised something was wrong. And this was the first time that I heard the pen. Yes. You read that right.

That night on, I couldn’t sleep peacefully. I kept having bad dreams and woke up to strange sounds in the middle of nights. Although it’s only recently that I realised it had something to do with the pen, or maybe it’s just a coincidence? I really don’t know.

I finally decided to talk to Mum about it. It was as difficult for me to explain everything that was happening as it is to write about it. She didn’t believe me either, although my words sure got her worried. She said that I needed to spend less time on my table and should indulge in new hobbies. She said that I was stressing myself too much.

After this incident, I decided that no one’s going to believe me and I need to handle this on my own. And as I started investigating the pen more and more, I found that it spoke actual words. It said horrible things. Things that I don’t wish to write here, since I am already freaking out.

Also, for some reason, no one else could hear anything the pen said. Is that the right word? Can pens say anything? Ugh, I am going crazy!

So I googled about it and found things that scared me even more. I don’t intend to frighten any one of you here, so let me just put it this way: there are only certain people, other than me, who can listen to what it says. I don’t know if it’s correct, but I’ve recorded it and I am going to attach the recordings at the end of this post.

And that’s the help I need. I want you to go through the recording and tell me if you can hear anything. I actually wanted to share more details, but I guess I don’t have the courage to go any further. I’ll leave it to you.

Click here for the recording.

A Frustrated Writer

The laptop is turned on

Like every other day

Keys are tapped randomly

To forge out words

From the mind’s tangled tale.

Alas!

Reality falls behind expectations

A well defined plot seems like a bunch of errors

The backspace key is pressed more than any other,

A white screen is left behind every time

While the mind is filled with hues of hopelessness

What a contrast!

The laptop is thrown away

A notebook is brought in,

Some words are scribbled

A few sketches doodled,

Yet all in vain.

Ah, what pain!

Notebook dumped away as well

Bedcovers brought in this time,

Not to write, but to hide in;

Eyes are shut, dreams are seen

And the most unexpected thing happens.

Creativity strikes!

Bedcovers are thrown

Laptop is brought in again,

Notebook as well;

How strange is it that the best things happen

when you expect them the least.

And there we go!

Keys are tapped again,

Notes made as well,

Intentionally this time;

Let’s see what’s made of the tale

That took so much pain.

But oh, alas!

Words stop flowing as suddenly as they began,

Doubts begin to rise, “holes” and “faults” surround,

A fist is clenched, something breaks;

What seemed like a wonderful idea

Turns out to be a bubble.

Ah, what frustration!

What am I?

What am I?

Am I substance?

Am I soul?

Am I a form of energy?

Or just a piece of matter?

Where was I before this?

Where would I be after this?

Why am I?

How do I exist?

Am I a plan?

Or just a coincidence?

Am I the protagonist?

Or just the side plot?

Where am I meant to be?

What am I meant to be?

What really am I?

Perhaps at the end of the day

It doesn’t really matter…

The past is gone,

The future’s a surprise;

Maybe I’ll have the answers one day…

And even if not,

It doesn’t make sense to ponder over senseless things.

But then again,

What’s making me think all this?

What’s making me reach conclusions?

Should I really do it?

Who’s going to decide this?

Maybe he who created me…

Who created me?

What did he mean to create?

A piece of matter?

Or a form of energy?

A soul?

Or mere substance?

What am I?

Oh wait…

Did I do it again?

February Story: Forever Home

Mr. Kensley had wanted to own the mansion for a very long time. He almost fell in love with it the first time he saw it. For some reason, no one else seemed to be interested in purchasing such a good property. Money wasn’t an issue either. So he bought it as soon as he could. He sent a bunch of people beforehand to clean and furnish the place. Today was the shifting day. He started off in a good mood, but something or the other kept going wrong.

It started with a broken vase, then a shattered gold picture frame, then his sprained ankle. His wagon seemed to be in a bad mood too. It broke down thrice in a two-hour ride. It seemed odd for so many bad things to happen on such a bright day. But nothing could stop him today.

More than a bit off-schedule, he finally reached the Mansion of Spectre.

“Ah, no,” said Mr. Kensley for the hundredth time, “Don’t go by the name, it has nothing to do with any sort of ghosts.”

He had been asked this question since the day he bought the mansion.

“I prefer to call it the Snow Palace though,” he would say. “My Snow Palace.”

He entered the mansion with a whole procession of servants handling his stuff and looked around in admiration. His Snow Palace. The house of his dreams. He walked around surveying the crystal floor, the marble statues, the diamond hangings and the velvet carpets. The place really was beautiful. It seemed like a piece of heaven. Too beautiful to be true, as if it were just an illusion. Just so perfect that it was almost creepy.

“I hope my room is ready.” His tone suggested that if it wasn’t, then someone might as well be prepared to lose his job. He didn’t have any shortage of servants anyhow.

He climbed the marble stairs that led to the first floor and took a stroll around. He opened each and every one of the rooms and admired their beauty. At last he reached his own room, the biggest one in the whole mansion, and pushed open the doors.

“WHAT THE HELL?!”

The servants came running hearing their master’s scream.

“W-what is it sir?”

“YOU TELL ME!”

The servants peeped inside the room and stared in horror. Inside, everything was in ruins. The furniture was rotting. The ceilings were covered in cobwebs. A blanket of dust covered the room. But the worst of all – there was something right in the centre of the room that shouldn’t be there.

“B-b-blood.”

***

“Sir, we should have told you this earlier. But, but you see sir… there’s something, I mean, someone who’s… who’s here… I mean…”

“I very well know what you mean. And I’ve told you a thousand times that THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A GHOST!”

“S-sir, we know you don’t believe in this. But they don’t call it the Mansion of Spectre for nothing.”

“I don’t care. Shift my stuff to a different room. And I want my room back in place by tomorrow, get it?”

The servants nodded and Mr. Kensley set off in rage. Whosoever had done this, spoiled his beautiful room, would have to pay for it.

Just when he was turning towards his room, his eyes caught something he hadn’t noticed earlier. Another room, at the far end of the corridor. But there was something different about it. It didn’t have carved doors with silver handles like the others. Instead. it had an old shabby door with a large rusty padlock.

Servants were called again and he made them open the lock despite their constant pleading. But the door wouldn’t budge.

“This door hasn’t been opened in hundred years,” the servants said. “This is where the girl died. They say that her sprit still lives here. She loved the house very much and doesn’t let anyone enter here.”

“Rubbish,” said Mr. Kensley.

After several attempts of opening the door, he finally gave up. He locked the door again and went to a different room to sleep.

Somehow, he couldn’t sleep. He kept tossing and finally stepped out of the room. Outside, darkness covered the entire mansion. He walked towards the ‘mystery’ door again and stood there staring for a long time. Then he shook his head and turned back. But just as suddenly he turned again. The lock was missing.

He could swear he had locked the door. He did it himself. He even had the keys with him. He slowly walked towards the door and gave it a gentle push. This time it opened with a creak. He peered into the room.

Inside was just a different world. The room was just perfect. Gleaming perfect. Not even a particle of dust. The walls were lined with a pink wallpaper and the shelves were filled with toys. There was a fluffy bed in the centre and a cartoon-drawn writing table opposite to it. It looked like a kid’s room. He entered the room.

THUD

The door closed behind him. He shuffled in his pocket and pulled out a tiny torch. A toy train track was lying on the bed as if – as much as he hated to admit it – someone had just set it up. He shuddered at the thought and walked back to the door. He tried to pull it open, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Hi there.”

He jumped at the voice. “Wh-who’s it?”

“Me? I’m your friend.”

“What friend? Who’s it?”

The voice laughed.

“Just stop this right now! Who’s there?”

“You guess. Come, find me. I’m just here.”

He slowly walked towards the voice. It was coming from somewhere near the bed. He crept towards the edge of the bed. He couldn’t see anyone there. And then he saw where it was coming from. He frowned at the cassette player.

“Ha! Fooled ya!”

He shut it off. “Might’ve knocked it off when I came here,” he mumbled to himself. Somehow, the prank cassette didn’t make the room any less creepy. Much to his surprise, the door was wide open. Without wasting a single moment, he rushed out into his own room.

The next morning, Mr. Kensley woke up to sounds of loud thudding and drilling.

“What is it?” He asked one of his servants, who was standing there with his bed tea.

“It’s the door, sir. It was jammed. You wanted it opened, so we called someone to do the job. It will be done any moment now.”

“What are you talking about? I opened it myself last night.”

“No sir, that’s not possible. It was still jammed this morning.”

Mr. Kensley hurriedly got off his bed and ran towards the other end of the corridor. They had just managed to open the door.

He pushed his way to the room. He stopped at the edge of the room and stared inside white-faced. The room was nothing like what he saw last night. It really did look like it hadn’t been opened in 100 years. It was covered with dust and cobwebs all around, just like the room that was supposed to be his. But the shelves were still filled with toys and there was still a train track on the bed, except this time it didn’t seem like it had just been set up.

Shuddering and shivering, with goosebumps all over him, he stepped into the room. There was a cassette player lying in one corner of the room, like someone had knocked it off – a hundred years ago.

A piece of paper lay on the writing table- the only thing he didn’t see the night before. Somehow, it seemed to pull him towards itself. It had something written on it in a handwriting that seemed to belong to a small child:

“I love my house. It’s white as snow and I love it. It’s forever mine. I won’t ever leave my house, even after I die. It’s my home, and I and only I can live in it. Everything in my house belongs to me and everything that comes into my house is mine. Nothing ever goes out of my house, and anything that comes inside, never goes out ever again.

P.S.: Trespassers shall be punished.”

***

It’s evening. The moon has come up and the mansion is glimmering in its light. A feast is going on inside. The party is in full swing. But it isn’t Mr. Kensley who’s celebrating. Somehow, he doesn’t seem to be anywhere around.

“And you should’ve seen his face,” says Manny, “He was barely able to make a sound! Poor fellow,” he says, laughing so hard that he’s barely able to get the words out of his mouth.

“And that ‘anything coming inside the house and never leaving again’ line really worked,” says Sarah. “He didn’t dare take any of his stuff with him. He literally ran out barefooted!”

“Silly fellow! And the way his army of servants followed behind him,” says Olive, hands holding his belly.

“He left quite a treasure behind. We’ll be feasting for the rest of our lives!”

“Hey look! We’re in the papers,” says Peck. “The cops are behind us again.”

“Let them be. They’ll never find us.”

“What if someone hints them our location?”

“Even if they do,” says Manny, “Who’ll dare to enter the ‘Mansion of Spectre’?”

The True Good

Not all that glimmers

Is gold,

Not all good people

Are really good,

Sometimes its just a mask

Covering their true side,

The darkest side…

Not every grape

Is always sweet,

Not every person

Is trustworthy,

Sometimes those you trust the most

Turn out to be the sour one,

The one who leaves you alone…

Not everything

Is just as it seems,

Not every person

Is just the way they show,

Sometimes things turn out

To be very different,

When what you thought was a diamond

Is sometimes just fragile glass…

Not all wounds

Are healed by time,

Not every person

Can be forgotten,

Sometimes when you think it’s time to move on

Is when you have to turn back

And face them, and show what they are worth,

Sometimes you need to pick your wounds

To make yourself stronger,

This tiny wound would sure heal soon

But there is more broken glass

On the way, than you really think…

But be careful!

Not all that seems like glass

Is really glass,

Sometimes it’s a diamond

Sometimes it’s just you failing to see its beauty…

Think twice

Before you throw away

That piece of glass

Stuck in your foot…

January Story: Home Away From Home

The cold months of winter. The countryside was covered in a blanket of white. Children and adults alike seemed to enjoy the snow.

In the main city, the Space Agency was buzzing with people. The main entrance was blocked by people from news agencies, while preparations for a major announcement were in place in the conference hall. There was an equal chance of the news being terribly good or terribly bad.

Mr. Capps rushed towards the Control Centre. He didn’t quite believe in God, but for the first time ever, he actually clasped his hands together and muttered a quick prayer while he stepped out of the elevator. He dashed through the doors and stopped before a large screen surrounded by hundreds of people.

“What is it, Maria?” he asked the Head.

She looked at him, almost teary eyed, and nodded her head in denial. A striking silence spread in the room. This couldn’t be good.

Millions of miles away from Earth, was the spacecraft of the highly ambitious manned mission. The mission was going well since two years, until now at least. But as it turns out, all wasn’t good inside the craft.

“So you are just going to do what you want, huh?”

“I am the Captain. And it’s my duty to lead us the right way,” Anne said.

“Captain?” Rob smirked. “More like a dictator.”

“Stop it you two!” Zack said.

“She started it. Ms. Anne ‘know-it-all’.”

“Rob, please,” Zack sighed. “Can you at least try behaving like an adult?”

“Oh sure. Why not. It’s all my fault anyway, right?”

“Zack, please take control of the craft. I need some rest,” Anne said, pretending to ignore Rob.

While Zack seated himself in front of the control panel, Anne drifted towards one of the inner compartments. For a while, there seemed to be peace at last. It didn’t last long though.

“Zack! I thought I told you to not touch my belongings,” Anne came screaming.

“And I didn’t,” he said.

“Don’t lie. My whole stuff is scattered. And you did it.”

“Did I now? Fine. I was searching for my books.”

“And what would your books be doing in my stuff!”

“I don’t know! I was just searching in all possible places.”

“Possible places? My space is a possible place for finding your belongings?”

“Could be,” he shrugged. “Might have drifted off.”

“Or she might have taken it,” Rob said. “After all, we all know where she comes from.”

A silence overtook the craft. This had gone too far. Anne stood there stunned, then drifted back into her compartment.

“You shouldn’t have said that,” Zack said.

“It’s funny how you always have to take her side, no?”

Zack sighed. It was no use talking to him.

For a brief while, there was silence again. It too didn’t last long though. This time it was Zack who spoke up.

“Something’s wrong,” he said. “Hey Rob, take a look.”

Rob peered into the screen and stared, wide eyed. “This can’t be possible.”

“Anne,” Zack called. “Anne!”

A moment later, there was a tense air in the craft. Anne kept looking at the controllers and then at the readings on the pad. She pushed buttons and sent messages to the Control Centre. “No, no, no, this can’t be happening,” she kept saying.

“What’s happening, Anne? What’s wrong?”

They had never seen Anne panicking. If she was, it meant something was definitely wrong.

She looked at the two of them and struggled for words. She gulped and firmed herself.

 “We have lost contact with the Earth.”

A painful silence followed. Anne tried her best to act brave and opened a manual and kept doing her work.

“We have to land,” she said.

“What? Are you crazy!” Rob said.

“That’s the only chance we have. If we don’t do it now, we might miss it and end up wandering in space forever.”

“But where are we going to land?” Zack asked.

“I don’t know what this place is. But I’m positive it’s safe to land,” Anne said.

“This woman’s going mad,” Rob said.

“Look, we’re going to die either way,” she said. “But if we land, there’s a greater chance of us being saved.”

***

They landed safely in a strange place. It wasn’t a good enough reason to celebrate though. They were alive, but weren’t sure how long they would be. They sat in the common compartment, going through their stuff. For the first time ever in two years, they weren’t quarrelling.

Anne sat in a corner with a picture in her hand.

“Your daughter’s beautiful,” Zack said.

Anne smiled. “She must be six now.”

Rob sat down beside them.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” Rob said. “I said too much back then.”

“It’s fine,” Anne said, wiping a tear. “I’ll have to endure you for the rest of my life now, anyway.”

Rob chuckled. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Hey, I just found my music player,” Zack said and played Summer Flowers.

“That song,” Rob said.

“Yeah, that’s my favorite song,” Zack said.

“Wow. My brother used to love that song too,” Rob said. “I miss my brother.”

“I miss my home,” Zack said.

“Hey,” Anne said. “I might not have taken your book, but I did peek into it once. And I came across something wonderful.”

