Truth shall triumph, a banal, trite line, which holds no significance apart from the occassional utility in terms of mere lip-service. Everything is fair in love and war, another cliché , however this is very impactful, practical and something that people swear by. It essentialy entails stooping any low as long as you are benefiting . Today’s world is one where you have to not grab but snatch the opportunity even the one’s that are clearly meant for others. Sounds immoral, perhaps it is, and everyone sanctimoniously choose to take the moral high ground. This is what, in other words mean shooting your own foot, and those nincampoop’s can limp their life away.
The year is 1993, a very interesting period when private channels had just started, landlines with big dial were replaced by the less bulky counterparts.
Computer had just hit the markets, basically the start of degeneration that today we see, caused by technology was set in motion during this time-period.
There were a lot of changes happening in the way people led their lives as the era of modernisation had begun. Once adhering to principles was stupidly given so much importance that behaving otherwise by default made you a pariah.
The first major terrorist attack.had taken place in the form of Bombay bomb blast which augured the era of fear, mindless violence and inhumanity.
Rishabh, was as boring as the sound of his name. Pushed atound, treated with contempt at MSU Baroda where he was pursuing B.Com; a course that was in alignment with his insifnificance, did not hold any value and was opted by below-average students who did poorly in their 12th. A face-saver of sorts, where people could at least have the status of doing graduation.
Coming back to Rishabh, you know what just let it be. Let’s talk about something interesting, Anurag kashyap’s first film as a writer Satya was a surprise hit and changed the lingo and trajectory of indian Film Industry.
Nepotism was a word that people were oblivious of, ethics and morale in all walks of life were inching closer to an end. Transformation was happening, left, right and center , be it technology, the secular fabric, politics and the society at large.
People were opening up,and with more abandon spoke their mind.
Amidst this transition, a surprising thing happened. In a small city like Baroda, which never received unseasonal rains , was fllooded in April, triggering the rumour of the beginning of our end as species. The what’s app university of information could find its roots somewhere here. Half- baked news embellished created a fear-psychosis among one and all.
With each day the rumour gained momentum and got exaggerated in ways one could not imagine. I must say, as a society ,we were always very imaginative.
One needs to see this occurrence from the perspective of the time period ,when it was unfolding . People were naïve, a little to inclined to believing things.
Coming back to.our non-descript underachiever , he staying true to his tendencies was a mere witness to all this, in his head and especially his relatives, his life hardly mattered, it was not even a consideration
Self-styled God-men emergedout of their “secret caves” and started pontificating about how people’s own sins were going to lead to the tragedy in- waiting.
Even politicians are humans at the end of the day, so even they were flustered and had great difficulty coming to terms with what seemed like their end and I will stress on “their end”.
On the fifth consecutive day, it continued to rain cats and dogs. And then lightning struck literally and metaphorically , when Rohit was fixing something outside his home , and perfectly- timed with the lightning striking.
He woke up only to realise 17days had passed , he got gravely injured from the impact but thankfully, both him and the world survived.
The God- men re-emerged from under the rock, claiming to have single-handedly saved the world, and even politicians were quick to jump on the band wagon lying through their teeth on how they did not let any citizens get inconvenienced, which would have carried more wait, if the water had receded and the paucity of essentials had not led to shop- keepers over-charging. And the number of deaths and injured was happily suppressed by them.
In the meantime Rohit having got a new lease of life, discovered a new side to him. His fears, insecurities had been dwarfed by the narrow escape from death. He had nothing to lose anyway.
He stepped off the bed, and instinctively tell the difference in energy. He felt invulnerable and confident ready to take the world on.
There is always light at the end of the tunnel, every dark cloud has a silver lining, you get the point, right?
We all have the capacity to surmount every shortcomings of ours , as they are nothing more than the figment of one’s imagination . After all we set our limits if we believe in something with conviction, good or bad, it would become the reality of your life, ending this on a philosophical note, some may find it abrupt and didactic, apologies in advance.
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Written by Rohan Mukesh Shah