“And what’s that?”

“Home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling,” she said.

“True that, Captain!” Rob chuckled.

“We’re gonna be together till we die,” Anne said. “Or until we find a way back.”

“And I feel more at home than ever.”

***

Mr. Capps made the long-awaited announcement. He informed that they had lost all contact with the spacecraft. “Although we are trying our best to bring them back home, there seems not much hope.”

There was an unforeseen weather change in the countryside. Winter was wearing off in its peak months. Spring was approaching.

(When Katie posted about the short story challenge, I was absolutely excited and my brain was literally flooding with ideas. But then I had to take a while off (I had to complete my notes) and by the time I came back, all ideas had disappeared. I had to start all over again… and this is my story for January! I hope to continue with this challenge all through the year!)

Last Night

I glance at the window

And shield my eyes

From the blinding sunlight

I shut my eyes

And just naturally

There come a hundred memories

From last night…

There I am

At the centre of the stage

Trophy in my hand

Grin on my face

A certificate reads

“Student of the Year”…

I turn around

And just instantly

I find myself

On another stage

A yet bigger one

And with more people around

A book in my hand

The author’s name reads

My name….

Before I could even turn

I am standing on a red carpet

More people than I’ve ever seen

A pen in my hand

I sign autographs

As I hear cameras clicking

And people buzzing…

I swiftly turn around

I am in a cafe

Facing a boy

I last met years ago

His hands in mine

We smile and talk

Of the past days…

I turn around yet again

I am with him

He faces me

And we move closer

His face slowly drawing

Towards mine…

I don’t want to,

But still turn around

As if forced to,

And blink and blink

And face the ceiling

Of my room.

Frustrated

I pull my covers

And shut my eyes

Hoping

To dive back

Into my dreams…

I Quit

Oops, was that too harsh for a title? Sorry!

What I meant was I am quitting my ‘complete the notebooks in 2 days’ plan. Apparently it won’t make much of a difference even if I do it next month. So after I got a really sore shoulder yesterday night and 3 empty pens, I finally decided to take a break.

So ‘am back (feels good to do so).

Anyway, 26th Jan today. Happy Indian Republic Day! Keep spreading love and harmony!

There was an online school program too (failed terribly.)

I wore my school uniform after almost an year. Felt weird. Like a bear coming out of hibernation. Mum said I finally looked humane.

Nothing much happened today. Not any sort of adventure. Will perhaps have to wait some more.

Got no time to die

Some quick updates:

1. I wasn’t planning to write this post till 10 secs back.
2. But I had to, some time, and I am not going to get any time to do so in the near future, for reasons you’ll get to know in the next few points.
3. I am literally typing at the speed of 100 words per minute.
4. The major reason I wanted to write the post was this:

5. A big thanks to all of you for pushing me to this milestone.

6. Aahh!! My laptop’s dying!!

7. Ok, back with the charger.

8. Now the main point.

9. I just received a notification from school that our notebooks and assignments would be called for submission.

10. The submissions are two days away.

11. In parallel, we also have daily assessment tests. Not to forget the online classes.

12. Then there’s me.

13. I haven’t even touched my pen the whole year.

14. And now I have barely two days to complete all the notebooks. Of all the subjects. Year long course. Two days.

15. Even if I skip my phone, TV, blogging, or even sleep, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it.

16. But I’ll try my best.

17. Hoping for a miracle.

18. Pray for me.

19. Goodbye. I’ll be off for a few days.

20. (Adding this point to make it even.)

The Perfect World

I dreamt of the perfect world

Since forever.

When I was a baby

I dreamt of a place

Where there weren’t any spiders

Or cockroaches.

I grew up a bit

And dreamt of a world

Where I could watch cartoons the whole day,

Where there wouldn’t be any schools

Or teachers.

I grew up yet more

And dreamt of a world

Where there wouldn’t be any parents

Or anyone else

To tell me what to do.

Oh and I grew up more

And dreamt of a world

Where there were no crimes

No murders, no rapes

Or terrorism.

I grew up yet more

Which brings me to the present

And I dream of a world

Where there wouldn’t be different races

Or religions,

Where no one would be called “ugly”

Or “dirty”,

Where no one would be “better”

Than the other,

Where there wouldn’t be jealousy,

Or greed,

Or hatred,

That’s the world I dream of.

And I continue to grow.

Captive

Lying there all day long,

Eyes whistling a gloomy song,

Had all food and water, and a cozy bed,

But shiny wings spread out dead,

Mind racing, yet body impassive,

The little bird was held captive.

It was for his own good though,

He knew the master would soon let him go.

He recalled the day when his friends were caught

By a gang of vultures; ah, he was distraught!

The vultures came for him too,

But a kind young man came to his rescue.

And since then he had been in this cocoon,

Promised to be led out soon;

And this thought suddenly cheered him up

For he knew he’d be out soon after sunup.

So he stretched his wings, looked up at the highs,

The sun was about to rise…

This was something I wrote last year (back then when I didn’t have a blog). When the whole world was in lockdown and I could hear people say how this was killing them. So penned it down. Was clearing up my laptop today and found this… better late than never 😉😉

The Reason for Everything

There are still questions

That lack an answer,

Some mysteries

Yet unsolved,

And many many secrets

Yet to be uncovered…

The curious mind

Digs deeper and deeper

Looking for an answer

To one of the infinite problems:

The ultimate reason for everything…

But as long as the answer is hidden,

The world is safe.

Because the day the secret is uncovered,

There wouldn’t be a reason left

To live or grow or evolve

And keep going…

झंकार

इन्द्रधनुष के रंगों जैसी
तरंग एक उठ चली हो जैसे,
शीत पवन अचानक से
चल पड़ी हो कहीं से जैसे,
इठलाती सी, बलखाती सी,
झंकार एक आ चली कुछ ऐसे!
सुनी-सुनी सी होते हुए भी,
थी वह अंजान,
जाने कहाँ से आई थी,
स्वरों की वह झंकार?
वायु में तो फैल गई वो
मधुर सुगंध कोई जैसे,
घेर लिया उसने मुझे,
समा लिया, न जाने कैसे?
कर गई मन विचलित जो मेरा,
वह है शायद यहीं कहीं,
मन भावन सी वह झंकार
कही मेरे अंतर्मन की तो नही?

And this was my first attempt at writing something in Hindi! Although the first poem I ever wrote was in Hindi, but I found myself to be more comfortable composing something in English, and I left my mother tongue behind somewhere. But after a really looooong time I finally decided to give it another try, and I think I can use more of it in the coming days!

Oh hey 2021!

And the next thing I knew, 2021 was here.

With a bundle full of hopes (and loads of impossible resolutions), we finally step into the new year.

Here’s wishing all of you another splendid trip around the sun (and I hope we lose the virus thingy somewhere in the middle of the trip, he’s way too annoying).

Hope your year is filled with fun, music and all things good!

Wow, 2020’s gonna end. Already.

So I’ve been working on my school projects since morning (trust me, it gives me a headache every time). And I look up at the calendar and lo! It’s 27th already. Just a couple of days to go, and 2021 would be here.

It’s kinda funny actually, that year end is so near. I remember being so excited at the end of 2019, like the whole of December. And then there’s this. Just five days to go, and I still don’t feel that tingling sensation yet.

Feels like it was just Jan, then Feb, then March, then woosh! December’s here! I still write “2019” in the dates.

2020 has really been a crazy year. Just so many things happened all year round, some bad, some even worse, but some still good. We’ve been looking at the bad ones all these days. But keeping those aside, quite a few great things happened too.

For example, schools closed. This was a dream come true for me. Yes, I hate school. And I got so much time for so many other things. I could explore so much more! And I started my blog!

Back in 2019, I would have never even imagined that I would be starting my own blog. But here I am- happy and blogging!

Perhaps 2021 would be a better year. Perhaps everything would soon be normal again. Perhaps the world would become a better place. Perhaps 2021 would be the best year ever!

But even if it isn’t, remember, there is always something you can do to make things better. After all, as Dumbledore said: “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light.”

Have a great year ahead!

Innocence

As I look ahead into a fog

Of doubt and confusion

And hatred and blind choices

And all things oh so bad,

I linger down the memory lane

And travel back to the past.

I see myself as a child

Oh so happy and careless,

Not even a hint of fear,

I spoke out what I wanted to,

Where has that innocence gone?

I look at myself,

The only secrets I hid

Were the shy little ones,

Of chocolates and games,

And friendships and fights,

Where’s that innocence now?

I remember myself,

Doing just what I wanted,

No tough choices, no regrets,

That innocence, where is it now?

I played games, I grouped together,

But the only lines I drew

Were of chalk, as temporary

As were our divisions,

Innocence, is it?

I remember how it felt

To be carefree,

Not thinking of what I wore,

Or how I looked,

Or what the others thought of me,

I still remember myself

Just being me.

Where, oh where

Have I lost that innocence?

Thoughts Unknown

Hidden in our mind

Born from imagination

In a disguise of randomness

Lay a thousand words,

A thousand stories

Trapped,

Struggling for freedom;

A thousand thoughts

Mingling and mixing

They sprout up, live and die,

Every moment or so…

The lucky ones live a happy life,

Getting a chance to breathe

In fresh air,

Others die,

Just as instantly as they are born

Perhaps because no one realised

That they even exist.

But each one’s unique

And deserves every chance

To live its life,

To burst out from the prison of mind

And show what its worth.

Thoughts come and go

Not all do care,

But for the some who do:

The random thought u got that day

Might perhaps be the next big legend.

A Marvel (or just an illusion?)

When the stars all shine upon me

And the half moon peeks out

Shy as a bride from her clouded veil;

On nights like these I wonder

Whether there really is a god

For the creation of such a wondrous world

Surely wouldn’t have been an accident.

And then I ask to the people who say

That a bang and a boom gave birth to the world –

A bang and a boom would surely have created

A piece of rock and flesh,

But if there really was no god,

Then there wouldn’t have been lives and souls.

For violent fireworks can only create

A thing so marvellous

But souls ain’t created by force or hurt

For they require love, and pure beauty.

And if you still believe it to be an illusion

I hope there is, and always be

Such a wondrous illusion.

For the man gets his thoughts

From the wondrous nature around him,

Oh great illusionist! Hence I ask,

What gave YOU the thought

To create such a marvel,

The thoughts of which

Have inspired all others,

And continues to be

The definition of love

And fine beauty,

And wonder.

Shine, O Moon

O moon, shine bright,

In the darkest of times

When the only hope is you;

Shine bright.

Shine bright,

While we look upon

And ponder over your mysteries

O moon, shine bright.

Shine till we quench

Our thirst of curiousity

Shine till you fill us

With your overflowing beauty

And till we feel your light in us,

O moon, do shine.

Shine till you vanish all darkness

And fill all hearts with bright joy

Shine so bright that the diamond fades away.

O moon shine like the way you did

When the hearts were pure

And the minds all pink.

O moon, shine bright.

Where do my things vanish?

So this morning I lost my zillionth eraser. I swear I left it on my table last night. But this morning, whoosh! Vanish!

You know, when I was in kindergarten, my mum bought me those little colourful erasers that little kids love. Yeah, I am talking about those with the awesome fragrances. But I used to lose it every day. So each and every day my mum gave me a new one, and the very next day, I lost it. Finally mum was so fed up with me that she stopped giving me those erasers and instead bought the cheaper hard pieces of rubber that do far from erasing. It still took me three years to learn my lesson.

Anyways, just yesterday, I lost my hair tie. I worn it to bed the day before and when I woke up, I couldn’t find it. I searched the whole bed, the covers, the pillows, my own clothes, everywhere. And then today, just a few hours ago, it appeared out of nowhere! Right in the centre of my bed! Now what would you call that? Black magic?

Another thing that happens with me very often is that I lose a book or a pen or some papers and I can’t find them anywhere. And then suddenly, after many months, I find them in my school bag or cupboard or just lying on the table.

Well I have a theory. That there’s someone out there, perhaps in another universe, or some sort of mirror world. And it’s them who’s taking my things. Maybe they need them, so they borrow it. And once they are done, they quietly return it back. What do you think?

And oh, I haven’t still got my eraser back. If you see it lying anywhere, do let me know.

My Study Table

My study table- that’s where I spend most of my time. During this lockdown, I’ve got to attend the online classes, then I have to study and complete my notebooks too. And when it comes to completing my notes, I must say, that’s a horribly tough task for me. Partly because I am a slow writer and partly because I think that’s of no use.

And after studies too, I am still on my study table. That’s the best place to use your phone. And gives me the right vibes too.

My table’s fully crowded. On my right side, there’s a stack of books (my bookshelves are full!). On my left side, there’s another stack of books. Now this left stack is here for two reasons. First, because those are the books that I use throughout the day and I am too lazy to put them back in place. Now I clear out the stack every night, but the very next day, it piles up itself magically! And second because that serves as a divide between my sister’s side and mine- we share the same table. I shift the divide away to the left by almost a millimetre each day. That might not seem like a lot, but as they say, a little effort every day adds up to big results!

I’ve got a few pen stands too which are filled with pens that never have any ink. I wonder why it is so. Then there’s a soft board on my right wall where I like pinning things. And there’s a window exactly in front of me lined with curtains.

And the curtains just reminded me of my little companion. A tiny black spider. It doesn’t seem tiny to me though. She’s been here for as long as I remember having the table. Shall I just call her Ms. Spidey? Hmm, good name. I’ve seen her family too. We all used to play together. She too loves hide and seek. Usually she’s just hides behind the curtains and occasionally comes to the front. But sometimes she surprises me by hopping onto my table and that’s when I like to hide away. That’s our little game.

And that just reminds me… oops! Is that Ms. Spidey on my table? Looks like it’s my turn to hide!

Spooks and his Love Story

I know you’ve been missing him since long,

So I’ve finally brought Spooks the ghost along!

But dearie Spooks has changed greatly,

‘Coz he’s fallen in love lately!

And the one he adores is Bonnie – the ghost,

Coloured bows and dresses are her boast.

She’s not much easy to impress

But Spooks would do it nevertheless.

He brought her roses- white and red,

But she just threw them instead!

He then brought her a necklace lit,

But she didn’t even look at it!

Finally he made a plan brand new,

And he brought along a tiny friend too.

He was cute and furry and small and squeaky

He was a mouse and they called him Meeky!

Now Spooks knew a secret, small and nice

That Bonnie was insanely scared of mice!

The rest was then a piece of cake

And they acted out a scene fake.

Meeky the mouse played the bad one,

Spooks the hero beat him and won!

And that’s how he won Bonnie’s heart,

Now wouldn’t you say Spooks is smart?

Fandom

[Make sure to read other stories from the I Woke Up One Day collection!]

The next day, I woke up overflowing with excitement. I moved my hand around to check if I was on my bed. And then slowly I opened my eyes.

My heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t my bed. It was a four-poster bed. I opened the curtain and looked around. I wasn’t in my room. I was in a completely different place. It looked like a girls’ dormitory. But it wasn’t an ordinary one.

As I looked around, I saw that the room was filled with colours of red and gold. It was lined with several four-poster beds. I had a faint hint where I was. To double check, I put my hand into my pocket and felt a long piece of wood. My wand. My heart leaped. I was in Hogwarts?!

[Disclaimer: The content ahead is exclusively for HP fans. If you haven’t read/watched Harry Potter books/movies, turn away right now Muggle!]

(SPOILER ALERT!)

Woah. So I was in Gryffindor girls’ dormitory.

“Hey Daisy! You okay?”

I turned around to find a girl with bushy brown hair and large front teeth. It took me a moment to realise who it was.

“Hermione Granger?!”

She stared at me. “You are not seeing me for the first time, Daisy! And I hope you’ve completed Snape’s essay. Anyway, you alright? You look a little pale,” she said.

“Yeah, ‘m fine,” I stammered.

“You should get dressed then,” she said. “It’s almost time.” As she spoke, I noticed her gleaming prefect’s badge. I must be in the fifth year.

“Yeah, sure,” I said.

I fumbled about a little as I hastily took out my clothes and dressed in my Gryffindor robes. Wearing Gryffindor robes in a cosplay was surely different than actually wearing them at Hogwarts. I stuffed my wand in my pocket and looked at myself in the mirror. I wondered if I owned a pet. I always wanted to have a white hamster and name him Phinley. And Lo! I turned around to find the world’s cutest hamster in his cage on my bedside table. Perfect!

I hurried out into the Gryffindor common room to find Hermione bickering with a tall, red headed freckled boy. Ron Weasley. Great. In one corner, there stood the unmistakable Weasley twins, surrounded by a bunch of first years. They were giving away Puking Pastilles and Skiving Snackboxes.

In the other corner, I saw another member from the Weasley family. A girl with flaming red hair- Ginny, whose head was slightly turned in Ron and Hermione’s direction. But she wasn’t looking at Ron. Nor at Hermione. In fact she was looking at a boy hidden in the background due to the ongoing fight. A boy with messy jet black hair, round spectacles and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. This was it. I slowly walked towards the boy.

“H-harry Potter?” I said.

He turned and looked at me. “Yeah?”

I stared at him with widened eyes. I guess I must have been standing there for too long, for Ron and Hermione had stopped fighting and were looking at me. In fact, half the room was looking this way. “N-n-nice to m-meet you,” I said shortly, not knowing what else to say. Then I turned around and walked away.

“What’s wrong with her?” I heard Ron say. “Dunno, she’s been acting weirdly today,” said Hermione.

***

The Great Hall was amazing. The breakfast was the best I had ever had. And it was an absolute treat to see other students clattering around me. And there were the teachers too- Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape… wait. A toad like face suddenly caught my eye. Ugh. Umbridge. She looked even uglier than I had imagined.

It was time for the classes then. The first one was Potions. Snape wasn’t really a bad teacher, I thought. Just a bit strict. Or more than a bit. We had to brew the Draught of Peace. It didn’t go very well. But it was still better for me. You know what he did to Harry? He emptied out his whole cauldron and gave him a zero grade! He really was bad, I concluded.

Transfiguration and Charms went on smoothly. We learned Vanishing Spells in Transfiguration and practiced the Confundus Charm in the Charms class. That part was really fun. It was like a dream come true. But Defence Against the Dark Arts was an absolute nightmare. Umbridge literally made us copy the whole book! I hate that woman!

Anyways, after the classes, I explored the whole castle. The changing staircases and talking portraits were more wondrous than I had read. And then a surprise came up. I suddenly felt something in my pocket. When I put my hand in, I felt a coin in my pocket. My hopes rising again, I went to a corner and made sure no one was watching and took the coin out. It was gleaming with some numbers written on it. Yes! It was the coin with the Protean Charm! I was a member of the Dumbledore’s Army!

At the time mentioned in the coin, I set out for the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor.

“So today we’ll be practicing the Stunning Spell. It’s one of the most useful spells in your arsenal. It’s sort of a wizard’s bread and butter, really,” Harry said later.

The room was filled with sounds of “Stupefy!” until finally it was time to disperse.

As we clattered out after the meeting, I heard Padma Patil say, “It was such an interesting day today!”

“Yes,” I said. “It surely was.”

With a last glance at the place, I set out towards the Gryffindor common room. It was once again filled with sounds of chatters and giggles. I sat there quietly as I watched the students finishing their homework, practicing magic, or just chatting away. I watched the Golden Trio enjoying their time there, until finally I started feeling too sleepy to even sit upright.

I looked around the common room one last time, carefully absorbing the details and the people there, knowing that it would all vanish the next day.

I slowly walked towards the girls’ dormitory and lay down on my bed. The voice was there once again. “Tomorrow would be yet another day…” was all he said.

[Heya! So that’s it for today. This particular story lies close to my heart, and there’s a special reason for posting it this week. You know, I received this notification last week:

And although it might seem like a small thing, it really matters to me. I am really grateful to all those who have been reading my blog and have contributed to this achievement. It means a lot!!

And one more thing. If you’ve been reading my stories, you might have got ideas as to where you want Daisy to wake up next. If so, why not share it with me? You can send me your ideas here. And I’ll make sure that the adventure is a blast!

You can check out other stuff on my blog here. Stay tuned and keep showering your love!]

Floating

[Read other stories from I Woke Up One Day series here.]

I slowly opened my eyes the next day. I remembered I had told the voice that I liked trampolines. Was I going to jump on trampolines the whole day? No. That weren’t possible.

As my eyes adjusted to the surroundings, I saw that I wasn’t on my bed anymore. I was floating!!

I moved my hands around and ‘swam’ through air. I dived towards my bed and popped up again. Oh, so that’s what he meant by trampolines! I sighed with relief. I was expecting something much worse.

But again, why was I floating? And suddenly it clicked me. ‘Sci-fi movies…’, ‘space travel’… I was in anti-gravity!

For a quarter of an hour, I just enjoyed floating in the air and diving into things. Whoa, this was fun! I could do this the whole day! But that wasn’t all.

Suddenly, the windows caught my eye. They didn’t seem like the windows that used to be in my room. These were different. It was like the windows we see in the airplanes. There was no latch to open the windows. Instead, there was just a shutter which was now closed. I wondered what those were for.

I felt my hopes rise as I swam towards the windows. With crossed fingers I opened the shutter. And gasped.

What I saw outside wasn’t something you get to see everyday. I mean how often is it that you open your windows to see asteroids and planets outside?

I jumped with joy (and almost knocked my head on the roof). I stepped (swam) out of my room and looked around the ‘spaceship’ house. Everything seemed much the same.

“Good morning mum! Good morning dad!” I chimed. It seemed weird after saying ‘Mum morning good’ the other day.

And then I gasped again. I saw my dad wearing a magnificent spacesuit. “What’s that?” I asked automatically.

“What do you mean? I am going to work,” he replied, as if it were a casual thing.

He waved and started to go out of the front door. I followed him.

“Daisy!” my mum called. “Where are you going?”

“Outside,” I replied.

“Really? Like this?” She asked raising her eyebrows.

And then I realised what she was talking about. My spacesuit! I couldn’t go out into the space without it, right?

“Fine. So where’s my spacesuit?”

“Daisy,” my mum said. “How many times do I have to tell you! You can’t have it till you are 18! You’ll have to keep using that route for three more years,” she said, pointing to an inner room.

“Umm.. ok,” I said, still unsure how I could go out through a room inside my house.

I went into the room and gasped yet again. It was not the usual room. It had a corridor leading into the ground. The walls were all packed with a map of the routes that led to different buildings and places, or let’s just say, different spaceships. It also had rolls of map to help us get to our destination.

I picked one and located Shanaya’s spaceship. And followed the map. It was fun. I floated through corridors until I reached Shanya’s place. Of course meeting her is always fun. But the anti-gravity raised the bar to the next level.

I was hungry by the time I came back home. Anti-gravity is fun. But eating and drinking is a completely different affair. There was a whole set of procedures I had to follow for eating my cheese sandwich. Although drinking water was fun. There were bubbles of water floating and I had to gulp them down.

The rest of the day passed smoothly with me floating and jumping all day long. It was finally night. But I didn’t want the day to end.

I got back into my room and closed my eyes. I heard the voice again.

“Enjoyed?”

“Yep, I did. But I don’t want the fun to end. Please, can this go on longer?”

“No. Each day has to be different. You wanted that.”

“But please…”

“Tomorrow’s going to be more fun.”

“Really?”

“You’ll enjoy it more than today.”

“What is it going to be? Just tell me!”

“Nightie night. Get ready for some magic…”

[That’s it for today! Next part comes next Monday.. Till then, you can float round my blog here. Don’t forget to Like and leave a Reply below. Subscribe/Follow my blog to receive new posts directly in your inbox. Also, I wrote another award post this week. You can check it out here if you haven’t yet. Stay tuned!]

My 2nd Liebster Award!!

I got nominated for the Liebster Award again! This time by the fabulous Jeremy Jain Babu who writes an amazing blog titled Thea Thoolika. Thanks a lot for the award! Click here for her award post.

11 facts about Me:

1. I LOVE the Harry Potter series (both books and movies). Always
2. I have developed a recent obsession with Rubik’s cubes.
3. I used to learn the keyboard and I like playing it occasionally.
4. I have also learnt Kathak (for those who don’t know, it’s an Indian classical form of dance).
5. I am extremely loquacious (I learnt the word from a friend of mine 😜).
6. It’s my deepest desire to have a whole library of fantasy books for myself.
7. Music flows through my body.
8. I love watching (and re-watching) movies. I can see a movie at any time of the day, regardless of the number of times I have already done so.
9. Space science fascinates me.
10. I daydream. A lot.
11. I can be really moody at times.

Answering Jeremy’s questions:

1) After reading 11 facts about me, how many are we in common?

Except for one or two points, we both are radically different.

2) Are you left handed or right handed?

Right handed

3) Are you religious?

Mostly.

4) Who do you think have come first on earth, men or woman?

Doesn’t matter

5) Do you believe in miracles?

Definitely!

6) Name or link your favourite post of mine?

“Gifted” is one of my favourites.

7) Do you blog in mobile or laptop or Mac?

Laptop

8) What do you think of gender? How many you think exist?

In this respect, I agree with what Jeremy has said. Gender is a social construct and there can be as many as are constructed.

9) Have you ever thought about writing a book and publish on your own?

Yeah, on many occasions.

10) Celebrate birthday with cake and friends? Or give food for homeless or orphanage? Be frank, it is not to judge anyone!

Cake and friends have been happening since I was born. And I am not sure but giving food and things had most probably been done when I was small. Frankly I prefer both.

11) Will you give food to a hungry stranger, but he is infected seriously by Corona?

Well, I have doubts regarding this question. Firstly, if he is a stranger, how do I know he is infected? And secondly, if I know he is infected, then he couldn’t possibly be a stranger, right? Doesn’t matter. I’ll give him the food with all the necessary precautions.

My nominees:

Soaring Firebolt– Unbelievable facts about Harry Potter that most of you may not have known

The Magpie Fancier– Books, tea, and aimless rambling.

The Writer’s Blogk– A new author’s turbulent ride

limitless.stimulus– Thrilling short stories and more.

Every other person who reads this post!

Questions for my nominees:

I put forward the same questions that I did in my first Liebster Award post. (Fact no. 12: I am extremely lazy)

If you haven’t seen that post yet, here are the questions:

1. If you could rule the world for one day, what is the first thing you would do?
2. What thing do you really want as a gift on your birthday?
3. Do you think humans are really humane?
4. Do you believe in ghosts and spirits? (Be honest, even if that means admitting that you have felt someone creeping into your room when you are alone)
5. If your life was published as a book, what would you name it?
6. Do you see yourself as an optimist or a pessimist?
7. Why did you start blogging?
8. If you could live inside a story forever, which one would it be and why?
9. What’s your greatest ambition?
10. Beaches or mountains? Cotton candy or chicken wings?
11. When do you think this virus would go away? (Make a guess, just for fun. And feel free to call yourself more than a human if your guess goes right.)

Rules for nominees:

1. Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you.
2. Share 11 facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions the blogger(s) asked you.
4. Nominate 11 bloggers and make them happy!
5. Make up to 11 questions and ask them to your nominees.
6. Notify your 11 nominees.  

That’s it guys! Thanks for reading! Congratulations to all the nominees!!

Inverted

So like every other day I was sitting on my bed forcing my eyes open and trying to focus on the ongoing History lecture. History had never been fun for me. And it just seems worse on a laptop screen at home. Maybe because Shanaya wasn’t here. She always kept me awake even in the most boring of the topics with her silly gossips. But I was stuck here. For 5 months, I hadn’t even seen Shanaya. Oh well, I had at least seen here on the rare occasions when she turned on her video in the online lectures, mostly to show off her new hairstyles.

“Daisy! I hope you haven’t fallen asleep?” Mum called out.

“If this isn’t a dream, I haven’t fallen asleep yet,” I replied.

My teacher kept on blabbering about the French Revolution. I could feel my eyelids drooping. And finally I found myself in France, in Bastille.

Now if you are an expert sleeper (like me), you can usually tell the difference between a dream and the reality, even when you are in the deepest sleep. I decided to enjoy my trip to Bastille. I mean, come on! I was inside my home for five months!

But I had reached there at the wrong time. A war was going on between the troops and the civilians. I somehow ran away and found myself in a dark rusty room. It was fine. It was a dream. And I surely didn’t want to go back to the reality.

I started muttering to myself. I complained about how boring life had become. The muttering soon turned into a loud revolutionary speech. I spoke and spoke and spoke. I was enjoying it. I could scream, I could swear, I could do anything I wanted.

But what happened next was unreal. As I said, I can usually differentiate between a dream and reality. But at that moment, I wasn’t very sure that it was indeed a dream, because I heard a voice. Which seemed to come from the reality.

“What do you want then?” the voice asked.

Before I even knew, I replied, “I want life to be different. I am tired of this boring way!”

“How different do you want it to be?”

“As different as it can be!” I replied it frustration.

“Your life would never be the same again!” The voice boomed for the last time.

I woke up. In a shock. I had a strong feeling that I just had a conversation with God.

Well, if that was true, I was finally going to get rid of this boredom! My life was going to be heaven, right?

Wrong.

***

I woke up. I was still at home. It was still the History lecture going on. What was different? Everything seemed the same- wait! I spotted something weird.

I looked at my textbook. What! The text had suddenly inverted! It was printed from right to left! I looked at my bed. It used to be at the right side of the room, but now it was at the left! I looked around. Each and everything had laterally inverted! To double check, I raised my right hand. Wait, did I just say right? ‘coz I raised my left! Seemed as if I was in a mirror world! Cool.

I popped out of my bed and went downstairs. It was difficult. It didn’t seem like my house at all!

“Mum!” I called out. Woah! She seemed different.

“Been you have where?” She asked.

“What?” I was puzzled. What did she just say?

“Been you have where, said I.” She repeated.

Oh! This was the mirror world! I’ll have to invert the sentences too! So she’s saying ‘where have you been?’

“I was in my room,” I replied.

“Huh?”

“Room was my in I.” I stammered. I forgot I had to invert the sentences too.

“Mean you do what?” She asked raising her eyebrows.

“Room my in was I,” I said correctly.

“Hmm.” She seemed convinced. “Breakfast your have. Days these naughty really being are you.” she said.

I smiled sheepishly. This was getting really weird.

“Me for article this read just you can,” she said handing me the newspaper. “Specs my lost I seems.”

It was getting increasingly difficult to translate her sentences. Nonetheless, I took the newspaper. I was getting sick. The whole text was mirrored!

I somehow convinced my mom that I was not feeling well (which was incredibly difficult considering the fact that I had to reverse all my sentences) and I shut myself in my room.

I plugged in my headphones and turned on some music. Music always calms me.

UGHHHH! The lyrics had reversed too!

I threw away my headphones. Was my life going to be like this? Forever? Noo!!

I tried to sleep and was suddenly reminded of what the voice had said. ‘My life was never going to be the same again’. That meant that even this mirror life wasn’t going to be so forever. It was temporary.

I spent the rest of the day making wondrous discoveries of how I could write inverted text with my ‘apparent’ left hand and how the inverted sentences seemed nonsensical and funny at the same time. I avoided speaking though.

Finally it was bedtime and after I wished my parents a ‘Night Good’ and ‘Dreams Sweet’, I went to sleep.

Once again, I was in the dark room.

“What a day! I hope it would be all normal again?” I said.

“Normal? Oh no! It would be different!” The voice said.

“But please let it be fun!”

“What do you mean by fun? What do you do for fun?”

“I jump on trampolines!” I replied frustrated again. Uh-oh. Big mistake.

“Nice.”

“Hey! What are you going to do?”

“You like those space travel movies, right?”

“Hey- what-“

But the voice had vanished. I was alone. Where was I going to wake up?

[Did you like today’s story? Like if you did! Don’t forget to leave a reply too! And yeah, do follow my blog or subscribe via e-mail to receive my latest posts through mail. New stories each Monday! Till then, you can just wander round my blog. I got loads of stuff! Stay tuned!]

Season-2: Part-5: Brains vs. The Chip

[Sorry for the delay, my health’s not good 🤒😪. Make sure to read this story from the beginning here.]

The place instantly transformed into what seemed like a quiz game show. The robots assembled at one side and the humans at the other.

A robot stood between the two groups. He was playing the referee. Beside him was a display which showed: Robots-0; Humans-0.

At the humans’ side, there was a mixed atmosphere of confidence and fear.

“What have you done Tara! They are going to win!” Robby said. His leg was still caught in the trap.

“Don’t worry,” she assured him. “I’ve got the whole thing planned. Leave it to me and Sherry.” She glanced at Sherry and smiled.

“Are you sure you can handle this, Tara?” Dr. Galaxy asked, still worried.

“Yeah, mum! Trust me,” she said again.

“Fine then, good luck.”

The Referee Robo then announced, “Game starts! The robots go first!”

The Head Robo came forward and asked, “So tell me humans, what’s the current capital of our country?”

“We don’t know,” Tara said. She didn’t even think, nor did she discuss it with others.

The scoreboard displayed: “Robots-1; Humans-0”

“What are you doing! Are you mad?!” Robby suddenly shouted. “I know the answer! You could have just asked me!”

“Relax Robby!” Tara said. “Leave it to me. We’ll get out of here safely.”

Dr. Galaxy frowned. “I really doubt that.”

The robots asked more and more questions. To each question, Tara and Sherry just said that they don’t know the answer. And beside them, Robby kept slamming the floor with his fist and Dr. Galaxy just nodded her head frowning. Finally, when they finished asking the questions for their turn, the screen displayed: “Robots-5; Humans-0”

The Referee Robo announced, “Now it’s the humans’ turn.”

Tara came forward and said, “So robots, you know that it’s a test of your intelligence, right? If you go wrong, you would be defamed. The whole world would reject your supremacy. So answer correctly, okay? So here’s my first question: where have you hidden Dr. Nebula?”

Dr. Galaxy and Robby brightened up. “So that’s her plan!” Dr. Galaxy whispered.

The Head Robo was stuck. He thought carefully. He couldn’t tell them Dr. Nebula’s location, no. But he also couldn’t let the robots lose. If he didn’t answer, the robots would lose. The humans will win. No, he can’t let this happen. He can’t let the humans win.

“In our headquarters,” he said finally. “Third floor, room number 34.”

The Referee Robo thought for a moment, scanning his records. “Correct,” he finally said. The screen displayed: Robots-6, Humans-0. But Tara had nothing to do with the score. She just needed the answers.

“So now, second question. How do we reach your headquarters?”

The Head Robo thought carefully again and replied, “You go to Birdie Garden in Purple Alley. There’s a statue of a man near an emergency exit in the south west corner. You pull the third fingernail of the statue’s right hand and a door will slide open near the statue. Going straight down, you’ll find the door to the headquarters.”

The Referee Robo again said, “Correct!”

“Great!” Tara clapped her hands grinning.

“I’ll go next,” said Sherry. “So robots, tell me, what’s the easiest way to defeat you?”

There was a pin drop silence in the room. The robots thought longer this time, murmuring and muttering amongst themselves. Then the Head Robo said, “The simplest way is to discharge our batteries.”

“Correct!”

Sherry then said, “Fine. So my fourth question is, what is the quickest way to discharge your batteries?”

The robots now seemed extremely annoyed. The Head Robo spoke again, “If we are exposed to Palatho lights, our batteries get discharged in 1 to 2 seconds.”

“Correct!”

Tara seemed confused. “What’s a Palatho light?” she whispered. She didn’t want the robots to know that she didn’t understand.

“Palatho is a really bright torch,” Robby explained. “You know, it was used to fight the robots in the initial days. Grandpa told me that it looks like a normal torch to us, but it affects the robots severely. But then it was banned.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of those too,” Dr. Galaxy said.

“And guess what,” Robby said excitedly. “I’ve got one right here in my bag!”

And he scrambled a bit and took out the Palatho from his bag. He pointed it towards the robots.

The robots gasped.

“And I’ll ask the last question of our turn,” Robby said. “How do I free myself from this trap?”

“Pull the blue wire at the bottom of the trap,” the Head Robo said. “And press that red button on the wall again. The trap will pop back into its place.”

“Correct!”

Robby did so and his leg was free. “Let’s just finish this game then, shall we?” Saying so, he switched on the Palatho.

Tara, Sherry and Dr. Galaxy watched in amazement as the robots fell down one by one like domino pieces. Then the four ran out of the place.

***

“Do you know the way to Purple Alley?” Tara asked when they were outside.

“Yeah, but it’s far away,” Robby said. “We could have used the car, but the key’s with Dad. We’ll just have to walk all the way to Birdie Garden.” So he led the way and they followed him.

“Speaking of your dad,” Sherry said, “we haven’t had much talk about your family, have we? C’mon now. Tell us about your mum and dad.”

“Well, my father is a scientist and works at the robots’ lab. Honestly, I don’t have much idea about what they exactly do. And my mum’s an officer in the municipality.”

“And what about your Grandpa?” Dr. Galaxy asked. “You haven’t yet told us about Dr. Comet.”

“Yeah, well, you’ll know about him pretty soon. And I am hoping we’ll meet him too.”

By now, they had reached Birdie Garden. The place was deserted except for a few robots, whom they could easily handle with the Palatho. They proceeded to the southwest corner and saw the statue of a man near the emergency exit. As soon as they pulled the statue’s right hand’s third fingernail, a door slid open from the wall!

They went inside and instantly the door closed behind them. It was so dark there that they had to use the Palatho to guide them. After walking for almost 2 minutes, they saw a beam of light at the other corner. They hurried towards the light and stepped out in a brightly lit environment. This was it. They had reached the headquarters.

What happened next was too quick for anyone to believe. As a swarm of robots came marching towards the four humans, Robby switched on his Palatho and swung it wildly and the robots fell down like dry leaves. He must have attacked a hundred robos in a matter of seconds. They hurried up the stairs and opened room number 34 on the third floor. While Robby handled the robots, Tara, Sherry and Dr. Galaxy freed Dr. Nebula and ran out through the exit. They ran and ran and finally stopped in Birdie Garden.

While Dr. Nebula stood there panting, the rest four collapsed on the grass. As they recovered from the overwhelming experience, it was time for a group hug (that lasted just too long).

Finally Tara spoke, “Great! We have you back Dad! Now let’s go, let’s just leave this place.”

“Yeah, this was a great adventure,” Sherry said, “but now it’s over. It was great meeting you Robby! Let’s not waste time now. Let’s go back.”

Tara tugged Dr. Nebula’s hand, but there was a certain unease on his face.           

“What’s wrong?” Sherry asked.

“You see, there’s a certain reason why I was kidnapped,” Dr. Nebula explained. “Robby might explain better.”

“Ah, um, alright!” Robby said, “The reason is that the five scientists who created these robots are, well, how do I say it!” Drawing a deep breath, he said, “Okay, so it’s Team Universe.”

A sudden silence followed. The girls were thunderstruck. Dr. Galaxy turned white. “You mean – you mean the – the same Team Universe? O – our Team Universe?” Dr. Galaxy stammered.

“Yeah.”

It was unbelievable. The people who were trying to save the world, were themselves responsible for the disaster.

“What do we do now?” Sherry asked.

“We need to fight,” Dr. Nebula said.

“What? Fight against whom?”

“Fight against ourselves.” Dr. Galaxy said.

The adventure wasn’t over yet. An even greater adventure awaited them…

{To be continued…}

[So guys, this was the end of Season-2. Hope you enjoyed it! Next season would be coming soon! (I hope so) Stay tuned 😃]

Season-2: Part-4: Tracing the Map

[Read the story from the very beginning right here. If you have read the first season, Season-2 is here.]

“Hey! See what I just found!” Sherry called out.

Tara came running and looked into the screen. “A map?” asked Tara.

“Yep!” Sherry grinned. “A map of the city!”

After hours of brainstorming, she had finally found something useful. The four of them had been going through tons of official records and documents in the hope of finding a clue. Of course, these records weren’t easily accessible. Robby and Dr. Galaxy had to hack some of the websites.

“Really? A map of the city?” Robby said unamused. “You could have just asked me. I’ve got it in my phone!”

“Oh you don’t understand!” Sherry exclaimed. “This isn’t an ordinary map! This is the robotic version of the city’s layout. Know what that means? This map wouldn’t show what we see; it would show us what the robos see. The robotic tracks and all.”

“So it would be like seeing through the robots’ eyes?” asked Tara, trying to understand.

“Quite so!”

“So there will be the headquarters marked too!” Dr. Galaxy said clasping her hands.

“Yes, that’s exactly my point.” Sherry concluded triumphantly.

In no time, they spotted a place marked with a red ‘HQ’. On comparing with the city’s map, they found that it was indeed situated in a warehouse in a narrow alley.

Dr. Galaxy, Sherry, Tara and Robby packed their bags with all necessary safety equipment and devices and took a print of the map. It was clear that they had to go the warehouse which was actually the robo headquarters and save Dr. Nebula.

Tara, though, was not completely convinced with the plan. When no one was watching, she pulled Sherry to a side and whispered, “Don’t you think something’s wrong? I mean you found the map so easily but such critical information shouldn’t be out like this, right?”

Sherry scowled. “Give it a break Tara! You think Robby’s fishy, and now you think I am fishy too! Everything’s clear! Trust me Tara, if something was really wrong, Dr. Galaxy wouldn’t have agreed to the plan. Now come on, we don’t wanna be late.”

Tara hung her head and sighed. She had no choice.

***

After a walk of half an hour, they reached the warehouse. Robby stepped in first, followed by Sherry and Dr. Galaxy. Tara entered last, examining the place carefully. She still had doubts.

Inside, they could see nothing that looked like headquarters. It was a dusty place lined with cobwebs.

“Are you sure we are at the right place?” Tara asked.

“According to the map, yes, we are at the exact place.” Sherry replied. “It doesn’t look so though,” she added.

The four looked around the place. “Maybe there’s a secret passage leading to the main place,” Robby suggested.

The others seemed unsure though.

“We’ve been tricked!” Dr. Galaxy said suddenly. “I should have realized this earlier.” She looked at the map. “This map is fake! It has to be fake! Such crucial information cannot be available out on the internet. We should get out of here, right now.”

Sherry glanced at Tara. Tara caught her eye and gave her a look that said “told ya”.

But before they could even turn to the door, they heard Robby scream. “Help! It’s caught me! Caught me! Help!”

The three turned in the direction of the scream but it took them some time to find Robby. He had gone deep into the room without any one of them noticing.

Tara finally spotted him at the edge of the room. He was sprawled on the floor clutching his leg painfully. “How did this happen?” Tara asked looking at his foot.

“The wall, that wall…” he cried. “This thing popped from the wall.”

Tara looked at the large metallic thing that was stuck to Robby’s foot. It looked like a mouse trap. Only it was too big for a mouse. It had been designed for trapping humans.

“But what were you doing here?” Sherry asked.

“I was searching for a secret passage. Then I saw a button there. Look, that one,” Robby said pointing to a red button on the wall. “I thought it might open a passageway. So I pressed it and that trap popped up. Ow!” he groaned.

They tried pulling away the trap but it wouldn’t budge.

“Enjoying yourself?” A voice suddenly boomed.

A troop of robots had entered into the room.

Tara immediately pulled out her gun and shot at one of the robots. But nothing happened to the robot.

Sherry and Dr. Galaxy also took out their guns. But their bullets too weren’t working!

“We are gone.” Robby said gulping.

“Ha! Losers!” One of the robots said.

“Think you could hack us, eh?” Another said.

“You can never win from us.” A third one said.

The robots came closer and circled the four humans.

“Your bullets only work for the weaker robots. And we are the strongest ones!” said the Head Robo menacingly.

The four people were scared to the spine. No weapon was working whatsoever. But Tara still had a hint of bravery left.

“Strong, yes. Smart, no.” Tara said standing up.

“Ah, little girl. You don’t think we are smart?” a robot said.

“You may be. But I think humans are smarter.” Tara said.

Tara glanced sideways at Sherry. She caught the hint and stood up. “Yeah, me too,” she said.

The robots all glared at the two girls.

“And what makes you think so?” one of them asked.

“The fact that we humans have created you. This is what makes me think we are smarter.” Tara said.

“And better,” Sherry added. She had completely understood the plan by now.

“Hey you! I don’t know what rubbish you have in your head, but WE are better,” the Head Robo said furiously. “And we are going to win!”

“Of course you’ll win!” Tara said. “Our weapons aren’t working, and you are machines yourself! You are metal, you are stronger. But that in no way proves that you are smarter. You are just metallic fools!”

Tara had gone too far. She could feel that herself.

But to her surprise, the Head Robo said, “Fine then. There won’t be any weapons used here. We’ll have a battle of brains, right here!”

“What? Are you sure?” Tara asked.

“Yes. And you know what? We’ll give you the advantage. You’ll decide the terms of the competition.”

“Fine then,” Tara said, glad that her plan worked. She nodded to Sherry.

“I’ll tell the rules,” Sherry said. “We’ll take turns asking each other questions. There will be a team of all you robots, and another of us four. We’ll ask your team five questions and then you’ll ask us five. There will be a neutral robo judge who will decide if the answers are correct. If you win, you can arrest us. But if you lose, you’ll let us go and you won’t meddle in our business anymore. Deal?”

“Deal!”

[A battle of brains? Do you think Tara can really win? Leave a reply below! Let’s see what happens in the next episode! The battle of brains comes next Monday! Do like and follow my blog. Stay tuned!]

Season-2: Part-3: Robby’s help

[If you are here for the first time, read Season-1 and Season-2 from the start]

“Wait, wait! What’s going on? Who’s Dr. Comet now?” Tara asked.

“Oh Tara, remember I told you about our team?” Dr. Galaxy asked.

“Yeah, about the five of you?” Tara said, “And then you split.”

“So Dr. Comet’s one of them?” Sherry asked.

“Yes, my dear, yes!” Dr. Galaxy replied. “You see there’s Dr. Comet, Dr. Venus and Dr. Constella. And then your father and me. And together we form Team Universe!”

“Wow! I must say, I admire the names,” Robby said.

“Oh!” Dr. Galaxy giggled. “By the way, where’s Dr. Comet now? He must be so old in this time. Anyways, it’s been a long time since I saw him. Where’s he?”

“Well, he’s not here. And I don’t think you’d be too happy to see him.”

“What? Why not?” Dr. Galaxy asked surprised.

But Robby couldn’t answer the question, because before he could, a strange buzzing sound filled the lab. It was coming from a small typewriter-like machine which had antennae. A sheet of paper was coming out from a slot in the machine.

“What’s that?” Tara asked.

“Oh this! I completely forgot about it! These are messages from Dr. Nebula,” Robby explained.

“Messages? He’s sending you messages?” Dr. Galaxy asked.

“Yeah. But they are coded. And I am unable to decode them. Perhaps you would be able to.”

“Yeah, sure. But where did you meet him? And how does he know you?”

“That’s a long story,” Robby replied. “Sit, I’ll tell you.”

And on the click of a button, four platforms rose from the ground at the exact places where they stood. They sat and the story began.

“So Dr. Nebula came here this morning. He was hoping to see Grandpa, he needed some help. I don’t know what exactly happened and how he landed in this lab; I just knew he was in trouble and he needed more of those robo hacking bullets. Now I had a good extra stock of those bullets. So we refilled his guns and we set out.”

“Wait. How come you had a whole stock of the bullets?” Sherry interrupted. “Now don’t tell me you created them!”

“I.. well… oh okay. That’s a little secret. Now I am a proud amateur scientist, you see,” Robby said. “Grandpa’s gift perhaps,” he added. “So I helped him refill the guns with the bullets I had created and went out with him. But the robots captured him. Although I escaped, the robots had seen me.

“I somehow managed to come back here. And I saw that in all the hurry-burry, he had left his luggage here. And then I heard the buzzing sound and I came to know of this device. Since then, he has been sending me these coded messages.

“I knew I had to help him. So I gathered my supplies and set out. That’s when I spotted that look alike of Dr. Nebula in the cafe. I knew he was a duplicate so I entered into the cafe and saw him talking to you. Just then, the robots spotted me and the siren went off. They have a really good face recognition system.

“And after that, while the duplicate Dr. Nebula led you to that old building, I had ran away from the robots’ police van. I mean there were only a handful of robos and I had a fully loaded gun. They chased me and coincidently, I hid in the basement of the same building where you did. And there we met and I gave you the spare bullets.”

“Woah!” Tara exclaimed after Robby finished his story.

The machine buzzed again, printing out more codes.

“Let’s work this out first,” Dr. Galaxy said.

She studied the codes carefully, then took out a calculator (at least it looked like one!) from her hand bag and typed the codes in.

“It’s an interesting code that we used a long time ago,” she said smiling.

Within seconds, the decoded messages started flashing on the screen.

“They all say the same thing,” she said after some time. “That he’s in a large metallic room guarded by robots. And he’s being questioned continuously. They know he’s an intruder and that he’s come from the past. And they are threatening to harm him if he doesn’t tell them about our mission.”

“And has Pa told them anything?”

“Not yet,” Dr. Galaxy sighed.

“How’s he sending the messages?” Sherry asked.

“He’s got a little ring in his finger which is actually fitted with a very special machine. He just has to whisper things in it and they get translated into codes and reach here.”

“Cool tech,” Robby commented.

Dr. Galaxy typed a message back to Dr. Nebula stating that she had come there to save him.

“Hey ladies! Don’t be upset. We’ll save him. Shall I call it a team?” Robby asked putting forward his hand.

“Yes!” And the four clapped their hands together.

***

“Hey Robby, do you have any idea where Pa might be?” Tara asked.

“Nope. They might have kept him in their headquarters, but I don’t know where they are either.”

“Where do we start searching for Dr. Nebula then? We’ve got no clues!” Sherry said.

Dr. Galaxy was strolling along the lab when something caught her eye. “This piece!” she exclaimed. “Robby, where did you get this?”

“What? That? Umm.. that…”

“This is a part of the robot’s internal system. I very well know this. And by no chance can you create this on your own. How did this get here?” Dr. Galaxy asked raising her eyebrows.

“I don’t know!” Robby said. “Perhaps Dr. Nebula brought this with him?” he shrugged.

“Yeah, that could be possible,” Dr. Galaxy said frowning.

But somehow Tara couldn’t believe the story. She just couldn’t imagine a fifteen year old boy creating robo hacking bullets or even being a scientist. “Hey Sherry!” she whispered. “Don’t you think something’s fishy?”

“Why do you think something’s fishy?” Sherry whispered back.

“I mean how can he be so intelligent! He’s just a boy!”

“Tara, he’s the same age as us. And if all these futuristic facilities would have been provided to us, I am sure I could have invented a thing or two myself by now!”

Tara could argue no further.

[Is something really fishy here? What do you think? Comment below. Next part comes next to next Monday! (Yep, I am skipping a week. Really sorry for that, I’ve got some work scheduled. I’ll try my best to upload it earlier if I can.) Till then, you can wander round my blog. Don’t forget to like the post! And yes, follow my blog for updates! Happy Monday!]

Season-2: Part-2: Robo Rule

[Check out Season 1 and Season 2 from the start before this.]

“Yeah. That’s the big picture. Not only this, but the whole government consists of robots. And the officials at the topmost posts are robots too.” Dr. Galaxy explained.

“What?! Mom, that’s so terrible! But why are they doing this?”

“You see, I told you about some scientists creating the robots, right? Well, the story goes that there are these five crazy scientists who created the robots to gain control of the world but the robots overpowered them. Now those five scientists are enslaved by the robots. And now these robots themselves want to control the world.”

“And they are very well succeeding.” Sherry added.

“Hey! What are you all doing here?” someone suddenly called from behind.

“Dr. Nebula!” Sherry beamed.

“What’s going on here?” Dr. Nebula asked confused.

“We’ve got no time to explain,” Dr. Galaxy said picking up her bags. “It’s good we found you here. Let’s go back. Abort the mission.”

“Abort the mission? No way!” Dr. Nebula exclaimed.

“But Pa, your life’s in danger!”

“Rubbish! I am not going anywhere.”

Before anyone could say more, a siren alarm went off in the cafe and red lights began flashing in the whole place. Someone had tried to rebel against the robots and was caught red handed in the cafe. The robots, which seemed just too friendly while taking orders, had suddenly changed. They came rushing by and handcuffed a person sitting at the opposite corner of the cafe and surrounded him with guns.

“Is that what’s gonna happen to us if we get caught?” Tara asked. She had turned white.

A police van came on the spot and took the man away.

“Hey! Where’s Dr. Nebula?” Sherry asked suddenly. In the whole confusion, Dr. Nebula had slipped off.

“Oh no, we can’t let this happen! C’mon girls, we’ve got to go.” Dr. Galaxy said as she spotted Dr. Nebula rushing down the opposite street.

They rushed after him and followed him through the narrow streets. They kept screaming his name but he wouldn’t turn back. Strangely enough, they ran the fastest they could, but couldn’t catch up with him.

They followed him up a tall old building which seemed inhabited. It was a cold rusty place. They finally caught up with him at the top floor of the building.

“Pa, what are you doing?” Tara asked panting. “Why are we here? And why didn’t you stop when we kept calling you?”

“Ssh… keep quiet. We are surrounded by robots. See there,” he pointed towards a window. They all looked down. Sure enough, there were robots all around. Dr. Nebula closed all the windows and locked the door.

“Now, I have a plan,” Dr. Nebula whispered. “First of all, hand me your weapons, if you have brought any. I want to see what resources we have. Then we’ll see what we have to do next.”

“Sure, Pa. Here,” Tara said, taking out the gun from her pocket.

“Tara wait!” Dr. Galaxy suddenly stopped her. “Dr. Nebula, what did you have for dinner last night?”

“For dinner last night? What sort of question is that!” Dr. Nebula said. “We are surrounded by robots here and – ”

Before he could complete, Dr. Galaxy snatched the gun from Tara and shot him down!

“MA! What have you done!” Tara screamed in horror.

“Relax, Tara. That’s not your Pa. That’s an imposter.”Dr. Galaxy said, as the ‘Dr. Nebula’ lying on the ground turned into a robot. “And don’t worry. These bullets don’t work on humans.”

“But Dr. Galaxy, how did you know it was an imposter?” Sherry asked.

“You see, I first doubted him in the cafe when he wasn’t the least surprised on seeing us. The real Dr. Nebula would have been furious! And I was almost sure it wasn’t him by how he brought us here. And just to confirm, I asked him what he had for dinner last night. That’s a secret code. He would have to answer ‘red pasta and pancakes with vanilla icecream.’”

“Wow! But what are we going to do now?” Sherry asked.

“Take this,” Dr. Galaxy handed over a gun to Sherry. “Tara’s already got one and I brought two for myself, just in case. We don’t know how many robots there are outside. All three of us need to be prepared.”

“But how can I? I mean I haven’t even practiced my shots!” Sherry said.

“No worries. You can at least get a shot or two right.”

The door then burst open and almost thirty robots marched in. “Oh so you killed our friend!” one of the robots said.

“ ‘Killed’? ‘Friend’? You are robots! You are speaking like humans!” Tara commented.

“Ah, don’t you dare compare us to humans! We are better than them!”

“Yeah, sure.” Tara said rolling her eyes. She was trying her best to act brave.

“Where’s Dr. Nebula?” Sherry asked.

“That man! We captured him! He’s of no use though. We couldn’t extract a single information from him!” One of the robots said. “And that’s why we are here to take you. C’mon! Tell us about your mission!”

“Oh really?” Tara asked. “Then here it is. Attack!” she cried.

And the three attacked the robots from three sides and ran towards the exit. They could only shoot down half a dozen robots. The robots chased after them. They ran down the building into the basement, which was incredibly large.

It was like a battlefield. The three people and the robots fired at each other and ducked behind objects. After a while, when they had shot down more than a dozen robots, Sherry realised that her gun was now empty. The same happened with Tara and Dr. Galaxy’s guns. They had no more bullets. Dr. Galaxy saw a small cabin at a corner of the basement and motioned the girls to follow her there quietly.

They went into the cabin without the robots noticing them and closed the door.

“What now?” Sherry asked.

“We need bullets!” Tara said.

“Would this help?” someone called from the inner side of the cabin. The trio turned around to see a boy waving a bag of dart bullets. He was no more than Tara’s age.

“Hi! Myself Robby. And here are some extra bullets – the same kind you need.”

“I think I have seen you somewhere…” Sherry thought out loud.

“Oh yeah! I saw you too. In the cafe. You were with Dr. Nebula. I got arrested there. But no worries, I ran away. Thanks to these bullets.”

“You know Pa? I mean Dr. Nebula?” Tara asked. “How? And how did you get these bullets?”

“No time to explain. Here, load your guns. We’ve got a fight ahead. C’mon!” Robby said.

The four of them shot down the robots together and ran out of the building.

“Come with me. I’ll take you to a safe spot,” Robby said.

And they walked and walked until they reached a huge empty ground. Robby went to a corner and pulled the grass apart to reveal a button. He pressed it and immediately a platform appeared there. They stepped on the platform and it began to swirl.

Tara could feel the same sinking and floating that she felt in the Time Car. Instantly they found themselves standing inside a lab!

“Welcome to Robby’s lab!” he announced.

“Your lab? You are a scientist?!” Tara asked amazed.

“No I am not a scientist, but this lab’s now mine. Originally this was my grandpa’s. Dr. Galaxy, you must be knowing him right?”

Dr. Galaxy looked around the lab carefully and then at Robby.

“This can’t be!” she exclaimed. “So you are Dr. Comet’s grandson?”

“I am indeed!”

[Wow! Sounds interesting! The story continues next Monday! Till then, why don’t you check out my Spooks poems and my award post? Have a good time. See you next Monday!]

The Liebster Award!

So this morning, I sat on my study desk and opened the laptop and just thought to check my mail, although I knew there wouldn’t be anything special. But lo! I had received an award nomination from The Magpie Fancier! Such a good start of the day! And the reason why I am so excited is that this is my first ever nomination! So thanks a lot “Magpie Fancier”! (sorry, but I don’t know her real name.) Make sure that you check out her blog. And as she says, don’t go by the name, her blog’s not about birds; it’s about books, tea and complaining!

The rules:

First- Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog. 

Second- Answer the 11 questions given to you. 

Third- Nominate another 11 bloggers.

Fourth- Give them 11 questions to answer.

Fifth- Notify your nominees.

I nominate:

S.C. Jensen– writing, real and imaginary

Astronomical Blunder– (Occasionally) Interesting comics and rants on math, science and philosophy

SaaniaSparkle– Philosophy is all about being curious, asking basic questions. And it can be fun!

Geekerella Undercover– Confessions of an Art Freak

Juggling Words– For the Struggling Thoughts

Simon’s Space– Simon’s imagination space for creative thought, writing and design.

Thea Thoolika– Grace, Peace & Wisdom in Lifestyle.

A Girl with an Adventurous Fork– Into her memoirs of magic, simplicity, and romance enticed by food and travel

Veronica Blake, Writer- Thoughts on writing, caregiving, and life

John Wreford Photographer– Words and Pictures from the Middle East & Balkans

Anya Abraham

Now, to answer the questions…

Would you rather be too hot or too cold?

I would prefer being too cold because, you know, I could perhaps pull over more layers of blankets and clothing over me then. But if I am too hot, I don’t have much choices left, you see.

What is your favourite quality about yourself?

There are just so many, I can’t choose one 😉 (jk)

What is the strangest dream you’ve ever had?

So I once had a dream that I was trapped inside a dream! And I couldn’t escape because the key to escape was with someone in the real world, who didn’t know he had the key. That meant that I had to live in the dream world forever. That one was really bizarre.

If you were marooned on a desert island and could choose one book to bring with you, what would it be? (Don’t you dare say “How To Build A Boat”)

Aww.. I really wanted to say “How to Build a Boat”. But now that it’s out, I would prefer bringing a book called “How to Teleport”. LOL

Is there one book you think everyone should read, and why?

Yes, I would really suggest everyone to read (and feel) the Harry Potter series. Not just because of its fantasy elements, but because of how it teaches us the lessons of love and friendship. How it tells us not to lose hope and that miracles can happen anytime. I have found, after reading the seven books, that I have began seeing the world with a new perspective. It’s lovely how you can connect with the characters and detour to a completely different world.

What is the most important quality, in your opinion, in others?

Well, the best could be that they stop blabbering unnecessary nonsense that really contributes in polluting the world.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Now that’s a hypothetical question. So here’s a hypothetical answer: it would be a dish that tastes different every time I eat it.

What is your happiest memory?

That’s yet to come.

First pet?

It was a lovely little fish.

Have you ever had your heart broken? (If this question makes you uncomfortable feel free to skip)

Although I’ve had a few great falls from my bed, fortunately, my heart’s still in one piece.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

Yep I do. (My sis says that’s my hormones speaking)

And now, the questions for my nominees:

1. If you could rule the world for one day, what is the first thing you would do?
2. What thing do you really want as a gift on your birthday?
3. Do you think humans are really humane?
4. Do you believe in ghosts and spirits? (Be honest, even if that means admitting that you have felt someone creeping into your room when you are alone)
5. If your life was published as a book, what would you name it?
6. Do you see yourself as an optimist or a pessimist?
7. Why did you start blogging?
8. If you could live inside a story forever, which one would it be and why?
9. What’s your greatest ambition?
10. Beaches or mountains? Cotton candy or chicken wings?
11. When do you think this virus would go away? (Make a guess, just for fun. And feel free to call yourself more than a human if your guess goes right.)

Season-2: Part-1: Ready, Set, Go!

[Previously in The Fourth Dimension: Season-1 Part-10: Dr. Galaxy, Sherry and Tara were determined to go into the future and save Dr. Nebula and the world.]

“What’s the plan?” Sherry finally spoke, breaking the chilling silence.

“Ah yes, yes, the plan. First I need you to learn some basics,” Dr. Galaxy laid out a chart sheet. All sorts of codes and diagrams were drawn on it. The sheet was filled rim-to-rim, corner-to-corner.

“Whoa! What’s this?”                                    

“Relax, Tara. These are just a few controls of the Time Car. And you need to memorise them.”

“But what’s the need, Mom? You’re there with us.”

“Yeah. But just in case… you know, if there’s an emergency…”

“What sort of emergency?” Tara almost shrieked.

“Ah, never mind. Sherry, do me a favour. You learn these codes and please just stay with Tara. You’ll do that for me, won’t you?”

“Of course, Dr. Galaxy!”

“Good. I expected that. You learn these right now. And Tara, I have another task for you. Come with me.”

Dr. Galaxy led Tara into another room. This one was full of ‘guns and bullets’. They didn’t look real though. Anyone could think they were toy guns because they were so colourful and perhaps made of plastic. The bullets were shaped like darts- pointless darts.

“Mom, are we gonna fool the robots with toy guns? I didn’t expect this from a scientist!”

“Oh, no Tara! These bullets are actually fitted with microchips. Once a bullet comes in contact with a robot’s body, it would hack the robot’s system! It would be paralyzed!”

“Now that’s cool!” Tara exclaimed examining a gun. “So this is how we fight the robots, eh?”

“Fight? No dear, don’t even think about it!” Galaxy exclaimed with widened eyes. “This is for your self defence. By chance if we get caught in such a situation that we have no exit left, only in that case will we use these guns. Otherwise, keep them hidden. We’ve got only a couple of these. Use them wisely.”

“Oh, okay.” Tara frowned. She really imagined herself fighting the robots with the guns like in some cool sci-fi movie.

“But there’s a catch. These bullets will only work if you fire them at a particular point on the robot’s forehead. So it would be better if you practise. Take these, Tara. These are some fake bullets. Practice your target with these.”

She excitedly took a handful of them and loaded in one of the guns. On the opposite wall, there was a target drawn in red ink. She took aim and fired.

“Whoa! Great job, Tara! You hit exactly at the right point! Keep practicing. I’ll just check on Sherry by then.”

Tara kept practicing for almost what seemed like hours. Finally, Dr. Galaxy declared that they were ready for the real plan. The three of them gathered in the central room and loaded themselves with food. Then Dr. Galaxy brought a large box and placed it on the table.

“Now listen up. Our aim is straightforward – go to the future, send Dr. Nebula back here before anything goes wrong and return. Now that might seem simple, but many things could go wrong. That is exactly why I made you learn the codes and fire the gun. Now you two must always stay together. Mind my words – never leave each other alone. I am there for you, sure, but if you don’t find me nearby, just save yourselves. Do not worry about me. Is that clear?”

“But Mom, how can we leave you-”

“Is that clear?” Dr. Galaxy repeated with emphasis.

“Um… but… okay… yeah, fine.” Tara said uneasily.

“Great. Now we’ll have to finish things up fast. The more time we take, the more you will age. And I don’t want my girls to be attending high school at the age of 20, okay?” Then seeing Tara and Sherry’s grim faces, she added, “Hey, at least give me a smile. My joke wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“That was ridiculous, Mom.”

***

After a few hours, they met again in the lab with their bags and food.

“Okay girls, sit down. I hope you remember all I’ve told you today. Other than that, there’s a safety kit and emergency tools under your seat. Although I hope we wouldn’t need them. All ready to go?”

“Yes!”

The Car started shaking again and they felt themselves floating. With a sinking feeling in their guts, they were transported to the future.

When Tara opened her eyes, she was amazed by the sight in front of her. It was a really advanced time. She could only see shiny skyscrapers and robotic cars on the road. The whole world seemed to carry a metallic glimmer.

Dr. Galaxy hid the Time Car amidst the rare trees and returned back. “Here Tara, the gun. Fully loaded. Hide it carefully. And I can see your father in the cafe there. C’mon.”

They walked along neatest footpath Tara had ever seen and entered into the cafe. All along, Tara and Sherry kept whispering, exclaiming and pointing to things around them. The place seemed even stranger than Egypt!

“Shh… Keep your voices low!” Dr. Galaxy said after a few minutes. “Don’t behave like you are here for the first time. Act like you were born in this world.”

A staircase suddenly popped up out of nowhere at the entrance of the cafe. As they climbed up, the stairs started jingling a melody! At the other end of the staircase, an ATM machine sort of thing greeted them, “Good morning! Welcome to cafe Sun-Mania! Whom do we have the pleasure of serving today?”

A keyboard popped up and Dr. Galaxy entered their names. “Okay, Mrs. Galaxy, Miss Tara and Miss Sherry, enjoy your day!” The machine sank into the ground and a platform rose in its place. The three of them stepped on the platform and it started floating! It carried them to a table at one corner of the cafe and sank back into the ground.

More surprises awaited them inside there.

There were no human employees in the cafe! All robots and machines! It was a luxurious place. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Then a shiny white robot, the first one they saw that day, came to their table. “Hello ladies! What would you like to have?”

“Um, what do you have?”

“At this time, we have 12 varieties of coffee, 52 types of sandwiches, 8 different desserts, and 15 varied flavours of soft drinks available with us. What would you like to have?”

“Sandwiches!” Tara exclaimed. She felt really hungry surrounded by the aroma of food in the cafe.

“Yeah, that would be good. What flavours do you have in veg sandwiches?” Dr. Galaxy asked.

“Cheese Treat Sandwich, Mayo ‘n’ Tomato Sandwich, Green Leafy Sandwich, Veg Party Sandwich, Cream ‘n’ Raspberry Sandwich, Orange Fluff – ”

“Stop, stop, stop! Bring three of your best selling sandwiches, okay?”

“Okay madam. So I’ll be bringing Cheese Treat, Orange Fluff, and Noodle Mania. I’ll be back in no time.”

After the robot went away, Tara whispered, “Mom, this is so good! Such a high quality service! And these robots are so sweet! And people are really enjoying themselves! What were you saying about evil robots and slave humans? I think you must have been mistaken. I would in fact love to live here!”

“Oh no, Tara. You are seeing things on a small scale. It’s actually the robots controlling us. Let me show you the reality.” She called one of the robot waiters, “Excuse me! Can I get a NewsTab, please?”

“What’s a NewsTab?” Sherry asked.

“Like we have newspapers, they have NewsTabs. No newspapers exist now. People here read the news on NewsTabs.”

“So it’s actually like asking for a magazine or newspaper in a hotel in our time, right?”

“Absolutely!”

The robot handed over a NewsTab and Dr. Galaxy began scrolling down. Then checking that there was no one around her, she showed the girls a news article.

“Prime Minister ‘Kaspa’ enacts new measure…” Tara read out, “…all people to be issued identity cards… to be used for entering public buildings… trespassers to be severely punished. Whoa! Seems a strict one, isn’t it?”

“Tara, you’re seeing the wrong thing.” Sherry whispered. “See there, below the article, Kaspa’s photo.”

Tara stared at the photo in horror.

“Kaspa is a robot?!”

[Whoa! A robot? A robot ruling the people? What are they going to do now? And where’s Dr. Nebula now? We’ll know really soon. Catch the next part on Monday! And till then, check out my Spooks poem collection if you haven’t yet…]

Part-10: Unveiling Secrets

[Here’s the 10th Part of The Fourth Dimension: Season-1. Make sure to read from the beginning if you haven’t yet.]

“Yes, I am Galaxy!” she replied beaming. “You’ve had quite a few surprises in the past 48 hours, haven’t you?

“Yeah,” Sherry said awestruck. “This is so fascinating!”

“C’mon girls, have a seat. Dr. Nebula’s in there,” Dr. Galaxy said pointing towards a door.

“Here? But we thought you took him to the hospital…” Sherry said confused.

“To the hospital? Oh no. What do you expect me to say to the hospital employees? That a man turned sixty-five in a fraction of second? Or that he travelled to the future? And by the way Tara, you look really sick. Want some candy?”

Tara indeed looked like she was about to burst. She felt as if a thunderbolt had struck her. Her mom, a scientist? All these years? And she never knew? No one ever told her? She had so many questions popping in her mind that her head was spinning.

“Mom, how- I mean when- I mean- Oh god, I don’t know what I mean! Why didn’t you tell me before? How come I didn’t know for 15 years that my mom is a scientist?”

“Take it that I am a brilliant actor!” Dr. Galaxy said grinning. “Jokes apart, we’ve got something really important to discuss. Hurry up,” she said going through a door next to Dr. Nebula’s door.

That’s when Tara realised how big her mom’s lab was. It had four rooms other than the one where they were standing and a small kitchen area. As they stepped into the room, Tara noticed that there were five computer systems and chairs in the room. And the place clearly suggested that it was inhabited by more than one person.

“You don’t work alone, right?” Sherry had asked the question before Tara.

“Well, we didn’t work alone, but now we do. It was a team of five people. Now there are only two of us left- Dr. Nebula and me,” she replied frowning.

“What happened to the other three?” Tara asked.

“They left us after one of our plans went wrong, as in the case of your Pa. But they are brilliant scientists. That’s why I need your help. Because I am all alone now.”

“You could just have directly told us then,” Tara said scowling, “That you are Galaxy. Why all that ‘always time to change your destiny’ crap? We would have been here earlier.”

“Think practically Tara,” Dr. Galaxy replied. “You were already in a shock seeing your Pa. Even if I told you that I am scientist who calls herself Galaxy, you wouldn’t believe that. And I was just about to tell you, but well,” she paused, looking at the girls proudly, “you found the way out yourself. And I must say I am impressed!”

“That means we are accompanying you in saving Dr. Nebula and others?” Sherry asked.

“Earlier I was doubtful. But now I am 100% sure that both of you are the right choice for the mission. And speaking of it, let me explain you the plan.”

And she rolled out a sheet of chart paper and took out pens and files.

“Wait mom!” Tara stopped her. “First we want to know what the real mission was. Pa was talking about stealing something… what was that? Please tell us mom, we are dying of curiosity!”

“Don’t go by his words, okay? He only told you a part of the plan. Our real motive is something really good.”

“Fine mom! Go ahead.”                                                                                          

“So in the initial days of our testing, we went to the future. And we saw something disastrous. Some evil scientists had taken control of the world. Local territories were taken over by robots. In fact, they had a whole army of robots!”

“What? That’s creepy!” Sherry exclaimed.

“Yes, I know. So we planned to go to the future to observe the robots and find out how they work. Then we would trap one and bring it here to make similar robots. And finally we would build an army of good robots to fight the bad ones.”

“So that’s your plan to save the world?” Tara asked wide-eyed.

“Yeah, sort of.”

“What went wrong then?” Sherry asked.

“You see, the plan isn’t as easy as it seems. The future technology is really advanced. Stealing from there isn’t a piece of cake. Plus, the robots are really bad. And mind it, when I say bad, I mean evil, really evil. They have all sorts of attack and defence mechanisms. Get it?”

“Oh! So you mean Pa got caught or something?”

“Perhaps,” Dr. Galaxy sighed.

“What’s our plan now?” Sherry asked.

“In simple terms, we’ll have to go to the future, see what went wrong, fix everything, and return back. And then we’ll open Dr. Nebula’s room. If everything goes as planned, you’ll have your Dr. Nebula back. If not, then… well, let’s just hope everything goes as planned.”

“And we’ll also have to bring back a robot, right?” Tara asked.

“Our priority now is Dr. Nebula. First we’ll have him back. Only then will we think about anything else.”

The three of them stood there face-to-face. They knew that anything could happen to them in the future. It was possible that they might even worsen the situation. But they had to take the risk. Each of them was determined. They had to do this – to save Dr. Nebula. And perhaps, the world.

[Guys, this was the end of Season-1. Hope you enjoyed the journey! Tell me in the comments which part you think was the best of Season-1 and which element you loved the most. I’ll be coming back with Season-2 soon. Stay tuned!]

Click here to read Season-2

Part-9: Hunting Down Galaxy

[Make sure to read this from the beginning if it’s your first time here…]

“Have you heard of that name before?” Sherry asked.

“I don’t think so. But I am surprised to know that he even has a friend! I mean everyone thinks he is a weirdo…”

“Hey, they both seem a bit similar, isn’t it? Nebula and Galaxy… close friends I think.” Sherry said.

“Yeah but how will we find him?” Tara asked irritated.

“How do you know it’s a ‘he’”?”

“I guessed,” Tara replied shrugging.

“I think it’s a lady. Galaxy seems a lady-like name, isn’t it?”

Tara raised her eyebrows. “Do you really think this is a time to discuss whether it’s a man or a woman? Come on Sherry! How will we find Dr. Galaxy?”

“Maybe we can find something in Dr. Nebula’s phone… numbers or something?” Sherry suggested.

“Pa doesn’t have a phone. He kept losing mobiles so he doesn’t use them anymore; prefers landline. He uses the one here in the basement and the one in the office.”

“Now that complicates things.”

“But he has a diary with all his contacts!” Tara exclaimed suddenly. “But I don’t know where it is right now…”

The only thing they could do now was to search the whole lab. So they began…

They looked in the drawers and cupboards, the shelves and the platform, but they could only find machine parts, circuits, screws, nuts, papers and tools. After a hunt that lasted for almost half an hour, they sat down disappointed.

“Where could the diary be? It has to be somewhere here,” and saying so, Tara kicked a metallic block that hit the Time Car with a clink.

“The Time Car! Of course!” Sherry suddenly exclaimed standing up with a start.

And they ran towards the Car and found the leather diary under the seat. “Here it is!” And they started flipping through the pages.

They looked through the whole diary hundreds of times. But they couldn’t find a single entry by the name of Galaxy. Then Tara suddenly noticed a star marked crumpled page tucked into the covers of the diary. “The ‘special entries’ page!” she said excitedly.

But almost instantly her smile turned into a frown, for the page only had her mother’s number- that too the old one. “That’s why it was crumpled,” and she was about to throw the paper aside, when…

“Wait!” Sherry held Tara’s hand. “Don’t throw it. See, there’s something written on the backside…”

Tara turned the paper. Sure enough, there were some strange symbols on the paper. “I’ve seen these somewhere,” Sherry said scratching her head. She sat down where she was- in the Car. And then she saw it.

“Here! The symbols! The buttons,” Sherry cried excitedly. The symbols on the buttons and dials resembled to those on the paper. “Perhaps this is the code for a particular time or place. What do you say?”

“This is great!” Tara exclaimed. “Maybe we should follow this code and go where it leads us?”

“But Tara, we don’t exactly know where this will take us. It could be dangerous too.”

“This is the only lead we’ve got, Sherry! It’s surely worth a try. Please,” Tara insisted.

“Are you sure? I mean there are many risks involved. Firstly, we don’t even know where it will lead us. Secondly, we’ll be operating the Car for the first time. And thirdly, if anything goes wrong, we don’t have a backup plan.”

“Sherry, we have to do this. We have to do it for Dr. Nebula. Let’s go for it Sherry.” There was a sudden confidence in her voice.

They stepped into the Car. Sherry looked into the paper and pushed buttons and rotated dials. “Are you ready?” she asked Tara. She nodded and Sherry pushed the ‘start’ button. They could feel the Car shaking violently and then floating in the air. They closed their eyes and held each other’s arms tightly as they felt the sinking feeling in their guts.

Moments later, they gathered courage to open their eyes and look where they were. It was a cool corridor, shining and smelling the same way as Dr. Nebula’s lab did. There was a pearl white door in front of them which was unlike Nebula’s creaky old basement door. A sign board on the door read: “Dr. Galaxy”

“So we haven’t travelled in time yet,” Tara finally spoke. “This was just a code to bring us to Dr. Galaxy’s lab.”

The door was partially open and they entered inside without even asking for permission, as if they were naturally supposed to be there. It was a really pleasant atmosphere inside. The place was nicely arranged; even the machine parts and tools were all in cabinets and shelves. There was a sweet smell inside the room. “I think you were right, Sherry. Dr. Galaxy is perhaps a lady.”

As they explored the room, Tara could feel a certain connection with the room. The smell, the way things were arranged reminded her of someone. But she tried her best to ignore her doubts…

“Hello girls! Amused?” A woman called from behind. She was a sweet lady wearing an apron with the tag ‘Dr. Galaxy’ tucked to it.

As Tara turned around, she stared at the woman in disbelief as her doubts turned to reality. “MOM?!”

[Wait what? Mom? Really amused! Catch the next part on Thursday! Do subscribe to Oddball Thinks to get the next part delivered directly to your inbox!]

Part-8: To and Fro the Future

[If this is your first time here, make sure to read The Fourth Dimension from the beginning…]

“So the real plan is that I have to go to the future- nearly thirty five years from now.”

“That isn’t a big deal,” Sherry said shrugging, “Given the fact that we have just travelled back more than two thousand years to the past and also escaped a deadly crocodile and armed soldiers-”

“That isn’t all,” Dr. Nebula interrupted. “I have to stay there for a few years.”

“A few years!” Tara exclaimed. “Now we have got a reason to freak out. But that doesn’t make it deadly, does it? I mean you’ll be back to the present in a fraction of second.”

“But he’ll do age up a bit.” Sherry added.

“Oh, you two!” he said laughing. “I am not going on a holiday; I am going there to steal!”

“To what?!” the girls exclaimed shocked.

“Oops! What have I said! Girls, trust me, okay? I’ll be alright. And Sherry, I think it’s time to drop you off. Hurry up!” Dr. Nebula said stepping into the Time Car.

“No, Dr. Nebula! First you go for your mission. It wouldn’t make any difference if I am half a second late.” Sherry said stubbornly.

“Oh you! Fine. I am not going anywhere now.” Dr. Nebula said even more stubbornly.

“Stop it!” Tara yelled. “Sherry, go to your house right now. And Pa, you’ll only go for your mission after we are back from school. Deal?”

“Deal.” Dr. Nebula and Sherry said nonchalantly.

***

The following afternoon, Dr. Nebula could be seen stuffing all of his bags into the Time Car, which suddenly seemed too tiny for the luggage.

“Dr. Nebula, take care.” Sherry said in a worried tone.

“Don’t worry child. I’ll be fine. ”

“Pa, have you told mom? Have you told anyone other than us about your mission?” Tara asked.

“I’ll be back before you blink,” he said, caressing her cheek.

Waving a goodbye, he climbed into the Car and pushed the buttons. Tara could bet she had seen a tear in his eye.

The Car began to shake violently and slowly disappeared. Tara knew he would be back in less than a second, but even in that short duration of time, she could feel her heart in her mouth. Dr. Nebula had said he would be fine. But Tara knew her father just too well.

Before she could breathe out, the Car had reappeared. Tara and Sherry glanced at each other and gulped. The Car door didn’t open up instantly.

The door opened up moments later and Tara could feel herself getting back to normal when suddenly she held her breath halfway. Something was wrong.

A man with a dull and wrinkled face emerged from the Car. He was thin, dirty and had long white hair and beard, as if he hadn’t eaten properly, bathed, shaved or even trimmed his hair in years.

“PA!” Tara screamed horrified and ran towards Dr. Nebula.

“Oh, my baby!” he said crying as he hugged Tara. “It’s been thirty years since I last saw you.”

“Thirty years!” Tara and Sherry went white in the face.

Tara’s mother came running into the basement. “What’s all this noise? Oh gosh!” she exclaimed as she saw Dr. Nebula.

Tara had thought that her mother would go nuts. She would go into shock and collapse. But perhaps she didn’t know her mother as much as she knew her father. Because the very next moment, her mother had called the ambulance and was already off to the hall to bring some water and food.

“H-How did this happen, D-d-Dr. N-Nebula?” Sherry asked, struggling to get her words out.

“This was all in my destiny…” Dr. Nebula said in a strangely dreamy tone.

“Sherry,” Tara whispered, “Why is a scientist suddenly talking about things like destiny?”

Her mother had reached the basement by then and was trying to lift Dr. Nebula up the stairs.

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Tara asked.

Dr. Nebula seemed to ignore that question. But as it turns out, Tara’s mother has got really good ears.

“Remember,” she called out, “There’s always time to change your destiny.”

And they heard the slamming of the door. They had left for the hospital.

Sherry sat down on the floor with a thump. “I get it all. Whatever happened to Dr. Nebula was his destiny and there’s always time to change your destiny. Know what it means?”

“No…” Tara said confused.

“It means that WE have to change his destiny!” Sherry said. “WE have to use the Time Car and save him! The only problem is- we don’t know how to use it.”

Tara slowly walked towards the Time Car, touching it, feeling it, caressing it- like the way Dr. Nebula used to. And suddenly she noticed something – a gleaming metal tag at one end of the Car.

“Sherry! See this!” Tara exclaimed.

Sherry came running there and saw something that left both of them puzzled. The tag read:

“The Time Car- A gift to the World by Dr. Nebula and Dr. Galaxy”

“Now only Dr. Galaxy can help us.” Tara said. “Whoever this is…”

[Now who is Dr. Galaxy? A friend? Another scientist? Who is it? One thing is for sure- only Dr. Galaxy can save Dr. Nebula. Catch up the next part on Monday as Tara and Sherry gather clues and reach Dr. Galaxy. Stay tuned!]

Part-7: Surprises

[Read the story from the beginning if you haven’t yet…]

“W-what do we do now?” Sherry asked.

“My genius mind has some ideas…” Dr. Nebula said.

The crocodile opened its mouth wide and showed off its pointed yellow and black teeth, all ready to chew the three people off.

“RUN!” Dr. Nebula cried.

And the three ran out of the cave. They were so enthralled with fear, that they even forgot they had to keep themselves hidden!

Instantly, the civilians spotted them. “Ahoy! Tabimi! Tabimi!” one of them cried. “Hawue! Pori nui!” shrieked the other. Within moments, Tara, Sherry and Dr. Nebula found themselves surrounded by swarms of people screaming ‘Tabimi!’ and ‘Pori nui!’ They had no time to decode what the words meant. They just knew they were in deep trouble.

But the real danger was now marching towards them. Soldiers- or at least that is what they looked like- hundreds of them. They had weapons shaped like spears. The crowd made way for the ‘army’. The soldiers soon encircled the trio, their spears pointing towards them. “Kada hubi rha,” the soldiers began saying, or asking; it wasn’t clear.

Suddenly, the ‘commander’ ordered, “Vuli poruai!“, and this time it was very clear what he had said; because the very moment, soldiers rushed forward carrying handcuffs and chains.

“Pa! Do something!” Tara cried.

“Oh, I am thinking! We’ll escape, don’t worry… and even if we don’t, you will finally have a trip to boast about to your friends…” Dr. Nebula joked, at least tried to.

The soldiers were closing in.

“Hudsi piri qwirchi ta!” Sherry suddenly shouted.

The soldiers stopped and looked at Sherry, then quickly dropped their weapons! The people stopped screaming and the soldiers backed off! Tara and Dr. Nebula glared at Sherry in amazement.

“What are you waiting for? Run!” Sherry said.

And the three sprinted back to the cave. And very much to their surprise, the crocodile wasn’t there! The three climbed into the Car and Dr. Nebula pressed the ‘start’ button. A violent shake followed by a sinking feeling in guts transported them to Dr. Nebula’s lab. Huffing and panting, they crawled out on the floor.

“Sherry! What were those words you said?” Tara asked amused.

“Oh! You remember you gave me a book about ancient languages in April? All thanks to the book…”

“You memorized it?!” Tara asked shocked.

“Kinda… I mean I read it only once, but it appears that my memory is just too good. Anyways, that was the first sentence that came into my mind. Dunno what it means by the way…” Sherry replied shrugging.

“Sherry, oh Sherry!” Tara said in an about-to-cry voice, “That book was a prank! I gave it to you on first of April!”

“What!” Sherry exclaimed wide eyed.

“Chill girls,” Dr. Nebula said. “Here, you must be thirsty,” he said, handing them glasses of juice. “We are out of there. Now forget about it…”

“Fine… By the way Pa, it was 1:45 when we left, right? The clock still shows 1:45!”

“That, my dear,” replied Dr. Nebula, “is a unique feature of my Time Car. When we don’t set a time, as in our case, it automatically sends us to the initial time. And talking of time, Sherry, I’ll be dropping you off after 3 minutes.”

“Why three minutes?” Tara asked.

“I think I know the answer,” Sherry said. “That’s because we left for Egypt from my house exactly three minutes after you left the lab. Dr. Nebula and Tara of this time zone have just left the lab. This means that the Sherry in this time zone is still in her house for three minutes. She will be freaked out if she sees another Sherry! Am I right Dr. Nebula?”

“Right you are, my girl, right indeed,” he said patting her back. “And just remember- do NOT speak to anyone about my Time Car. Is that clear?” he asked sternly.

“Yes sir!” Sherry and Tara chimed in.

“And then I’ll leave for the real mission.” Dr. Nebula said.

“The REAL mission?”

“Ah yes. All of this was just testing. You asked me what I was doing in the basement the whole night yesterday. So here it is- I went to different times and spent hours, even days and weeks! At the end I was so tired, that I collapsed in the basement. You caught me a few hours ago when I came out; actually that was when I woke up. That’s the whole story.”

“But what is the real mission?” Tara asked. “Can’t we accompany you?”

“Oh no, no! Never ever think about accompanying me! It could be deadly!”

“Deadly?” Sherry seemed alarmed. “What IS your mission Dr. Nebula?”

Sherry’s tone made it very clear that she was serious about her business.

“Hey, hey! Don’t you trust me?” Dr. Nebula tried pleading.

Both of them raised their eyebrows.

“Okay, I surrender,” he said finally. “But don’t freak out when I tell you.”

[Don’t freak out? What is the mission? How ‘deadly’ is it? You’ll soon know in the next part. Stay tuned!]

Part-6: A Trip to Egypt

If you haven’t read the previous parts of The Fourth Dimension yet, read them before this.

[As I said in my previous post, Tara and Dr. Nebula would go where you want them to go. @annabethchase11 said that she would love the “trio” to go to Egypt. And here they are… on a trip to Egypt!]

“You’re really gonna take me with you?” Tara asked fascinated.

“Sure. Step in!”

“But I wanted to take Sherry too,” Tara said frowning.

“I see. Bit of a problem isn’t it? But I called my machine a Time “Car”, right? So c’mon, we’ll drive back in time to Egypt in my car and pick up Sherry on the way!”

“You are joking right?”

“Oh no! See for yourself.”

They climbed into the Car and Dr. Nebula rotated some dials. Suddenly Tara could feel herself shaking violently, as if there was a massive earthquake. Then she felt as if she was floating in air. And then there was a strong sinking feeling in her guts and in a fraction of second she found herself in Sherry’s bedroom!

“Woah!” Tara exclaimed in surprise.

Sherry heard the sound and woke up to find two creatures standing in her room in the middle of night! She was about to scream when Tara switched on the lights and clapped her hands on Sherry’s mouth.

“Shut up Sherry! This is us!”

“Tara! Dr. Nebula! What are you doing here! I mean… I am sorry but… in the middle of night…”

“Oh Sherry, we’ve got no time to waste!” Dr. Nebula said clapping his hands. “C’mon, get in the car, fast… and I hope you’ll adjust… the car’s for two people and we’re three…”

“Car? What car?” Sherry was confused.

“Just step in this carriage, or whatever you think this is,” said Tara pulling Sherry by her hands, “I’ll explain you everything.”

“But we’ll be back before morning, right? Otherwise, my parents…”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Dr. Nebula said. “Just enjoy the night.”

And the trio set off.

This time, it took longer than before. Tara assumed this was because they were travelling in the fourth dimension. It wasn’t merely distances.

When Tara finally felt the ground, she opened her eyes to find herself in a dark and humid place.

“Where are we, Dr. Nebula?” Sherry asked.

“In Egypt- 300 B.C. Precisely, in a cave.”

And then Tara explained everything to Sherry. Dr. Nebula parked the Time Car at a safe place and then they set out.

Outside was a world they had never seen before. There were men and women in plain dresses and colourful jewellery. It looked like a marketplace where weird but beautiful pots and utensils were being sold.

“Tara, Sherry, listen to me carefully now. Both of you will stay close to me and don’t, just DON’T let anyone see you. They’ll be freaked out, they’ll go nuts, they’ll attack you, maybe even-”

“We understood Dr. Nebula!” Sherry said. “Don’t worry, we’ll stay with you.”

They roamed around the marketplace, while hiding beneath tents and sheds. They could also see pyramids far away.

“Let’s get a more clear view of those pyramids, shall we?” Dr. Nebula said.

They set off in the direction of pyramids.

The place was mostly isolated, so they didn’t need to hide themselves. The pyramids were a fascinating sight. On the other side, they could see people in black clothes in deep mourning.

Then they also caught a glimpse of the Pharaoh. He wasn’t wearing the same clothes as the civilians; he was wearing clothing which looked like a colourful short skirt. He was also wearing pretty colourful jewels and a headgear.

“What a sense of fashion!” Tara exclaimed.

Then they started walking back towards the cave.

“Seems strange,” Sherry said, “We have gone back in time, we are returning back to time, and everything is going on so peacefully. I wonder if this is the calm before the storm…”

By then, they had entered the cave and were heading towards the Car. Suddenly, Dr. Nebula came to an abrupt halt just behind the Car. “Sherry, it seems you have jinxed us.” he said.

“Uh-oh, we have a guest here,” Tara said, seeing the large crocodile seated in the Time Car.

[Oops! What happens now? Wait for the next part… and till then, keep praying that the crocodile doesn’t eat the trio raw!]

Part-5: Nebula’s Lab and Inventions

[If you haven’t read the previous parts of The Fourth Dimension yet, do read them before this.]

“The Fourth Dimension?” Tara was confused.

“Ah, yes dear, the fourth dimension. There’s length, breadth, height and then comes this fourth one- time.”

“Time? I don’t understand still…”

“You haven’t read any of the books I bought you last year, have you? Never mind… Look here. You can move to your left, you can move to your right; that’s a one dimensional space. But you can also move forward and backward. This forms a two dimensional space. Also, you can move upwards and downwards. This together forms a three dimensional space. Now, if time is the fourth dimension…”

“I can move in time,” Tara finished his sentence. She couldn’t believe that she had said this herself. She looked at her father and then at the cabinet in awe.

She was about to open the cabinet when Dr. Nebula exclaimed, “Not now, dear, not now! I will show it to you later. But now, you have got the golden once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit Dr. Nebula’s laboratory. Have a look around…”

Tara was so engrossed in the wooden cabinet, that she had forgotten she was finally inside the basement- her lifelong wish had finally come true. She stepped back and looked round the basement. And what she saw wasn’t something one sees everyday…

The basement, dark and dull from outside, was sparkling like diamonds inside. A shiny blue light filled the whole room. There were machines all around- big and small. Tara could see nuts and fittings, metal blocks, and machine parts around her. She took a tour around the lab. The first thing her eyes fell upon was a small machine, shaped like a projector.

“What’s this Pa?”

“That’s my holographic projector. Works magic, you see…”

Dr. Nebula went up to the projector and pushed some buttons. He directed it to the table in front of Tara. And she gasped as a shiny red apple appeared on the table!

“That’s really magic!” she shrieked.

But when she tried to pick the apple up, her hands went right through it, as if it was nothing but air.

Dr. Nebula laughed. “It’s not actually an apple there. It’s just an image. You can’t hold it,” and saying this he projected another image there.

“The lock on the basement!” Tara gasped again. “So that’s how you fooled me into not entering the basement. The door wasn’t locked yesterday; you had projected the image of the lock; while the whole time you were inside and we were thinking that you are in the office!”

“Aha! You caught me!”

“But what about the car? It wasn’t in the driveway when I checked…”

“That’s yet another bit of magic,” and saying so, he moved to another corner of the lab and brought a large machine. “And here’s my camouflager!”

He placed it on the table carefully and turned some dials. Then he projected it towards the large wooden cabinet and turned it on. In an instance, the cabinet vanished!

“What! Where did it go?” Tara exclaimed.

“Nowhere,” Dr. Nebula said smiling. “It’s there only. My machine has just camouflaged it with its surroundings, so it isn’t visible. Go there and touch it; it’s still there.”

Tara moved her hand in the direction of the cabinet. And sure enough, she could feel it. “So that’s how you vanished the car. Wow! I never thought such things exist. But now, I have a last and the most important question- why was there a need to do such things? Why didn’t you go to the office? Why all this planning? Why-”

“Stop! Relax… Have a seat. Let me start from the beginning…”

Tara sat down on the nearest stool and Dr. Nebula seated himself on a platform opposite to her, very close to the wooden cabinet.

 “Let’s start with this cabinet. Do you know what it holds?”

“Yeah, you just told me. It’s a time machine, isn’t it? Why don’t you show it to me? I am so excited…” Tara said, popping in her seat.

“I will, sure. But first, promise that you won’t utter a single word about my lab to anyone.”

“Not even to Sherry?”

“Ok fine, but just Sherry. No one else. Shall we call it a deal?”

“Deal!” Tara exclaimed.

And finally Dr. Nebula opened the cabinet.

Inside, Tara could see a small two seated cabin with a whole desktop of buttons and dials. It was covered from all sides and had an entrance door at one side and a glass front view.

“And here, Tara, is my Time Car!”

Dr. Nebula pressed a button on a remote and the Time Car rose from the floor and slid out from the cabinet.

“Let’s go for a drive in my Car, shall we?”

[This is so exciting! A drive on the Time Car! Where will they go? Or better, in what time will they go? Into the stone age? Or the robot world? Or somewhere else? Let me ask you- where do you want them to go? Post in the comments below till 10:00 p.m. IST (3rd July, 2020). And I’ll make sure that your request gets featured in the next part. Stay tuned!]

Part-4: Basement and Secrets

[If you haven’t read the previous parts of The Fourth Dimension, do read them before this, or you won’t get this part. Enjoy!]

For a moment, there was a spine-chilling silence. Sherry’s statement had hit Tara like a thunderbolt.

“Maybe we missed that detail? Shall we play it again?” Tara suggested.

They played the recording again and listened with double concentration. But nowhere could they find the sound of Dr. Nebula coming out of the basement.

“Maybe we are just over thinking it,” Tara tried her best to sound casual.

“There’s no point sitting here and guessing,” Sherry said standing up. “I am going down. Wanna come?”

Tara knew it was more of a request than a question.

They hurried down the stairs, across the hall and came to a halt just ahead of the staircase that led to the basement. Slowly, they descended down the stairs, their hearts pounding in their chests.

“No good going down there,” Sherry said halfway down the stairs. “The door is locked.”

By then, Tara’s mother had spotted the two of them. “What are you doing there! And Tara, how many times should I tell you to stay away from the basement!” her mother called from the hall.

“Ma! This is really important. Where is Pa? He is here only, right?” Tara asked hopefully.

“No! He’s in the office at this time, you know that surely, don’t you Tara?”

“Auntie, when did Doctor Ne- I mean Uncle – leave for the office?” Sherry asked.

“Early in the morning; before I woke up. Busy time in the labs…”

That evening, after Sherry went home, Tara stood guard in the hall. She had it all planned in her head. If her father was really in the office, he would enter the house from the front door and Tara would pounce upon him and bombard him with questions. And if he turned from somewhere inside the house, then, well… she hadn’t planned anything for that. She knew he wasn’t in the house.

After dinner, when her mother went to sleep, Tara told her that she was waiting for Pa to return from the office and that she needed his help in some school assignment.

Hours passed by. It was half past twelve. Tara was lying on the couch, trying her best not to fall asleep. But her eyes were closing… She could see guns again. She was Agent T-13 – once again, on a new mission…

Her head jerkily lolled to one side. She hurriedly woke up and glanced at the clock. She had only been asleep for 15 minutes. Suddenly, she felt someone behind her. She turned around. “Pa!”

“Aah!” Dr. Nebula cried. “Oh it’s you, Tara. You scared me,” he said relieved.

“Where were you?” Tara exclaimed before she knew what she was saying.

“What? Well… I was down in the basement,” Dr. Nebula replied uneasily.

“When did you return from the office?”

“Oh late in the night, very late. You were sleeping then.”

“You are lying! I was here all evening.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, you caught me there. Fine… I didn’t go to office today. I was in the basement all day.”

“Really? Then why was there a lock on the basement?” Tara asked raising her eyebrows.

“Ah! I must admire your observational skills. But that’s a little secret. I wouldn’t tell you that. But yes, I was inside the basement.”

“Oh, is that so? Then you were there since yesterday? Because you didn’t come out last night…”

“Well, that is… Wait! How do YOU know I didn’t come out last night?”

Tara realised what she had just said. “Sorry, Pa…”

“Tara, you were spying on me!”

“Pa… that is… well… you know, curiosity kills the cat.”

“Hmm… you might have used a voice recorder I guess? Because if it was a camera, you would have known the secret of the lock. Smart work I must say…”

“So.. you aren’t angry with me?”

“Oh no!” Dr. Nebula said laughing. “I should have known this was coming. You are my daughter after all. Now come, its time you know the secret of the basement.”

“Really?!” Tara couldn’t believe this was happening.

And so Dr. Nebula led Tara into the basement. As she entered through the door, the first thing her eyes fell upon was a big wooden case- the size of a small cabin.

“What’s inside this Pa?”

“One of my finest creations,” Dr. Nebula replied smiling proudly. “The reason I was here since last night. Playing with my baby…” he said, while stroking the cabinet.

Tara could see a quote on the cabinet, written in bold white letters:

“In life, when two ways don’t work, you go for the third one.

In science, when three dimensions don’t work, you ought to go for the fourth one- The Fourth Dimension.”

[Whoa! What did the cabinet hold? You might have guessed. If you did, do post down below. And there are many secrets yet to be unveiled- about the lock, about last night, about the cabinet of course, and about Dr. Nebula himself. What do you think? Tell me in the comments. Like, share, subscribe and stay tuned!]

Part-3: Dr. Nebula

[Part-3 of The Fourth Dimension… How did you like the story so far?? Comment below! And if its your first time here, do read Part-1 And Part-2 before this…]

All of a sudden, Sherry tapped the pause button and pulled away her earphones. “Tara, are you sure you want to listen to this recording?” Sherry asked in a tensely doubtful voice. “Of course! What sort of question is that! All this hard work for nothing? No, dear; I hold Dr. Nebula’s secrets in my hand!” Tara replied in a dramatically evil voice. “For God’s sake Tara!” Sherry exclaimed. “Can you please just stop calling him Dr. Nebula? He’s your father!”

That was indeed true. Tara’s father was, in fact, a scientist- and not just an ordinary scientist; he dealt with the most advanced fields of science. Other than his office, he had created a lab in his home itself in the basement. That was the reason why Tara was forbidden to enter the basement, and she very well knew it. This was also the reason why she had placed the recorder outside the basement- to know what happens inside the lab- and she was very sure it was a well secured secret. And no, his name wasn’t Nebula! It was just an alias.

“But he likes calling himself Dr. Nebula; says it gives him the feel of an extraordinary genius…” “He is a genius!” Sherry exclaimed.

“Oh please Sherry! I know you are the biggest fan of Dr. Nebula! I still remember the first time when you came to my home and saw Pa… you went nuts! Such a fan girl you are- you even got his autograph! And the worst part is: he likes YOU over me. I am sure he’ll adopt you some day!”

“It isn’t like that Tara!” Sherry said blushing.

“Now just keep quiet and plug in those earphones. I will listen to this recording. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to,” Tara said in a concluding tone. “Okay fine,” Sherry muttered.

They finally played the recording and both listened intently, but for a long time, no sound came. “Maybe we should fast forward it?” Sherry suggested. They did so and after some time, they could hear footsteps. “That has to be Pa!” Tara exclaimed.

The footsteps grew louder and louder and came to a halt. Then there was the clicking sound of an opening lock and the ‘creech’ sound confirmed that the basement door had been opened, then closed.

But to Sherry and Tara’s surprise, there were no further sounds. They forwarded the recording but there was still silence. A little later, they could hear the morning sounds of the hawker and the milkman. And much later, they could hear themselves coming back from school.

“Hmm… I should have guessed it…” Tara said thinking, “He must have made the basement door soundproof. That’s why a recorder as strong as this one couldn’t catch the sounds of the basement. But one thing is clear- he works at night. You see Sherry… Sherry! What’s wrong with you!” Tara exclaimed seeing the horrified look on Sherry’s face.

“S-s-something is wr-wr-wrong…” Sherry stammered, “Tara, wh-where is your father right now?”

“In the office of course!” Tara replied.

“That means he is not in the house?” Sherry asked once again.

“No,” Tara said yet again.

“Are you- are you 100% sure?”

“Yes, Sherry, yes! The car’s also not in the driveway, you can check. But why are you asking all this?”

“Also there is no exit out of your house other than the two on the ground floor, right?”

“Very much so. But what happened?” Tara was losing her patience now.    

“Tara, w-we heard Dr. Nebula o-opening the door and going into the basement, b-bu-but…”

“But what Sherry? Tell me clearly.”

“Tara, we never heard Dr. Nebula coming out of the basement…”

[What?!?! Now this is getting really creepy… Dr. Nebula never came out of the basement, but he’s in the office! What’s happening here?? Catch the next part for the answers! Don’t forget to post your guesses in the comments section. Like and share! Follow Oddball Thinks for more doses of sci-fi and suspense…]

Part-2: Tara

[Here’s Part 2 of The Fourth Dimension. Hope you liked the first part!]

As her eyes adjusted to the surroundings, the place started becoming more and more clear. Of course she knew this place! She had been here for 10 years now.

“Tara,” a fat but affable lady bent down and asked her, “How do you feel now child?” “Better,” she said to the school nurse as the 15 year old Tara sat up on the comfy bed of her school’s sick room.

Tara had the ambition of becoming a spy agent one day. Guns and cars were her number one fantasies. Adventure was her greatest desire. Only this time, it wasn’t a bomb that blasted her off; it was in fact a basketball that hit her so hard in the head that she blacked out and ended up in the school sick room.

Looking around, she saw her best friend Shruti (whom she preferred calling ‘Sherry’) standing beside her bed.

“You alright?” Sherry asked with a genuine concern on her face. “Yeah, fine. Head’s a bit dizzy though.” Tara said. “No doubt!” Sherry exclaimed nodding her head. “Excuse me?” “You know you were talking in your sleep Tara! Something about a mission and shooting down someone… I thought the ball hit you so hard that you lost your marbles!” “Oh no, I was just dreaming…” and saying so she started drifting back to her dream, anticipating what must have had happened after the blast…

“And by the way Tara,” Sherry said breaking Tara’s train of thoughts, “who’s this Agent T-13?” “Oh, no-no one!” Tara muttered blushing slightly.

***

“Oh! So you were on a mission in your dream? Nothing new. But you say Agent S-3 was me?!” Sherry could be heard exclaiming after school. “Apparently,” Tara replied shrugging. “Wow! But Tara… we have a real mission ahead of us today. You remember, right?” Tara had almost forgotten about it! How could she; this was the second greatest ambition of her life.

“Thanks for reminding Sherry! You remember the plan, right?” “Well,” she said, “Considering the fact that I myself have framed the plan, yes, I certainly remember the plan.” “Hee-hee,” Tara grinned sheepishly. Sherry was the brainiest girl Tara could ever have met.

By then they had reached Tara’s home. Sherry was to spend the evening at Tara’s with the excuse of a group assignment. Her mother answered the door and while Sherry distracted her with gossips, Tara took the moment to slip off to the basement.

As she descended down the stairs, she had the same creepy feeling she always had when she went near the basement. She wasn’t allowed there; and she very well knew why. As she spotted the big lock on the basement door, she remembered the stern look on her otherwise cool father’s face when she talked of entering the basement. She bent down in one corner and picked up the tiny voice recorder that she had placed near the door the other night. She then slowly crept back to the hall. Everything was going as planned.

After lunch, Tara and Sherry went up to Tara’s room on the second floor for their “group project”. They plugged in their earphones and anxiously clicked the play button on the recorder. They could feel their hearts going faster and faster, and for a while, their heartbeats were the only sound that could be heard…

[What had the device recorded? Why had Tara placed the recorder in the basement? Why wasn’t Tara allowed in the basement? Wait for part-3 to find out! Do like, comment and share! Subscribe to Oddball Thinks if you haven’t yet!]

Part-1: The Mission

Presenting before you the first part of “The Fourth Dimension”…

That dewy Tuesday morning saw something more than a sunrise and cooing birds. It looked no less than a movie scene: large black cars chasing a big blue van (which was reportedly carrying drugs and gold). As the procession reached the empty highway, it became very clear that it was a game of bullets. Men could be seen poking their heads out of the cars to shoot, or ducking down in defence.

“Agent T-13 reporting! Situation under control; 3 down, 1 left. We’ll catch them any moment now!” Apparently, Agent T-13, a sharp woman in black formals and sunglasses, was leading the mission, and this was a very normal day for her. The mission was simple: get hold of the drugs and gold and shoot down the men. She was much more used to jumping off helicopters or diving in the deep sea.

“Agent S-3 here! We are receiving more inputs on the mission,” a voice boomed from the walkie-talkie. And before the statement could be completed, the black cars had surrounded the blue van. There was no escape. The last of the men were shot down, boxes from the van were confiscated; mission complete! Or so they thought.

“Open up the boxes! We need to report what exactly and in how much amount they were carrying,” Agent T-13 ordered. Then walking by the side, she reported on her walkie-talkie, “Mission complete! All boxes confiscated, under inspection…” “No! Listen to me, this was a bait! We’ve been tricked!” Agent S-3 exclaimed from the other side.

“What?! But we are all safe, and we’ve shot down the men,” Agent T-13 said. She was confident that no mission could go wrong under her supervision. “Oh no, no! These inputs could never go wrong! Wait… the boxes! You haven’t opened the boxes, have you?” Agent S-3 asked tensely. “Boxes? Oh…” and remembering that she had just ordered the men to open the boxes, she turned around…

–BOOM–                                                                            

There was a blast and she was thrown back. Her head hit the ground and it felt as if a boulder had just hit her. She had gone wrong; for the first time in her life, she had gone wrong. She had a weird dizzy feeling, as if she was sinking down and down and down…

***

When she regained consciousness, her head was still dizzy. Her vision was blurred, but she was sure she wasn’t on the highway where she had fainted. This was a different place, many people were standing around her, she was lying on a bed. Where was she? She was on a mission and then there was a blast…

And then she remembered it all. S-3 had said they have been tricked; the van was a bait. So had the enemies captured her? Where was her team?  And then she could think no more for her head hurt too much. Slowly her eyes started adjusting to her surroundings. The place seemed familiar. It looked like… but no, it couldn’t be. But this place had to be…

[Where was Agent T-13? What happened to her teammates? Stay hooked to know! Any guesses where she is? Tell me in the comments! Do like and share. Follow Oddball Thinks to know what happens next!]

© 2020 Oddball Thinks

Spooks and the Blue Ink

[For a brief intro of Spooks, the ghost, read my previous posts!]

Spooks, the ghost, was swaying in his spot,

Spooks, the ghost, saw a great ink pot!

Silly little Spooks wanted something to drink,

Silly little Spooks gulped down the whole blue ink!

And many still don’t believe it to be true,

But poor little Spooks turned all blue!

And do you expect Spooks to sit and cry?

Oh no, dear Spooks isn’t that sort of a guy.

Clever Spooks wanted to be head of the ghosts;

So he went to his friends and started to boast:

He talked of the angels and the spirits of the moon,

Of how he met them and got the colour as a boon!

The ghosts were fooled!

Clever Spooks ruled!

The ghosts and the angels all now chime:

“Spooks, the ghost, had a great time!”

Spooks and Cheese

Spooks, the ghost, was hungry one night,

Spooks, the ghost, went out for a bite.

Spooks, the ghost, looked amid the trees,

Spooks, the ghost, found some cheese!

Spooks, the ghost, ate and said, “Jeez!

Spooks, the ghost, hates spoilt cheese!”

Spooks, the Ghost

Spooks, the ghost, went for a stroll;

Spooks, the ghost, saw a great troll!

Spooks, the ghost, began to cry,

Spooks, the ghost, was going to die!

Spooks, the ghost, then went red-

‘Coz Spooks, the ghost, was already dead!